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Review: Race Pro
By Edge Staff
February 19, 2009
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"While Simbin may bypass many of the components that categorise the modern console racing title, when it comes to handling Race Pro features one of the most rewarding – and possibly the most accurate – car physics model on current console hardware."
Race Pro
Atari
Simbin
Xbox 360
US Release: Out Now
UK Release: Feb 20
Screenshot Gallery
The sim-racing community has long felt comfortable with the continual acceleration of the driving genre on console.
Gran Turismo may have led the initial drive towards realism, but in sim terms Sony’s franchise and Forza 2, its arguably more accomplished disciple, still have a considerable slice of tarmac ahead of them.
Yet, with increasing hardware ability, not to mention the lure of a far larger demographic, it was only a matter of time before one of the sim-racing outfits developed something for consoles.
Simbin, creator of the revered GTR and Race series, didn’t hang about – GTR on 360 had been planned for spring 2007 in a deal with THQ. When that project ran out of fuel, a switch of IP and publisher ensured Race Pro rolled off the production line.
The quality of the assembly is more economy than luxury. Anyone expecting Grid or PGR4 levels of polish won’t find them here – Race Pro’s visuals do the job, with reasonable car models and convincing racetrack environments, yet display little ambition. Presentation is equally lacklustre, which actually has a bigger effect in the way it underpins the experience with a feel of functionality.
Events are won or lost without fanfare, and the occasionally unintuitive menus fail to integrate the player in any greater Race Pro ‘experience’. Until they get on the track, that is.
While Simbin may bypass many of the components that categorise the modern console racing title, when it comes to handling Race Pro features one of the most rewarding – and possibly the most accurate – car physics model on current console hardware.
Choose the appropriate difficulty settings and races become intense, hugely leasurable events that instantly clear the sense of dreariness that bookends them. Whether you’ve somehow tamed the insect-like nervousness of a Radical to cross the finish line first, or managed to put a move on an F3000 competitor in the unforgiving, tight street circuits of Pau or Porto, Race Pro engages like few driving titles manage (even if the driving model doesn’t quite meet the standards of the most advanced PC sim-racers such as Live For Speed, or enjoy the support of such PC-only peripherals as the Logitech G25.)
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
excellent game - i'm not at all concerned with the "lack of celebration" the reviewer has a slight issue with. if i want to fist pump and hoot, i'll do so - hate it when games do it for me. "aesthetic and presentational trimmings" are rubbish as well.
if the game is solid as this is, who cares if some menus and such aren't flashy or whatever. at least the scoring was spot on - hope the game sells well enough for a follow-up (not a simply tweaked-out sequel that gives us flashy menus, pimpy car mods and all that crap found in too many arcade-style racers...)
What have any of these comments have to do with Race Pro? Nothing imo!!
Good game, rough visuals, excellent throaty engine sounds, online play is rubbish at the moment, makes GRID online look like the state of the art experience it is compared to this rushed online mode tagged on to the full game.
Any other opinions on the game anyone...
Yeahhhhh. gonna have to side with SaintJude on this one. I don't think anyone with a rational sense of business would say this is the decline of the console. Companies are spending more making games because there's a demand for high quality graphics, artwork, menu systems, audio, integration with other mediums....name it. Not because these companies are dumb and WANT to throw money away. Some of these companies have gambled and lost...yes, but that does not make them dumb. It's an unfortunate turn of the economic tide. You insult the people who once had jobs and worked for these "dumb" companies when you make remarks like that.
And consoles make a TON of money...not in hardware. Hardware is usually a loss-leader so people buy games, services, movies, music and anything you can do nowadays. Money is made in software and services.
50 nillion to make kill zone and the is still not as good as crysis what a waste! what crysis only costed 10 milllion t make lets see if sony makes a profit. Yea pc 's already have alll those features and better. yea dum companies, sony and micro soft should just hand me all the billions they lost already! I could make better use of it.lol
I wonder hows is interplay,midway,fator 5,pandemic and other companies are feeling these days.
Oh dear boy, every post you make is exactly the same and it's getting a little dull to read now.
Wait... could you be Kim_Naroz's PC Elitist cousin!
Consoles is sooooo doomed, oh noes!... Surely you can't be that naive!
Don't worry, I used to be a hardcore PC gamer fanatic , don't worry, you "might" grow out of it eventually!
dum move console companies are being rip apart, instead learn from blizzard, anet vavle. What your seeing in the game industry right now is the fall of consoles and big companies. This just the begining!
http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Caveat-Emptor/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-G...
I highly recomed your relax and take your time to grow. You will make big in the long run. Just like blizzard,anet,vavle
A little dramatic perhaps? Not to mention naive. The fall of consoles and big companies!? Consoles are here to stay, whether you like it or not and if I'm wrong I'll eat my Xbox Live headset.
Yea dum compaies like to burn money too! how is high production costs these days. The ression plus high production costs will rip into the console industry like it's paper. Sony and micro soft will lose billions in a ression. Even AMD,invidia and IBM will pay the price for hurting pc gaming industry. hardware companies don't make money on old hardware parts.
there is good reason apple and sega don't make consoles no more. I wonder how do sony and micro soft share holders feel these days about losing billions.