SimBin's Race Pro : A Much Awaited 360 Exclusive Racer Down Under

From XboxOZ360:
"With Race Pro, there will be an arcade mode for those who love their smash-n-dash style of racing, while still having the Racing Simulation as its backbone. So to appease those mad racers who expect their cars to slam into walls at 200mph and still continue on, there will be the Arcade Mode, but for those of use who really crave the simulation of all out racing combined with the adrenaline of knowing the next corner could well be our last if it is not approached correctly, this will be THE game that sits in our 360's tray for some time to come. For those those of use that know slamming our opponent out of the way in a corner is just 'not on old man', then this game will supply us with everything we need, and more.

It has been some time coming, and in the process changed publishers a few time, but now it seems that Atari have finally taken up the baton for SimBin's PC titles' move to the console, and in this case, "exclusively to the 360", releasing in the Australian Spring (Sept-Nov).

Australia is the home of V8 Supercars and some of the worlds top drivers, and would-be-top-drivers btw, so SimBin's Race Pro will be a most eagerly received and welcomed title."

[XboxOZ360]

For me, this is going to be THE title to get in the racing genre' . . no other has the pedigree that SimBin has, nor has the pure expertise in delivering a true racing experience in gaming All they do is make great racing games, nothing else, and what I had seen of the previous iteration under the name of GTR for the 360 was a welcomed sight. So waiting for this renamed game (Race Pro) will be a long one, eagerly awaiting the day of its release.

How it will be received by console gamers however is another matter. As most, and I use the word lightly, simply do not 'get' simulations' and just crave racing mayhem over planned racing expertise.

Sure, there is a place for arcade racing, it's fun, a way to blow off steam, no accountability for your actions, generally, and you can reach insane speeds and seemingly impossible feats can be performed. While a great deal of 'fun', there's something lacking for the gamer who looks for the real side of racing, and simply cannot afford, nor wishes to invest in a full on PC Simulation Rig in order to get their racing fix.

We've had to endure many a so-called pure racing game that turned out to be simply an arcade game dressed in fancy pants. SimBin hopefully will deliver what they do best, a great simulator with an arcade mode attached, rather than an arcade racers with a semi-sim mode attached.

[gaminoz]

I have to admit I'm more of an arcade race player, so this will be interesting as it wants to incorporate both.

[SEiGHTan]

You, and the original article, make some strange statements. Console gamers don't like sims? How comes Forza 2 is always the top racer and is usually in the top 10 Live games every week?

Looking forward to this.

[XboxOZ360]

@ SEiGHTan

In "general" . . (as I said in the article) meaning not all, but a huge majority, do like arcade racing over "Sims" . . . The main break to that rules only has been Forza 2 (as Forza 1 did NOT have the following Forza 2 has), and the TOCA Series was pre 360 and even then had a a much small following in comparison to other "console arcade racers" which often sold 4 times as many games that any of the TOCA series or "sim-style" games did. Even Race Driver 3 (TOCA 3 or V8SC's 3) did not sell anywhere near enough to make it profitable to move into the new market (This-Gen) for Codemasters. Hence the huge shift for them into a different genre', arcade racing, albeit the top of the tier arcade racer mind you, which many will now have to reach in order to do better.

Sims do not sell (with a 'few' notable exceptions) on consoles. Developers know this, it's why THQ pulled the plug on SimBin's GTR for the 360 early in 2007, and why SimBin had difficulty in finding a suitable console developer willing to take a chance with them. It's taken them almost 12 months to find a Publisher, even though the game they have is rock solid, and comes from a developer that knows its stuff around racing vehicles and gaming.

Even Flight Sims are not catered for on consoles because until now, they simply have NOT sold in the numbers needed to support the huge $$ involvement needed to make games for "This-Gen". Which is far in excess of any title on any last gen console. A single title on "This_gen" can cost up to and in many cases in excess of $US15-$US20 million 'just' to develop, not including promotion or publicity. Most console gamers love - well - arcade style games, with the exception of FPS oif course. Which until a game like Halo back in 2002 made FPS more accessible for gamers on consoles, as PC's were always thought of being home to all FPS. Sims were the same, until recently.

