SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone

I can't remember when I had more fun with a PC racing game, any game for that matter, than I'm having with FlatOut.

When I first learned about a title called FlatOut, I noticed that the developer was the Finnish Bugbear Entertainment of Rally Trophy (RT) fame. This was good news as Rally Trophy is one of my favourite games/sims and is on my disk drive to this day.

Then, subsequently I learned that FlatOut was to be an arcade racer with something called ragdoll physics, where the driver can be thrown out of the car, and that it would have no in car driving view.

At this point I was beginning to regret that I had agreed to reviewing FlatOut. Frankly, there are three things in this world you would never, ever tell a hardcore sim racer and hope to get away without being rhetorically torn to shreds:

Driving arcade physics can be fun
Driving in bumper or chase cam can be fun
His (or her) driving sucks!

Could a hardcore sim racer possibly find any enjoyment in such a game?

Upon it's release, I received a review copy of the game. The package is nice-looking and the game comes in a DVD-box and is on two CD's. The manual is as sparse and slim as is the norm these days. Still, the basics are covered.

Installation went smoothly and I did not experience any trouble with my Geforce 4 Ti 4200 as the drivers I run agreed completely with the game. There are reports of users having trouble with some of the Geforce drivers, and developer Bugbear has announced that they are working on a patch to fix the known issues.

The short intro movie re-lighted the hope in me that this game might be worth playing after all. It's fast, very well executed and features of of the greatest songs in the game.

Interface

If there is one reason to hate the consoles it is because of what they have done to the PC interfaces. FlatOut is released simultaneously for PC and consoles, and all menus on the PC version which I'm reviewing are controlled by the arrow-keys, Esc and enter.

Early in the eighties something called a personal computer was introduced to the world and if I recall correctly, from the very beginning these PC's came with a pointing device called a mouse and menu's in PC games should support the mouse. Anything else is not user-friendly. After the initial moan and groan about the menu navigation, I must admit that once I got into the game itself, I forgot all about the menu interface, and after playing the game for a few days I must admit that the interface works well, is relatively intuitive and easy to use.

Controller setup is a breeze as all is done in-game this time, as opposed to RT where you had to set up the wheel outside the game in a separate application. No problems whatsoever, in assigning split axis for my Momo Wheel and in assigning all the buttons and shifter paddles. Right shifts up, left shifts down.

The Concept

In Finland and many other countries there is a type of motorsport where you can bring along your old but souped up motor and race others for a reasonably low budget. Competitions are held on dirt-tracks, in gravel pits or in suitable sections of forest.

In FlatOut you will race on forest tracks, in mud- and gravel pits, on tarmac and on snow so just about every surface you can think of is represented.

You start out by buying a car and through wins and prize money you can upgrade the car with refurbished or new parts for the engine, drivetrain, clutch-assembly, filter, and a host of other items. Some of these parts will give your car more horsepower, some of the parts will improve handling. When you are done with one car you have 15 others to try out!

There are no setup options in terms of adjusting brake balance, tire pressure, differentials or any of that business, but in all honesty, such options are not needed in a game like this.

In FlatOut-land the sun always shines, so don't expect weather changes, snow or rain.

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