Pro Race Driver

Like throwing darts at a board, developers are constantly spitting out racing titles hoping to land the next bulls-eye. In an effort to try to separate themselves from the mediocrity that plagues most racing games, Codemasters decided to intertwine a storyline with Pro Race Driver’s career mode. While an ambitious undertaking, the game does not perform without flaw.

STORYLINE
The game begins with a cut-scene, in which young Donnie and Ryan McKane see their father win the race, then get immediately spun out at the finish line and die in a fiery crash. The next scene shows two race promoters talking about new talent, as they engage Donnie McKane (now a pro racer himself) in conversation, they ask for driver recommendations. Donnie recommends his younger brother, Ryan, and that’s where you come in. The career mode is the centerpiece of the game. As you take Ryan throughout the early stages of his career, you will have numerous cut scenes that introduce new characters and open new challenges. I found the storyline to be very superficial, and I really didn’t care what was going to transpire next. Ryan McKane is setup to be a tortured soul seeking to make his own reputation, instead of coasting on that of his older brother and the legend of his father. Unfortunately, Ryan comes off as an unlikable, whiney cliche. Being that this is a racing game, its ultimate success resides in the on track action, as it should.

GAME MODES
As mentioned earlier, the Career Mode is the main attraction to the game, however all of the familiar racing options are present. The Free Race Mode allows you to setup a custom race, or even race a full championship. Time Trial allows you to simply race against the clock, also giving you valuable practice. Last, there is a multiplayer mode, which lets you and up to three others go at it head to head. There is also an Options area, which allows you to customize your controls, audio and visual options, and display setups.

In Career Mode, there are three tiers; each represents a progressively higher racing league. The first tier has seven different leagues. You can enter some leagues and race immediately, while others require a test drive. Most test drives require you to complete a lap in a pre-determined amount of time. Occasionally your test will be an actual race, requiring you to finish in a specific place to advance. Once in a league, there will be a series of about six races on various tracks. Most races are three laps in length, however there are some that are up to five laps, most of these will require a pit stop. You will be racing against seven other cars, and are awarded points on a sliding scale from first place (10 points) all the way to sixth place (1 point). You are required to bank a specified number of points in order to advance to the next tier, for example the first tier requires 132 points to advance. In addition to the league races, there will be one-off challenges from time to time (also offering points). One challenge pits you against another hotshot driver in a muscle car shootout. Other challenges will be celebrity style car races.

One of the keys to success in the league is your car setup. Unlike Gran Turismo 3, you don’t select (or buy) your car, you are given a specific ride. You are also unable to upgrade or modify your car; you can however alter its setup. When entering the setup screen, you will be given info about the track you’re racing on, and get recommendations as to what setup works best. If you follow these, you will generally be more successful. The only two setup options I really used were down-force, and gear ratios. Take note of the weather, as your tire selection can be key.

GAMEPLAY (5)
One of my biggest complaints of Pro Race Driver is that the game can’t decide if it wants to be a simulation, or an anything-goes arcade racer. The controls are very unforgiving, especially in the higher leagues. Miss a corner and you will slide uncontrollably into a wall, many of which are far off the track. In these situations, it can take precious time to get back on track, and often one mistake like this will cost you a race. And when I say cost you a race, I don’t mean from first place to second, I mean first to last. These are all facts of real world racing; the problem comes with the other cars’ AI. Other cars will aggressively bash and bang you, often knocking you out of contention. This is fine for an arcade game that encourages contact, but when one incident like this costs you a race, frustration ensues. More attention needed to be paid to balancing out the gameplay, either sim or arcade. In addition: some leagues are easily dominated, others are difficult to complete, this isn’t only in the first tier either.
The actual car control is pretty solid, though as mentioned earlier unforgiving. The control scheme takes advantage of the pressure sensitive design of the PS2 controller, and using it is vital to modulate your braking and throttle. One of the most impressive features of the game is the completely destructible damage elements of the cars. Minor contact will cause a bumper or wing to be knocked loose, major contact will demolish the bodywork and shatter windows. If you’re really in trouble, the car can be completely destroyed, and rendered useless on the track. Accumulating damage will seriously affect your car’s performance, hence killing your ability to win. It is worth it now and then to see how much damage you can do, and also blow off a little steam.

GRAPHICS (6)
Codemasters gets high praise for design, but little praise for execution. The car models are very solid and detailed, and the tracks have solid designs as well. The biggest black mark on the racing side is the aliasing (jaggies). This is certainly nothing new in PS2 games, but somehow games like GT3 and Test Drive were able to offer clean visuals, it would have been nice if the development team was able to clean up Pro Race Driver, and really let the nice modeling shine through. The game does run smooth, so maybe that was the trade-off, as Test Drive’s clean visuals were constantly interrupted with slow-down. The graphical detail of the car damage is about the best I’ve seen in any racing game, down to little things like a bumper laying on the track, and staying there the whole race (unless you hit it!).

While the racing portions have good design, the cut-scenes look horrid. Character modeling and movement is odd looking, and the aliasing is even more brutal. The cut-scenes come off to me as an afterthought, this was highlighted in one scene were it appeared the characters were standing waist deep in yellow water, in fact it was the floor which was just out of place. Hit and miss overall.

SOUND (8)
This is one area that is pretty much dead on. The cars have varied sounds (per model), and they capture the aggressive nature of race-tuned engines. Ambient racing sounds are all in place as well, even down to your crew chief giving you updates or encouragement over the radio. You have options for mono, stereo, and surround sound. Well done.

OVERALL (6)
This game won’t be the next GT3, and will likely fade into racing mediocrity. I think by eliminating the half-hearted storyline and concentrating on the gameplay and graphical flaws, Codemasters could have delivered a top flight racing title. With PC and Xbox versions on the way, hopefully some of my complaints will be corrected. The PS2 version is a solid rental for the racing fan, but certainly not worthy of your purchase.