Only now do we have 2 real flight games that remotely resemble a sim, that being Ace Combat: Fires Of Liberation, and the new IL-2 Sturmovick which is currently in development for the console. And which are the only two flight games supporting Flight Sticks for the 360 or consoles.

The IL-2 Sturmovick series has long been at home on the PC, and now they have branched out to the consoles which is a move not many sim developers have had the gonads to do properly. Due mainly to really poor sale figures on any previous attempt of putting even a semi-sim flight game on a console.

So yes, sales are what publishes go by, not gamers demands, and while there is a huge Sim community out there that would love sims on consoles, not many developers and publishers have been willing to take a $US20 - $US30 million dollar gamble, just to see if they sell enough to cover costs . . . ($US30 million to cover dev & publishing and promotion) That's 600,000 units JUST to break even at $US50 average cost per game retail. Look at the number sold of TOCA, Ace Combat etc and you'll see those numbers are not there to the desired level to support such investments, or haven't been, until now.

Even within our own ranks at XboxOZ360-gamer (13) there are only really 2 members that like racing sims (ie Forza 2), and of those 2, only one loves them to the level many PC sim lovers would. So that's 2 in 13 that do like sims, while the rest would be very happy to just plug in the likes of GRID, Burnout, Stuntman, Juiced etc. That surely tells you something - doesn't it . . ?

Many PC gamers are moving across to consoles simply because they can get more games now than before, and also do so without the huge investment they have had to do in the past with their PC's. That doesn't mean they are abandoning the PC, it simply means they are opening up to a variety of gaming styles. So it makes sense that developers are now looking at that market, especially when you look at sales of console games against PC games.

[killax3563]

My initial impression is that this game looks generic as hell.

Very unimpressed.

[1stKnighT]

The 360 is king for racers.

[tatotiburon]

and king of RPG's
King of FPS
king of Sports

you got that right 1stknight

[GVON]

They need to allow g25 compatibly otherwise there's no point in the game when in full sim mode.

[Strife Lives]

Ive heard about their games but havnt played any.dont think my 64mb graphics card,2,8 ghz P4 from 2004 can hack it.but. . .I wonder,if this game is only for race cars (like Grid) Im not so sure about it.Forza and Gt is more my taste.the physics engine in this game would probably be better than Forza,then again,it might not.see,the FM2 engine is severly restricted(due to the 'shiny side up' clause) that prevents excessive damage to the cabin of the cars.In a race game with race cars,its not applicable. With that said,if this game has normal everyday cars,IM SOLD.especially if they have a 1997 Bmw E36 M3 like Forza 2. Thats my baby :D.

[level 360]

I only got 2 games on my PC and one of them is GTR2., it sure is a good game I must say by and with this XBox 360 Race Pro is shaping up to be another good one by the guys at SimBin.

My only question is will it be supporting an independently supplied steering wheel such as the G25? { which I have been using on my GTR2 ( PC ) and my GranTurismo 5: Prologue and Formula 1 game ( PS3 which I also have ) }
Because I believe MS/XBox only want to use their own equipment on their games... and I don't really want to buy another steering wheel.

[XboxOZ360]

Just "perhaps" there "might" be another 360 steering wheel in development, you never know?

And you never know that MS might just support a 3rd party steering wheel if they simply drop their own in favour of allowing various (or one) 3rd party peripheral companies to take the lead. This would save them heaps in R&D and construction, and gain more in returns via licensing fees, which makes more sense to the bean counters.

They did so with the flight stick which can be bought for Ace Combat and is a real flight stick having 2 separate pads with thrust, yaw controls and separate 'stick' with triggers and boosters etc.

news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13724/ Ace-Combat-6-ACEEDGE-Flightstic k-Bundle-Announced/

[Richdad]

You have to go with controllers on 360, even arcade games of 360's are designed for controllers. Gt is hard on joystick you definitely need the steering.

