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Best Racing Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 75 / 76
Date: February 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As you begin to delve into this discussion of Simbin's excellent new driving sim GT Legends, I feel it is only fair to make a small disclosure. I am, have always been, and will always be a gear head. You know the type. . .dirty fingernails, back issues of Road & Track lying about, a broken connecting rod hanging proudly on the wall of the garage. . .so when I saw my first driving game in an arcade in the late 70's, I was hooked.

It was an immense black cabinet, with a stick shifter and a `green-screen' monochrome CRT. It was simple, repetitive, but one of a kind, and it easily devoured a summer's worth of paper route profits. Next came Pole Position, in glorious 8 bit color ("Prepare to Qualify!"), and later when PCs became commonplace, I fell in love with Papyrus' DOS classic, IndyCar Racing. I have since driven dozens more.

And it has been an interesting ride. . .the past couple of decades have seen the masterpiece Gran Prix Legends, as well as Microsoft's unspeakable CART Precision Racing, and everything in between. The world of the virtual driver has certainly been an uneven road, as publishers struggled to find the proper balance between the realism of a true sim, and the mindless bling of a modern arcade racer.

In GT Legends, Simbin has succeeding in combining elements from both ends of the spectrum, and the result is an almost perfect driving game, which should offer something for every wheel-equipped gamer.

THE EXPERIENCE

Although GTL is not the first historical racing title, I must say that Simbin's attention to the stylistic trappings of the late 60s and early 70s goes beyond any racing game I have ever seen. In the first screen of the game, in which the player enters the name of his or her profile, these immersive details quickly take hold. In the screen shot below, check out that old school font, and the pastel blue & orange made famous by Gulf Racing! Throughout this and the various other menu screens of the game, Simbin have also added some truly raucous and trippy tunes to solidify the historical feel (I am reminded of the first time I loaded BattleField VietNam, and was greeted by Jefferson Airplane's `Go Ask Alice' - a classic moment). Granted, this kind of thing doesn't require any kind of programming genius, but it does reflect the spectacular attention to detail that Simbin lavishes on this title.

The game is modeled after FIA-GTC racing, a popular vintage racing series in Europe. Although the cars are old, the settings are not, and you night feel like you are in a bit of a time warp sitting in your 1965 Shelby GT350, while the LCD screen of the lap timer ticks away on the dash. The courses are modern as well, and you will drive on many dedicated road courses that were not in existence in the 60's, and others, such as the Nurburgring, which have been entirely reconfigured since these cars had their heyday.

Ah yes, the cars. I scarcely know where to begin. . .for someone who has traveled hours for glimpses of some of the machines represented in GTL, to see them recreated in such painstaking detail is a real treat. Check out the screenies on this page, and behold the suspension of the 914-6, the brake calipers, even the red towing eye. And when you turn on the motor, the sounds are truly awesome. From the strained whirring of the tiny Cooper inline four, to the raspy roar of the Shelby-modified Ford small block, each car has a carefully crafted sound, each unique, and each as stunning as virtual car you are sitting in. The GT40, 911RSR, Shelby Daytona Coupe, and AC Cobra are just a few of the beasts you will unleash.

Each model also has unique strengths and weaknesses, which actually reflects favorably on Simbin's choices for the cars represented in the game. Few models share handling characteristics, which creates a great variety in driving experience as you switch from car to car. In tighter courses, the underpowered Mini Cooper is dominant, sliding past the American V8 machines as their suspensions struggle through the tight bends. However, driving a Cooper on a course with any kind of long straightaway will leave you yearning for a few more cylinders as Mustangs and Corvettes blast past you like you're pulling an anchor.

Again, Simbin triumphs in its attention to detail as the old racers react in very realistic fashion. The chassis gently rocks back and forth on the starting grid as you rev your motor, and during the race, the observant driver will notice the bumper of the car in the rear view mirror dropping slightly between gears, and the back of the car in front rising under hard braking as the rear suspension unloads. If you are accustomed to driving on radial tires, as most of us are, the "vintage" bias ply rubber takes some getting used to as well. Instead of progressively breaking loose like a radial, when these old dogs let go, they let go completely, and the driver better hope for plenty of room to scrub off speed and get them hooked up again before sliding off course or into a wall. And those tires and brakes can wear out, too. You have to drive them as a limited asset, because driving hard through every corner for an entire race will leave you out of traction at the end, and too much hard braking will leave the binders faded away to nothing, usually when you need them the most.

