Another review......

After a lot of hype, a lot of talk, the potential of a Forza killer we look at one of the most anticipated racers this year and to be quite honest.  It is something very special indeed.
After 2 years of Forza 2 and a lot of broken dreams and promises about other must have racers, Simbin and Atari unleash a beast on the gaming world with the only, I feel, pure racing sim on the market.  Simbin, have, for years now been the leader in PC racing games with titles including Race 07 and the GTR series leading the way and getting gamers setting up their G25 wheels, virtual cockpits and geeking out in the best possible way.  So how does Race Pro, Simbin's first console racer, convert?

Firstly, you will have to ditch the Forza mentality as this will hold you back from what this game is about.  Gone are the buy cars for credit, build them up with extra parts, tune them to within an inch of your life and then kicking out the back end to get around certain bends.  Race Pro is as real as you will get in a console racer to date and because of this will put man, machine and tune against each other in the purest possible way.

For those of you who are reading this and thinking "I will never be able to play this, it will be too hard", well fear not.  Race Pro has been designed also for the beginner in mind with enough leeway to be able to progress through the campaign and build your confidence and skill levels up.  The campaign itself requires you to race for teams by contracting yourself to them.  There are 33 contracts in total and offers a variety of cars and tracks to race and allows you to move on a subtle learning curve with the races and length increasing in difficulty as you progress.

The menu system is also basic but very easy to navigate and includes Campaign, single race , championship, hot seat, time trials and multiplayer.  There is more than enough for you to do in single player if you start to tire from the campaign.  Single races allow you to race cars you have unlocked in the campaign and put your racing skills up against the games AI with a whole host of options to challenge you. Alternatively, go through a championship over a series of races in a class of your choice.

The game itself really does come alive though when you are at a level where you can switch off all the assists.  This may scare a lot of people but due to Simbin's award winning physics engine it is a lot more responsive and more like driving the car for real than what Forza could pull off.  The absence of the ABS assist , for instance, will allow for fast braking without the car locking up immediately which i found to be a real problem with Forza 2.  Basically, get the assists off and you will find that the car will immediately handle better if you are brave and confident enough to go with it.  Every little detail in the physics engine is designed for you to get a feel of what it is really like to drive the cars around a circuit.  My first assault on Brands Hatch in a Caterham was an experience in itself.  As you can imagine, each car will handle in its own individual way and jumping out of a mini and into the Caterham presented its own little set of problems for a few minutes as I adjusted to the car's handling.

The build of the tracks also seem spot on and the way the tracks have been built let you feel every single bump and camber as you car fights for grip after being thrown off line from getting on the throttle too quick on a corner where you need to be a little more gentle.  Everything about the way you drive has been looked at and you will find many a fine detail that has been put in which gives you an immersion into Race Pro that has not been seen before.

The multiplayer element of this game is what will give Race Pro longevity with the option to go head to head with up to 12 drivers in ranked or player matches.  The lobby system itself is an evolution in itself where you can jump into a game and whilst waiting for other players to join allows you to set up your car, do a few hot laps and even check on other drivers times and their laps through a camera system which allows you to change camera angles to see your competitors attempts at hot laps.  No more waiting around for people and just having a chat.  Now you can be pro-active whilst waiting to start the race.

Graphically, this may not look as good as its competitors but this should not decide for you whether to purchase the game or not.  Yeah, there may be the odd drop in framerate and the odd tear but nothing so serious that it would affect your experience at all and can be forgiven for the amount of information the 360 has to process to get the feel of the car right.  Other games like GT 5 and Grid may look pretty but they have nowhere near the handling prowess this game has and for that all the pretty frills that other games have get washed away pretty quickly.

I only have a few niggles and one being the lack of tracks that come out of the box.  13 in all but I believe there will be some DLC very soon which will address this problem.  Also, they could have done something a little more with the fuelling like allowing you to decide the amount of fuel to go in during a stop.  As I said before, these are minor niggles but the amount of cars, the track design, physics engine, handling and pure immersion into this game always will win you over.

Overall, this is the most solid racer out there and Simbin have raised the bar to a whole new level in console racing.  Everything about this game is far more advanced than its predecessors and I am just hoping that gamers will understand what has been laid out in front of them and embrace it for all it is worth.  As a testament to how good this game is, I have been spending the last few days playing it whilst trying to write this review.  My problem has been that I have gone to the game for a little information and spent the next few hours playing it instead of writing this.
Race Pro Review (Simbin, Atari) - 360

Graphics - 8 - Not as polished as its competitors but gives a very good account of itself, especially in the cockpit view.

Mulitplayer - 10 - The way the lobby system is setup deserves top marks in itself but the fact that this offers a 12 player online experience with qualifying etc gives this total justification in the score

Sound - 9 - The sound on this is again incredible.  Real engine noises and effects make this for a more engaging experience.

Longevity - 9 - There is so much to do from campaign to multiplayer in all its formats that you will be playing this forever.  I really hope Simbin deliver on its DLC as this will keep that competitive streak going.

Overall - 9 - The new benchmark in console racing games.  Although more basic this game delivers an experience that will be very hard to beat for a long time.