Review: GTR2

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It is very nice to feel the car going from ”grippy” to decidedly ”skittish” over the course of a fuel stint. Approximately half-way through a stint I start feeling the grip going away, braking zones have to constantly be re-evaluated, and during the last part of the stint I have to be very careful not to suddenly, unintentionally and violently put the car off the track — in short, crash it.

Each car feels very individual in handling and seems well-represented in terms of the physics modeling. The Maserati MC-12 is a wonderfully well-balanced driver’s car, as is the Ferrari 360. The Porsche 911s are entertaining beasts to drive due to the rear-wheel-drive and rear-engine displacement. The TVR is a handful that gives you a lot of information about the grip available... or not! The BMW M3 and Seat are a solid-feeling touring cars closer in relation to the cars that you and I probably drive to and from work each day than the more exotic super cars also included in GTR2. I'm falling in love with the Morgan Aero 8. I love driving it in the rain with traction control turned off!

Incidentally, GTR2 includes all the cars that raced in the 2003 and 2004 FIA GT seasons. As we are nearing 2007, I wonder why we couldn't also get at least the 2005 season.

For a complete list of cars and tracks, consult this thread where "GTR_Oscar" has posted the full list.

Testing the Time Trial mode I noticed that the ghost lap I created was listed with stability help set to ”on” which seemed a little bit odd considering that I had chosen the simulator mode.

And what was I to make of the following entries in the GTR2 .plr file (below left) in comparison, the same bit from rFactor?

Changing the values in the GTR2 .plr file and setting them to the values given in the rFactor file, I tested for any differences in an open practice-session and was not able to discern any difference in handling or lap-times.

It is impossible to satisfy everyone all the time and hard to satisfy the majority most of the time. Some drivers report that they find the cars too easy and to drive too difficult to spin, even on purpose. Some report that sim drivers are turning lap times that are already well below the lap times driven in real life. A physics mod has already been made available for those whose skills need a bigger challenge.

I find that the overall compromise reached in GTR2 during dry and wet conditions as well as into a longer fuel stint is pretty good. If a simulation like GTR2 was made in such a way that the really fast drivers were unable to go substantially below real life lap times, I suspect the rest of us would be painfully slow. We have to remember that the sim racer, at least some of them, will have virtually endless laps at his or her disposition without worrying about getting physically hurt, the cost of renting the track, or the cost to pay for gasoline and broken bits of car.

Pitting This Lap

Racing for many hours and perhaps even for 24 hours, pit stops are necessary to replenish fuel, change tires and to make repairs to your car should that be required. If you race for a full cycle of 24 hours you’ll need one or more co-drivers, perhaps one of the AI. How does GTR2 handle endurance races?

Sadly, you'll not be able to share your car in an online event with another human co-driver as far as I can tell. Personally I feel this was a prospect if not a promise mentioned in vague terms prior to the launch of the first GTR and I was disappointed then, as I am now.

Apart from the ”wave-out” guy whose company we quickly learned to appreciate in GT Legends, GTR2 fields a complete crew of pit-personnel servicing your car when you pit. The animation of the personnel fueling your car and changing tires is one of these additions that add ten-fold to the immersion, and again we must laud SimBin, for this bit of goodness.

Let’s watch these guys in action... it's movie time! The zipped .wmv file is 5.53MB.

While strictly speaking it is not very realistic to leave your own car to admire the team's pit work, the sequence is too good to miss and actually adds to the immersion of participating in a long race.

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