[GametimeUK]

Id rather be playing Motorstorm 2 and Gran Tourismo dominates racing games... Anything else just doesnt get my attention easily... Motorstorm 2 looks awesome though

[Richdad]

is awesome for sure but Motorstorm is really one game that I regret buying. It really loosing cash. Motorstorm 2 should definitely do something abt the problems in 1 to make it better.

[Strife Lives]

Yeah.you go play motorstorm and that demo.GT prologue looks gorgeous.but a real simulator it is not.maybe later today go do a few handbrake turns in the real world and see if the tyre sounds in GT prologue are realistic.they've sounded the same since gran turismo.Polyphony has lots to work on,so dont make it seem like they've got a top franchise.I support both GT and Forza.but physics wise,GT doesnt have anything on FM2.

[belal]

gt5 will kill everything, forza is a good serie i admit that but still it has a loong way to go to come on same level as gt :)

gt5 will be awesome !

[trydis]

Forza 2 beats GT5P on everything but the graphics. Race Pro's arcade mode seems to be exactly like GT5P, with the possibility of slamming a car into a wall in 200mph and drive away without a scratch. GT will hopefully be better when damage simulation has been added sometime in the future...Right now the online part of GT5P is a joke.

[XboxOZ360]

We're discussing racing "simulators" here mate, not glorified shinny arcade racers. GT5 and it's demos are nothing more than really shinny arcade racers and are NOT sims by any stretch of the imagination, and anyone that says they are has no clue as to what IS and what IS NOT a Racing Simulation game.

A simulation offers as close to real world physics as the developers engine can deliver, realistic damage, tyre wear, fuel consumption, suspension damage and wear, and engine wear/damage. GT5 offers very little of these, and what it has done todate has been mediocure at best.

GT5 and it's predicessors do deliver great car racing, excellent visuals when you do a polygon V's Polygon showdown. There's no disputing that at all. But it is NOT a racing sim, no matter how much the develper who thinks he's the gods gift to race sim development says it is.

SimBin have delivered 10 excellent high end racing sims, how many have the makers of GT "delivered" . . . hmmm . . . GT5 will look and play great, but unless it has a huge rebuild (which seems to happen every time a new racer appears - funny that) to BE a sim, then it will still just be a very nice looking arcade racer.

[MGRogue2017]

I wouldn't really call this game "much Awaited"... It was just announced.. lol.

[XboxOZ360]

It's been in the works since early 2006 with SimBin even putting out a Video on XboxLive if you bother to go and check it out . . It's under the title GTR . . .daaahhh . . . and ever racer has been waiting for it and was disappointed when not one but 2 publishers turned their backs on it , last one being THQ in 2007. SO do a little READING and then check the footage in XboxLive's Game video section for GTR and then you'll see what it can look like.

[Strife Lives]

To the dude that said GT5 would kick everythings ass.did you hear in a recent interview. They said GT Mobile is still being made,but it will release after GT5.they then go on to say. .GT5 may even be released. . . In. . .2010 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! So,hey thats a while from now.

[XboxOZ360]

Correct, and bythe tme GT5 arrives, Forza 3 will have garnered an even higher fan base, which currently exceeds 2 miilion "active" players almost 2 years after its release, and SimBin's Race Pro will have attained a solid following from the real racing fans, while GRID 2 will have swept away the competition in the realistic arcade racing genre' . .Something tells me having 900+ cars in a racing game isn't about racing per-say, but more about pleasing every fan out there that wants their car in a racing game.

While real racing games such as sims deal with real aspects of racing, not how many shinny cars they can get in a game. Look at GRID, not many cars, nor many tracks, but it gives all-out-balls-to-the-wall racing in spades like no other, so does Forza 2 and no doubt Race Pro.

Bubbles to you mate.

