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Lotus Challenge Feature
Stephen Leyton
19/04/2003
Having already released the PS2 and Xbox versions gamers can now look forward to this superb PC edition.
Having already released the PS2 and Xbox versions of this top of the range speed seeking racing title gamers can now look forward to this superb PC version which is more than a mere port. Paul Chamberlain, producer at Kuju, one of the leading UK developers, who created and developed this concept, spoke with Derek dela Fuente about this highly polished game.
PC owners are in for a real treat, as this is a much-improved version of the game. Kuju took on board all the comments from the original reviews of the game and set about rectifying as many of the criticisms as they could to make the game an even better experience than it was before. The main thing you must consider is that Lotus Challenge it is NOT just a racing game. It encompasses ALL aspects of the driving experience - several of which have not appeared in a game before. You have everything in there: Racing with Vintage cars - Racing with Modern day sports cars - F1 Racing - Movie Stunts - Car Bowling - Car Chases, and much more. PC gamers can rest assured that two unique cars not featured in the original version of the game, more cars on track, improved AI, car handling, three new tracks with completely re-designed layouts, high resolution re-texturing of graphics and improved lighting, including real time headlights are just a few of the extra refinements added on to an already excellent game. In effect, if you are looking for a PC game that offers polished looks and inventive and well-executed code and ideas then look no further!
"The aim when creating Lotus was not to create 'just another racing game' but instead to create a game that encompassed the whole driving experience using one of the world's most exciting car manufacturers and their range of cars in as wide a spectrum of situations as we possibly could. (Whilst keeping a cohesive storyline to bring the whole game together.) Therefore as well as featuring 3 types of motor racing, with vintage, modern sports cars and F1 racing, the game also features stunt challenges such as bus jumps and movie stunts, car sports (football and bowling), car chases and much much more."
Getting the feel of speed is one of the hardest things to get right and something that Kuju spent a lot of time improving in Lotus Challenge from the original PS2 version to the current game. They have looked at all the other games out there and made sure that Lotus is at the front of the pack in its depiction of speed on screen.
There are 40 plus cars in the game and the amount of attention and detailed focused on them is really impressive. If you like cars then this game is a must have! There are the supercars, GT cars, roadsters, powerful saloons, old classics, Le Mans cars, Formula One cars, as well as loads of racing prototypes that you never see on the road but have a great racing history. "On top of all this, we have some concept cars that were specifically designed for the game by the Lotus design team. This gives a range of cars that almost no other games has. The secret to making them handle differently is a very realistic driving model. If your driving model is realistic and you enter in the actual values of the real cars, the handling will vary quite a bit between them. The types of things involved are wheelbase, torque power range, gear ratios, drag, tyre size and characteristics. I could go on for quite a while but I'm sure you get the idea! In our opinion the spirit of Lotus is driving on the edge and cars that handle exactly like you want them to. Lotus cars have always been about the driving experience and that's what we want our game to be about."
All of the cars have full body detection on them with real time damage featured. The cars will be dented as they would in real life, glass gets smashed, and parts get snapped off and if you hit the cars hard enough they may even end up losing wheels. This will affect the car handling in different ways. In easy mode, the damage is just visual, with little effect on the handling. On medium difficulty the car will be affected but it will not be possible to have a catastrophic crash. In hard mode it will be possible to 'kill' the car as well as damage it to the point where it affects the driving model. An example of the effect the damage will have is that if you lose a wing or a spoiler your down-force will be reduced and you will need to brake more to get round corners. This is very noticeable in the game.
The premise and options behind the game offer endless hours of engrossing and challenge gameplay as was explained: "The Challenge mode is the main game mode. In this you drive for the 'Lotus Challenge Team', which not only drives in races but also gets called in to do film and advert stunts, as well as special car related events. For example, one day you may be driving in a race and the next day taking part in a game of car football and the day after that doing the car stunts for an action movie. This should give the player an immense amount of variation in terms of driving experiences. There are 30 levels to the Challenge mode but you can play it through with 2 different drivers with some of the missions being different depending on the driver you selected, giving a total of 36+ missions. As well as this there are the standard Championship modes and Arcade modes that are necessary in any driving game.ā
The one question most will be asking, with so many splendid cars on offers is there a ārealā disernable difference between them all? "There is a massive difference in the feel of the cars that you can drive in Lotus Challenge. The reason being that the game features such a wide range of cars from 1950s and 60s cars through to modern day F1 cars. This means that depending on what kind of race you enter you can have a completely different race on the same track! With each different class of car giving very much it's own race. As mentioned earlier, Kuju endeavoured to make each car feel as close to the real thing as possible by bringing in actual Lotus Test Drivers to test the driving models for each of the different cars. As well as this the team actually went to Hethel (Lotus's test track) to try the cars for themselves."
Kuju appear to have covered every area and the fact that so many ideas have been implemented from racing to stunt maneuvers does not mean the game is weaker to ensure variety. Kujuās expertise looks like it will provide PC gamers with the definitive version of Lotus challenge!
