NZFF

As a late Xmas present,(yesterday) I got GTR2, a PC Racing simulator made by SimBin. It was awarded top racing game for 2006 in many websites, and when I opened the box, I wasnt really interested, and I thought, just another game to play once, and then put on the shelf.

GTR2, I found, really is a "simulator", and rubs Gran Turismo's "Real Driving Simulator" moto into the mud, and then spits on it. Seriously, this game is truly amazing. It features
-a full 3d virtual cockpit on all cars included, and downloadable cars are also available
-Excellent real world virtual race tracks, with full trackside animations, rain reflections
-Detailed car damage, including driving in the sand and stuffing the tyres and suspension
-headlights which can be turned on and off
-car horns
-working windscreen wipers
-rain effects on windscreen
-detailed wheels, and glowing brakes after driving
-amazing graphics
-changing weather, time of day, temperature, and wind
-up to 38 people in 1 race
-a driving instructor at the pits, telling you what place youre coming, when you should pit, what is damaged on your car, etc.
-real fuel consumption
-extrodanarily amazing physics
-engine ignition. Engine can be stalled, if you dont apply enough accelerator. Engine can be roll started
-clutch
-brakes
-realistic AI
-Awesome sounding car engines

Just to mention a few

heres some shots I took, on the addon track (55mb download!) Nurburgring (German), in the Gillet Vertigo race car. This track also featured on Top Gear.

The car at the beginning of the race. As you can see, the practice race took place at dawn,


Half way through the course (which is about 20 minutes long), I lost control and said hello to a fence


A little further on, I managed to completely loose it, when it began to pour down with rain, and got my car stuck with its front bumber on the road, and the rear bumper lodged into the hill side, and the wheels off the ground



After being called by my manager, to tell me I had a puncture in my front left tyre, I found out what that meant....


As you can see, after my car re rolled over, the bonnet had gone, and my poor car was looking a bit trashed


Just look at the detail of the cockpit. As you can see, there is no bonnet left on the car


15 minutes into this supposed "race", I finally saw some people again!


And around the corner, heres the finish line. Notice, after getting a puncture, I had to turn the steering wheel slightly to keep it going in a straight line, another great feature of the game


Anddd, my car at the end of it all



So, for $50 or however much it cost, this certainly is an amazing game, and another good thing about it is, it works very well with my old MS Sidewinder 3dPro. Hope you enjoyed reading

Cheers
BB

if you're looking for some eye candy, then certainly GT2 is a good game
but for absolute realism, you can't go past live for speed
whilst LFS doesn't have all the exclusive licences of tracks and cars, it does have fantastic online action and hyper-realistic physics

I tried LFS before, but I never liked it because Im the sort of guy that likes to drive ferraris, and Lambo's, rather than made up cars on fictional tracks
The physics on GTR2 are very good though

I never really liked Gran Turismo 3 or 4, but this looks good as! I tried driving mums car today, I don't think I'm going to be a very good driver! Do you think that this could help me with driving?

I dont really like racing games, but we have a pretty good playerbase for this game and a private server in the forums at www.iconzarena.co.nz

I reckon it could but you would have to get a steering wheel and pedals, and configure your sensitivities to near realistic. I dont think there are any road cars released for it, only the racing ones
Worth a try i guess.

Well I guess it's better than wrecking mum's gearbox!

monkeybdg wrote: Do you think that this could help me with driving?

I have a steering wheel and pedals for LFS- when I got into a real car, I tend to use the indicator stem as a shift-up paddle. And not rotating the hands around the wheel when negotiating corners is an issue (since the game doesn't require big turns of the wheel)
So in short, such a game may in fact hinder your real life driving.

both my dad, sister and brother have said this game is realistic, and that I should buy a wheel. I tell them they should get me one and well-that doesnt work

It is realistic, but you cant compare it to real life driving.

Like flight simulator.

It is realistic, but you cant compare it to real life driving.

true...

Nice screenies. I'm used to be in to driving games heaps, and loved the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, RC Revenge, Monster Truck Madness, Colin MaCrae Rally 3 which I all had installed on my old PC along with my Logitech steering wheel system.

Latley I've played Grand Turismo 4 on my mates PS2 and tried to compleate the Nuerburgring in under 10 minutes (as seen on Topgear, one of my favourite shows, filmed at Dunsfold airport very near my old house in England), but failed. Things have got too advanced. The Battlegear where you pay $2 at the arcade to vs other humans is more my thing these days

Trolly wrote: I'm used to be in to driving games heaps, and loved the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

that one is easily the best in the series. i only wish that EA went back to that formula, rather than wasting time with this underground/carbon bizzo.

i had hp2 and i didnt like it much. Mainly because the cops always use the same tactics to spin you out

Loved the flaming barrels coming from the helicopter though

You've got me intrigued so I'm downloading the GTR2 demo now

You've got me intrigued so I'm downloading the GTR2 demo now

haha, Im already making a difference in the world...