This game is the racing sim you want if you want to race online multiplayer. User Rating: 10 GTR Evolution PC. By Fraustbite0 Review Date:. Worx GT 2.0 Reviews 16 Customer Reviews The Worx GT 2.0 claims to be a powerful, cordless 3-in-1 trimmer, edger, and mower that weighs less than 6 pounds, while still providing professional results.

Poor old SimBin. They really don't have a clue when it comes to making race sims. Look at this one: no quad bikes, no supertrucks, no dune buggies, no karts. No nitrous bottles or touge battles, no skill stats or slo-mo crashes. Hell, you don't even get to negotiate your own sponsorship deals (sorry Anusol) or floor your arch-nemesis/cyborg half-brother in a pit lane punch-up.It's almost as if the studio considered such things unimportant.

It's almost as if they consciously decided to channel all their skill and industry into trivialities like physics, track modelling and AI.Baffling.Oh well, at least they're consistent. GTR, GTR2, GT Legends and now this, an expanded version of last year's RACE 07 have all had SimBin's input and have all put realism firmly before razzamatazz. The closest thing to a populist feature in GTR: Evo is the crammed garage; RACE's 20-strong field of touring cars and open-wheelers have had to shove over and make room for two dozen additions.Most of the newbies are the kind of alarmingly well-endowed automotive porn stars that go through life without ever visiting a Tesco car park or attending a boot sale.

Shriek at your opposition to discourage them!

Cars like the Aston Martin DBR9, the Lister Storm and the Gillet Vertigo Streiff would be rubbish at a boot sale - what with having boots the size of actual boots - but on the track, they're in their element (Zoomium. Find it next to Crashium and Pleaseslowdowndearium on the Periodic Table). Serves me right for trying to read the graffiti.Hurtle them round any of the 40-plus circuit configurations and any misgivings about spartan presentation and fusty graphics soon evaporate. The Wagnerian clamour of the V8s, the palpable sense of mass in motion, the furious tyre versus road judo. It's all so perfect, so utterly convincing, the fact you don't know the name of your chief mechanic, or didn't get to ogle the cleavage of a polygonal grid girl before the start, doesn't seem to matter in the slightest.

This is racing pure and simple. When a sim dev gets the science right, the poetry usually follows.Four badges you won't find in GTR: Evo's eerily people-free pit lanes are those of Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati.

Carbon-fibre cheetahs like the Gumpert Apollo, Koenigsegg CCGT and Saleen S7 do a sterling job of filling the glamour gap, but there's an air of absence all the same. With SimBin-buddies Blimey currently coding a Ferrari-focussed sim you would have thought the odd Fezza might have sneaked in.

Oh well, there's always mods (they're ) or old friend GTR2. Might be a bit of squeeze, but I think I'm going to go for it.The closest you get to an official Lambo in the game is the new Gallardo-based Audi R8. Simbin's first AWD recreation, this predictably grippy super-coupe is the ideal foil for GTR: Evo's awesome centrepiece, an incredibly credible depiction of the 24km-long Nordschleife.

It's taken them years to get round to it, but it's been worth the wait. I don't care if you've driven the Ring a thousand times before in other sims; this version will leave you sweatier, happier and more exhilarated than you've ever been before.Readers who drive: picture your favourite bend, that corner on the way to work or town, that warms your cockles like no other.

Now picture a hundred curves of a similarly satisfying character strung together into one mad, marvellous route. That's Nordschleife. Swooping, snaking, tree-lined, endless, this is the kind of track you could drive exclusively for a year and never get bored of. It has a bit of everything: kinks, dips, humps, banked corners, ridiculously long straights, railway crossings, broken bridges, police checkpoints, underground sections in lava-lit caves. Okay, not everything, but it is shockingly huge and fabulously varied.

Not a 'Baby on board' sticker in sight. Bliss.I'll leave others to testify to the accuracy of the topography. Race sim forums are currently full of folk who have driven the real thing and claim this is as close as you're going to get on a desktop. Yes, they might all be fantasists or SimBin stooges, but it's hard to argue against the.Take out Nordschleife and the Grand Tourers, and GTR: Evo is basically RACE 07 in a new box - which is no bad thing.

AI routines are possibly a fraction sharper - computer-controlled drivers seem slightly quicker and more dogged now - and handling characteristics a smidgen friendlier, but there's been no root-and-branch reform. As in previous SimBin offerings, the experience can be shaped to suit all abilities/states of inebriation. With driving aids disabled, a bit of rain on the track, and AI driver skill maxed-out, you will probably get eaten alive. On a bone-dry circuit with a gentler set-up, even the greenest drivers are going to get to spray the Mumm now and again.Not that winning is all that important in GTR: Evo.

Professor layton and the miracle mask walkthrough. The reason this game and its predecessors perch atop their genre is they make every sweet passing move, crisply negotiated corner and shaved second feel like a podium finish. When correcting a slide at Druids or coming in ninth in the rain at Anderstorp makes you smile like a driver that's just beaten his arch-nemesis/cyborg half-brother to win the World Championship and heard his chief engineer/father-substitute has survived a risky heart op, you know you're in the presence of class.8/10.

