http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/xbox-360/2009/03/07/simbin-race-pro/1 Swedish developer SimBin is headed by an ex-racing driver and is known for its hardcore PC driving simulators such as GTR 2. It's now released Race Pro, an Xbox 360 only driving game. Can it successfully bring the challenge and realism of a sim to the console?
i was hoping you'd do a review of this.. shame it isn't as good as it could have been, i was expecting something like gtr/gtl .. someone needs to port rfactor over to the x360
Looks like Live for Speed. I still waiting for a MMO Racing game, maybe we'll see it on the next NFS, maybe...
No mention of the really awful frame rates then? I had this, and sold it a week later. Terrible. Get GTR Evolution on the PC - it's the same game, but with more cars, and better (i.e. working) online play. It also means you dont have to use the awful 360 wheel, too.
No music is a negative? First thing to go when I'm playing a driving game is the d**khead wanking on about his homies and hoes. If I hear Nickelback's latest "opus" I tend to wanna blow my head off. In-car music is for GTA and its clones, and other arcade driving games, not simulators. Scalable handling/driver assist settings and difficulty is a negative? Not everyone is a Grand Prix pro and a driving game more than most genres needs to be easily accessible by all players. Most players don't care about the nuts-n-bolts handling side, despite the fact this game is obviously aimed at more hands-on driving fans. The fact that there are options you can turn on and off is a positive. So the author's negative point here is "The game starts off pretty easy, but you can make it harder". No ****! Have you ever played a game before? These are pretty stupid points to make (or at least made poorly), but the rest of the review was good and I think I have an accurate picture of the game. As I don't have an XB360, I'll stick with GRID for a while.
Alex, I've seen other people complain about frame-rate issues, but the whole time I've been playing it, I've not experienced *any*... weird, wonder if the press disc is different to the retail one?!? Sure, I agree that during the game, if it's a sim, you don't want cheesy rock playing - but having a bit of music (even if it's bland, non-licensed stuff) during replays, results, menus etc does help a game feel more polished. I put that in the review more as a way of indicating that you if you buy Race Pro, you shouldn't expect it to be the kind of experience Forza 2 or GRID is in terms of slickness of presentation. As for the difficulty levels thing, it's not that it starts off easy that's the problem, it's the fact it's far too easy so as to be boring - my point is that the driving model only comes alive when you take off the driving aids. This is something that isn't true of Forza or GRID - both of those are fun on the easy levels as well as on the hard. Race Pro is only worth getting if you're going to play it with the driver aids on Low or Off.
I was expecting something, but GRID looks better than this, and not to mention that it's also for the 360.
I'm a sucker for racing games that make achieving even one near perfect fast lap feel like a huge achievement. Simbin Fills that niche for me at the moment, a Grand Prix Legends once did (and still from time to time does, I still think it has yet to be beaten in pure gameplay terms). However, I'm not sure that games like this will ever be very popular or successful on a console. True sims just don't seem to work on consoles.
Been a fan of SimBin/ Blimey/ ISI games for a while on PC, racing online a lot before. I was intruiged at what a SimBin console effort would be like. I reckon they've done extremely well, creating an accessible game that you can play with a pad but that still has the depth in terms of actually racing. Of course its nowhere near something like GRID in terms of presentation. And that will instantly put off a lot of people. But you can tweak Race Pro to be a very involving racer. Once I've completed the career mode (which can be a slight chore unfortunately), I'll probably spend a lot of time playing around in the Championship, Time Trial and Multiplayer modes with some of the faster cars. Would rate the game an 8, and dont regret spending the £40 on it! (Damn console games! :s) Although I'll go back to GTR, netKar and rFactor on PC for something more full on every so often. My next console racing interest would be Need for Speed SHIFT because it is being developed by Slightly Mad Studios aka Blimey!Games (who worked on the GTR games with SimBin). I've heard good reports so far, including a very novel way of presenting a car crash - where with the use of physics, violent in-car movement, motion blur and postprocessing they've created a jarringly realistic effect of crashing your Porsche GT3RS at 120mph, that you'll actively want to avoid out of fear!
yea nfs shift sounds good was abit peed off with race pro but i will stick with it and complete the career mode and move on doesnt hold the same for me as GRID ,although the cars do feel more realistic in there handling
