GTR Evo

I'd been waiting for this release for some time so when it finally became available in the UK through Steam I updated my Race07 install with the latest offering from Simbin. I must stress that this is very much a preliminary review as I have only had a few hours' testing / use behind a couple of cars in GTR Evo. As background, I have owned Race07 for a while now but have mainly stuck to GTR2 because of the GT1 race vehicles available and I ' m pretty much a ' study simmer ' rather than ' survey simmer '.

So first things first, I must start with the mechanism to "start" Evo: Steam. I think the concept is brilliant and for sure the way future software products will be delivered to the user. At the moment, it seems a little too slow to start things but I am sure things will improve with software releases.

The game starts with a brief, but massively engaging intro movie. This area is one of the many great strengths of the GTR / Race range and they've always managed to get you revved up. The Evo movie is awesome with its edgy track and fluid, organic feel. Very sophisticated and creative: congrats to whoever was behind that.

The interface screen is clearly an extension of the one supplied with Race07 and therefore familiar. I do find some parts of it confusing though. For example, when altering a car set up and trying to save that set up I am not presented with the new set up as a new line as I was with GTR2 and it makes me feel as though I haven ' t saved it properly. Also I have trouble with the car filter mechanism, which, no doubt, is very powerful but at this stage a little too confusing. I ' ll work on it though!

Another little gripe is the multiplayer screen with the list of servers running. It populates brilliantly quickly, but I have a hell of a time trying to select a particular server (mostly Monza for me) because the whole list keeps scrolling, presumably as new servers come on line. It would be great for the developers to at least repopulate very 20 seconds or so automatically, rather than ' on-the-fly ' as at present. The GTR2 MP interface seemed easier.

The main reason I bought this was for the presence of superlative make: the Aston! I was delighted to see a fair few variants listed and it was not long before I had the Gulf colours loaded and I ' m in the garage at Monza. First impressions of the interior of the vehicle are nicely functional. Not massively hi-res textures used, but not low enough to make a significant difference. I love the way the legs move for brake / accelerator. My one gripe is that the display is too small to see things like tyre temperatures etc ' although primary information in the form of gear + time is fine to read. Outside viewing of the vehicle shows a nicely rendered car with good textures, although I am sure soon these will begin to look a little dated. Nevertheless, nice work.

Flicking in to first gear and running down the pit lane makes immediately aware of the sound and for me I love it. As others have commented on here, it has been improved and while I have never been fortunate to have raced a DB9R (or any other real car!) I felt as though this was a convincing sound.

Charging into Rettifilo was going to be my first experience of the Aston on the edge. I have umpteen hours behind the wheel of the 550 and it was always a somewhat unpredictable experience. Well, first of all, as with Race07, you have to be much more careful about the line you take otherwise you ' ll be bollocked by the Scottish bloke. GTR2 was much more forgiving. In the Aston, the car feels much more stable and predictable and I guess that sense of stability is a natural progression from a car which is four years older. It is a delight to drive and really, really good at the wheel. Simbin have done a great job recreating what I would hope is a genuine experience of the car. What did shock me though were my lap times " down from 1:41:9xx in the F550 to 1:49:000 or so now (why have they dropped?). A quick check of fiagt shows the figures to be pretty accurate.

The Monza track textures are enhanced from GTR2 and look great. Of course, they ' d look better too with the Lizard engine which you cannot be allowed to forget because there ' s a huge banner over the track every time you charge down the straight into Parabolica. I ' ve tried a few other cars on the track too, and have had some great online battles with the WTCC vehicles, in particular the Seats.

Anyway, there is tonnes more to explore in Evo and I've barely scratched the surface. My conclusion is that it is a great expansion pack / standalone product. I am heartened to hear Simbin reinforce its commitment to PC-based games and look forward to the next product based on the Lizard engine.