ToCA Race Driver 2
Discussion
There's a review at IGN http://xbox.ign.com/articles/506/506483p1.html
They gave it an 8.2, their readers gave it a 9.1
I wrote a little review for some guys here at work, here's what I wrote for the Xbox version:
I'd also like to note that I hated the other TOCA games.
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"It takes a real effort to impress me with a racing game, I’m always the first to criticise them for their physics, replays or bad track representation. In fact I’m such a geek when it comes to trackside detail, that I took F1-2002 back to Game for a refund because the dev. Team had put trees along a straight (at Spa) where they should be a row of grandstands - I can be such an ass sometimes.
Enough about me, in TOCA 2 you play some young, hot shot that’s trying to climb up the leagues in the world of motorsport. There are cutscenes between most races to push the narrative along and progress whatever cack-storyline that Codemasters made up. Overall I did enjoy these cutscenes, they were well acted, had good animations, they were sometimes funny but what the hell was going on with people’s mouths? When the characters spoke, they looked like an alien trying to play a harmonica whilst chewing gum, bizarre indeed.
Through your career you get to drive a wide variety of vehicles; including Formula Fords, Radical-like things, Trucks, Pickups, ’68 Mustangs, DTM Touring cars, Aston Martins, E-Type Jaguars, V8 Supercars, Street racers, rally cars, GT racers, Rally cross, Ferrari 355s and I’m only 60% through the game. All the cars are fully licensed (apart from the 355 which is missing its badges), I can’t really comment on the accuracy of the modelling as I wasn’t looking to hard, I guess none were ‘wrong’. They all drive noticeably different and that’s the games main selling point to me. Unlike Sony’s GT games, when you jump from one series to another you really have to adjust your braking, turning and general driving style to accommodate the differing handling characteristics, I was impressed.
There are a good variety in tracks, ranging from full on worldwide GP tracks, to smaller ‘local’ circuits, to street racing, ice racing and rally racing. Ergh, the rallying! The rally stages are the only fictitious tracks in the game and it shows. Coming from the developers who’ve created the Colin McRae series, I thought the rally stages would be the best in the game, but no. The track designers have had a field day, thinking, “What will make these tracks a challenge? I know, lets place fast, blind jumps right before tight, 90° corners over and over and over again”, I’ve never been so appalled. The rest of the tracks are well modelled (at least the ones I’ve driven on in the real world), Donnington’s Craner Curves have never been so well represented in a game before, there’s a sense of going down hill, the same can be said for Paddock Hill Bend at Brands Hatch, it’s a real rollercoster ride. Although after all the praises, Oulton Park is strangely flat and featureless for such a hilly circuit(deer's leap is totally wrong), did the team run out of poly budget and leave out the contours?
Physics? Sim-tastic baby! It’s halfway between GT3 and Ferrari 355, if that doesn’t mean anything to you; it means that it’s quite difficult to keep your car on the road. There are some bizarre problems, gravity seems to be set at 0.5g, send your car flying for long periods of time over the slightest of bumps, this can be frustrating, especially when on those pesky rally stages or when braking for a corner. You also have to be careful with your braking and accelerating, wheels lock and spin with any over enthusiasm.
This bits a bit nerdy... (and a 'spline' is a 'line')
There’s one problem/design with the game when it comes to handling and that’s when your car (or even a wheel) leaves the tarmac. Each track seems to have numerous splines sunken into the grass, if you drive over these splines they act almost magnetically, pulling and pushing your car around as you pass over them. I can see what the team wanted, they wanted you car to be thrown about when you leave the track, however it causes some issues. If you happen to drive over a ‘magnetic pulling’ spline at the wrong angle, you can actually get yourself caught on it, like a Scalextric slot car, almost unable to leave, until you manage to push the horsepower in the right direction. This is a particular irritation when you place one wheel on the grass as you drive down a straight and wheel doesn’t want to come back on the tarmac as it’s ‘locked’ to one of these splines for the half the bloody straight. I could be wrong about these splines, maybe I’m a rubbish driver? Also only the cars around you have any physics, the rest follow their train track paths without any suspension movement at all, this is particularly noticeable in replays. You do notice this oddity while racing, just as you overtake a car, you’ll notice another car just ahead suddenly become ‘active’ and it will bounce for no reason.
