Racing games tend to be like sports games... they all pretty much look alike. Yet once in a blue moon a chosen development studio is granted a divine intervention. Allah, Buddah, God, Krishna, The Great One of whatever you may call him (or it, or her) grants some developers a moment of lucid clarity. And so it came to be that the boys over at Codemasters had a vision… why not create a racing game with a real storyline? Why not innovate? It’s either that, or the boys were in a drunken romantic mood.

Fragland had the opportunity to make a hands-on preview of DTM Race Driver (Toca Race Driver in Great-Brittain and Pro Race Driver in the US), or as we have already heard from our readers, Toca 3. And boy, I can tell you one thing: we were amazed. What really sets this new racer apart is the storyline. You will be playing as Ryan McKane, a slightly arrogant descendant of a famous racing legend and brother to a great race driver. The story starts when you and your brother wittness the brutal death of your father on a racetrack. Then and there you swear to do honor to his name and become an even greater driver then he ever was.

Now, there are several features that sets this game apart… and not only apart, but above and beyond other racegames.

- First of all, the cutscenes that intertwine the different elements of the game. High quality stuff; graphically really good and relevant for the credible storyboard. The cutscenes endorse the central theme: interaction with different raceworld-characters, different situations and the emotions your character encounters in his quest for the championship. The characters are slightly over-the-top and cliché, and that’s just the way we like them. Why, there’s even a love-story.

- what’s new in this genre is the general ingame set-up. Ryan McKanes’ office is the central starting point from which you access the options menu, a filecabinet with the game-options, a pc and a ‘prep’-room next door. It’s from here that you can chose what you wish to do. If you want to race, you go to the prep-room and then into a garage where your car and a few pit crewmembers are waiting for you. On the pc Ryan can check his e-mail with usefull tips, love letters and offers from other managers.

- As usual, you can tweak your car to you own likings. A voice-assistant gives you very usefull pointers to enhance the performance and handling of your car. Codemasters has developed a damage model named “Finite Element Modeling” (FEM). I quote: "it accurately simulates the deformation of a car's structure over the duration of an impact, calculating how both the internal structure and outer bodywork of the cars react.*" This means that the damage realistically affects the car's handling, making it difficult or impossible to steer in certain directions depending on the area and severity of the damage. In other words: this rocks !

- A very intelligent Artificial Intelligence (AI). Other racers will avoide you if you drive too recklessly. And some cars/drivers will remember your driving habits and react to them, making it increasingly difficult and exciting for you.

- More than 38 tracks over ten circuits and more than 40 licensed cars: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Mercedes Benz, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Saab, Audi, Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge etc…

- a very solid racing engine which gives the cars an amazing easy and accurate handling.


My preview-copy only gave away some 8 % of the game. Yet it featured an entertaining storyline with high-quality cutscenes, absolute amazing graphics and rocksongs to enhance the driving axperience. The sound effects are amazing (great enginesounds + screetching tyres) and the damage model is completely innovative.

Racers, start your engines and get this game ! It truly rocks !

Release is planned for march 10th for Xbox and PC.