SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Feature: Wheel Bad Driving

The level of garage tweaking you can do is staggering. This helps tremendously as no two tracks are even remotely the same. My favorite track of all had to be GT Legends’ rendition of the Anderstorp track in Sweden with one long stretch that looked for all the world like a spare Draken runway for the Kungliga Svensk Flygvapen (Royal Swedish Air Force). One thing’s for sure, you could really open up a Ford Mustang on it. Just beware when you’re ‘on final’ and have to make the turn into a taxiway. It’s marked with cones, but I lost count of the number of times I overshot the turn.

Chunx and McGonigle have both submitted well-written articles on the subject of racing simulations and various strategies for success in playing them, all brim-full with technical terms like ‘braking point’ and ‘apex’. What was my secret for survival in GT Legends? Aiming for the black marks on the pavement. Now, if these black marks ended in large, concrete highway dividers and a forest of white crosses beyond them (To Our Beloved Franco, Who Never Should Have Gotten Out Of Second Gear…) then you had a real problem, but for the most part, my strategy held.

Physics are a large part of this game. Damage models are too, but to a lesser extent. I usually raced on Novice settings in GT Legends and stuck to the Semi-Pro mode of GTR, and while I got myself into a plethora of collisions that would have reduced most vehicles into a pile of rubble, I was still able to continue on, and in some cases, win. However, at the more difficult skill levels, more damage could be done to your car, you just might not see it, including one time where I rather spectacularly blew an engine after shifting into first way too early at the first turn at Mondello Park.

The physics models, on the other hand, were impeccable, delivering a convincing ‘feel’ of driving regardless of what skill level you had the game set to. The throttle steers, the brakes steer, the transmission steers, heck, even the steering wheel steers. I had no idea if you really could swap ends with a TVR Griffith by downshifting to third while doing 85 through the switchback turn in Spa-Francorchamps, but it sure felt cool.

GTL

Graphics

In the game, because I was a noob, I selected the “Swingman” point-of-view, or essentially, the ‘chase plane’ view, above and behind the car and able to get a good look at what was coming up on the track. GTR kept giving me graphics errors after my practice and qualifying laps that looked very much like TV snow, except for the fact that my Lotus Elise was flipping around on the starting line like Shamu at Sea World. This would generally happen if I had been playing the game for longer than 30 minutes. Then, after I installed the AMD dual-core utility, these problems vanished, leading me to believe that for some odd reason, GTR didn’t like AMD dual-core processors. Or, it just didn’t like mine.

GT Legends, on the other hand, was rock-solid through some of the late-night two-hour sessions I played through. Neither game, though, ever gave me a single Crash-To-Desktop the entire time I played, so the stability was most impressive.

Sound

I’m one of those who really values good sound quality in a game. You could have the most beautiful games in the world in terms of graphics, but if the sound is not convincing, I get bored with it very easily. In this, neither game really disappointed, but again, GT Legends just seemed to shine where GTR seemed to be really good, but fell short. I kept hearing sound anomalies, and while I have no idea what a Porsche 911 GT3’s engine really sounds like, I’m fairly certain it doesn’t sound like a tearing bed sheet.

GT Legends also seems to have an unfair advantage in this regard because modern racing engines don’t sound anything like they used to. All it took for me to be hooked on the sound in GT Legends was getting into the 1965 Chevrolet Corvette and stepping on the gas once. I wasn’t sure what to expect having only driven the Cooper Mini and the Alfa Romeo up to that point, but I was NOT ready for the deep, feral, brobdingnagian growl of that huge 350ci V-8. I was fired up, all right, and it wasn’t the second bottle of Dos Equis with lime that did it, either.

Conclusion

The neophyte driver cannot go wrong with either of these titles, but I really have to offer the opinion that GT Legends really felt like it had more spit-and-polish to it. If you don’t ramp up the difficulty and start out with the Novice or possibly even the Beginner settings, it’s a very approachable simulation. If the more modern racing events are your bag, definitely go with GTR.

One note about the dirt-simple Beginner settings in both games, it really is dirt-simple. Flip your DeTomaso Pantera upside down? Trapped in the four-point harness and have gas running down your leg? No problem. Just wait a few seconds and your car will magically be righted, then hit the gas and you’re back on your way. Start with at least the Novice settings in GT Legends and the Semi-Pro game in GTR. Work your way up, it’s worth the effort. You’ll definitely get a sense of accomplishment when you win a race in either game.

Pros

Stunning graphics
Convincing physics engine
A diverse layout of tracks, nice variation, requires you to get skilled in several vehicles.
Very atmospheric, you feel like you’re in a racing season
Gorgeous outdoor scenery all over the place

Cons

GTR kept having control, sound and graphics problems and required an update from AMD to finally fix it for me
Intrusive copy protection that occasionally had errors

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