CUP CHALLENGE

Cup challenge is the `career mode' of GT Legends, and it is the added ingredient that transforms the game from a simple update to GTR (which would have been excellent) into an instant classic. Similarly to the Need for Speed series, "Porsche Unleashed" in particular, the player must progress through a series of races to unlock faster cars and bigger courses. The cars used in these races are doled out in rough historical progression, starting with 60's GT and Touring cars, and moving on to the early 70's. For those who like to say they have "beaten" a game, this is the mode for you, but don't expect your conquest to be over in a few hours. The final contest of the 60's era includes 8 lap races on 6 road courses, one of which is Spa, where a quick lap is a little shy of 3 minutes, so completing just that part of the challenge will take almost a half an hour! Unless, of course, you go too hot into Turn One. . .then its back to the starting gate.

This is an excellent design decision, as the "Cup Challenge" is the icing on an already outstanding game. There is something very rewarding about completing a challenge, and having an opportunity to use your winnings to buy a new ride, or even be awarded a free one for your efforts. Simply driving race after race can get monotonous, and this model adds goals to the game which undoubtedly will make it more interesting to a broader audience

TUNING & A.I.

Like many games before it, GT Legends allows some fine tuning of components, as pictured in the screenie above. The options are straight forward, which is sure to disappoint some, but there are enough settings to start learning race car setup. I for one am thankful for the easy interface and simple options here - for me, a driving game is about driving, and I would prefer to leave engineering to the engineers!

Machine AI in this title is fairly solid, but like any attempt at endowing silicon with human skills and faults, it has some glitches which are easy to nitpick. There are five difficulty settings, from novice to Pro, and my first complaint is the massive gap between Amateur (the middle setting) and Semi-Pro. Notwithstanding a big crash, I found Amateur was easily dominated. I typically skipped qualifying, started last on the grid, and came in first. On Semi-Pro, I qualified in the lower 50%, and found it very difficult to crack the podium. Perhaps a "Driver Strength" setting as a percentage, as found in many games, would correct this issue.

A.I. behaviors, though, were fairly solid as I said. A.I. drivers get in one-car wrecks and wrecks with one another, and generally drive solid lines, but in the places where they didn't choose good lines, ALL the A.I. cars followed the same poor track, which was a bit odd and broke the realism a bit. Another A.I. glitch involved protection of inside passing lanes. . .sometimes your computer opponents would blithely watch as you late braked them deep into a corner to pass, and at other times they would erratically move in to cover the early apex, often running into you in the process. This was more than a little annoying, and made me wish for a virtual paddock where I could go after the race and thump the offending driver!

GRAPHICS

Graphics in this game are fairly demanding, and there were occasions when my high end rig (PIV 3.4 EE, X850XT/PE) was close to bogging down at 16x12 with AA enabled. However, GTL does provide a separate setup applet, which allows the user to switch from DX9 to DX7 rendering, which would give lower end machines the boost they need to enjoy the game.

As I have said, the level of detail in this game is fantastic. The cars are absolutely gorgeous, and if you choose the "cockpit" view while driving, you can enjoy highly detailed interiors as well. The clouds and lighting effects are top rate, and you will be amazed at the changes in light and growing shadows as the sun actually gets lower during a late afternoon race! There doesn't appear to be any bad weather racing, but there are night events with some pretty cool head and tail light effects. One word of warning though, if you insist on the console-esque level of bling found in "NFS:Most Wanted", you are bound to be disappointed. The graphics engine itself, while good at rendering what is asked of it by this title, looks a bit dated in comparison.

CONCLUSION

Simbin made some excellent choices with this title. Sure, they could have simply updated their very solid GTR with vintage cars, and called it good, and it certainly would have been good, with outstanding graphics, physics, and drivability. Instead, what they have done is taken elements from previous games, and very effectively integrated them into GTL to make it even better. Take the historical feel of Gran Prix Legends, and get rid of the astronomical difficulty level. Take the complex tuning options of Richard Burns Rally, and hone them down to the essentials, with adjustments a player might make on their own car. Take the rewarding adventure of progressing though NFS: Porsche Unleashed, buying better cars and unlocking wilder tracks, but retool it with a realistic physics engine and better competition.

