Race Pro feels like a game from another time, specifically a few years ago and with a limited release on the PC. This unshakeable sensation of returning to an era gone by is probably warranted – the developers of the title, SimBin, have spent most of their development career on the PC, making similar titles in the ‘simulation’ sub-genre of the racing game scene, being lauded for their realistic experiences, but hardly ever their presentation skills.

Such is the case with Race Pro, a simulation racing game that allows players to race around real-world tracks in real-world cars, using simulated physics on top of simulated racing set-up choices, but fails to deliver anything further, with graphical appeal and a presentation style that can only be described as ‘dull’ – even the name of the title is dull, and the entire experience fails to entice a quiver of excitement from your, by then, lethargic fingers.

In the meantime, though, your fingers have a lot of content to get through – 350 cars, over 13 tracks and a wealth of racing championships, from the European F3000 and Formula BMW, to the Mini Challenge and WTCC (World Touring Car Championship). All of the cars are realistically modelled, using sounds that use recordings of their real-life counterparts’ engines, while the tracks have been created to match their real-world versions to the nth degree.

The range of championships will afford players a wealth of playtime, snaking and racing through the provided tracks either in a once off ‘Single Race,’ or moving through the ranks and taking on the role of a professional career driver, earning cash, upgrading and tweaking your cars and performing to your utmost during the racing season to earn better contracts with different racing teams, all of which happens in ‘Career mode.’ Multiplayer options are also provided in the way of online and system link play, or a ‘Hot Seat’ mode where two players take turns to drive during a single race.

The sheer number of options in any given mode is enough to keep a racing enthusiast busy for many an afternoon, either through their continued attention in the Career mode, or for quick gameplay dips via Time Attack or Open Practice. Race Pro is also highly customisable to any individual gamer, with options such as brake and handling assist, as well as the now standard feature of mapping the correct racing line onto the track, showing the correct braking and acceleration zones with a handy trail.

Now, despite the wealth of game time on offer in Race Pro, the delivery of all of this content is less exciting than a tracheotomy, and is an absolute chore to slog through what starts to seem like a dense, never-ending series of monotonous races through the same sets of tracks with cars that, while handling differently to one another, are hardly diverse enough to warrant drastically different racing experiences.

The entirety of Race Pro’s presentation is devoid of celebration, merely drifting from one menu to another, finishing up a race, and then moving through another series of menus on completion to navigate your way to the next race. It’s not *boring*, per se, but it is dull. Similarly, Race Pro is graphically uninspiring and under par, again harkening back to a bygone era of graphical fidelity.

While the realism of the racing itself is impressive, it can seem inconsistent, as cars twitch off of one another if they clip, or simply bump up against each other if they collide at high speeds in the heat of a racing battle. The vaunted damage system is also a bit iffy, not realistically reflecting the car’s physical damage with the resultant terrible handling.

This is quite a problem as Race Pro’s main selling point is the simulation aspect, and if it can’t quite deliver one hundred percent on this feature, it is instantly relegated to an ‘also-ran’ kind of game – while we see the highly anticipated and enthusiastically received titles come and go, Race Pro becomes a product that is easily forgotten amongst the titles that outperform it in every way that matters.

Even at a lower price-point than other console releases in the same genre, Race Pro struggles to keep up with the likes of Forza 2 in almost every regard, and unless you own Forza 2, or have become extraordinarily bored with that title, Race Pro could only be recommended as a stop-gap to satiate your thirst for a realistic racing game, i.e. until the next Forza game is released.

Pros: A wealth of content to work your way through; good sound work brings the cars to life; helpful track hints while the next race loads up

Cons: Presentation is extraordinarily dull; graphically under par; racing simulation is iffy

Purchase: