Just a Peek - Fun Four From Feral (Part IV): "Total Immersion Racing"

by

Hello again. Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc was what I looked at last time. This time I get behind the wheel of some sweet rides and see just how sweet the ride is at 140 mph.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

I remember back in the Atari coin-op days, when there were games like Night Driver, where all you did was stare at a black screen and steer between a set of rapidly moving white posts. It was the height of simulation technology back in 1976. With a little imagination, you could really feel as if you were barrelling down some dark highway with nothing to guide you but road reflectors.

Today you don't have to give your imagination such a workout because Total Immersion Racing (TIR) is an apt name for what you'll experience in this totally cool racing sim. You get to climb into the driver's seat of many of the world's faster racers and immerse yourself in a world of roaring engines and blinding speeds.

Total Immersion Racing

The choices are many in TIR; cars, tracks, racing options are all selectable, and in some modes you can make minor customizations to your car, get contract offers, and even get a manager. Want to see how you handle a BMW M3 on a rain slick hairpin at Rockingham? Want to check out your night driving skills at Monoco in an Audi R8? You got it!

You have complete control over how you view the action, and how much control you want the computer to have over your car. If shifting gears is traumatic for you then choose an automatic transmission. If you prefer traction control, select it, or see how well you can maintain control in an aggressive turn. You can select it all. 

Each track presents its own set of challenges, which are handled differently depending on the car you're driving and the road conditions. Getting the best times is not easy as other cars, computer controlled, vie to keep you from grabbing the winner's trophy.

Gas and Brakes

TIR is more of a racing simulation than a game, and as such you might want to consider getting the appropriate input devices; I'm talking about a USB steering wheel with force-feedback, possibly one with brakes and gas pedal. Such devices, especially when you view the action from the driver's seat, completes the illusion of actually barreling down a straightaway, or zipping through hairpins in racers that you may never see in real life.

At the very least, you should use an analog/digital joystick. I have a Saitek Cyborg 3D USB joystick, and TIR recognized it and let me set up the controls the way I like them. Using anything but the keyboard to control your car makes a world of difference in your ultimate enjoyment of this sim.

The Need For Speed

Those with heftier Macs will enjoy realistic graphics and full bodied sound. I would have liked more graphic detail in TIR, but my 800 MHz G4 iMac's GeForce2 MX, with 32MB of RAM showed its age as soon as I adjusted the game for more detail; the resulting frame rates were too slow for smooth animation. Still, I didn't feel too slighted running TIR at the lower resolution, where the graphics are a bit pixelated, and distant trees blinked into existence as I approached, but these were not annoying or too distracting, and the lower resolution got my frame rates up to video fast. Besides, once I started racing, pixels were last thing on my mind.

As with many racing sims, TIR lets you replay your races, and you can save your replays to show off your racing skills later.

There's also a split-screen two-player mode for head to head racing. It would have been nice to allow you to race against others over the Net; sadly, TIR does not give that option.

Crash Insurance

While the car dynamics in TIR are very realistic, damage that you might inflict on your vehicle is not. Beyond jarring your screen, and presumably, your force-feedback steering wheel, when you run into something, or something runs into you, TIR does little to alter the performance or appearance of your car. Even so, spin-outs, fish-tails, and other driving mistakes are all very possible in TIR.

Bottom line

Well muscled Macs will give this sim the oomph it needs for hi-rez racing, but even spry, but older Macs can run TIR well enough to be enjoyed. Don't bother with the keyboard controls, go straight to a good joystick or dedicated steering wheel for best racing experience. All in all, Total Immersion Racing should satisfy almost any race junky's need for speed, and it's a lot cheaper than speeding tickets.

It's On Now!

So, there you have it; four rockin' games from Feral Interactive that are bound to keep nearly every Mac gamer happy, even if his or her Mac isn't a byte crunching dual G5 behemoth. Pick one, or all, and you are gonna have a great time.