Race Pro 360-exclusive (Race '07) - Updated July 31st, 2008

[bevo]

Race pro is nothing like I thought it would be. I still can't get in a game online, and the career mode is very weird. I don't understand why the cars handle so much different in the career mode. They are very, very forgiving. I have all aids off, and still can't slide the rear end around. The cars act like they are using traction control, and the stability management. When I give full throttle at take of, the cars just bog down and barely break traction.

The FF through the wheel is also very bad. I know it's the xbox wheel and all, but in grid, and forza, the FF was acceptable. Sim bin has went the way that slant six did with socom, and pushed out a very early, unfinished product.

I really expected alot more from such a highly touted game maker. Hopefully through updates this game is made better. I'm still going to try and play through it, hopefully something catches my attention and draws me into the game more.

 

[tfujiwara]

New videos!

Review Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk1z6TAkiM0

Review Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYRtlQzsZR0&feature=related

 

[Hereward]

Right well I'm going to have to have a change of heart about Race Pro, it took 3 days but I finaly waded through it's problems and found the game, and it's actualy very good! first up a quick hint to get around the online problems. first up hosting a game, if it's an open game select no more than 6-8 players and no AI make this will work fine as long as you start the race when your lobby is full, the problems only arise when theres a spare slot and someone joins then leaves during a game, at this point the hosts 360 freezes and everyone gets droped! ok to make things 100% reliable online host a private invite only room, you can have 12 people and AI drivers with no issues and this reallydose show the game off, close raceing, good crash physics and a penalty and damage system which is ecellent! Handeling with a pad can also be improved by a few sessions playing with the controler settings also improves things.
With a group of friends the online aspects surpass Forza 2 for one reason crash physics, You can get really close without worry that you'll spin the guy in front off or punt him in a corner simply because the crash physics work in a way that the cars absorbe any contacts through crumpled body panels rather than acting like billiard balls and spinning you both off aka forza 2. This makes for some really exciting races as you find in FC. Theres one other thing which only becomes aparent after a good few hours in single player, and thats unlocking some of the medium performance cars, things get a bit lively, take the top spec cateram around brans hatch and all ideas that the cars are TOO gripy will leave you, and of course MP in some of these beasts is is even more fun!
The game dose have unaceptae issues but a patch is iminent...I hope.....but there is a very good game in there, It's not a AAA title but it dose have AAA features and when it's patched .....well it will certainly split the Forza fans as to which is better.

 

[Ske]

Have to agree with Bevo, in its current state the game is pretty horrible.

- Serious FFB bugs, some workarounds but they won't work for everybody.
- Loads of frame lag, tearing, ghosting.
- Confusing lobby system and unstable online sessions.. Lobbies disband when host disconnects.
- Spreadsheet like tuning screen is just a heap of numbers, hard to get a quick overview of the current state of the tune.
- Horribly compressed/downsampled audio, sounds like 64kbps at times.
- Unbelievable amount of bugs/glitches and inconvenient layout of game modes and features.

All in all, I can't say much positive about this game. The physics are supposedly great, but to be honest the handling feels pretty much the same as GT4/GTHD - hard to tell for sure without feedback, though.

 

[bevo]

Right well I'm going to have to have a change of heart about Race Pro, it took 3 days but I finaly waded through it's problems and found the game, and it's actualy very good! first up a quick hint to get around the online problems. first up hosting a game, if it's an open game select no more than 6-8 players and no AI make this will work fine as long as you start the race when your lobby is full, the problems only arise when theres a spare slot and someone joins then leaves during a game, at this point the hosts 360 freezes and everyone gets droped! ok to make things 100% reliable online host a private invite only room, you can have 12 people and AI drivers with no issues and this reallydose show the game off, close raceing, good crash physics and a penalty and damage system which is ecellent! Handeling with a pad can also be improved by a few sessions playing with the controler settings also improves things.
With a group of friends the online aspects surpass Forza 2 for one reason crash physics, You can get really close without worry that you'll spin the guy in front off or punt him in a corner simply because the crash physics work in a way that the cars absorbe any contacts through crumpled body panels rather than acting like billiard balls and spinning you both off aka forza 2. This makes for some really exciting races as you find in FC. Theres one other thing which only becomes aparent after a good few hours in single player, and thats unlocking some of the medium performance cars, things get a bit lively, take the top spec cateram around brans hatch and all ideas that the cars are TOO gripy will leave you, and of course MP in some of these beasts is is even more fun!
The game dose have unaceptae issues but a patch is iminent...I hope.....but there is a very good game in there, It's not a AAA title but it dose have AAA features and when it's patched .....well it will certainly split the Forza fans as to which is better.

