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Supercar Challenge Review: King of racers, or King of denial?

Posted on 09. Nov, 2009 by robdutchmonkey in Games, News, Reviews

Yes, System 3 have returned with another sexy looking, high speed racing simulator. Now Ferrari Challenge wasn’t the most fantastic game in the world by any stretch of the imagination… Yes, they succeeded in bringing us one of the first proper racing simulators released on the PS3 since the launch of the console itself. However, it was worryingly shallow, and filled with issues. So, with more time under their belts with regards to development for the PS3, have System 3 made a simulator good enough to truly run with the big boys?

No, not really… You see, to make a successful racing simulator, you need to make it perfectly. Why? Well the short answer to that is in your target market if we’re honest. A racing sim fan is a perfectionist. Cars have to be realistic, that goes for Looks, sounds, but especially feel, not only on a track where the racing sim fans spends most of their time, but also in the garage where the guys love fine tuning their ride to make it the best of the best. A real racing simulator fan isn’t the need for speed Junkies of the world, looking out for flashy stickers, NOS, a fake feeling ride on a short dull track, in a quick fire race. This is where System 3 are getting things painfully wrong!

Before we delve into the negatives of the game, I think we should first look at what developers are getting right. One thing System 3 knows how to do well, and this has been true even in Ferrari challenge, are engine noises. There’s nothing better in the life of a petrol head than firing up the engine of a V12 engine, and the game has all those sounds, and they’re all rather accurate. Nowhere in the game is there an engine which sounds the same as the other, and they all compare to the real world versions of each car.
Not only are the engine noises beautiful, but the cars are bite the back of your hand beautiful in the showroom, all curves, bumpers, spoilers and such are perfect, just as in real life… Sadly however, the cars don’t look as beautiful on track come race time as they do in the showroom, well, at least the interiors aren’t. In fact, car interiors are pretty poorly executed, and very bland, letting the feel of realism somehow escape. Not only that, but lack of movement in the engine bay whilst the cars rev up is also quite a let down, but this is just nit picking really.
The one thing this game really does well is environmental as well as track graphics. It’s absolutely brilliant! The tracks are much more detailed and give different effects as light changes. Tarmac is much more clearly refined then that of Ferrari challenge, and you have to love how realistic it is as birds fly across the track or over the vehicle, it’s brilliantly done and deserves credit.

The sad thing about the game is the negatives. Particularly the fact that it feels as if developers are stuck between trying to look pretty, and actually delivering a proper simulator. The game does well in most departments of looking pretty, but lacks the excitement factor of those looking for a pretty racer. If you’re the need for speed type, I can guarantee boredom within half an hour of playing time, because it involves perfection, no mistakes, and constantly doing the same thing. Not something fans are really looking forward to… Racing sim fans will wonder what is wrong with this? Well nothing, besides the fact that there is simply no variation in length of any race! You can’t make a sim where each and every race has only 3 or 4 laps! Where is the variation? Where is the endurance? It simply just isn’t realistic!!! A monkey could take a supercar in a game around a lap on any track without problems in a simulator for 3 laps and trust me, the monkeys are in the game. Whether they’re the AI racers alongside you on the grid, or you find them online, they do exist. Now developers can’t do much about the ones racing unfairly online by simply smashing the opposition off the track and racing away to glory with no penalties. However, you feel System 3 thought they should add some of these characteristics to the AI racers, who although competitive, are clearly not very good and tend to enjoy cutting you off or hitting you from behind. The AI also tends to suffer from first corner madness and a pile up is always inevitable at turn 1 on all tracks, and no, although there is damage (sometimes severe) you’d expect a 200MPH crash to produce more damage then you actually get.
Getting past those serious flaws, we also find a few others which aren’t as big, but annoying at the same time. These problems lie within the garage, as tuning your supercars are very shallow to say the least… Basically just choosing between ‘Hard, Medium & Soft’ etc, etc. Not very difficult, and not in depth enough for those who love fine tuning. Add to that the annoying livery system, which, although more in depth with plenty choice, is rather complicated and annoying in the long run, as you always get the feeling you’ve ruined the look of the car because it’s just too in depth and complicated.

This has been rather harsh, as the game has some great things, particularly the variety of supercars at players’ fingertips, from the Pagani Zonda, to the Bugatti Veyron. From Ferrari F40, to the mighty Mclaren F1, as well as a lot of world class circuits to test your skills against monkey AI, or online challengers. I even love the ability to listen to your own music off your PS3 while you play as if the car has its own radio. I just feel that System 3 is missing the boat in a sense, caught between a rock and a hard place, a badger with an identity crisis! Yes the developers seem to have come to a cross roads, whether to look pretty and shallow looking at the mass market grouping of the people who love shallow, quick fire exhilarating racers, or to go fully simulation, aimed at the perfectionists, where things are suppose to be in depth and exact to the last bolt. And no, it’s not a very good flash looking racer for those in the first group, it is aimed at the latter, the perfectionist, but is sadly lacking unfortunately.

For those looking out for trophies, this game has quite a lot to look forward to as trophies are generally easy to get. In fact, you earn quite a few from rather silly, menial tasks such as racing someone from another country online, or creating your own livery. Pretty simple stuff, even for someone who doesn’t really bother to earn trophies like myself, it doesn’t take much more then an hour to achieve about 30% of all the trophies without breaking a sweat. Having said that though, getting platinum might prove to be difficult unless you’re a pro sim racer, good at hard challenges in the hardest of conditions at high speed on some of the toughest tracks around the world making you feel as though you’ve really earned them!

Conclusion

The PS3 has lacked a proper simulator racer since it was launched, and I respect what System 3 are doing. I love simulators since the first Gran Turismo days, and although developers have done a lot of things right in Supercar challenge, there are too many issues with regards to perfection that just make the game, well, not a proper simulator in all honesty. If you’re a fan of sims, this may keep you interested, but in all honesty, not for as long as you’d hope. As for those who are looking for a casual racing game, don’t even bother as it will be the worst investment you can possibly imagine.

Gameplay: 6 (Lacking unfortunately, even sim fans would agree)
Graphics: 8 (Brilliant graphics… Most of the time)
Fun: 6 (Fun doesn’t last for much longer then, oh I don’t know, half an hour?)
Sound: 9 (The shining light, but ultimately doesn’t save the game)

Overall: 6.5/10 (Slightly disappointing in too many aspects)

A big thanks to Ster-Kinekor for supplying the game.

Tags: Games, Review, supercar challenge