[GVON]

I'm sorry dude but your miles off thinking GT5p is an arcade game. I mean if you want it arcade then put the game on standard, turn up the TC, switch on ASM, and steering help, crank up the ABS.

Put it on pro turn off the above go to the options and turn the wheel settings to sim mode and you have a physics on par with any simbin game and as you've played it you would know.
I own GTR, GTR2, GT legends and have played them on simulation for years, I even stopped playing GT after 2 because I was pc sim all the way but with this game there is no boundary between pc and console any more.

I will even say that GT blows away all the simbin games when it comes to weight transfers and loads on the car, GT5p conveys that sense of weight better than any other sim on the market and if you don't beleave me check out this vid

http://www.autogamingcentra...

ok it is a drift vid but check how the car's body rolls on gt and how the weight transfer upsets the car

http://www.gtplanet.net/for...

in GT5p each car feels truly unique whilst tuning parts of your car makes a difference, which I found GTR lacked when you made any real change to the settings

The only problem with GT5p is as you say a lack of damage, which as everybody who pays attention to racing games knows it's coming.

You will no doubt disagree with me but at least check out this review for GT5p and then ask yourself is GT5p an arcade racer.

http://www.insidesimracing....

[XboxOZ360]

I will check those vids out GVON, as I'm always open to honest feedback.

Forza 2 is just as detailed in vehicle weight transfer, tuning and the like, You can watch vids of the cars changing as they enter and exit corners, as you tune them, those characteristics change according to what you do. I do have gripes about Forza 2, that's for sure, and I have played GT5's purchasable demo on the PS3 and it is a greatgame, there's no disputing that.

And yes, it does have Arcade mode as you rightly point out, it will be interesting to see just what it does deliver when it eventually sees the light of day in 2010 (at some stage). No game is truely finished as you know, even when it approaches its cut off date of "that's it, no more adding to this one" . . .so they pack it up, get it ready for delivery and market it.

All the while a decent % of the dev team is continuing work on the next iteration with what they couldn't put into this one being shipped (this applies to any game as you know)

So I suppose my main gripe is with GT series is that it never seems to be finished enough to put it to market. Yet if they did simply produce what they have now, which would be great, then simply continued work on a follow-up iterations, they might just have a decent following the likes that Forza 2 has currently (in excess of 2 million active users - still) . .

If they did do that, then many more racing gamers would be spending more time on the PS3 racing, rather than sitting at home playing the waiting game, yet again, instead of playing THE game.

I suppose it comes down to what your familiar with and more comfortable with with Sims, Racing games, good ones improve with actual customer testing, not in-house testing. Get the game out there, cop a few whacks on the chin and learn, produce a better game in the following iteration, rather than delay - delay - delay just to produce THE top racing title around, which basically will never happen,. Forza 4 when it appears no doubt will knock the first 3 on their heads, as with GRID 2 etc, but they wouldn't get there if they simply kept waiting until it ws perfect, because how would you know it's perfect - you wouldn't.

I'm sure you understand what I'm 'trying to say' here, as you seem a logical sort of mature person.

[Obama]

Have any of you seen the gameplay videos? It looks like crap seriously, worse racing game ever. Check out the videos...

[XboxOZ360]

If you'd like to supply some links to vids, that would be great, but the only vid I've seen is from a hand-held camera at E3 at Atari's showing of the racer to some press, other than That's I've not seen actual HD in-game footage . . and you simply can NOT judge any game, no matter what it is, on hand-held off-screen footage.

I'll have to admit that that footage is terrible, but that's why we haven't put it up on the site, as it's just hand-held "off-screen" footage and does not represent that actual game. Much like taking film of GRID earlier on, and we saw how that turned out in the flesh.

Supply some links and I'll gladly check them out.

[GVON]

not sure if this is a better vid than you've seen before#

http://www.gametrailers.com...

All I can say is that it looks a bit slow, especially when in fifth gear at over 200 kph and they turn in into ascari in the first part of the vid, it just looks wrong.