After playing it some more, I agree with you. The cars they start you with in the singe player, really mislead you into thinking this game is toned way down. The faster cars really turn this game around. Like you say, it has problems, but there is a really good racing game hiding behind the first batch of races, the game places you in. I actually got the game to work online last night, and it was one of the tightest online races I have ever been part of.
The first 2 laps were 6 cars within 2 or 3 car lengths of one another. A few turns had multiple groups of racers going 2 wide in the turns, without to much contact. Some wrecks on the 3rd lap split us all up, but for 2 laps it was everyone bumper to bumper.

If they get everything tightened up some, this could be a great online racing game.

 

[Sumpington]

After playing it some more, I agree with you. The cars they start you with in the singe player, really mislead you into thinking this game is toned way down. The faster cars really turn this game around. Like you say, it has problems, but there is a really good racing game hiding behind the first batch of races, the game places you in. I actually got the game to work online last night, and it was one of the tightest online races I have ever been part of.
The first 2 laps were 6 cars within 2 or 3 car lengths of one another. A few turns had multiple groups of racers going 2 wide in the turns, without to much contact. Some wrecks on the 3rd lap split us all up, but for 2 laps it was everyone bumper to bumper.

If they get everything tightened up some, this could be a great online racing game.

Yeah this is getting better the more I play it. Very rewarding when you get the right line down and a blast once you can get the car up to the 'limit'

It's also nice to get a break from the same 7 or so tracks played all the time on forza.

 

[shawtyoner]

I am definitely enjoying it. The racing experience is definitely good. However, the severe lack of car info is bothering me. Like is there a way to check tire wear, or temp? I see the normal tire readouts when I go to modify setup, but during a race, how do we check. I haven't started a career yet, just finishing up championship season with the mini. Anyone one have some good settings for the controls yet? What do you guys think works best, for either the control or the wheel.

 

[Pepsi0]

Got online with ease, although the build up to the race is weird and long. You get a practice session, then the fastest laps appear, then you have another practice session and the fastest laps appear...then the host chooses to start the race then you get, suprise suprise, another practice session. Then you have to wait a few minutes for the host to start the race, again, but thankfully this time you don't get taken into another practice session.

The race finally starts. Then the host decides to quit. I have about 5 online games and haven't finished a single one because the crappy host decided he should go and own some noobs on his new game: G1 Jockey 04.

 

[bevo]

Have to agree with Bevo, in its current state the game is pretty horrible.

- Serious FFB bugs, some workarounds but they won't work for everybody.
- Loads of frame lag, tearing, ghosting.
- Confusing lobby system and unstable online sessions.. Lobbies disband when host disconnects.
- Spreadsheet like tuning screen is just a heap of numbers, hard to get a quick overview of the current state of the tune.
- Horribly compressed/downsampled audio, sounds like 64kbps at times.
- Unbelievable amount of bugs/glitches and inconvenient layout of game modes and features.

All in all, I can't say much positive about this game. The physics are supposedly great, but to be honest the handling feels pretty much the same as GT4/GTHD - hard to tell for sure without feedback, though.

You're right about the sound. It has serious problems. When I run the right wheels of my car onto something, or bump a car, it's seems random which speakers the sound comes out of. I've never had a game have so much problem with sound. It also happens when cars attempt to pass. It will sound like they are on my left, but they may or may not be.
I really don't know how they let the sound bugs get through.

This game reminds me alot of socom. Neither game should have been released when it was, both are far from finished products, with countless numbers of bugs that should have never made it through. Both are also fun games, though, but they could have been 2 of the greatest games in their genres ever.

Just found a Force feedback fix from the Thomas's blog on the fanatec site. Crazy that their giving bug fixes for the microsoft wheel. I guess they just want us to enjoy racing games with whatever wheel we can. I tried it out and it does work. Like it says though, it is very weak feedback, but better then nothing.
Here it is.

By default Race Pro does not support true ForceFeedback on the PWTS and the Microsoft wheel by default. It is obviously a bug and will probably be patched. In the meantime you can use the following fix:

1. Turn off the console

2. Start the console by pressing the xbox gude button on the Xbox360 controller which then will be selected as "controller 1" (do not start the game yet)

3. Activate the wheel by pressing the Xbox guide button so the wheel becomes "controller 2".

4. Start RacePro

5. Press "A" on the controller to enter the game main menu

6. Press the Xbox guide button on the controller

7. Press "X" on the controller to disconnect your profile and confirm

8. Press "B" on the controller to return to the game but from now on use the wheel to confirm the warning messages with "A".

9. Press the xbox guide button on the wheel and connect to your profile again.

FF works now but it is quite weak in comparison to Forza 2.

