11 October 2006
Ferry

Eidos announces Race: The Official WTCC Game for PC

Eidos today announced “Race: The Official WTCC Game”, WTCC meaning World Touring Car Championships. The release date is set for November 24 on PC. The racing simulator is focused on the hard hitting, intense action of the exciting WTCC championship which is exploding in popularity all over the world.

Based on WTCC, one of only three official FIA world championships next to Formula 1 and WRC, RACE will feature the complete WTCC championship season of 2006, 60 cars, drivers and locations, among these several official tracks and cars brand new to the racing game genre. You’ll be able to go at it with others in multiplayer via LAN and Internet play.

The game is recreating the championship as close to real life as possible and simulates the cars and the driving style in a ultra realistic fashion. You need to check out the features & game modes below to see why exactly they are saying that.

Key features are:

* The Two-Race Format. Recreating the WTCC races in a realistic way goes all the way to the two-race format of the real race weekends. This applies all through the game from quick race to race weekend. The top eight finishers in the first race will switch places on the grid for the second race and the winner of the race session is the player who gathers the most combined points in the both races.

* Improved AI assures super tight sprint race action. With race sessions of only 2 X 20 minutes a lot of action is guaranteed, in this time all the competitors needs to fight their way to the podium and the AI is tough with a capital T.

* Highly detailed damage system. All cars are destructible in a highly realistic manner and will bend, crumble and break just like the real life counterparts. Loose parts such as wheels or body parts flying around can and will be damaging other cars on the track so you got to stay sharp when driving.

* Superb online with up to 26 players online. Online touringcar racing has never been this good, upload your various game results to the global rankings and stay “King of the hill”.

* The TV star feeling. A close cooperation with Eurosport will assure that TV viewers of WTCC broadcasts will recognize themselves in the game and vice versa, but in this case as the star of the show, watch the replays in the game and see YOUR name on virtual Eurosport.

* A clear cockpit view. First time in a title from developer SimBin. RACE visually and through sounds simulates dirt, rubber and insects hitting the window of the car during a race… Luckily with fully functioning window wipers you can sweep away both rain and insects and will once again have a clear cockpit view. Stone chips can damage your windshield and decrease visibility as well.

* Dynamic Weather. The weather will dynamically change during the race, creating exiting racing.

Game modes are:

* Open Practice. Allows the player to test his abilities against the clock or just to get to know the different tracks layouts without any kind of time pressure.

* Quick Race. Sets the player up for a quick race of a two-race format. You just pick the track and car of your choice and off you go.

* Race Weekend. Allows the player to participate in all the sessions during a Race Weekend, with the grand finale being the actual two races.

* Championship. Gives the player the chance to compete in a full WTCC championship following the complete WTCC calendar and regulations from FIA such as the weight penalty system, reversed grid and all other ingredients.

* Driver Duel. In this game mode the player should try to beat the lap time record holder of each track. The real world driver’s car is included as a Ghost Car.

* Time Attack. Here the player should try to beat his own, or someone else’s best time on a specific track in classic Ghost Car racing.

Via Racegame and C&VG