GT Legends Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)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,...Read more›

Click Here to see more reviews about: GT Legends

Product Description:
Feel the excitement of Golden Age of Motor Sport Racing! Experience world class racing series driving the legendary cars of the 60's and 70's.Collect and enjoy more than 90 original FIA GTC-TC team vehicles and demonstrate your driving skill on the world's most famous racetracks in this spectacular car racing simulation game.

Get 50% OFF

Want to buy GT Legends at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below: