Race Pro

Race Pro

It’s been a long while since FORZA 2 and Project Gotham Racing 4, so we reckon Xbox 360 petrol heads will ‘lap’ this one up.

You can’t really call Race Pro a game, that’s just demeaning. Developers SimBin are best known for simulating Motorsport to the nth degree on PCs with the GTR series. Race Pro upholds the same high values that have even helped teach professional drivers.

Some of us have been waiting for console driving with this painstaking commitment to detail since the first Gran Turismo on PlayStation (1998). Race Pro is serious software, to the extent that it forgoes a fanciful front end and effectively says: here are the cars and the roads and the official competitions, now shut up and drive.

After you’ve accepted that Race Pro is a racing simulator, and no longer expect a pleasantly structured one-player adventure to unlock this, that and the other, it falls down to the cars and their handling. It’s as close to the harsh realities of motor racing as you can get, but without the fumes and danger of actual death.

There are 13 authentic tracks to race out of the box, and we’d like to think that more could be made available via download on Xbox LIVE at a future date. The Macau, Porto and Pau circuits have never been featured in a console title before now, and this will already be meaningful to followers of the sport. For the serious race fan this isn’t about sight-seeing anyway; it’s about taking pleasure in skill development and the uncanny but exhilarating feeling of really taking the wheel.

Career mode challenges you to impress the sponsors and become the darling of the biggest teams. Ultimately you’re racing for cash to purchase better cars and perhaps buy your way into a more prestigious team (shame on you). You’ll cut your teeth on the likes of Mini Coopers with all the sophistication of a go-kart, but you’ll be reaching for the various assists in livelier motors such as the Dodge Viper.

Because of the enhanced perception of realism, it matters more when competing in WTCC (World Touring Car Championship), Formula 3000 and Formula BMW events. Committed players will soon find themselves tinkering with all aspects affecting the car’s performance that make a noticeable difference to the drive.

Although the AI is convincing, if not infuriating in its desire to win every race, it’ll be the 16-player online events that should keep drawing the crowds. Plenty of racing games like to hype opportunities for personal expression thanks to custom paint jobs and maybe an exclusive vehicle to show off. However Race Pro gives you so many options under the hood that the online elite will truly be in a different league.

FORZA 2 is more fun on the whole and PGR4 a better videogame for more casual players. But if barefaced realism is all that you desire on Xbox 360 look no further.

4 out of 5