- As good as racing gets on the DC . . .This isn't the perfect racing game. It does have an arcadey feel at times, cars tend to bounce off you like dodgeballs, the selection of tracks leaves quite a bit to be desired, there is no rearview mirror, and considering the enormous historical range of cars that have raced Le Mans, the selection here is almost inexcusable.
That said, this is arguably as good as racing gets on the Dreamcast, and in some ways, is equal or better than what you get in GT 3. In racing games, where good graphics make for easier driving and better playability, the graphics are exceptional. The variable weather and night driving are done especially well, feels natural, and actually adds something to the experience. Minus the car collisions, the physics engine is consistent, predictable, and is comparable to that in the Gran Turismo series. Add in that you can race against no less than 24 (reasonably intelligent) computer opponents simultaneously, and can drive the actual 24 hours of Le Mans in real time (that's right, 24 actual PLAYED hours, one race, with realtime pit stops, changing weather, and night driving), and you have a definite winner.
As for the negatives . . .
1. Any decent driving game needs a rearview mirror. You need to be able to block your opponents as they drive up behind you or to just get out of their way. That's part of racing.
2. The game offers three levels of difficulty. The first offers automatic braking and easy computer competition. The second offers traction control, some braking assistance, and average computer competition. The third level offers no driver assistance and hard computer competition. Why they didn't allow you to toggle the amount of driver assistance AND the difficulty of the computer competition SEPERATELY is beyond me. It's a big enough jump from medium to hard level that it almost feels like a different game.
3. In medium difficulty level, you can bounce other cars off the road fairly easily. The other cars seem to have little or no weight. In the hard level, YOUR car will ALSO bounce off the road fairly easily. Since the computers tend to want to drive THROUGH you at times, count on ending up in the dirt on a regular basis.
4. More tracks. Le Mans, Catalunya, and Suzuka are all outstanding, historically significant tracks. Donnington, Brno, and the alternate versions of Le Mans, Catalunya, and Suzuka are all fine, but that's not nearly enough for a game with such huge aspirations. Where are Sebring, Road Atlanta, Daytona (the road racing track), Laguna Seca, and Spa?
5. More cars. Porche, arguably the most dominant marque at Le Mans, is never represented in actual name, and when they do appear, it's only as a 911. Neither is Ferrari, but that's par for most racing games. There's a heavy emphasis on late model Le Mans cars, which means Audi, BMW, Toyota, Nissan, Panoz, and then Dodge Vipers and Porche 911's in the GT class. That they included the Peugeot 905, Mercedes Sauber C9, Mercedes CLK-LM, Lancia LC2, Jaguar XJR9 LM as winnable cars shows that they knew better.
6. That crazy Le Mans race: You can't save unless you've pitted, which means at least an hour and a half between stops in the full 24 hour race. Also, you can't race the GT class cars against other GT class cars: you race against ALL competition, which means getting blown away by the prototypes and finishing well out of the running.
That said, these are smallish gripes that merely show the game is flawed. It's not perfect, but at its best, it is insanely fun. With 24 cars on the screen at a time, great physics, and realtime racing at Le Mans, there isn't much of anything like it on the Dreamcast. As a racing junkie, simply blasting down the Mulsanne Straight at 3:00 am in a Toyota GT1 and finally inching past the lead car I had been chasing for the last four hours was as close to heaven as I've ever gotten in a car game.
- 