If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to drive a stick-shift without actually having to get into a car, then GT Legends is probably the game for you. Even though, from a rational standpoint, telling someone to learn how to drive a car via practicing with a PC game is more than likely bad advice, I, personally, can’t help shake the feeling that I’m a professional racer as I crawl along route 30 in my 05’ Chevy Malibu after a few hours of playing GT Legends. I know it’s sad, so let’s move onto the point. Developer Simbin offers up a racing simulator in its purest form, featuring many of the hottest cars from the 1960s and 70s, while staying true to the definition of a simulator.

Right off the bat, it becomes apparent that the developers paid a lot of effort towards making the game as realistic as possible. The physics in the game mimic closely to those of reality as far as how a car would handle. Driving full throttle like a maniac, as many of us have gotten into the habit of doing in racers, won’t cut it in GTL. The game forces you to drive and take care of your vehicle as if it was your own. This also means that the car with the most horsepower isn’t necessarily always going to be the winner, when the importance of handling and technique is taken into consideration. Unless you’re familiar with GTL’s predecessor, GTR FIA Racing, it’s going to take quite a bit of practice to be able to compete on some of the higher difficulties in the Cup Challenge mode.

There are a total of five difficulty settings which easily suits anywhere from the most novice of numb-skulls to the most experienced petrolheads, along with enough content to last anyone a long, long time. A lot longer than you would think at first glance, anyways. There are over 90 vintage cars waiting to be unlocked in GTL, and if winning a diamond trophy and wads of cash to buy new cars isn’t enough incentive to keep you playing, then the thought of being able to drive fabled classics such as the DeTomaso Pantera, Chevrolet Corvette, and Ford GT40 to name just a few, should be. There are five different cup stages and each stage involves its own unique challenges and set of cars. Certain tracks force the driver to utilize a certain set of skills. As an example, some tracks are meant to involve a lot of drifting, and therefore forces you to adapt and learn how to drift to earn a good position in a race. As a result, the learning curve is a bit steep, yet the game still maintains its fun, and it feels all the more rewarding once you’ve realized that you’ve mastered a certain technique.

Fortunately, in GTL, your ability to win races is determined foremost by your ability to drive, and not just having the fastest car. This means that finding the car with the most horsepower, flooring it down a straightaway, and then smashing into a guard rail at the beginning of a turn, isn’t going to be as effective of a technique as it is in many other racers.

What fun would shattering records and winning a race be if you couldn’t go back and prove to your friends that you are, indeed, the God of racing? One nifty perk in GTL, is the ability to watch replays of races. It’s a helpful tool to see how you can better approach certain turns, and to spot where you have a tendency to screw up. But then again, if you’ve already mastered a track, the replays are just as good for basking in your own glory and telling yourself how awesome you are. We all could use a pat on the back sometimes, even if it’s by ourselves.

But with all that GTL has going for it, it still has its imperfections. To start, the game’s collision detection isn’t quite up to snuff. When rear-ending or side swiping an opponent, on a few occasions, I would find that the opponent’s car would remain completely unaffected as my car went swerving out of control. There were also rare occasions where my entire car would actually flip upside down several times, while the opponent’s car remained unaffected.

Also, while the game itself harbors a nice graphics engine, and delivers some good audio that really picks up the feel of the car you’re driving, it still fails to deliver in certain areas. When you crash into another car, even in a head on collision, there is no sound that conveys that you’ve just crashed. This also goes for rear-ending and trading paint. You can see a few sparks flying from the cars rubbing each other, but no sound or any type of screeching that you would expect to hear.

Putting a few flaws aside, GT Legends should be on any racing enthusiast’s must-have list. The game delivers on overall superbly realistic racing experience, while still being able to maintain the sheer fun that keeps you going back for more action. This game receives a well deserved B+. Any questions or comments? Contact me at mcbride.k@neu.edu .