There’s nothing better than the thrilling sound of an car, you can never have, accelerating to 100 in 3.4 seconds. On top of that you get the beautiful history of a brand that tops the scale of elegance, sophistication and speed. And it comes at a price… of just 30 bucks at your favorite retail store.
Presentation
Upon starting the game you will be asked to install an update, an update that finished the game. I really appreciate developers that update their games after release, especially if they add features like trophy support and custom soundtrack support. After all the updates are finished you will get a beautiful main screen with a annoying side note that it’s not as effective as we’d have liked. Once I removed all driving aids, I’m a driving god (in my dreams), I loaded Spa and started in my favorite Ferrari so far the F430. I was disappointed at first with the graphics. It’s not as pretty as GT5 or F1 championship edition, but it’s not ugly either. What is ugly is the sound of crashes. Hitting other cars (not intentionally of course!) always leads to a sound similar to a can being thrown away. It can’t sound like that in real life. After I got over the initial shock of the awful can sound and mediocre graphics I noticed a curtain world movement. Leafs fell on the track and flew away as I drove towards it in my Ferrari F430. It was a challenge to keep my concentration on the road as I saw the world, in a way, move. In the future I’d like more movement like people moving around, planes and crowd standing up and cheering. Maybe this is something for the next Playstation as this generation isn’t strong enough yet it seems.
Gameplay
While driving the F430 with my G25 it reminded me of a Top Gear episode. During this episode it was said how much fun this car was to drive and how great the handling was. And I can say they’re right! The car was extremely fun to drive. You can feel the car oversteer and understeer, braking really felt like you were stopping a 300 km/h super car, unlike other titels like Grand Turismo. The game has a few modes that should keep you entertained. Modes like online play, quick race, time trail and a career mode. Doing these things will give you cards, I still don’t know what these do, and the right to buy new Ferrari cars. You can use the game credits you earn from races to buy them. Cars vary from classic Ferraris and new modern Ferraris. I bought maybe 3 Ferraris on the first 2 hours that I played. Credits are easily gained but the right to buy new Ferraris aren’t always. Be prepared to play several days before being able to get your butt in the Ferrari Enzo FXX. A car that is constantly updated with new aero packages and other improvement. In fact I think this car could gain the first place in Top Gear’s leader board. When I played around with the cars I noticed that each Ferrari feels different. The 550 Maranello feels heavy in turning and less stable under braking compared to the more expensive and newer Ferrari F430 Scuderia. This is a good thing because some developers try to cheat by giving you 100 cars that all feel the same.
Conclusion
I love this game. The graphics might not be GT5 quality but the driving physics are way better. And it doesn’t take System 3 three years to make a race game. Buy this game if you love Ferraris or if you are looking for a 30 bucks racing title. Don’t buy this game if you are willing to spend 60 bucks because the sequel Super car challenge is just around the corner.
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