 

[Hereward]

More random bugs from Race Pro LOL the online aspects now are solved for me and I can happily run a lobby all day without hicups. There are 2 setups for online play with qualifing and without heres how it "should" pan out

Qualifing

practice session
1 lap qualifing
Race

No qualifing

practice session
Race

The host selects when to end the practice session and when to start the race, the big thing to keep people from being kicked is to keep the room full. when selecting a lobby to enter select a persific track then you will e given a list of available rooms, select a room which is still in practice and has no more than 6-8 players (that last bit is VERY important) doing this will usualy give you a good bug free race online.

 

[Sumpington]

So the practice session can be as short as I want once people join the room?

 

[Hereward]

The practice can last all night while you and your friends tune your cars or can las 2 seconds! As the host you simply pause then select "next session" I've just been doing some 10 lap races with a few guys and AI with some interesting results. We took the minis out first, branshatch 10 laps, I took it easy after getting a good lead while a mate made a mistake early on and had to battle it out in midfield. Now the interesting thing was on lap 8 he got a low fuel warning where as I didn't even after 10 laps, all we could put it down to was he was constantly on the redline where as I was short changeing at 7000rpm....well less reve than he was doing LOL quite an interesting system for say a 20 lap endurance race, go all out and have 2 pit stops or take it easy and just have 1....I'll try a few races and cars and let everyone know how they turn out. Another interesting thing which showed up was some of the AI guys had HUGE crashes, real 20 foot up fliping end over end and coming to rest in a pile of bits, in all there were 3 cars which sat at the side of the track till the end and 2 which limped into the pits, again making things interesting LOL

 

[Pro-Drive]

Thanx guys for all the useful info,got a copy on ebay today.So see you online soon as it arrives. Don't have a wheel at present,only a G25 for P.C racing.
But this does not work on 360 ....unless you know different. The
GT Legends mod for rFactor is going to take some beating though !

 

[GTNeidher]

Default xbox controller settings


Steering sensitivity: 100%
Analog sector 1: 1x
Analog sector 2: 1x
Analog sector 3: 1x

Throttle sensitivity: 100%
Brake: 100%

Steering Deadzone: 0%
Throttle & brake DZ: 0%

Speed sensitivity reduction: 25%
Steering lock 10° (changed depending on track)

 

[Sumpington]

Booya. Hopefully this brings more people to the game because it really is good.

Since the launch of RACE Pro, Atari and development team Simbin have been working hard to deliver a Title Update. We will make the update available in the coming weeks once it has been finalised, thoroughly tested and approved.

Below is a list of the main issues that the Title Update will address to improve the experience both in single and multiplayer online. As soon as we have any more precise information about the release date of the update we will let you know.

MULTIPLAYER UPDATE
Fixed bug causing the game to crash when 12 players have joined and left a multiplayer game
Disallow connections to host if they are not waiting for players
Fixed the ”fast forward” / speed bug currently generating some unrealistic race times in leaderboards.
Fixed problem with lap times being reported to the wrong leaderboard when moving on to the next track in multiplayer.
Fixed problem of a player joining during session activation causing the client to get stuck in the loading screen.
Fixed issue when creating a session with downloaded car and inviting a player that doesn’t have the car
Fixed name of tracks on servers list when players do several sessions in a row
Fixed incorrect race length value seen in game list screen
Fixed transparent car that appears after un-pausing in multiplayer qualification
Fixed the incorrect message that appears when attempting to access multiplayer without a gamer profile signed–in and if selecting
Multiplayer with an offline gamer profile
Set default host option of qualification to NO in multiplayer for players that have never hosted a game in Race Pro before
New messages: Display some session info in-game so players can recognize where in the game they are
New messages: Add a specific multiplayer loading tip showing 50% of loading time in player match only
GENERAL UPDATE
Fixed performance drop while driving over curb
Improved deformation of cars
Fixed hot seat start position problems
Removed dangerous driving dialogues when entering loading screen
Fixed crash when the player tries to enter the end pit driving backwards and wants to restart the race after the losing message
Fixed some localization bugs
Locked F3000 car #12 and unlocked the Corvette C5R since there is no contract for it in Career mode
Fixed validation for replay files to allow replay files saved between year 2000 and 2099
Fixed sound bug making Doppler effect of other cars sound corrupt in swing cam
Fixed force feedback detection for wheels and slightly improved strength of force
Adjusted the Seat Leon Extreme Tryout time
Fixed sound bug making the rev sounds on some cars not transition smoothly (including Mini Cooper and BMW M3 GTR)
Fixed sound bug with the force calculation of picking the correct collision sound

 

[fishfash]

Hi,

Anyone still playing this.

I am having a blast using the Formula Master Cars along with the Spa and Imola Tracks and a Fanatec Turbo S Wheel 👍

 

[Bogie 19th]

It's hard to find anyone in this game