Er what else? The AI is good, it jostles for position (surprised me a few times with some crazy late braking up the inside of me), it will move over to defend it's line if it realises you might try and pass, it makes mistakes and overall is very solid, some of the best AI I've seen in a game. However there are a couple of corners (hairpins) in the game world where the AI slows down to a crawl to navigate around them, giving you a couple of seconds lead.
All in all, I think it’s a great game, Codemasters should be proud."
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If you have any specific questions you'd like to ask me, drop me an email. I;ve now finished the game 100% and have spent the last 2 days playing the PC demo across our office lan. Had 12 people all racing formula fords... think Battlefield Vietnam will be on the back burner for a while.
They gave it an 8.2, their readers gave it a 9.1
I wrote a little review for some guys here at work, here's what I wrote for the Xbox version:
I'd also like to note that I hated the other TOCA games.
---------------------
"It takes a real effort to impress me with a racing game, I’m always the first to criticise them for their physics, replays or bad track representation. In fact I’m such a geek when it comes to trackside detail, that I took F1-2002 back to Game for a refund because the dev. Team had put trees along a straight (at Spa) where they should be a row of grandstands - I can be such an ass sometimes.
Enough about me, in TOCA 2 you play some young, hot shot that’s trying to climb up the leagues in the world of motorsport. There are cutscenes between most races to push the narrative along and progress whatever cack-storyline that Codemasters made up. Overall I did enjoy these cutscenes, they were well acted, had good animations, they were sometimes funny but what the hell was going on with people’s mouths? When the characters spoke, they looked like an alien trying to play a harmonica whilst chewing gum, bizarre indeed.
Through your career you get to drive a wide variety of vehicles; including Formula Fords, Radical-like things, Trucks, Pickups, ’68 Mustangs, DTM Touring cars, Aston Martins, E-Type Jaguars, V8 Supercars, Street racers, rally cars, GT racers, Rally cross, Ferrari 355s and I’m only 60% through the game. All the cars are fully licensed (apart from the 355 which is missing its badges), I can’t really comment on the accuracy of the modelling as I wasn’t looking to hard, I guess none were ‘wrong’. They all drive noticeably different and that’s the games main selling point to me. Unlike Sony’s GT games, when you jump from one series to another you really have to adjust your braking, turning and general driving style to accommodate the differing handling characteristics, I was impressed.
There are a good variety in tracks, ranging from full on worldwide GP tracks, to smaller ‘local’ circuits, to street racing, ice racing and rally racing. Ergh, the rallying! The rally stages are the only fictitious tracks in the game and it shows. Coming from the developers who’ve created the Colin McRae series, I thought the rally stages would be the best in the game, but no. The track designers have had a field day, thinking, “What will make these tracks a challenge? I know, lets place fast, blind jumps right before tight, 90° corners over and over and over again”, I’ve never been so appalled. The rest of the tracks are well modelled (at least the ones I’ve driven on in the real world), Donnington’s Craner Curves have never been so well represented in a game before, there’s a sense of going down hill, the same can be said for Paddock Hill Bend at Brands Hatch, it’s a real rollercoster ride. Although after all the praises, Oulton Park is strangely flat and featureless for such a hilly circuit(deer's leap is totally wrong), did the team run out of poly budget and leave out the contours?
Physics? Sim-tastic baby! It’s halfway between GT3 and Ferrari 355, if that doesn’t mean anything to you; it means that it’s quite difficult to keep your car on the road. There are some bizarre problems, gravity seems to be set at 0.5g, send your car flying for long periods of time over the slightest of bumps, this can be frustrating, especially when on those pesky rally stages or when braking for a corner. You also have to be careful with your braking and accelerating, wheels lock and spin with any over enthusiasm.
