Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends

[SVT Cobra GT]

I've only recently discovered that this is available on the EU PSN store, is it worth the £20 price?

 

[XtremeBadass]

I've only recently discovered that this is available on the EU PSN store, is it worth the £20 price?

If you like Ferrari, and liked play NFS Shift 2, is it worth.

 

[TomBrady]

I've only recently discovered that this is available on the EU PSN store, is it worth the £20 price?

20 quid? That's a lot. I think I paid less in USD

Let me say this, there's a ton of content in it. It will take you a long time to unlock every car/track, and the good thing is you rarely have to do more than 5 events with any 1 car. They switch up the cars often and it spans over 50 years of ferrari's history which is awesome.

The issue is, it's only a mild upgrade over Shift 2s car handling, and a step down below Shift 2s graphics (don't know why but at least it doesn't have the crazy and ridiculous track side adverts).

Basically it all hinges on if you liked Shift or Shift 2. If you liked it, and like a more simple and straight forward approach to racing games, you'll love TD F

I didn't really like Shift 1 or Shift 2. I had fun with them going through most of the careers and collecting some cars but after that I stopped playing them because of the handling. I still ended up liking TD F a lot, although I'm not done with it yet either.

I think it also depends if you use a wheel or not. I use a wheel, but when I've used a controller, it was a bit tougher to identify the issues in the car handling. Even on a wheel though, it's not too bad, and is still rewarding enough and on the hard difficulty, it's very challenging.

The thing that made me want to get it was the car list. It's truly an amazing collection of cars. The track list is good, but I still wish it had everything Shift 2 had.

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

How's the Racing Legends handling/physics compared to Ferrari The Race Experience by System 3/Eutechnyx ? I just bought Ferrari TRE - it's quite good when all assists are off The wet racing is very cool - the effects and physics are pretty good for a console racer.

On US store, Ferrari Racing Legends is at $39.99

 

[Parker]

How's the Racing Legends handling/physics compared to Ferrari The Race Experience by System 3/Eutechnyx ? I just bought Ferrari TRE - it's quite good when all assists are off The wet racing is very cool - the effects and physics are pretty good for a console racer.

On US store, Ferrari Racing Legends is at $39.99

Not even close. Ferrari Racing Legends is a very fun game, in my opinion, but the hardcore sim snobs should look away. Like many other posters have said, if you enjoyed the Need for Speed: Shift games you will more than likely enjoy Ferrari Racing Legends too. I'd say the physics are a bit better than the original Shift but not quite as good as Unleashed.

For what its worth I bought the game on launch at full price (which was $49.99 I believe) and don't regret it a bit.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

20 quid? That's a lot. I think I paid less in USD

Let me say this, there's a ton of content in it. It will take you a long time to unlock every car/track, and the good thing is you rarely have to do more than 5 events with any 1 car. They switch up the cars often and it spans over 50 years of ferrari's history which is awesome.

The issue is, it's only a mild upgrade over Shift 2s car handling, and a step down below Shift 2s graphics (don't know why but at least it doesn't have the crazy and ridiculous track side adverts).

Basically it all hinges on if you liked Shift or Shift 2. If you liked it, and like a more simple and straight forward approach to racing games, you'll love TD F

I didn't really like Shift 1 or Shift 2. I had fun with them going through most of the careers and collecting some cars but after that I stopped playing them because of the handling. I still ended up liking TD F a lot, although I'm not done with it yet either.

I think it also depends if you use a wheel or not. I use a wheel, but when I've used a controller, it was a bit tougher to identify the issues in the car handling. Even on a wheel though, it's not too bad, and is still rewarding enough and on the hard difficulty, it's very challenging.

The thing that made me want to get it was the car list. It's truly an amazing collection of cars. The track list is good, but I still wish it had everything Shift 2 had.

You've just swung my decision. I enjoyed both Shift games a lot, so it looks like I'll be buying it. I'm mostly looking forward to driving the old F1 cars around places like Silverstone, Hockenheim, Monza and Donington. 👍

 

[guybo]

I ak a sim racer and enjoyed what little of this game I was able to play. the prob is, the career mode froze up on me between races due to a game bug. The publisher doesn't provide tech support, the dev has dropped the game and any bug in the game will never be fixed. So if the game woks for you- go get it, the models are great, the game looks great and it's fun. But find a "preview" copy of the game first to make sure it actually works for you, then buy the game if it does. I had to fight Valve and Steam to get my money back- they have a horrible return policy which has really forced me to think twice before buying games on Steam. I have bought only a couple games off Steam since.