What is the result? GT Legends, simply the best driving game ever written.

Great Game - Dislike Career Mode - Try rFactor for Multiplayer

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: February 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Simbin has taken the next version of its engine and done a fine job recreating the historical FIA class with scarry detail. My only problem is the forced career mode and lack of mod around it. I had to use the readily available cheat (bhmotorsports.com, rscnet.org or autosimsport.com) to blank out all competitors at the start in order to gain all cars/tracks/cash. A one day hassle, but it should not be the case and Simbin should have stuck with the GTR approach. Multiplayer is light, although that may be due to the fact that I've owned the UK version since November and there haven't been alot of American's who owned the game and the UK folks were asleep! So I hope this changes because the multiplayer code seems solid and the Single Class structure should produce some fine races. It is nowhere near the ease of use as rFactor (rfactor.net) and the moddability of rFactor is second to none. Simbin have put a chastity belt around this game and with the exception of paints and sorry track mods, this won't offer the full-fledged "new game every two weeks" that rFactor offers you. But if you want to race this list of cars on supremely detailed tracks, this is an absolute winner.

beware of Starforce copy protection

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: May 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Do yourself a favor and do an online search for "Starforce copy protection" before you install this game on your PC. Also, there's an earlier review that gives a lot of the same information you can go find yourself. Bottom line: this game will install drivers on your PC (without asking or telling you) that interfere with your own legitimate use of your own devices. Further, uninstalling the game won't remove them. They open up big security holes too. Nasty stuff. Think twice.

StarForce

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 19
Date: February 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game will download StarForce drivers (Made in Russia)

Starforce might have damaged your PC. What's more, you should join the boycott of any game that comes with this malicious software onboard.

For example, here's one of the common problems brought by Starforce: under Windows XP, if packets are lost during the reading or writing of a disk, XP interprets this as an error and steps the IDE speed down. Eventually it will revert to 16bit compatibility mode rendering a CD/DVD writer virtually unusable. In some circumstances certain drives cannot cope with this mode and it results in physical hardware failure (Most commonly in multiformat CD/DVD writer drives). A sure sign of this step down occurring is that the burn speeds will get slower and slower (no matter what speed you select to burn at). Starforce, on a regular basis, triggers this silent step down. Until it reaches the latter stages most people do not even realise it is happening.
Moreover, the Starforce drivers, installed on your system, grant ring 0 (system level) privileges to any code under the ring 3 (user level) privileges. Thus, any virus or trojan can get OS privileges and totally control your system. Since Windows 2000, the Windows line security and stability got enhanced by separating those privileges, but with the Starforce drivers, the old system holes and instabilities are back and any program (or virus) can reach the core of your system by using the Starforce drivers as a backdoor.

Simbin have another winner!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

What fun! Driving some of the greatest muscle machines and imports to ever grace a track, GT Legends lets you do it with a more forgiving physics model as compared to their previous simulation GTR (although not too different). If your not a full gearhead, you can also set up your cars mechanics with a slider instead of having to adjust each and every part of your vehicle (even though fine tuning the vehicle will help - which you can still do). The Graphics are a step up from GTR, with improved visuals in much every department (lighting, shaders, etc), and the sounds of the vehicles are top notch - digitally captured from the real vehicles! The damage modelling is still a little strange, and pieces of your vehicle could come off and start rotating on the ground (or a few feet above the ground) for no reason. Every car is different and all respond differently, so you'll have to adjust accordingly - especially on full simulation, since its not like the Xbox arcade games where acceleration equals all out stomping the gas pedal, whereas in this game you'll be scraping yourself off of a wall for doing so in most situations (on full simulation). You will need a steering wheel and a clutch/shifter is a good investment if your going for full-out realism. Overall, if your a road course warrior looking for a fantastic computer simulation, what are you waiting for? If your an arcade racer, this game would be worth having (since it can be played on easier settings), but the XBOX 360's PGR3 or the like might suit you better. Bracketman@gmail.com

the best game of its type...EVER!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

if what you want is a geniune sense of 60's and 70's gt cars, on quaint yet modern tracks....if you want incredible graphics, if you want a variable scale of skill level...you just can't beat this game. get the MOMO wheel...start at the level you are comfortable with and go through the whole career mode...then do it again at the next level. you get tons of racing excitement and surprisingly good AI. But the feel of the cars, the sounds of the cars...the graphics...are amazing!!
also, regarding those comments about Starforce (locking up etc)...simply install the patch and it instantly clears it up (patch on the gt legends website).

don't pass this up!

