Race On first impressions

[Mike Coleman]

Since no one else has posted one, I'll give it a shot.

Installation and Backup

The Race On DVD is a 2 disk set.

Even though all my other Race content was purchased directly from Steam, the install went just fine. I had Steam running and chose Online Install.

You get option to install Race 07, STCC, and Race On. I unchecked Race 07 and STCC (since I already have them) and installed Race On.

The install saw that I had Steam running and once I entered the CD key, it told me I had successfully integrated it with my Steam account.

*Tip*

Even though you've installed from DVD, once it's integrated with your Steam account, you can then use the Steam backup feature to backup ALL your content including Race On. You won't need the DVD again to re-install.

Track Updates

All the tracks for the 2008 season have been updated and have their own menu section. You now have 2006, 2007, and 2008 WTCC tracks.

Most of the "updates" seem to be graphical instead of actual track layout changes, except Imola. But the "new" tracks do look wonderful. Much nicer than the 2007 and 2006 versions.

New Tracks

Road America, Laguna Seca, Okayama. What can I say? They rock!

New Cars

US Muscle Race Cars.
They are great fun. They handle just like you would expect them to: big, massive, Yank tanks that slide all over the place. Lots of power with suspect handling

Some of you might say they "drift" too much. I don't believe "drift" would be the right word. I would call it "super aswesome cowabunga power slides"

US Muscle Production Cars.
Same as above but street versions.

Formula Master.
Simply great! Sure they're not as fast as F3000, but they are really great fun to drive. Close races like touring cars (and about the same speed) but in open wheel goodness

WTCC 2008.
Seat TDI and Lada.....You know the rest.

Really great addition to the Race series. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 9 :shock:

If you have any questions, feel free to post them

 

[Gary Thompson]

Just downloaded the whole package via steam and I have to say, its amazing !
I'm no pro driver, in fact I should still be driving most of the courses with an 'L' plate attached to any car I drive, but turning off the driver assists and then driving a Mini around Silverstone is a great experience and provided me with an amazing feeling of reality which underlined my lack of driving skills .. dammit.
I tried other cars, but at the moment with my level of expertise, it will be quite a while before I venture onto any online games unless I can enter as a spectator and watch you guys show me how to drive 'properly'.

 

[Ivo Simons]

Just downloaded it and raced for a hour.

First the menu looks really nice. I had always the STCC one but i like this one more

US Muscle.

Very fun. Very powerful and they like oversteer but it's very easy to catch maybe to easy. Lots of understeer but a quick stamp on the throttle sorts that out. I only think most people will choose between the Cadillac and the Chevy,

Formula Masters

Also real cool cars. Easy to drive on a low level but if you really find the limit they become quit difficult.

WTCC

Raced 1 lap with the Diesel and choose very fast another car. Not my cup of tea. The Lada is awesome. Big Russian thing and you can really throw him arround.

Tracks.

Some nice upgraded tracks. And i really like RA. It's smaller but some run off aeras are wider and i like that.

Overall a good expansion. With some cool new things and graphically it looks also sharper and more colourful.

 

[Ross Balfour]

I love this!

Was worth every penny!

First off the Menu backround, logos and loading video is way better than the old one, looks far nicer now! Only slight problem I have with it is that now you cant see how many cars you have in each class. But thats only a minor fault.

The cars are awesome. I love drifting into and out of corners in the Muscles and the sounds are quite awesome! The Lada is quite poor if im honest but the Seat TDI makes up for it. But the formula masters! Oh my! Unbelieavably good! The cornering and brakes are awesome. They are soo much fun to drive and I cant wait to get some races with them in the club.

I havent driven Road America or Imola 08 yet but the other 2 are top quality. I love Laguna Seca and I love it even more now that theres an actual realistic detailed version! I jsut never get bored going over the corkscrew! Okyama is very fun aswell and is very detailed!

All in all a fantastic game and well worth £18!

 

[Mike Coleman]

I love this!

But the formula masters! Oh my! Unbelieavably good! The cornering and brakes are awesome. They are soo much fun to drive and I cant wait to get some races with them in the club.

Indeed. The more I drive them, the more I love them :good:

 

[Simon Gardner]

I love it, worth every penny, I mainly bought it for the Lada and TDI but the other cars are a real blast to drive
Only quibble the Lada windows banners are a bit dodgy, the Respol logos look like they were put on by someone playing pin the tail on the donkey- hope the templates come soon

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I love the Formula Master car, just had a huge 10 lap fight with Hannu, absolutely nose to tail action! No other formula car in game or mod comes even close to the handling of this one, awesome!

I say let's do another season of Nations Grand Prix with this car!!

Simon mentioned the Lada, had huge expectations on that car as it sounds awesome in real life. For some reason i have the feeling somebody forgot to update the soundfiles or something as it sounds incredibly stupid!

They only had to check Youtube

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9OOpRGvutk[/ame]

 

[Warren Dawes]

After a quick 2 hour intro to this game, I must say that I'm impressed, much more than I expected.
1. Muscle Cars: Great addition to the game, and adds something different in terms of driving experience. I loved them, a bit like a cross between GTRE GT cars and the GTL V8 cars (although not as difficult to drive as the GTL ones).

2. Seat TDI: Not my cup of tea but well implemented, and again, a little different.

3. Lada: Ugly as sin, but fun to drive, I quite enjoyed driving it.

4. Formula Masters: Probably the best Open Wheel cars in the game now. Not as difficult to drive as the F3000 cars, so will no doubt increase the popularity of Open Wheel Racing on-line. Only concern I might have is that, being fairly easy to drive, it may attract more of the "arcade" style drivers to on-line events with a higher potential for WTCC style wrecking.

