With the advent of ever-speedier video cards and CPUs, racing sims are leading the charge to push the envelope of high-speed graphics.Such is certainly the case with Grand Tour Racing, a successor to the likes of The Need for Speed, or, more closely, to the look and feel of Screamer 2 and the other more arcade-style racers.
And it succeeds as a true next-generation racing sim—it's heart is straight arcade, both single player and split-screen multiplayer, but the graphics are all new 3D, color blending, whiz-bang special effects only possible on the PC. The version we got to look at was little more than a shell of the game itself, but the cars, tracks, and special camera angles and effects were everything you'd expect in a first-class racer.
Improvements over previous competitors are things like an increased
ability to leave the road, a much greater variation in scenery, road conditions,
and track styles, and just an overall uping of the ante in terms of the
technology. In the final release, Grand Tour Racing will of course be up
against a whole field of other sims out to exploit the same technological
advances, so if it's a true winner remains to be seen. This
much can definitely be said: if you're a racing fan, it's OK to start
getting excited about the future of this genre.
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