Where does one begin with a review of a “budget” game’ Should a reviewer remain impartial, rating the game on its own merits, or should s/he take the view that you get what you pay for, and lower their expectations accordingly’ Whatever your opinion, nobody wants to part with their hard-earned wedge only to be disappointed, whether they spend £15 or £40. Budget games may be cheaper, but as GTR-400 demonstrates, you can’t always have your cake and eat it.
GTR-400 makes some mixed first impressions. The menus are clean but a little cheap-looking, and the in-game graphics are sharp but not spectacularly pretty. The tracks bustle with background activity such as aeroplanes or fairground rides, but as soon as the action starts, the traffic lights won’t be the only thing to turn green – the sound effects are positively nauseating. Engines buzz and wail like power tools, whilst the ‘cheer’ effect that accompanies the mediocre trophy screens is a blatant recording of semi-enthusiastic office staff. The importance of sound in games is often overlooked, but GTR-400’s poor effort demonstrates just how important audio is in creating (or not) a convincing environment.
Unfortunately, GTR-400‘’s gameplay fails to make penance for its shoddy presentation. The root cause of this game’s failings is a lack of any clear direction or styling. The handling and physics are not even close to being realistic (especially with the driving aids activated), nor are they exaggerated and gratifying enough to give arcade-style thrills, making the game feel rather bland.
The lack of customisation options severely curtails the scope of the game, whilst the difference between cars (all unlockable by winning races) is minimal. Even damaging your car has little impact on the game; the laughable ‘real-time damage’ consists of the rear spoiler or body panels falling from your car about two seconds into any race, and escalates no further than some incredibly lame texture warping here and there. Try as you might, you’ll never manage to destroy yours or any other car. It certainly doesn’t hurt to try, though, because your car continues to perform perfectly and you are not penalised for damage after the race
Add to this the bare-bones AI, which relentlessly hugs the racing line without ever overtaking or even avoiding adjacent cars, and the whole thing feels rather pointless. The cars drive along almost nose-to-tail the whole way, and even smashing headlong into them can barely force them to break formation. Consequently, the drama and tension that make motorsports entertaining is completely lost.
There is a two-player mode and also a Time Trial which offer driving without the company of the AI caravan, but the serious petrol-head could find dozens of better racers in which to shave milliseconds from their lap times. Far from being exciting and challenging, GTR-400 feels more like Scalectrix than a Saturday at the circuit. As much as I’d like to be merciful on this budget title, it’s lack of any particular appeal or challenge make it an insipid and disappointing game at any price.
