Toca Race Driver 2 (Xbox) Review

Developer and Publisher: Codemasters
Platform Xbox version
Xbox Live Compatible
Widescreen
Dolby 5.1

Codemasters are a name that seem to command attention in the racing sim world. It’s arguable that they haven’t actually ever created a decent sim, but yet they seem to hold a power over anyone looking at their preview builds and press releases. Aside from their PS1 releases, very little has impressed the sim world and even then the only reason the early releases made such a splash is because nothing the standard of the first Toca and Colin McRae games had ever been released on a home console.

In their first “next gen” release (Colin McRae Rally 3), they altered physics and the damage model and tried to create the ultimate sim. They ended up creating a half decent game but it wasn’t really a sim. This pattern was unfortunately followed through CMR4 and the original next gen version of Toca Race Driver.

So then, after three years of disappointments, Codemasters say they’ve made a move for the better with the release of Toca Race Driver 2: Ultimate Race Simulator (TRD2). They’ve accepted that the main factor that spoiled their previous games was the fact they were trying to please too many people at the same time. On this basis, they say they have released a much more punishing game, with more emphasis on the simulation and race experience and less of an arcade feel to the game. Moreover, instead of concentrating on just one racing type, they’ve shoehorned 38 truly different styles into the package. Is this a case of Codemasters truly biting off more than they can chew?

TRD2 is very well presented, with all menus easily accessible and clear. The game leads you through into the story well and the cut scenes are of high quality.

The fact that there is a story would be a warning flag to most sim fans. Do not let this put you off. Rather than being an intrusion to the sim experience, it actually serves well as it forces you to play race styles you wouldn’t normally touch. Besides that, the cut scenes are entertaining and provide a bit of light relief between the different races. Personally, though I think this works well, I reckon a bit of story branching would’ve worked wonders and changed what currently stands as a bit of fun into a thoroughly compelling experience.

It has to be said though, that the story isn’t really what TRD2 is all about. The story has been left pretty simple so as to allow fast completion. No story race is more than a few minutes long and each incorporates “adaptive AI”, which means the more you fail at a race, the easier it becomes. This allows swift progression, which in turn gradually opens the full “meat and bones” of TRD2: the free races.

The free races can be set to almost any length you like, with up to 20 opponents at any AI level you want. You can set pits for refuelling/compulsory stops and incorporate qualifying sessions too. The AI vehicles are no slouches whatsoever. I found they equalled my ability and made races challenging at merely 90% with every notch upwards from there making things a LOT harder. You can push the AI upwards by as little as 1% each time, meaning gradual progression can be made up to the higher skill levels. Completion of the free races at the predefined difficulty settings unlocks different vehicles to use either in the career mode or in further online or free races.

The decision to move TRD into realms of different racing styles was a very wise one and it’s been done extremely well. From Formula Ford through SVT and Landrover racing, there’s rarely a place where TRD2 falls down. All vehicles are modelled well and handle very much different to each other. If there’s one suspect area, it’s the point-to-point rally stages. They’re not horrendously bad and you will have played much worse in the pursuit of decent rally games, but they just seem very detached from the high standard of the rest of the game. I’ve no doubt that fans of each area of racing will find flaws within, but for such a mammoth task to have been executed so well is highly commendable. Each racing style is distinct in the sound, handling and feel of the vehicles and you will quickly find your favourites to play on Live.

Xbox Live once again provides a fantastic arena to showcase your skills. Races can include up to 16 humans and the remainder (up to 21 total) can be AI drivers. With this number of racers, packs quickly develop and with the damage engine firmly in place it can become a challenge even finishing a race. The AI can once again be tuned to your chosen abilities and can ensure that even if you leave the human opposition behind, you can still be faced with serious challenge in every race. The inclusion of AI drivers for Live racing is yet another superb choice, as it means that even if you are only racing with a couple of other human drivers, there can still be a full track to contend with.

Graphically Toca is an extremely nice looking game. As mentioned earlier, the vehicles are very well modelled and the textures are fully authentic. The tracks are rendered nicely but some seem a little different to previous incarnations. It may be that the tracks have altered in real life, but the hills at Bathurst seem a little more extreme and the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca doesn’t seem anywhere near as hairy as in other games. It’s not too hard to get used to these differences though and it’s not long before you’re fully admiring the subtle lighting and reflections and appreciating the huge draw distance and rock solid 60 FPS framerate. In trying to deal with so many vehicle types, Codemasters have decided to simplify the cockpit view throughout. Instead of getting a detailed in-cockpit view you now get a simplified one, with the top of the dash and the nearest pillar visible, but blurred. In all honesty, I love it! It gives that realistic in-car view whilst not robbing your screen of valuable focus onto the track. Fantastic stuff.

Damage is handled very well in the new graphical engine and as usual plays a very important part during the game itself. Codies have expanded on the “terminal damage engine” introduced in previous games and ensured that as little as one serious crash can (rightly) end your chances at completing a race. Failing that, little bumps will add up and your engine can very well conk out.

So then. It’s all good is it? Well, no as there are a few duff points. The main point is the handling. Whilst the controls have been mapped very well to the Xbox pad, there is virtually no feedback. I know Xboxes only have rumble, but in almost every console racer for the last 5 years there’s been a decent amount of feedback that lets you know how close to the “edge” your car is when cornering. This has been toned down so much that for me it makes some of the faster racing styles very difficult to deal with.
The other failing point is the level of simulation. What’s there is extremely good and the physics behind the game is great, but the Xbox version has been toned down when compared to the PC one and as such we lose the “pro” level sim that the other version includes. In a game that goes as far as to include an optional clutch within the controls on a console game, this is disappointing.

Overall

It’s clear that Codemasters have pulled out all the stops with TRD2. The story works extremely well with players only left wanting for a possible branching of storylines. The absence of the pro-sim mode that features on the PC version is clearly a shortfall, but his is by far the best sim on the Xbox so far.

Whilst it’s still not a perfect game and far from the “Ultimate Racing Simulator” that it purports to be, this is clearly a franchise that Codemasters would do well to invest in heavily to take to its full potential. All in all, it’s an excellent start to a very promising future in racing simulation

Game – 5 / 5
Sim – 4 / 5