This bits a bit nerdy... (and a 'spline' is a 'line')
There’s one problem/design with the game when it comes to handling and that’s when your car (or even a wheel) leaves the tarmac. Each track seems to have numerous splines sunken into the grass, if you drive over these splines they act almost magnetically, pulling and pushing your car around as you pass over them. I can see what the team wanted, they wanted you car to be thrown about when you leave the track, however it causes some issues. If you happen to drive over a ‘magnetic pulling’ spline at the wrong angle, you can actually get yourself caught on it, like a Scalextric slot car, almost unable to leave, until you manage to push the horsepower in the right direction. This is a particular irritation when you place one wheel on the grass as you drive down a straight and wheel doesn’t want to come back on the tarmac as it’s ‘locked’ to one of these splines for the half the bloody straight. I could be wrong about these splines, maybe I’m a rubbish driver? Also only the cars around you have any physics, the rest follow their train track paths without any suspension movement at all, this is particularly noticeable in replays. You do notice this oddity while racing, just as you overtake a car, you’ll notice another car just ahead suddenly become ‘active’ and it will bounce for no reason.
Er what else? The AI is good, it jostles for position (surprised me a few times with some crazy late braking up the inside of me), it will move over to defend it's line if it realises you might try and pass, it makes mistakes and overall is very solid, some of the best AI I've seen in a game. However there are a couple of corners (hairpins) in the game world where the AI slows down to a crawl to navigate around them, giving you a couple of seconds lead.
All in all, I think it’s a great game, Codemasters should be proud."
---------------------
If you have any specific questions you'd like to ask me, drop me an email. I;ve now finished the game 100% and have spent the last 2 days playing the PC demo across our office lan. Had 12 people all racing formula fords... think Battlefield Vietnam will be on the back burner for a while.
it's £17.99 from Play.com : www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=PC&title=164503
is it worth that? Whats the online play like?
is it worth that? Whats the online play like?
docevi1 said:
it's £17.99 from Play.com : www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=PC&title=164503
is it worth that? Whats the online play like?
The one player game is 100% worth it.
I've been playing the multiplayer at work on our super-fast broadband connection and it's pretty poor online. At least once per lap there's some lag issues and your car will briefly pause on the spot for half a second while the other cars continue, this results in any cars immediatly behind you smashing in your rear, ending your race. However, this is the demo and hopefully they'll sort these problems out for the final game. Over the office LAN, there's still some lag issues that cause crashes, although they're far fewer in number, but they'll always be one of these 'pauses' per race
For the fun I've had from the single player mode, at £17.99 I'd actually buy two!
forever_driving said:
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I’m such a geek when it comes to trackside detail, that I took F1-2002 back to Game for a refund because the dev. Team had put trees along a straight (at Spa) where they should be a row of grandstands - I can be such an ass sometimes.
And you would have taken the game back if the frame rate had slowed at this point cos there was too much going on. There is no pleasing some people.
You would however, have made their day at Game. They will still be laughing now, about that idiot who was not happy about a missing grandstand. I would love to have been there and had a laugh with them when you had gone.
bigjimmy said:
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I’m such a geek when it comes to trackside detail, that I took F1-2002 back to Game for a refund because the dev. Team had put trees along a straight (at Spa) where they should be a row of grandstands - I can be such an ass sometimes.
And you would have taken the game back if the frame rate had slowed at this point cos there was too much going on. There is no pleasing some people.
You would however, have made their day at Game. They will still be laughing now, about that idiot who was not happy about a missing grandstand. I would love to have been there and had a laugh with them when you had gone.
Well the funny thing was, they didn't believe me, they said "You're just returning this because you're not good at it".
