SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Review: GT Legends

Using the DX8 render and the settings as indicated in the screenshots previously, I have started all races from last place on the grid to check out how this would affect system performance and can report that generally I've had very smooth playing, even with a lot of cars on the track in the Cup Challenge. As many as 24 on several occasions.

Checking the fps with Crtl+F I was astounded to learn that the graphics and driving sensation was achieved even with 18 fps!

At any rate it is quite an achievement to actually have as many as 24 AI on the track and maintain playable frame rates. SimBin deserves a big "thumb up" for that.

When all the stops are pulled out of GTL, e.g. a race in twilight at Magny-Cours so that one part of the track is in darkness and the other part in daylight, the frames almost reach slideshow single-digit numbers. Rubbin' a bit with another car resulted in a slight pause in game play. Under these conditions the game stayed playable — just.

Mondello Park also seems to be a heavy user of system resources.

With the PC used for this review meeting or exceeding the recommended system requirements in nearly all respects, only lacking 512MB of RAM, I'd hate to run GTL on a machine meeting the minimum specs. I don't think a 1.3 GHz machine will be nearly enough in terms of CPU horsepower. And if you have a 1.3 GHz machine I very much doubt it will be able to handle a fast DX9 graphics adapter, unless your 1.3GHz is a lean, mean, homebuilt and fitted with a powerful PSU (Power Supply Unit).

I can't help but wonder if a user with minimum specs will be able to complete the career and unlock all cars and tracks.

The unlocking of cars and tracks is an unavoidable and very central part of the game. You cannot adjust the number of AI cars participating in the different mandatory "challenges" that unlock cars and tracks. It would be extremely agonizing if you were only able to run GTL with say 5 or 10 cars on track when some of the challenges put you in a race with 24 cars. You would then be unable to play the game.

Multiplayer is reported as being SimBin's own evolution of the GTR engine. The number of cars in MP have been reduced to a maximum of 16, indicating that the claims made of GTR to support up to 56 cars in multiplayer was perhaps slightly overly optimistic. Multiplayer will be discussed later in this review.

No problems were encountered in terms of lock-ups or CTD's but PC's being PC's, some users have reported freezes and CTD's.

During the closing stages of writing this review a problem was encountered by several users, including myself: GTLRank notified me that one of the lap times I had submitted, had been deleted by them. Apparently my Lotus Elan lap of Donington in 1.35.2 was just a bit too fast and while some may suspect warping issues, this could not have been the case as I know for a fact that I had not raced Donington online at that point in time. In other words, GTL seems to get the lap times wrong in some cases.

Hopefully the developers will address this issue ASAP.

TrackIR

With the latest TrackIR software v4.1 build 28, TrackIR is fully supported and works flawlessly. If you are still in doubt whether you should spend your hard-earned money on a TrackIR unit including Vector Expansion, I'd say you can't go wrong. It really adds a whole new dimension of realism to driving sims.

Menus and GUI

Menus and GUI are largely OK. I find them better, easier to use and more intuitive than in GTR.

The GTR approach of having to select arcade, semi-pro or pro settings every time you enter the game is thankfully gone, replaced by settings in-game that stay the same until you change them.

A retro 60's-70's look has been attempted in the GUI using the orange and blue colors made famous by the GULF sponsorship during those decades and I think the attempt has turned out rather successful.

The music in the menus are OK and sounds like trying a good attempt to recreate a 60's / 70's feeling, one particular guitar motif possibly inspired by Pink Floyd's "Great Gig in the Sky".

While the looks and the choice of music is inspired by the retro concept, both items have been adapted to the 21st century. The music seems mixed with an eye, or perhaps rather an ear, to toning down the guitars and bringing forward the drums a bit. The drumming is slightly too refined and groovy to be really authentic 60's-70's stuff. Anyway it is impossible to authentically recreate the music of those decades as it was such a diversified scene back then, but I digress...

Again we must point out that the cars are historic, the championship, the drivers and the circuits are present day.

You can choose to have the music on or off while you're driving. I never hear music while driving because car sound is an integral part of racing, and as in GTR you can also drop your own mp3's into the right folder to hear your own music collection. During the last stages of loading a race, the music is usually chopped and so the option to put on an mp3 of "All Along the Watchtower" becomes somewhat theoretic. Who wants to hear their favorite song chopped?

I'm wondering why I'm prompted for language selection every time I launch GTL though? Yeah, I think I'll run it in French today, German tomorrow and then Spanish after that.

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