GTR Evolution, developed by SimBin and published by Viva Media.
The Good: This plus all of the included RACE 07 features gives you a huge amount of content
The Not So Good: Seven new car classes and three new tracks isn’t much, arcade mode isn't arcade enough
What say you? A great standalone racing product, but a meager expansion to RACE 07: 5/8
MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
Another year, another SimBin racing title. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as SimBin has been responsible for a series of quality racing simulations, starting with GTR and continuing through last year's RACE 07. This year's iteration is effectively a combination of SimBin's two series, taking the fantastic RACE 07 gameplay and adding in the GT cars from games past. GTR Evolution takes an interesting approach to the standalone expansion: existing owners of RACE 07 can buy it for $20, or new players can get both games in one package for $40. This is a win-win situation, as new players aren't missing any of the former content and don't have to worry about having to purchase two separate games, and continuing drivers don't have to pay full price. Since I am familiar with RACE 07, we'll examine what new things GTR Evolution brings to the table and also show how game scores can be misleading when dealing with expansions that include the original game.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
The graphics and sound of GTR Evolution seem to be almost identical to its predecessor, other than adding the new car models into the game. This isn't a bad thing, though, as I thought RACE 07 had (and still has) some nice graphics, from the cars to the tracks to the little environmental touches. The new track environment seems to be spot-on, including the graffiti on the Nordschleife race course. The sound, I think, has been somewhat improved, as some minor effects that I don't remember hearing before are now more prominent: tire squeal is more pronounced, and the track announcer is more vocal. These two things bring the tracks alive and create a very satisfactory gaming experience. In addition, there is a new theme song that I do prefer over the old one. So while there is nothing of note added in terms of graphics and sound, the high level of quality has been maintained.
ET AL.
GTR Evolution has all of the robust features of RACE 07 with some additions. First off, GTR Evolution comes with the “R-Cade Extreme” mode, intended to be fast, quick, and action-packed racing. It doesn't really work, though, as the cars still handle too realistically. When I use full throttle coming off the corner in an arcade mode, I expect the rear wheels to stick, but not here: it's still too much of a simulation to be a true arcade mode. In addition, you can only experience the “R-Cade Extreme” mode using the new WTCC Extreme cars: an seemingly unnecessary limitation. The other major game feature is that you can download hot lap times from other drivers within the game, although you have to exactly match the car and track used in order to see them in the browser (and with 2,000 combinations, this is a tricky proposition). Downloaded replays come with the setup and a racing line, so this can serve as a great learning tool, assuming good drivers take the time to use the time trial mode and upload replays to the server.
As you would expect in a racing game, the rest of the additions come in the form of cars and tracks. GTR Evolution comes with three classes of GT cars (pro, sport, and club) and a number (usually five) of models per class. The game also comes with production versions of four of the GT cars, which add an interesting challenge: they are (obviously) a lot like the GT cars, except with crappy brakes. The GT cars also come with endurance (timed) race options for both quick races and season-long championships. The WTCC cars are now more extreme thanks to the appropriately-named WTCC Extreme class: the horsepower has been doubled for racing that's more akin to the overcharged GT cars. Add these new vehicles to the cars that were already in RACE 07 (WTCC (2006, 2007, and 1987), Mini Cooper, Formula 3000, Formula BMW, Caterham, Radical), and you have quite a diverse lineup of vehicles to choose from.
While the new vehicles are nice, the new tracks are disappointing: all you get is three flavors of N端rburgring. Although one of these flavors is the manly and lengthy Nordschleife (German words are cool), I was expecting a lot more tracks that would be more fitting for the GT cars. What happened to all of the tracks from the GTR games: they couldn't be imported into GTR Evolution? The game also lacks tracks from the 2008 WTCC season, although technically the only one missing is Okayama in Japan. Yes, 40 track variations (three here plus the ones from RACE 07) is a lot, but one year of additional work should produce more tracks.
As for the racing, it remains excellent. The GT cars hold the high simulation standard set by previous SimBin titles and they are fun to drive. I still prefer the slower, easier-to-handle WTCC cars, but the variety shown by the selection of vehicles in GTR Evolution will satisfy pretty much any racing appetite. The AI is tough as ever, and 100% strength will provide a great challenge for budding drivers. Online multiplayer isn't the most lag-free experience (probably because most (if not all) of the populated servers are located in Europe), but it is enjoyable though generally wreck-filled (brake is on the left). It should be noted that accessing any of the game's online options requires you to install Steam, even if you buy the physical retail disk.
IN CLOSING
Part of the reason why I dislike reviewing standalone expansions is there isn't a consensus how to score the game. Do you rate it as a whole for new users, or just rate the improvements? My stand has been that if I reviewed the former game, I'm basing my rating on the additions, but who knows what inferior review sites do. So here is the bottom line: GTR Evolution is fantastic as a whole, but the new features come up short if you are upgrading from RACE 07. $20 for an upgrade from RACE 07 to GTR is a bit steep for what you are getting, and the jump from RACE to RACE 07 offered more content than going from RACE 07 to GTR Evolution. The new GT cars are nice, but one track with three variations leaves room for a lot more. In addition, the arcade mode can't shake SimBin's simulation roots. GTR Evolution is more of a slight Mutation than a true Evolution. If you missed out on RACE 07, then GTR Evolution is an excellent racing game. There's no reason to pay $20 a month for good racing when GTR Evolution brings in subscription-free racing with excellent features. However, as an expansion, GTR Evolution is disappointing with how little it brings to the table. I still like the RACE series of games and, as a whole, GTR Evolution is my favorite non-Stock Car, non-arcade racing game. But the number of improvements and additions made from almost a year ago are not sufficient for owners of RACE 07.