5. New Tracks: Excellent. Worth the price of the addon alone.

6. Updated tracks: Imola is now good. I can see it becoming a very popular track for on-line events now, no more concerns about cutting etc. Oschers 08: Didn't notice a huge change really. The updated graphics to the other 08 tracks is subtle but nice.

Only gripe so far: That horrible screaming commentary in the Menu audio. Launching the game from GTRE/STCC/Race 07 icons helps initially, but in the replay loading menu, it keeps returning. In the end, I had to give in and turn the volume down so I couldn't hear it. I wish we had a choice to select one of the older menu audios.

Overall, absolutely worth the small extra $'s to me. I'm quite happy that I got value for money.

 

[Jim McGhee]

At first I was disapointed, but then the new Japanese track (I forget the name! ) and the graphical updates made it 100% worth it. The Muscle cars are good, but probably only for a little fun, the masters is excellent, it feels perfect for me.

Was Spa not supposed to be included?

 

[Jamie R]

Bought it on Friday the minute it came out, of course before the full thing came out including STCC for just £4 more. So that was a bit of a kick in the teeth since I now need to buy STCC still but nevermind, I'll just remember that Steam is a useless peice of junk next time .

Anyway, loving all the cars! WTCC cars aren't any different from the old ones from what I've noticed other than the Seat Leon TDI and Lada which I've had a quick go in. The Lada feels very nice to drive and is probably going to be the new rookie car.

US Muscles are pretty awesome, sounds are good, but as with every car in Simbin games, it lacks that extra something. They understeer like hell like I'd imagine a huge muscle car to, but the oversteer is not as extreme as I was expecting; it's still there but you really do have to be aggresive to get the tail out.

Of course my favourite thing about this game, the Formula Masters!! These things are just so fun! Easy to drive untill you get near it's limit, then you're really fighting it, really loving the grip levels in them, so amazing to race them. I'd say these are probably my new favourite cars in sim racing!

Tracks are great too, you really notice all the bumps in Laguna Seca with the Formula Masters. Haven't tried Road America yet but all the new tracks I have tried seem for detailed and pleasing to the eye, especially Estoril from what I've noticed. Old version used to be very dull and grey, but it's much more colourful now.

All in all, worth the £18 easily, even if I'm going to have to pay another £13 for STCC later.

 

[Timothy Bourne]

I bought the full Race On package on steam on friday to go with my new G25 wheel. I was a console racer before and after playing Race Pro on xbox I've been looking for more simulation racing with a proper wheel. So Race On and the G25 have satisfied that urge .
I'm so happy with the game, I adore the Formula Master!! Really like the WTCC and the Formula BMW too. All of those cars are in Race Pro so I've been able to jump right in and get setup pretty quickly.
So, thumbs up form a newbe!!

 

[Rhys Gardiner]

I love the Formula Master car, just had a huge 10 lap fight with Hannu, absolutely nose to tail action! No other formula car in game or mod comes even close to the handling of this one, awesome!

I say let's do another season of Nations Grand Prix with this car!!

Seconded. DO IT... :curse:

 

[Ross Balfour]

I say let's do another season of Nations Grand Prix with this car!!

Thats what I said! I would be happy to organise it if you want. I have already spoken to Yoeri about a little bit but no certainties yet.

 

[Robin Cook]

really dont like the menu's in white and i seem to have lost keyboard controls in menus. physics tweaks took a few laps to get used to but liking them now. the muscle cars not overly keen on but i brought the expansion for the formula masteR. amazing cars buckets full of grip gives you loads of confidence chucking them in to corners. is it just me or has the ffb been improved too.

cant wait to race in them online

 

[GAIAjohan]

Than you choose the race07 menus?

I've never been able to control the menus with my keyboard btw..

 

[Alex Duru]

I got RaceOn on Saturday and many posts have more or less said what i would like to say, just like to add:

The FM cars seem to have a small hit box, at least to other cars, so this lends itself to on-line racing as there will not be so many offs due to racer to racer collisions, all good!

Noticed more vertical movement in the suspension, noticed by the bonnet movement when changing gear, very noticeable in the US muscle cars, but also there in the wtcc, all good!

Heard a truck coming up along side me, looked in my mirrors and saw a Seat TDI. Someone commented that they are different to drive(maybe harder), an end to the Seat domination on public servers maybe?

Finally, you just have to experience the back part of the Road America in a FM car. Coming out of the Carousel, you can go flat out to Canada corner and then take corner 13 flat out before having to brake for the last corner on the track, a most awsome section of track.

All in all I am happy with the expansion and look forward to many hours on track!

 

[Karl Strömer]

My first impression is that I love Laguna Seca with touring cars but absolutely hate it with open wheelers. This track is just not made for open wheelers I think but perfect for the touring cars. I'll use Monza, Imola, Valencia and Istanbul for Formula Masters and F3000.

 

[Nicolas Hamilton]

is RACE on the full expansion pack or is it just like a demo? is it like GTR evo?

 

[Alex Duru]

is RACE on the full expansion pack or is it just like a demo? is it like GTR evo?

Race On is like GTR Evo.

There is a standalone if you dont have Race 07 yet
Or a expansion for those that already have Race 07.

And there is a Race On demo.

 

[Nicolas Hamilton]

thanks dude

 

[Diogo Macedo]

I think the game is just perfect. The Formula Master Car's are simply great, they are fun to drive and in race the car's are really close to each other.

Just great.