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TOCA Race Driver 3 - Hands On Preview

Jon Wilcox

10/01/2006

TVG test drives Codemasters' third instalment of the Race Driver series...

It has to said that there's never a shortage of racing games on the market: new iterations of Gran Turismo, Forza, PGR and PC racers including GTR have all been released in the past year showing that the genre is just as popular as ever. In recent years however there's been one series that despite a seemingly saturated market, has carved a place for itself: TOCA Race Driver. Though the original TOCA series goes as far back as the late 1990s, the franchise has in recent years been released as "TOCA Race Driver" and has expanded to include a variety of vehicles from Formula Ford, Williams F1, Racing trucks, and of course TOCA Touring Cars, bringing with it a vehicular range rarely seen anywhere else in the genre. Set for release at the end of February on Xbox, PlayStation2 and PC, we took the latest incarnation of the franchise, TOCA Race Driver 3, for a test drive and checked out the tweaks, alterations, and additions made to the series.

Split into several sections: World Tour, Pro Career, and Simulation Mode, TOCA 3 has plenty of challenges to be had right from the get go with a 32-tier World Tour that sees gamers hop from championship to championship racing in dozens of racing genres. This is very much a solid branch of gameplay with a wide selection of races to perform in, together with the ability to choose a different championship to participate in if things don't go quite to plan. Taking such an eclectic route to the top where dirt buggies follow GT championships may be one thing, but TOCA also features a Pro Career mode that charts a driver's progress through a more linear and traditional route to the top. After selecting one race genre from a large handful of options (such as Classics, Open Wheel, etc) players have to work their way to the top. For example, the Open Wheel genre will see gamers begin their journey in European Karts before progressing through to Formula Ford, Formula 3 and ultimately to Williams F1. Such a route has been taken by many in the real-world of Formula 1 and something that hasn't been seen in videogames to this extent before; as such, it means that players should experience a true feeling of progression - if Codies do it right, which so far at least, they seem to have done. In short, TOCA appeals to two different sets of fans: one that enjoys the story-driven experience and the other that wants to feel a realistic sense of skill progression.

For those wanting to tinker around with the cars on show in the game, TOCA 3 implements extensive tuning options, with the Simulation mode also allowing for upgrades to be made. Pretty much every aspect of the cars can be changed from the introduction of induction kits, brake kits, cams, clutches, electronics, and engine tuning through to roll cages, seats, suspension kits, tyres, and wheels, leaving very little else off the table. Very much a secondary tier mode compared to the main World Tour option, especially since it relies on gamers unlocking further racing genres through the WT mode, one question remains after playing the Simulation Mode in its current state: why is it called the Simulation Mode if the game already is a simulator? During our experience it didn't seem to bring anything more realistic than that main game itself...

One of the true characters of the TOCA Race Driver series has been Scottish team manager Rick, who wasn't afraid to let you know how well you really raced (for good or for bad), and it comes as little surprise to discover that he returns in TOCA 3. In the previous TOCA title, Rick was hounded and harassed by a new team promoter though it seems in this build at least such a soap opera storyline appears to have been largely dropped by the develop, instead deciding to focus more on the player's driver than any pit lane politics (though rivalries still abound in the game). At least Rick adds a certain amount of personality to the game, especially since racing titles can seem impersonal at times...

As we said at the start, TOCA is known for its wide range of vehicle types to race, and as ever TOCA Race Driver 3 has continued to add to that list so that it now includes over thirty-five different racing genres (more than double the number of TOCA 2) across over one hundred championships. An impressive list with categories stretching across the world of four wheel motorsport from the Open-Wheel championships of the Euro Karts, Formula Ford, Formula 3, and BMW Williams Challenge to Touring Car championships, Oval Races including the Indy Car series, Classic Championships such as the 1930s Vintage Grand Prix and the 1960s Grand Prix, Off Road and Rallies, and finally GT Championships - there's a lot of game to be had in TOCA Race Driver 3, and that's just the offline modes.

Visually the game is shaping up to be a capable PC game, but it's very much of the current generation so don't expect the level of graphical detail certain gamers have been accustomed with by playing Xbox 360. One important detail that does need a bit of work is the motion of the wheels, which for the most part never seem to move at all - they don't seem to be spinning and even when they do it just doesn't come across too well, leaving the driving experience more of a floating one at times. Of course the vehicles themselves look the part as TOCA's vehicles always have done, not to mention the fact the races feature twenty vehicles (which is still an impressive feat) though the pristine models at the start of each race isn't the only vehicular detail that the franchise is known for.

Of course TOCA is also known for another gameplay feature - damage visuals. In recent months Codemasters has been positively excited about the so-called Terminal Damage Engine in TOCA3, which they say delivers up to "100 times the level of damage effect detail" we assume over TOCA2. As you'd expect from a TOCA title the vehicles all react according to the amount of localised damage, and yes debris flies off in all directions when collisions are made with other cars and barriers. Having said that the amount of debris seems to be never ending, and together with the straight lines of the damaged model and the lack of any scratched paintwork, does impact on the immersion. In fact visual damage modelling doesn't seem to extend to some vehicles including Karts and lower class GT vehicles, which is disappointing given the reputation of the franchise for delivering a strong damage engine.

There are a few issues with the preview build that we experienced, but it's worth noting that they've already been flagged by Codies and therefore shouldn't feature in the final game. In particular the framerate can be a bit patchy at times, and load times are a bit lengthy however these are things that can be rectified before the game is sent for duplication. Codemasters has already announced that the game should run at around the sixty frames per second mark, so we expect improvements to be made.

The key skill to mastering TOCA has always been the speed at which players can adapt to the different handling of the cars, and TOCA 3 is no different; Monster Trucks certainly don't handle like an F1 car and certainly don't handle like a kart, and as such gamers will inevitably take a short time at first to get use to each racing genre. In the end the key is to drive as per the real world: defensively. If not, then climbing out of a terminally damaged vehicle may be the only option left to do.

TOCA Race Driver 3 further improves the level of simulation with the introduction of a full flag system, which besides acknowledging when crashes occur, also manages to resolve an issue that seems to have dogged racing titles for years - cutting corners. Gaining an advantage by cutting corners during time trials and qualifying nullifies that lap, whilst other race types will see addition penalty times added, which can blow any chance of victory up in smoke. It's a feature that has been cried out for over the years, especially with the advent of online gaming, and will hopefully be implemented by other racing genres in the future. Such features (including driving in the wrong direction and careless driving) can be switched off at the options stage, but seeing that the game is a sim it's probably best to leave everything in the default 'On' position.