Gameplay - bend 'em and mend 'em
But how does it actually play? Well that’s a good one and pretty hard to answer as we’re playing code that still has a couple of months development time to be put into it. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s playing pretty damn well. The careers structure is pretty much finalised, so we can comment on that, but as this is unfinished code, talking about the way the different cars handle is hardly fair as the game is still in the tweaking stage and will be for a while yet.
There’s a few ways to play the game, the most obvious one being the World Tour. Once you’ve created your driver profile you get to meet Rick, your mentor for the duration of TOCA Race Driver 3. Depending on how you feel about overweight, middle aged Scotsmen, you’ll either love or loathe Rick… he gives you a bit of info about each type of racing, but it’s really down to you to learn as you go. Now hitting the World Tour sections is where you progress through the different race types, working your way through 32 ‘tiers’ with up to 3 different race types to choose from on each tier. You don’t have to complete every race on each tier to progress, but if you do, you unlock more tracks and cars for the other modes. The idea of the World Tour is to get you racing as many different cars as possible in as many different styles of races… it really does show off just how varied TOCA Race Driver 3 is.
Click for larger imageAs you progress in the World Tour you unlock tracks and cars in the Pro Career and Simulation Mode areas and you could spend most of the game’s life in here just racing on your favourite cars and tracks. Speaking of which, I can vouch that Brands, Donnington and Silverstone are faithfully recreated… though I will say that the bump in the track on the left halfway down Hailwood Hill at Brands seems to be missing, which is a shame as it catches many unwary drivers out... but this is preview code after all. In a refreshing change from just about every other racer on the market at the minute, the Codemasters have licensed every car in the game from the manufacturer, meaning we get the cars as they actually appear in real lfe and we get a full vehicle damage system too.
Yep, that means no more of this blasting around the track using the barriers for guidance… no more indestructible cars… no more blatting around not really caring if you crash. Bend your car in TOCA Race Driver 3 and you’ve got problems. Bashing the car into something here doesn’t just have the cosmetic effect of making the car look like your girlfriend parked it, it affects how the car performs and handles too. Everything to do with the car’s performance has been modelled. So take care of your tyres… drift too much in a GT car and you’ll melt the tyres leading to a slippery drive and eventual blowout. Knock of the front wing on your Formula 1000 and you’ll lose front grip. Lose the rear wing in a Sprintcar and the damn thing will float all over the place… Oh yes, the way a car looks certainly affects the handling.
Click for larger imageBut it doesn’t stop there, as you’ll find with the Rally cars for sure. Now these things are supposed to get a bit bashed in, right? They’re good solid cars, built for stupid amounts of power and speed through stupidly tight, treacherous courses, yeah? Well, yeah… they are. But smash them around too much and, just like the track cars, you’ll soon break them. You see, all the cars, not just the Rally cars, need to be nursed through the races. You got to take care of the mechanics of your car during the race too, or it’ll just give up on you. Slam on the anchors with lots of late braking and you’ll either overheat the brakes (noticeable by a visit to the Armco when you overshoot a bend) or fade them out completely (noticeable by another visit to the Armco, but at a trouser filling higher speed). Clip the corners too often and you risk damaging your suspension, chopping the exhaust off or tearing off the body skirt… all of which inhibit the car’s performance and reduce your chances of winning.