Anyway, I actually work for Sony and I know a few people on the F1 2002 develpment team... so I let them know my displeasure. Apparantly it got changed in the sequel
Along with Grand Prix Legends & NR2003 (with Trans Am cars). Formula One Challenge 99-02 is my next favourite especially with the Prototype C mod, ETCC, DTM, Aussie V8's, Ferrari 360 Cup, Mosler Challenge and the nissan Micra Cup (yes, Nissan Micra's). These Nissan Micra's a 4WD Turbo cars and you can actually do the complete Pikes Peak Mountain in one. You too can be Ari Vatenen 
Never liked Codemaster games despite buying Toca, Toca 2 and Race Driver. The physics in Race Driver 2 are still only 4 point, GPL developed and released in 1998 is 6 point. Say's it all in terms of quality in my opinion.
Never liked Codemaster games despite buying Toca, Toca 2 and Race Driver. The physics in Race Driver 2 are still only 4 point, GPL developed and released in 1998 is 6 point. Say's it all in terms of quality in my opinion.
I work at Codemasters, though I am hardly likely to tell anyone there what I see here. We are pleased with the reception Race Driver 2 has received, the review scores have been excellent. You would be amazed how much work goes into a game like this and how hard the team try to bring you the best racing game experience possible. Gavin, the studio boss, besides being a perfectionist is a petrolhead, as are many in the team. Their love of everything motoring really shines through in the game.
bruciebabe said:
I work at Codemasters, though I am hardly likely to tell anyone there what I see here. We are pleased with the reception Race Driver 2 has received, the review scores have been excellent. You would be amazed how much work goes into a game like this and how hard the team try to bring you the best racing game experience possible. Gavin, the studio boss, besides being a perfectionist is a petrolhead, as are many in the team. Their love of everything motoring really shines through in the game.
Well all I can say is top marks to your studio! There's a whole load of people in my office gagging to get the full version tomorrow.
I'm always surprised how many people here at PH work in the games industry
bruciebabe said:
I work at Codemasters, though I am hardly likely to tell anyone there what I see here. We are pleased with the reception Race Driver 2 has received, the review scores have been excellent. You would be amazed how much work goes into a game like this and how hard the team try to bring you the best racing game experience possible. Gavin, the studio boss, besides being a perfectionist is a petrolhead, as are many in the team. Their love of everything motoring really shines through in the game.
Hey Bruce ! You've been around the block a few times now in the games industry ! I remember hearing your name a 'long time ago'. What year did you get into games ?
Well i have to say that on a whole i am very impressed with the game as a whole. the Graphics are very good and the tracks are even better than in the previouse game. Not the level of detail but the feel of the camber and speed and especially going up and down hills.
Playback leaves a bit to be desired when compared to the likes of GT3 but then this game seems to be based more on the physics of the cars and the whole racing experience rather than graphics.
I love the improved touches like the reflection on the car bodywork and the moving drivers inside the cars and the difference in sounds from inside and outside the vehicles. Also impressed with the way the AI knocks you off the track from behind sometimes although it's a shame that most cars seem to fall back considerably once you overtake them.
I do miss the garage where you can spend a lot of time setting up the car for each race in the story series but good to see that you still have some control in single races.
I havn't tried the game on the net so can't comment there but i do get the feeling that it won't take too long to complete the game. I found the game slightly more arcady than the original due to the lack of pit preperation but the whole racing experience imo is better than the original. If there is one thing that does let the game down it is the rally games, you'll see.
Playback leaves a bit to be desired when compared to the likes of GT3 but then this game seems to be based more on the physics of the cars and the whole racing experience rather than graphics.
I love the improved touches like the reflection on the car bodywork and the moving drivers inside the cars and the difference in sounds from inside and outside the vehicles. Also impressed with the way the AI knocks you off the track from behind sometimes although it's a shame that most cars seem to fall back considerably once you overtake them.
I do miss the garage where you can spend a lot of time setting up the car for each race in the story series but good to see that you still have some control in single races.
I havn't tried the game on the net so can't comment there but i do get the feeling that it won't take too long to complete the game. I found the game slightly more arcady than the original due to the lack of pit preperation but the whole racing experience imo is better than the original. If there is one thing that does let the game down it is the rally games, you'll see.
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