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Graphics Card Makes the Difference

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After playing CRC 2005 on two different computers, I have the following observation: If you have an older video card, the game is not much fun. But if you have a recent generation card, the game is amazing! My current system includes Athlon 4000+, 2GB, and 256MB Radeon X850 XT. With all video options set to "highest" and a 1920x1200 resolution, motion was completely fluid. My older system is P4 1.8, 1GB, 128 MB NVidia Ti-200, and with all video options set to "low" it did not perform adequately. The difference in overall enjoyment between the two systems was dramatic. Having a high frame rate allows fine control of the car that is simply not possible when the frame rate drops too low. You can feel the accuracy of the physics modeling drive the car as you would a real vehicle. The multi-player "Capture-the-flag" was completely addictive.

My one complaint is that the announcer's voice seems a bit weak and unemotional. However, sound effects in general were good. If you are a fan of driving/racing (and have a new-gen video card), this game is a "must have."

So much potential......

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I found the demo of the game better than the full version.
To start with, the hardware requirements are STEEP. My machine: P4 3.2Ghz
1.5MB DDR400 RAM
180GB SATA HDD
ATI Radeon 9800 pro
Logitech MOMO racing wheel

I had the vid settings a 1024x768, and all available special effects OFF- frame rates would still drop below 20 on occasion - not a good thing when racing.

The physics of the cars themselves aren't too bad I think, but it's really tough to tell with no decent force feedback. You can feel the texure of the road, and a sort of 'heaviness' about the wheel, but no real feeling of grip on the road, or loss there of.

The environment is another story. The rule is, if you brush a solid object, you're likely gonna spin. Got a nice tail slide going through a long sweeper, and it looks like you're gonna go a little wide, maybe the tail of your car is going to brush a barn or somethin, well, your screwed. Doesn't matter if it's the front, or rear of the car that touches, the same thing happens.feels more like you drove the front corner of the car into a solid pole then a long flat wall.

Some will claim that this next complaint is just part of the game (as it IS warned about in the 'rules' section)but the AI is WAY too aggressive. Right off the starting line, someone is going to swerve to try and hit you, so hard that, if you manage to avoid them, they will likely put themselves into a spin. Every pass, by you or by an AI driver, is accompanied by an attempt to run you off the road. It's just stupid. And enraging. Over and over I found myself restarting the race because I drove headlong into a grandstand or some such due to the 'nudging' of my fellow drivers.

Complaints re sound: There is no volume option for your own engine vs that of the competitors. Your own engine often gets drowned out by the surrounding cars (often pinned out and needing to shift but not noticing as I can't hear it) The worst for this is the truck. For some reason the truck is a Diesel engine, redlines about 5000rpm, and it gets really quiet the harder it revs. All by yourself it's tough to know when to shift. Over all the engine sounds were disappointing.

Game progression: I bought he game primarly for the road racing, which was fully half of the demo. I'm about 30% through the game, and have not once raced an entire race on asphault.

In short, high system demands, poor force feedback, poor engine sounds/volume options, and insanely aggressive AI killed what could have been a fantastic game.

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