Start your engines!
If you’re into your racing games and have had a PC a while you’ll very probably have played the original TOCA games. It has to be said that these were the pinnacle of Touring Car racing on the PC. The car handling, the AI, the physics and damage modelling all came together in the original TOCA to give simply the most realistic racing game on the PC for it’s time. If you had yourself a wheel and pedals you were in for a treat with so much more to think about than just coming first, with having to nurse your car through the races so you didn’t fry the tyres or melt the brakes as well as the tactics of when to push for the front and all the other decisions drivers have to make in a race. Simply put, TOCA, and its sequel TOCA 2, were superb.
The series then took a bit of a dip with Race Driver. This was pretty much an unbadged TOCA with a storyline thrown in. In trying to make a more engaging game the Codies took the series down a more ‘arcade’ path which many found not to their liking. Things improved a bit with Race Driver 2 but by then the likes of GTR were around letting racers drift Cobras and the like in an ultra-realistic simulation. So now TOCA Race Driver 3 is here, representing an amalgam of TOCA’s racing class and Race Driver’s storyline gumph… but can the two exist together and still give a decent game? First off, for those that enjoyed Race Driver, there’s still a structured progression tree with loads of cutscenes in which your hugely Scottish accented mechanic talks you through what’s going on. But for the gamer looking to just get in a car and drive, you can skip these, use the progression tree to unlock new cars and then focus on events that you’re into, so both sides are catered for.
Click for larger imageIn fact, it’s a good idea to play the tree through until you’ve had a go at all the styles of racing on offer as you might well come across a race type you’ve never played before and find it perfect for you. Speaking of race types or styles, TOCA Race Driver 3 can very likely lay claim to be the most comprehensive racing game so far. Everything is covered, and by everything, I mean just about every type of racing short of American tractor pulls… if it’s on four wheels, then TOCA Race Driver 3 does it. Oh, hang on, there’s the truck racing, so make that 6 wheels… well, you know what I mean.
In fact the sheer number or races and events, as well as cars, trucks and buggies to scoot around in, is near-mind boggling. As we’ve said before, there’s 35 different race types to choose from covering British GT (BGTC), Muscle Cars, V8 Supercars, DTM, Monster Trucks, Baja Motocross, Formula Palmer Audi, Historic Grand Prix, Touring Sports Cars and Formula 3 to name just a few. But 35 different race types means you’ve also got a huge number of events to compete in… over 100 in fact covering everything from home-spun championships for the BGTC through to Germany’s DTM and Australia’s V8 Supercars which you can race on over 40 championship circuits. So there’s more than enough variety here to keep anyone interested.