Caveat Emptor.

 

[NCRthree]

Worth the money? Not sure about that but if you like console racers it's worth some game time.

I played it for a few months and enjoyed it in spite of it's limitations. Those mainly are the graphics. Backgrounds are poorly rendered but I'm spoiled by GT5. My 42" HD revealed too much but the cars themselves look ok.

Had tried S2 but hated it's feel or really a lack there of. Tried every wheel setting I could find in forums but never could get something that felt right. Always felt like I was battling the game instead of just driving the car. FRL on the other hand feels much more natural in it's FFB and car response. Used some settings that Amar sent me. They should be in this thread somewhere. The FFB in my DFGT is similar to GT5 to me. S2 never felt anywhere close to that.

I only got up to early 60's cars in my career. I've read the Events get harder in later stages. Used whatever the highest difficulty is, no driving aids and cockpit cam. It's all no tuning which I like. Physics do feel more "arcadey" compared to GT5. If you bear in mind this is an old game it's fun especially with the car and track list.

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

Worth the money? Not sure about that but if you like console racers it's worth some game time.

I played it for a few months and enjoyed it in spite of it's limitations. Those mainly are the graphics. Backgrounds are poorly rendered but I'm spoiled by GT5. My 42" HD revealed too much but the cars themselves look ok.

Had tried S2 but hated it's feel or really a lack there of. Tried every wheel setting I could find in forums but never could get something that felt right. Always felt like I was battling the game instead of just driving the car. FRL on the other hand feels much more natural in it's FFB and car response. Used some settings that Amar sent me. They should be in this thread somewhere. The FFB in my DFGT is similar to GT5 to me. S2 never felt anywhere close to that.

I only got up to early 60's cars in my career. I've read the Events get harder in later stages. Used whatever the highest difficulty is, no driving aids and cockpit cam. It's all no tuning which I like. Physics do feel more "arcadey" compared to GT5. If you bear in mind this is an old game it's fun especially with the car and track list.

Have you every tried Ferrari The Race Experience ? That game is pretty much sim oriented with punishing physics - every little mistakes means a lot of time lost. How arcadey is Racing Legends ?

 

[NCRthree]

Have you every tried Ferrari The Race Experience ? That game is pretty much sim oriented with punishing physics - every little mistakes means a lot of time lost. How arcadey is Racing Legends ?

Never tried that game.

For physics my only point of comparison is GT5 and I'm not one who can give an experts comparison to real life physics. Plus I don't try and exploit physics-only drive in a controlled manner. But from what I remember (it's been at least 8 months since I've run it) the suspensions weren't as compliant as GT5 even before 2.09. It's just not as refined but all the cars do drive differently. You do get a better visual sense of acceleration and braking as cockpit cam has that give and take motion. Amar endorsed the game so that's the main reason I ever tried it.

I'm real picky about accurate steering response and FFB and in that regard it's ok.

 

[DrJustice]

Have you every tried Ferrari The Race Experience ? That game is pretty much sim oriented with punishing physics - every little mistakes means a lot of time lost. How arcadey is Racing Legends ?

The System 3 game is rendered completely useless for me due to the steering wheel dead zone that can't be switched off. It aspired to be a pretty realistic sim, but the result was a mixed experience.

TD:FRL is not a "hard core" sim by any means, but neither is it an arcade game. I like how it drives, when taking into account what it is (a Ferrari Tribute game). It's challenging enough in places, and IMO it's a very good game. The reviews I read generally didn't do it justice, missing the point of it (e.g. "wah, wha, there are only Ferraris". Duh!).

 

[TomBrady]

You've just swung my decision. I enjoyed both Shift games a lot, so it looks like I'll be buying it. I'm mostly looking forward to driving the old F1 cars around places like Silverstone, Hockenheim, Monza and Donington. 👍

Yea the F1s are basically what attracted me the most, and some classic cars.

I already have Ferrari the Racing Experience which has great physics, but the AI is crazy, and the career mode isn't really much fun to do.

Plus other than a couple of 70s prototype cars and the 458, TD FRL has all the same cars and then some. I prefer F TRE's physics, environmental graphics, and force feedback, but TD FRL pretty much does everything else better.

If you're a fan of the shift games though, I can't see why you wouldn't like it.

