The World Touring Car Championship is organized by FIA. It was first held in 1987 concurrent with the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC). Due to the high costs, the championship was not considered successful and it was abandoned a year later. At the request of the manufacturers, the ETCC was changed into WTCC and started again under this name in 2005. In just 2 years with the help of FIA and Eurosport, the championship became very popular, being considered the third most important championship after Formula One and World Rally Championship. This year there will be 11 tracks and six manufacturers who will battle again for the cup.

R.A.C.E. is the game that wants to highlight once again (if it's necessary) how spectacular this championship is. Using the same concept from GTR 2, the game is another simulation masterpiece. You will encounter all the official tracks and manufacturers plus all the drivers that race here. Compared to GTR 2 or TOCA 3, here there are not so many car models. So you will have to access also other support championships. The '87 WTCC where you can drive an Alf Romeo 75 Turbo and a BMW e30 M3 and the Mini Challenge which features only the Mini Cooper S.

This lack of diversity, is the cause of the official content, which here seems to be not enough. WTCC is still a young championship and there are not many manufacturers. But the fun is not necessarily the number of cars, but the way you drive them. And this is the main point where R.A.C.E. overtakes the competition.

The Handling

The handling of the car is different from what you have seen in other games. First because this is a simulation and second because all the cars (except the BMW) have front wheel drive. Actually I think this is the only simulation game where you can drive cars with front wheel drive. Because of this, the physics of the car are different from what you have seen before. You don't have to push so hard the brakes, otherwise you will end up blocking the wheels and the car will become out of control. When you exit the curves, you can accelerate very hard. The front wheel drive helps you do this. After the first rounds I was a little bit confused how the car was handling, although I am not new to racing simulation games. But these front-wheel racing cars are somehow unusual to drive.

Menu

One of the biggest problems in GTR series was the menu. But the problem ends up in R.A.C.E.. SimBin recreated the whole menu, so you don't have to search anymore the options. They quit the old concept used in GTR series (inter laid tabs), and came with a very easy one. Even the setup car option is much more easy to use and to understand. Coming to this point I have to admit that I used this option much more than in previously SimBin games. First because it's much more easy to use and because you need to create a gap between you and the other opponents. And this can be achieved only by a good setup.

Regulations and Limitations

WTCC has a lot of mechanical limitations, which are also included in the game. The cars should not have more than 2.0 liters capacity, and a rev limit to 8500 rpm. This means you have to squeeze every drop of power out of your engine to become more and more faster. The first results will be seen if you begin to change the gear ratios. Another important setting is the toe-in angle which makes the steering much more responsive. The game seems to be not so fast as GTR series and this is true because these cars don't run with more than 156 mph. But at the same time the game becomes more challenging because there are not so many differences between your car and the others. The A.I. is not necessarily more aggressive but is much more advanced than in other so-called racing games. For somebody that things Need for Speed and Ridge Racer are the best racing games, should not play this one! The opponents won't miss any chance to overtake you if they will find any way to do it.

Damage