A top notch racing game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

At last, a company that can put out serious racing games like the now-defunct Papyrus (Grand Prix Legends, Nascar Racing 2003). This game and GTR, also put out by SimBin, will keep PC gearheads busy with endless tweaking abilities, online racing and endless challenges that never get old. It is also easy to get into as a novice in the rookie mode, while the Papyrus games had a punishing learning curve. Heck, my 6 year old loves this game! I though I wound never see a good PC racing game again, seeing that they will never be "blockbusters" like Doom, etc. and make loads of money.

I too was concerned with the "Starforce" copy protection, but, after 3 months of use, I have had no hardware/software problems, although I hate swapping discs in and out of the CD drive. I can't find a no CD patch for this one.

My rig runs this nicely at 12x7, 32 bit, 2x antialiasing. DX9 mode.

3ghz P4, nvidia 6600GT (128MB video ram) 1 ghz ram.

GT Legends

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I found GT Legends to be a very realistic game. Plenty of user controlled variables. Tracks, at least the ones I could get to, were well represented and realistic. While I found the graphics quality good, the overall presentation was somewhat plain. I would have expected a little more "punch" to the visual representation of the tracks.

I was quit disappointed with the fact that so few tracks are available at the start. I am a firm believer that if I paid for the whole game I should have access to the whole game no matter what my skill level. This idea of having to find cheat codes to play the whole game is a bunch of bull. Finally, 3 CD'S is a hassle why not a DVD option.

Great fun in the vintage cars

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: April 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have GTR also, and it runs much better on my system than GTL does. With GTL they have raised the bar as far as system requirements. The old 128mb on video no longer will do the job..

I think it's just fine as long as I set up the races myself and limit the number of Ai to about 8-10 (MOST tracks) but if you run the "Challenges" (which you need to do to make money to buy cars and unlock tracks) it is written to include as many as 23 Ai in some of them and the FPS can drop out the bottom when you need it the least.

Yes, GT"R" will have some stutter now and then, but nothing like GT"L" is doing on the same PC. AND, with everything turned down too..

Even worse.. FPS swing from 80 to 10 while you're in a Challenge making it very hard to even finish a race let alone WIN.

I'll admit, my video card is a couple of years old now (ATI 9800 pro) but I really thought it would run as well as GTR.

Just fine if you limit Ai and graphics,(when outside Challenges) lots of fun with retro cars.

Running on a P4 3ghz, 1024mb 400 Crucial-3200 ram, ATI 9800 Pro AIW,

GTL Will make a great sim for my NEXT system I guess.

Update:
5% CPU overclocking helped a bunch with smoothness.. but still has some slow downs now and then. I'm sure latest video card would do wonders for it.

Update 2;

Pulled out the ATI 9800 pro and installed a GeForce 7600 GS OC 512mb card & doubled the RAM to 2GB
Just what it needed ! Runs well with lots of detail..

Would move it to 4 stars now if I could..

do have plenty of time?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: March 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I love GTR, its awsome and I still play it, even after buying GTL. GTL has nice graphics and sound and the simulation feels good (but a 65 mustang is VERY different than a Saleen GT car), just like GTR.

So why do I play GTR then? Because GLT requires you to unlock cars and tracks, like most silly console games. Being a "gearhead" myself I barely have enough time to play games at all, so spending hours to unlock the features isnt an option. When you start the game, you have access to about 3/90 cars. I emailed SimBin about this, but like other reviewers, have received no responce.

Who in SimBin's marketing department thought that race car simulation players (who adjust spring rates and torsion settings for FUN) want "leveling" in thier games?!?

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