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Sega Touring Car Championship, if you've heard of it, has gotten a lot of trash. Well, let me state in the first paragraph that the preconception of certain people is definitely BS. Sega have come up 'trumps' again.

Music/Sound Effects: 9/10

The Soundtrack has definitely been influenced by Psygnosis' Wipeout series. Techno and trance dominate the tracks. It's done by a group called Avex, and an in-house Sega team. The music is pumping, and after the qualifying lap (I'll talk about this later), you get to select the group's tracks, and there are over 10 of them. Sound effects are o.k., although I preferred Rally's better use of my Surround Sound system. For instance, in Rally, the engine noise came from the rear speakers; in Touring Car, it's coming from the 3 front speakers...but in actuality, only a minor gripe. Sound Effects are as clear as a whistle, and you really need to hear those tires squealing, cause when they do, that means you're losing time.

Graphics: 7.5/10

The graphics are a little glitchy, to say the least. And the off-track detail, like the trees and buildings are bland. But considering the shear speed you are going, it's a pretty good job. The framerate also, at first, does not seem to be at 30fps, but later, it becomes apparent that it is somewhere close to that. This may be the fastest conventional racer there is, fastest overall racer goes to Wipeout XL. I can't help but think that Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rally's producer), put in much more effort graphically with Rally, and did a half assed job in Touring Car because of the urgency of producing launch titles for the Dural. NO memorable trackside detail combined with the bland color palette used, makes the graphics slightly better than average.

Playability: 10/10

In case you are wondering, yes, it's that good. The racing itself is like Rally in some ways, you shave off time by taking different methods of turns and position of the car, in that turn; but this time you have a 6 speed car in the manual versions; instead of the 4 speed cars you have in Rally. Also, like I mentioned before, the speed of the cars in Touring Car is fast, making the slightest errors glare out with a 1/10 of a second loss, and that 1/10 of a second loss, is a damn lot in Touring Car's world. Turning requires you to have knowledge whether to "tap...tap...tap" (ease the turn) or to "hold" (turn hard) the direction. I prefer playing with the digital pad, as you can see; but there is an option to play with the analog controller. The options to the analog controller is quite cool, as you can set the sensitivity of the analog direction pad and analog shoulder buttons also...a first in gaming. So in a sense, you're playing with a steering wheel and gas/brake pedals in your hands. It's best you take the time attack mode before racing in an unfamiliar track, because all errors such as being in the wrong gear, and tire slippage, take off some huge chunks of time. Huge chunks meaning 1/2 a second...like I said, and eternity in Touring Car terms. Why? Because the qualifying lap that you take in the beginning of the game, has 7 times separated by only 2 seconds, and that 1/5 of a second is the difference between qualifying in 5th or starting last in the first real race. The qualifying lap is actually the first course, which is raced without competitors, to try an establish a time which places you in the aforementioned starting position. The qualifying lap is the only race started from the 'stopped' position, and the next 3 courses are started with a 'rolling start'. Moving on to the AI (artificial intelligence/computer)- the computer is very good, but not cheap like in Manx TT. Manx TT had super bikers that could go faster than your top speed, and always hit you from the back. In Touring Car, you get non of that cheap stuff. If you fall back, it means you are taking the turn wrong. You must perform your best, literally, to win against the race. Modes of play are divided into two main branches (Arcade Side and Saturn Side). This is done because the Arcade Side retains the original setting of the cars performance from the arcade. The Saturn Side has cars that have been tuned, making the cars handle better. It might not be apparent when first trying the game, but with experience, you can sense the slightest change. O.k., why do you ask they did this? Because the modifications you get to do to your car in Saturn Side, would allow the best modified cars to have top times. In Saturn Side, you only get to pick the pretuned cars, and nothing else (although you can choose between 2 color schemes) because of the all important WORLD CHARTS. This feature is the one feature that elevates this game to never felt before urgency that makes me want to play and improve my times. The game has a built in limited version of the Japanese SegaNet browser, which allows you to post directly on to the WORLD CHARTS which is located at Sega of Japan's Website. There are people as of this moment from all over the world trying to beat their times and be 1st in the world. You gotta check the charts at http://www.sega.co.jp/stc/ and see for yourself why shaving fractions of a second is so important. Right now, I'm the 1st ranked American (31st overall) having a 2'47"968. The times extend into the THOUSANDTHS of a second, making identical times like in Rally, almost impossible. And that what makes this game so impossible to stop playing. The competition factor is where it's at, and is truly why we play games. The competition is playing at an even playing field, since non of the cars are modifiable, although one has to say wonder as a French racer post a truly godlike time of 2'34". From now on, all racers MUST have the GLOBAL RANKING as part of the setup. You get 2 additional tracks thrown in after you finish first in the competition mode in either Arcade or Saturn Side. One of the tracks, you race right after you finish 1st, like in Rally, another comes up when you finish fist in Saturn Side competition mode, an Exhibition Mode becomes available, keeping true to the fact that the Arcade Side has only the elements found in the arcade game. The Lancia Delta and the Toyota Celica from Rally become available if you're good enough to finish in first on these two extra tracks. Gain knowledge of the tracks, and expect to play at least 5-8 hours before even being able to compete against the computer (actually, you're playing the track). The speed may be unbearable to some, so I only recommend this title to the truly 'hardcore' racer. Travis...you must be reading my mind, because I was thinking the same thing- the VF of racers; scary, must be ESP. It's that deep. The cornering holds secrets that are unlocked only after tons of play, and after that, the computer is still good enough to kick your butt. One note though, the computer is slightly better in Arcade Mode. In comparison to the great Rally, the cars might seem uncontrollable; but that's due to the speed you are going, and the courses in Touring Car are asphalt, so the tires have more grip, and you will not be able to do the Rally powerslides, where you take a turn hard to blast the corners. The Hairpins in the last track of Touring Car is way tougher that the hairpins in Rally. In fact comparing the two is really unfair, because the two use completely different types of cars and track surfaces. I'd say that Touring car has the depth of Rally, but is much more difficult do to the very excellent AI (not cheap), and the speeds you are travelling cause you to concentrate on every turn. You have to really "drive your car", positioning it in the optimum position of the track, while going at incredible speeds. I know I must've repeated some things a thousand times, but the first time you play, you'll be thinking that the game is turd (everybody who's ever played the game in contact with me say's this). One last piece of advice to players with this game, and to people interested- when you here those tires squeal, you're hearing time fly by!

Overall: 9/10

You have to be a true racing fan to even compete in Touring Car. Casual racers- don't even touch it, because you'll be frustrated. Racing fanatics, the gameplay is almost as realistic as real racing. Every fraction of a second is important in Touring Car. Especially if you want to impress in the World Rankings. If not for the "bland" and glitchy graphics (it's not as bad as it sounds), I would have given it a 10 for the gameplay and world charts alone.

Extra- the Japanese browser is a great browser. Some of it's features are better than the Netlink browser. The .jpgs come out looking better than the images on both versions of the Planet Web browser. The World Charts also load faster on it. The page loads and looks more like you would see browsing on the computer. The only drawback is the sometimes hard to read text, and it has trouble reading the color in tables for html. Also, if you have Netlink, you may wonder why you can't view certain .jpgs and .gifs. Some are done in different finishing formats, but all are viewable in the Japanese browser. The only way to browse with it though, is to change the 'page start' settings from the WORLD CHARTS url, to the url of your choice. The drawback: everytime you change the url in the 'page start' settings, you are cut off.