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Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends Review for PC

Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends Review for PC

No-Nonsense Racing

There are two basic types of racing video games: games that emphasize balance and innovative gameplay in order to focus on the game itself first, and games that try to accurately simulate the true real-life racing experience. Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends takes the latter approach, marketing itself to hardcore car nuts rather than the general gaming populace. You’d think this might make the game overcomplicated for the common racing gamer, and to an extent it does. However, Ferrari Racing Legends goes to great lengths to make the game accessible even to the casual racing fan. Besides, we all dreamed of owning a Ferrari at some point in our life, and that alone makes the game appealing.

Let’s start with the cars. If you drool all over yourself whenever you look at an auto catalog, then this is the game for you. There are over fifty unlockable cars to choose from, and each one handles remarkably differently. I’m only a casual racing fan, and I was able to detect the subtle differences between traction, handling, speed, acceleration, and more. Though the large roster of cars is a bit intimidating for newbies, options are almost never a bad thing, and everyone is bound to find some car that they like.

Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends Screenshot

Like most current-day racing sims, Ferrari Racing Legends lets you tweak the overall physics of the game to your liking. You can choose to have the game hold your hand in most areas, simply flooring the gas and turning when necessary, or you can choose to crank up the realism, forcing yourself to worry about all the tiny minutia that hardcore racing aficionados like to obsess over. The controls are extremely responsive no matter what settings you choose, so don’t go blaming them game for your screw-ups. I’d suggest that the majority of the gaming populace simply keep the game on novice settings, which only really requires you to brake and turn intelligently. Higher settings are obviously reserved for gamers who enjoy the full simulationist experience.

Ferrari Racing Legends is more of a traditional racing experience than other games in the Test Drive series. There is no open world or mission-based gameplay, two things that have begun to take the modern-day racing genre by storm. Instead, track and cars are chosen the old fashioned way, through in-game menus. Yes, this is boring, but it’s also functional and it fits the arcade/tournament style setting that the rest of the game has. Ferrari Racing Legends is a no-nonsense racer that attempts to sell itself on racing alone, and this holds true in every feature of the game.

Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends Screenshot

For example, every single track (with the exception of one) is a real racing track from the past or present. While some of them were modified very slightly to fit within a digital format, it’s nearly impossible to tell simply by playing. What’s really interesting is that many circuits have multiple different configurations reflecting different changes and edits made over the years. As a casual racing fan, I wasn’t able to geek out about the vast amount of racing history included in the tracks themselves, but as a gamer, I loved the immense track selection. Once again, options are always a good thing, and even if you can’t tell the difference between the 1975 and 2009 versions of a circuit, you’ll appreciate the fact that the game lets you choose between them.

Of course, there are a few downsides to this “racing first” presentation. The graphics probably suffer the most. It’s not that the game looks bad, so to speak; it’s that it looks spartan. The cars look good, and the tracks themselves look good, but there isn’t a whole lot to make each track unique. There aren’t big distractions on the side of the road, nor are there buildings, random onlookers, elephants, or whatever you might expect to be thrown in just to make a racing track look cool. No, most of the tracks are just road and some scenery. Eventually, each track just sort of blurs into the next and there ends up being nothing much to set them apart outside of their pattern of turns.

Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends Screenshot

There’s a decent amount of things to do in Ferrari Racing Legends. Aside from standard races, there are also placing trials, time trials, rival races, lap challenges, and more. So even though the game’s menu and gameplay presentation are sparse, it actually has the variety of objectives that you might find in any other modern-day racer. While this goes a long way toward increasing the game’s replay value, it’s hard to deny that the game fills a very specific niche. Each of the game’s many objectives is really just another variation on “drive fast.” In the end, this is a game for Ferrari fans first and foremost. If you are looking for other bells and whistles, you probably want to spend your time elsewhere.

The biggest flaw in the game is its crushing difficulty. Even with the physics and difficulty turned all the way down, some of the later races are nigh unbeatable. There is less a difficulty curve and more of a difficulty spike in Ferrari Racing Legends. You’ll be casually taking first consistently, and then all of the sudden you’ll struggle to get out of last place in the next race, even if you give a near-perfect performance. This will very quickly cause the game to start whittling away at your patience. It’s rather obvious that the designers meant this game to be played primarily in multiplayer, as the A.I. seems to range from incompetent to unbeatable.

Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends Screenshot

But is Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends worth it, even when you consider the game’s multiplayer modes? That’s a tough question, honestly. Ferrari Racing Legends does one thing well and one thing only, and that’s racing. For a racing game, that should be enough, but sadly it doesn’t feel like this is the case. There simply isn’t enough variety here to keep you coming back If you are anything but the most hardcore of racing fans. This seriously narrows the market for Ferrari Racing Legends in the long run. The game is fun and it’s not even poorly designed. It just doesn’t have a whole lot of staying power.

As a rental, Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends will give you an awesome couple of nights of high-octane racing with you, a bunch of friends, and a couple beers. But as a permanent addition to your collection, I’d say avoid it unless you are a serious hardcore racing fan. If that’s your thing, however, then go nuts, because Ferrari Racing Legends is certainly made for Ferrari-obsessed gearheads like you!

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.1 Graphics
The cars look good, but the tracks are pretty barebones. 4.6 Control
The controls are very responsive—a necessity in a simulation-type game like this. 2.4 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
No music during races, just the basic vroom vroom sound fx package.E 3.4 Play Value
It’s a great rental, but only hardcore racing simulation fans will want to have it in their permanent collection. 3.2 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Multiple Racing Types – Experience a variety of race-type challenges including Rally, GT, and Formula 1.
  • Extensive Online Competition – Race in online competitions with up to 8-player multi-integration.
  • 36 Circuits, Including Variations – Drive your way through 36 circuits including GP Circuits, Test Circuits, and Bonus Circuits.
  • 52 Stunningly Detailed cars – Relive the greatest modern and classic Ferrari models with 52 stunningly detailed cars.
  • Advanced A1 – Challenge highly intelligent, realistic, and difficult A1 opponents to push you to the next level.

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