Mercedes-Benz Truck Racing

aka: MBTR
Moby ID: 8966
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Description official description

Mercedes-Benz Truck Racing is a truck racing game based on the BreakNeck engine, with the Mercedes license behind it. Test your skills in racing a million dollar souped-up freightliner in a 1st or 3rd person view. The game supports a variety of steering devices, though a simple keyboard will do. It features real truck racing teams and drivers, realistic damage, a replay editor, and an optional unlimited speed mode (trucks are normally limited to 160 km/h to minimize the damage these 5 tonners do when they spin out of control). Compete in single race or full season mode on a number of licensed race tracks from around Europe, or practice all tracks with or without a Ghost truck.

Made in cooperation with DaimlerChrysler AG.

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77 People (53 developers, 24 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 12 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 4 ratings with 1 reviews)

A well balanced truck racing game that will appeal to all racing/driving gamers.

The Good
Ability to change most things you're annoyed with. Balance between realism and fun. Driving aids make the game almost completely arcade (optional). Graphics(for it's time). Racing trucks feels fantastic in this game. AI is challenging but still makes mistakes. Realistic damage (optional). Authentic race tracks (Zolder, Misano, A1, Jarama, Nurburgring etc.). Weather effects.

The Bad
Honestly not a lot is wrong with this game. It would be great if it featured more trucks and tracks to race on. But since this is officially licensed by Mercedes it's not surprising there are no competitor's trucks in the game. It's a shame because it would add variety but it's not a huge problem because even with more manufacturers, all trucks still compete under the same conditions and have more-less the same chance of winning. So it seems then the gripe would be that all the trucks are the same, except they just look different. And in this game they are the same and look the same. Not a huge deal.

More tracks would be nice. More trucks would be nice. More truck skins would be nice. AI doesn't make enough mistakes. Sound is adequate, but could be a lot better. Race setup options are somewhat dumbed down. Fans of realism will not be 100% satisfied. (minor gripe)

The Bottom Line
Racing games typically come in two flavors: realistic/simulation or pure arcade. Sometimes though, a game will combine elements of both without ruining the fun of pure arcade racing or dumbing down the realism too much. MBTR leans more on the realistic side but has plenty of fun for casual gamers.

The game strikes a nice balance between realism and difficulty with many complex features that may displease the casual gamer either optional or unobtrusive. For example race setups can be ignored as well as qualifying and warm up stages. However visiting the garage and tinkering with the suspension or adjusting the gear ratios may lead to faster lap times. If you're not overly interested in tinkering you can reduce the speed/skill of opponents and improve your performance that way. Participating in time trials also determines whether you start from pole position or somewhere mid-field.

Game features can be toggled on/off or customized such as race length, realistic damage, speed limits, etc. Visual detail can be customized as well, so if you're stuck with an older PC the game will still run smoothly. Developers did a nice job of making the game customizable and it helps the replay value as well.

At the core of MBTR are the trucks themselves. These five ton turbocharged vehicles can accelerate much faster than you may think and are more than fast enough for racing, although braking is of course much more difficult. You have probably never played a racing game with so much emphasis on good braking. Driving such a heavy vehicle with most of the weight towards the front also feels different. If you're used to racing cars or open wheel racing concepts of understeer and oversteer, you'll certainly have to adjust to some new rules, and there's nothing like powesliding a truck around a corner as if it were a rally car. Overall, racing in MBTR feels great but it's very easy to underestimate the braking distances required, and when you spin off the track you might not be back for a while.

Realism may frustrate some gamers but i found the realism not-too-strong and not-too-weak. Oversteer and (the ever present) understeer are nicely simulated. Clipping the grass or mud with one of the rear wheels can cause you to loose your tail (and probably get pummeled by the opposition behind you). Slamming the gas pedal when exiting the corner will often cause useless wheelspin and loose you time. Locking up the brakes can also cause you loose control and grip and you will be a ripe target for shoving or "nudging" off the track.

Speaking of "nudging", expect your opponents to quite a bit of it. Truck racing tolerates more contact than some other types of motorsport, so expect at least some mischief. The first lap in particular is very difficult to survive in tact because everyone is bunched together before the corners. If you can exploit this you can pickup a few places but if you're unlucky, you'll end up in a +20 ton pile up...

The AI drivers are tough and unforgiving, both on you and on each other. Sometimes it's best to let two drivers battle it out without joining the fight as usually one will make a mistake and sometimes both will end off track. If you can't be bothered to wait you can "encourage" them to move out of the way. Such cheating may cause you to loose control so be careful. Also beware every time you hear the growl of the opponent's engine behind you. Usually it means he's very close and probably up to no good. While AI drivers are brutal they are susceptible to mistakes especially when involved in duels, although it is possible one driver will simply make a mistake on his own. AI drivers also suffer the same random damage (which can be turned off) such as blown engines, flat tires etc. Normal damage can also affect the AI however to inflict some of that damage you will have to physically slam into them and take some damage as well. As the race progresses and the trucks become more separated it becomes less of a destruction derby, and the least damaged and most skilled will usually triumph. All drivers are pretty even so you can't count on one winning all the time while the others just show up. Championship fights are usually pretty close as well.

A race is composed of: Warm up (free practise), Time trials (qualifying for the Qualifying race), Qualifying (a short race that determines the starting grid for the Cup race, it also earns championship points) and the Cup race (feature race). You can adjust the length of both races in laps or km/miles. This is repeated for the next day so you can pickup points from four races overall. The championship is composed of several races on officially licensed tracks such as Zolder, Misano, A1, Jarama, Nurburgring etc. The tracks are faithfully reproduced and realistic.

One other thing that deserves a mention is the weather. Sunny and rainy are pretty straightforward (one is normal, the other nigh-on-impossible) but watch out for the fog! Foggy conditions make judging distances quite difficult, and if you weren't paying attention to the radio and missed the report of an abandoned truck somewhere on track...boy are you in for a shock. Graphically the weather is spot on, esp. from the cockpit view (gets darker on parts of track that are in the shade, rain obviously,etc.) and it certainly affects the handling of the trucks.

The only gripe i have with this game is that it doesn't involve more truck manufacturers and drivers and race tracks. But given how costly or impractical it can be to pay licensing fees, it's a minor gripe only.

Overall it's a good game and if you never tried racing trucks, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Windows · by XR (4) · 2007

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Game added by tarmo888.

Game added April 18, 2003. Last modified February 15, 2024.