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Sega Touring Car Championship
As the 1997 follow up to the smash hit Sega Rally Championship, Sega TouringCar is both a hit and a miss. Hits: Speed: absolute, break-neck speed. You've got to see this game in action to believe the velocity that these cars get to. It's almost impossible to go back and play Sega Rally because of the speed difference. Graphic modeling: All the cars are modeled perfectly, from the working breaklights (Thank you, Sega Rally) to the fins. The backgrounds have a lot in them as well, such as light posts, overpasses, transparent crowd shielding, the works. The pop-up point is way in the distance, equal to if not further away than the Rally pop-up point. And...whoa...actual working Rear-View mirror on the in-car viewpoint. And this might seem silly to bring up, but the game has a very clean, well designed look. What I mean is, the fonts are clear, the Now Loading bar is slick, the in between Round Loading screens are well detailed and sharp, and the name entry screen is clean, clear, and neat looking. It's about time that a design team focuses on the ENTIRE game, title screen to end credits, rather than just the in-game graphics, letting the rest go to waste. Good job, AM3. Control: With the 3D control pad, this game is a dream, hairpin turns, especially the killer final turn on the Grunwald Circuit are easy as pie, and you won't even have to let off the gas. On the 3D Pad, both the gas and the brake are on the triggers, which means not only do you have analog steering, but the triggers are analog as well, giving you full, sensitive to the touch gas and brake. (If you don't believe me, plug in the 3D pad, go to Key Config, and check the Adjust Volume option. This allows you to set the sensitivity of the triggers as well as the directional control.) Replay Value: Playing against the computer itself is no different than playing Daytona or Rally by yourself. However, where I've had most of my fun is playing against the other people all over the world who have submitted their scores to the Sega of Japan Sega TouringCar Database. If you have a good enough time in Arcade/Championship/2 Laps mode, you will get a password. If you have a NetLink, you can hit 'Y' and submit your score to the database. Otherwise, the TouringCar disc has an .html file and the graphics that you can copy to the hard drive of your computer and submit your scores via that webpage thru your Internet connection. On certain days (Such as December 24) a special event will open up under Saturn Mode that will allow you to compete for best time on odd-event courses. Submit your time using the same methods as Arcade mode, and you can compete for a globally synchronized best-of-the-best title. So far I've made it into the U.S.A top 10, and the top 300 in the world, using the Opel Calibra/AT. Music: What can I say? Avex Trax - mmmmmmm more... The music in Touring Car (Avex Trax ONLY...the rest will make you wretch) is an absolute dream. Speaking of a dream...is it just me, or is there an excerpt from a Martin Luther King, Jr. speech in the background for the Grunwald track? Misses: Frame Rate: because of the speed, the frame rate drops noticeably when there's a lot going on, especially when coming to something that passes overhead, and even moreso if there are other cars in the vicinity. It doesn't seem to move nearly as smoothly as Rally. You can definitely tell that the Saturn Processors are getting worked like never before. However, I will say this...the frame rate becomes a moot point the more you play the game. You become more interested in making the turn without hitting the wall rather than, "oh shoot, did I lose a frame?" Control: This falls under a miss as well. It seems this game was optimized for the 3D control pad alone. The cars are 'Rally skiddish' using the steering wheel, and control like bricks on an oiled track with the standard control pad. I play Rally and Daytona and a lot of my other games with the standard control pad, and I have to switch each time I want to play TouringCar to the 3D pad because the control is so horrid with the standard pad. (Reviewer's Note: Why don't I use the digital side of the 3D control pad? Cos I don't like it, that's why...I don't know if anyone else has the problem of the digital control cross sticking at the worst possible moments.) My times are easily 4-5 seconds worse when using the standard control pad over the 3D pad. ???????: I really don't know what to classify this last point under, but I really feel like there hasn't been another game from any of Sega's AM teams that has measured up to the performance of Sega Rally. While TouringCar excels in so many areas (especially the speed and the music), it just doesn't have the magic of Rally. There was something special about Rally when it came out, something that made you all tingly inside...that TouringCar just doesn't have. Maybe this is just something personal to me. Don't get me wrong...I love TouringCar, I play it daily, and I think it's the cream of the crop of the 1996/1997 Saturn games...but...it's just not the same. Overall, I would recommend buying this game (or asking for it is a Christmas gift) but make sure you play it for a while before you make your final judgments on it. I waited until now (December 9) to do the review, after purchasing it on November 24. When I first got it, I was like, "What happened to Sega?" Now, after finding out the difference in control with the 3D pad, and the across the globe competition for position dominance, the game is a jewel in the Sega Racing library. Score 4.75/5.00 (With 3D Pad) 3.00/5.00 (With Standard Pad)  |