Total Immersion Racing

The Good
Total Immersion racing really immerses the player into the world of circuit racing. It's one of the few games I have played that you can get fun out of it by even practicing some laps on any of it's circuits.

The cars are total masterpieces! Absolutelly stunning, modelled after the real carsincluding every little detail that is possible. The 3D engine of the game is marvelous, as it renders beautifully these models. Actually it's real fun to watch yourself at a replay after a race or a practice session. I haven't seen such a good, realistic and smooth running replay for a long time. Really enjoyed that!

The road handling of these cars is great too. Mind you, not all cars handle the same. Some go like trains on tracks on the curvy sections, others just spin, but the majority need you to exercise oversteer turning to get the most out of them. This is a very good aspect of the game really, because without being too difficult the car "encourages" the player to learn how to drive it and then it offers it's exciting fruits (there are some typical examples of this in the screenshot area of the game of how I'm handling the beautiful BMW GT class).

Another great feature (and rare for other games too) of the game is how the turbo charging affects the road handling and your driving. Just try to over-rev the engine while entering or exiting a curve, the turbo bursts horsepower and excessive torque and you start loosing your tail in no time. That's another aspect the player has to master in order to achieve top times and podium stands.

The game sounds excellent too. Every car has it's unique sound, beutifully sampled, the player can hear the compression discharges from the exhausts while shifting gears and the great addiction of sounds: the turbo charging and release valves.

The graphics and detail are maintained to a high standard, not only for the cars but also regarding the environments. The virtual cosmos here stands out true. I believe that Razorworks have created something exciting here, in terms of developing a racing simulation.

The Bad
The only thing that concerned me a lot about the game is it's durability. Yes, it's fun to drive, and yes the cars look and feel beautiful and real, but, for how long?

Well it's about two weeks I'm having the game, and I cannot play every single day (due to work), currently I'm at the pro championship and about to finish it. I'm thinking what will happen then; One solution is that since I have a lot of save games during my career I could choose to compete with another car, in any class. So it's going to be back to square one or two. Then I'll maybe go for some challenges, not all of them though.30 challenges for 14 cars and 12 circuits are too much I think. So maybe I'l keep it in my HD for the next couple of months for those litlle moments of nostalgia and then it's uninstall time.

So, what I'm trying to say is that the storyline and the plot behind the game is not so strong to support it's mechanics equally. The game has a superb racing front, but on the inside, it's another "win to become the champion" story. So what??? Maybe as the challenges unfold there are a few hidden extras unlocked, but that is no big deal after all, is it?

An extra weight to this weakness is the fact that the cars are fairly easy to learn how to drive'em fast and win. Once you've got the trick right, it always works and gives you top position. There are 1 or 2 best cars in each class which always get the trophies and the rest seems like the accompanying junk parade. Ofcourse you can all say that there are levels of difficulty which you can set beforehand, well they just don't work for me; I don't see any point in racing against computer controlled robots with tires glued to the ground and rocket-like accelerating cars just to prove my worth. It never appealed to me and never will. A medium level is ok for me to get all the excitemement I want from a game.

Finally as the same applies to all games, TIR could not be excluded from the general rule: You can get the best from the game with top end hardware.

The Bottom Line
The game is a superb specimen of circuit racing. Without being the most accurate of simulators and weighting more to an arcade character, this game is guaranteed to give the player many hours of reving fun!

I cannot guarantee you that this is the game that will last for long in your prefs. Nevertheless if you like driving/racing games this one is huge fun to drive, has fab graphics and sounds and the replays are really worthwile. Check it out!