Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends *MY REVIEW*

I have now been playing this new game on the PS3 for a few hours, and there are a few things I'd like to say which I think most potential buyers or gamers will find useful. I think to understand this game you have to take it as it is. It's not a simulator, it's a cheesy arcade made to give extra cash to the developers and raise awareness of the Ferrari brand to younger generations. The whole game seems somewhat of a "lunchtime effort", made from spare bits of other games, just to but something out there. It feels like I've been sent a beta-copy of the game, it feel's very incomplete... I really do struggle to see the customer group for this game, because most arcade racers are interested in a variety of cars and makes in a game, not just one. Other than the base of people who just buy stuff because it say's Ferrari on them (aka me) I don't understand why someone would pay for this game which feel's 2-3 years old.

Firstly, the negative:

-Physics are appalling, all cars handle like boats and have a sort of two-stage twitch when you turn in, suddenly the car jolts halfway into a corner and washes out. I have driven several of the cars in-game in real life as well, and there was 0% of the driving that even remotely reminded me of the real experience.

-The game is very "squared". I.e. you do the campaign and unlock cars, that's it.

-The campaign mode is extremely tedious and long. Over 100 missions on each level, which there are 3 of. Most of the missions are boring, and add very little spice to the game, right from the start, they feel like a chore required to unlock cars for free racing and time trail.

-The online mode is a joke, you don't race other people, you race AI. (wtf?) I do think it is possible to race other real players but I never found any. Perhaps this has to do with the games very low key release.

-Graphics feel a bit dated. If anyone remembers the old game (Ferrari Virtual Race or something, not the FVA) on Ferrari.com this reminds me very much of it. The scenery is acceptable for 2012, but it lacks a lot of trackside details, and depth. I felt like all I was doing was either racing around in an open field or in some woods. The cars are ok, and they all have interior, especially the classics are very neatly done. However the newer cars feel somewhat neglected graphics wise, as the older cars are definitely better both inside and out.

-Lack of tuning and options. You cannot choose wether to have ABS, TC etc. on or off. The only thing you can chose is to have auto or manual gears, and mph/kmh. There are 3 driving modes, with slight alterations in physics for each level; novice, normal and pro. The higher level you choose, the fewer aid's are selected, but you cannot for instance have ABS on in pro, or tc off in normal. It's absolutely horrendous that simple tuning like this is not available on a game in 2012. Heck, my old PS1 games let me choose this! The only buttons you have while racing are gears, change of view, rear view and HUD on/off + handbrake, which doesn't really work because of the horrible physics.

-Weird preset's. My Logitech DFGT was completely unusable first time I tried the game, brake and throttle lag, steering was way off etc. I checked the controls section and found out the game had automatically found my wheel and gone into "DFGT mode" as I call it. Even though it had mapped all buttons correctly and so on, I had to do a lot of tuning to make it feel ok. The throttle still has an awkward deadzone even though it's set to zero. (This is not a hardware problem, it works fine elsewhere), the brakes also lag when you apply 100%, the car will do the two-stage jolt just like the steering.

Now, the POSITIVE!

-Graphics, some of the cars in the game are really nice to look at, and that's a big part of this game. Kudos to whoever made the interiors, because they are great.

-Variety and range of models. This game really is a big boost from the Pirelli one, which sucked. There is a huge range of cars, from F1 to 458, to the first Ferrari ever made. This does give the game more of drive, as there are many cars to try out. I think the selection chosen by the producers is spot on, as the game doesn't feature every single F ever made, but it features a lot of "highlights" and cars that aren't normally seen in any game. (308 for example.) This I believe is the main selling point of the game along with all the historical tracks which aren't found elsewhere.

-Circuits. The game also as a lot of circuits and variations (51 to be exact), and especially good is the fact that it has a lot of now disbanded circuits like the original Monza. The tracks are all fairly well detailed, but it does vary a lot.

-AI. The AI is well above average, even though it's still too slow in the hardest level. But that's something universal for all console racing games, so you can't really fault it there. The AI is very unpredicable, and make lot's of mistake. To be honest, they all feel like lunatics on steroid's! They LOVE bumping, and they try to overtake eachother and draft like crazy. The developers truly deserve a pat on the back for creating AI which doesn't act like a Jane Austin novel!

-Menu music. Now I know some critics have complained about sayings it's dreary and annoying, but I really like the menu music, it's very heroical and has a saga-style feel to it, which suit's this game perfectly.

-Sepia to real life. One of the absolute coolest features on this game (not that here are to many..) As you start a race or a session in an old car, everything is in a sepia tone with film scratches and so on. This stay's on for a few seconds then gradually fades into true color, and the sepia returns when you cross the finish line. I love it!

-Sound. The sound is good for a video game, there is variation and it doesn't sound digital.

To summarize, I think this game is a 5/10. Even though there is a lot that should have been done better and improved, it does fairly well as an entertaining arcade game. Because that's what it is, it's like a stupid dog that runs after a ball every time you throw it. However it does NOT bring you anywhere remotely close to "experiencing the Ferrari Dream" as it says on the back...

 

I didn't expect this game to be realistic. I expect a fun and simple, yet entertaining mediocre arcade game, just like the Test Drive series always has been. I disagree with you on the physics, because if you actually want to tackle the corners realistic you would have to be going at 30 mph even in a 5th gear corner... I find the steering the hardest bit, because it's so unrefined and rough, suddenly you're racing of track into the gravel even though you haven't overdone it or flown into the corner. Furthermore do not whatsoever have any problem with content being locked, that's part of the game, it's drive and any critic who criticizes must be a complete tool, because what on earth would be the point of the game?

Lol to any critic calling this a sim, they must have never left their mom's kitchen nor been in the drivers seat of any car... It reminds me of boating and probably has a stronger resemblance to docking a space ship than thrashing a Ferrari around a circuit..

And as far as evolution goes, this is A HUGE LEAP forward from the Pirelli game, amen to that!

 

I beg to differ on all this. The sound is different but not THAT good, it's a fresh taste compared to GT5 which is just sad. But compared to any PC-sim the sounds are not on par. They are different but you can hear that it's a generic sound that they've just changed the perimeters on to create the difference. (I.e. record from one model, change the pitch, modulation etc. to fit a similar car). And I DO NOT want to seem snob or boasting, but I've driven over 20 different Ferrari's (I know that there are lots of people on these forums which have driven way more than that, but I'm talking from MY experience here). Because of the "boaty" feel of all the cars the real life resemblance is non-existant for me. Yes, they do handle differently, but it does not remind me of any real Ferrari at all. The base on which the physics is built on is just to far off, unfortunately.

I don't mean to be rude or patronizing, but do you have experience on proper sims like rFactor, GTR2 etc.?