TOCA 3 - Serious Redline Competitor

I just noticed that TOCA Race Driver 3, my favorite racing game on the XBox, has been released for Macintosh:

http://www.feralinteractive.com/?game=rd3

Unless the Mac port is poor, I expect this game to have better physics, better multiplayer racing, better singleplayer career, and better visuals/audio than Redline. Redline's advantages are lower price, lower system requirements, and user-created content.

Games4Mac.de has links to two separate demos available, although the links are currently down. I really need to try this game - it's the best console racing game I ever played, with PGR2 and the Forza series trailing right behind.

Isn't it by the same group that did the Colin McRae games? the cars and (asphalt) tracks in CMR just didn't feel right.

I'm not too worried. It's not like Ambrosia is selling a lot of Redline, anyway. If they wanted to promote it more, they should really advertise the fantastic community-made content - unlike EV:N's huge collection of community-made content, Redline's is better than what came with the game.

NoNameBrand wrote:Isn't it by the same group that did the Colin McRae games? the cars and (asphalt) tracks in CMR just didn't feel right.

It is indeed Codemasters, and they also made Race Driver GRID. Those games have excellent visuals and damage simulation, on the expense of a more arcade feel during driving. A large number of TOCA fans hated that Codemasters had dumbed down the simulation phylics in GRID, which was hyped to be the successor of TOCA 3.

TOCA 3 was my inspiration for making the Ultimas, by the way.

i think, the big advantage in redline, is its community...

imho

DonaemouS wrote:i think, the big advantage in redline, is its community...

imho

+1.. i play gran turismo on the ps3 once in a while..and its a great game, but the community isn't nearly as tight knit as we are here. it's what makes many of us keep coming back....we really have become a little family. There are other games with fancy looks and stuff, but what we have developed here as a community is something that can't be replaced........ happy to be a part of it

Seems like the links are working now, I just tried both demos. Directly available from http://download.games4mac.de/. Honda Civic @ Donington, Mercedes C-klasse DTM @ Hockenheim, Holden Commodore VZ @ Phillip Island, and a stupid Baya Buggy race (the gravel and rally simuation leaves alot to be desired, but the tarmac racing is great stuff)

Even though I'm buying this game, you won't lose me to the devil anytime soon

anyone seen a torrent?

Yeah! Got to Feral's site and click "buy".

Looks like its Intel only? My German isn't exactly fluent, but thats my impression from the website. Hence, chalk up another advantage to RL. I'll be checking this out tonight on my Intel iMac; Feral's Total Immersion Racing was pretty good, so I'm expecting it to look good. The physics will be interesting to see. As far as one of the demo tracks, I have this feeling we'll be able to run it in RL as well, sometime before xmas.

Pax-raider wrote:As far as one of the demo tracks, I have this feeling we'll be able to run it in RL as well, sometime before xmas.

Baya buggy? Cool!

Pax-raider wrote:I'll be checking this out tonight on my Intel iMac (...) As far as one of the demo tracks, I have this feeling we'll be able to run it in RL as well

If you use Google Earth, pictures from the track, and this game as reference, I think you're on pretty safe ground. TOCA is supposed to have very accurate British racing circuits, and driving the track inside a game gives you a better feel than having to watch YouTube videos.

Does anybody know if they used GPS logging on their tracks to get real-world accuracy??

From the Press release December 2005:

Codemasters wrote:Every track has been authentically recreated for the game using real-world GPS topographical data so players are guaranteed to experience them just as real race drivers do. For Mount Panorama (Bathurst), a new geographic survey of the circuit was commissioned exclusively for the game

The only negative feedback I've read on their forums regarding track accuracy is that Oulton Park "is horrible compared to the real thing". I don't know if that comment corcerns visuals or topography. The banking at Laguna Seca is also different than in GT4 and Forza, I don't know which one is more correct. If I have the time during the holidays, I'll try to help Waderz out with Mount Panorama using this game as reference.

Just tried it out, and unless there was a video setting I was missing, its visually pretty pathetic. Steering with the keyboard was awful - massive over-reactions at all speeds, car felt like it was boat. Seriously underwhelmed with the whole thing, I don't see this as being a match for RL at all...

DonaemouS wrote:i think, the big advantage in redline, is its community...

Got it in one.