GTR: FIA GT Racing Game

The Good
At first, this game absolutely blows you away. The graphics are very good, the sounds are realistic, and the physics and handling engine is simply incredible. This game is very firmly in the "simulation" category - no room for amateur gamers here. The player must deal with cold tires after pitstops, mechanical failures, and - a first for any racing game I've seen - changing track conditions in terms of the amount of rubber on the racing line; after an hour or so of racing the player can see the 'marbles' off the racing line and, should he run wide, will suffer a dramatic loss of grip.

The player can choose from all manner of GT and NGT cars - from the Ferrari 550 Maranello to the humble Lotus Elise - along with 10 official racetracks.

The Bad
However, there are some major flaws with this game. While there are many possibilities for multiplayer online play, this seems to be very buggy, and sometimes you can end up being able to drive through competitior's cars. Also there seem to be major problems when there are 30 or more players on the server. There are, however, several leagues on the internet where an attempt may be made at having a fun online race with other serious racers.

The weaknesses of the multiplayer drive the player to focus on offline races against the game's AI. Sadly, this is another area of weakness. The AI competitors simply do not drive like real racers. They seem to slip and slide around every corner, sometimes in a sort of powerslide, despite the fact that in real life GT cars must be driven extremely smoothly. When they lap each other, the car behind either simply drives into the car ahead, resulting in several fast cars with crumpled hoods and several slow cars with crumpled rear ends, or gets held up by the slower car for nearly a whole lap. Also, if the player is slow around a certain corner, and there is an AI driver immediately behind, when the player brakes for the corner the AI driver drives right into the back of him. This makes it nearly impossible for the player to race certain tracks if he is slow.

The Bottom Line
The game is fundamentally very good, and in terms of physics and handling is far and away the most realistic racing game available. The glaring flaws in the game are very annoying and frankly should have been removed at the testing stage. However, I think the good points of the game do outweigh the bad points, if only slightly.