Just don't expect to be able to tune the cars is all. Also, the longer races are a pain. Once your tires are worn out, it becomes super difficult to drive, and you can't pit stop without losing. It's pretty stupid but long races are rare

 

[TomBrady]

Have you every tried Ferrari The Race Experience ? That game is pretty much sim oriented with punishing physics - every little mistakes means a lot of time lost. How arcadey is Racing Legends ?

Ferrari Racing legends is a little bit less realistic than Ferrari Challenge/TRE/AbsoluteSupercars/Supercar Challenge but more realistic than Grid or Dirt.

It's obviously less realistic than GT5 as well. Not bad though. I'd say if there was a little bit less "float" in the physics, it would be easily better than forza 4's physics too but right now it's a tie basically

Also, who is that asian girl in your profile picture?

 

[gman1647]

Ferrari Racing legends is a little bit less realistic than Ferrari Challenge/TRE/AbsoluteSupercars/Supercar Challenge but more realistic than Grid or Dirt.

It's obviously less realistic than GT5 as well. Not bad though. I'd say if there was a little bit less "float" in the physics, it would be easily better than forza 4's physics too but right now it's a tie basically

Also, who is that asian girl in your profile picture?

Quick question re: tuning. I'm really loving Shift 2,but only after I buy a suspension and change the settings. The stock tunes are nearly undriveable. How's TDFRL stack up?

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

Ferrari Racing legends is a little bit less realistic than Ferrari Challenge/TRE/AbsoluteSupercars/Supercar Challenge but more realistic than Grid or Dirt.

It's obviously less realistic than GT5 as well. Not bad though. I'd say if there was a little bit less "float" in the physics, it would be easily better than forza 4's physics too but right now it's a tie basically

Also, who is that asian girl in your profile picture?

I see, I'll get it soon

The girl is from facebook, she's a Filipino , I'll pm about her

 

[nigelbyers]

'A Helping Hand' - can anyone give me one?

I am stuck at the F333 race on Road America - I can get up to the required second place pretty quickly but by the end my tyres are destroyed and I lose too much time.

Anyone that can help?

I'm dying to get through further to unlock Fiorano & the Nordschleife.

PS3 with G27 if that helps. I thought I was a good driver, 100% on GT5, Shift, Grid etc etc but this one is driving me insane!

My last resort would be a game save (Euro) to unlock them but I would rather finish the game!!

Cheers all.

 

[Jamesways]

A Helping Hand-

Simple, kick it down a notch. Do it on normal or easy with normal assists. No tire wear then.

 

[TomBrady]

'A Helping Hand' - can anyone give me one?

I am stuck at the F333 race on Road America - I can get up to the required second place pretty quickly but by the end my tyres are destroyed and I lose too much time.

Anyone that can help?

I'm dying to get through further to unlock Fiorano & the Nordschleife.

PS3 with G27 if that helps. I thought I was a good driver, 100% on GT5, Shift, Grid etc etc but this one is driving me insane!

My last resort would be a game save (Euro) to unlock them but I would rather finish the game!!

Cheers all.

I don't think it's that you're a bad driver because I had the same problem. After practice with that car, I was able to do the 10 lap race hockenheim and barely won but usually I'll turn on the driver aids on those races with the bad tire wear because they don't really give you any options on that.

It's kind of unreasonable that they have the race long enough for the tires to wear until they're undriveable but not let you pit without losing.

So just use driver aids. Put it on normal or whatever, that
should be enough.

Quick question re: tuning. I'm really loving Shift 2,but only after I buy a suspension and change the settings. The stock tunes are nearly undriveable. How's TDFRL stack up?

It's actually much better out of the box than Shift 2. Shift 2 had much more inconsistency in its cars. TD FRL doesn't really need the tuning to be driveable. It would help in some cases but it's not needed.

The key thing to TD FRL is to set your wheel to a good setting. You don't want it too twitchy, and you don't want it too soft. I've found the best setting, and the best balance between everything is to set the wheel to 900 degree steering, and 100% sensitivity

That's assuming you're using a wheel. If you're on a controller I'm not sure because I don't use controller

 

[gman1647]

It's actually much better out of the box than Shift 2. Shift 2 had much more inconsistency in its cars. TD FRL doesn't really need the tuning to be driveable. It would help in some cases but it's not needed.

The key thing to TD FRL is to set your wheel to a good setting. You don't want it too twitchy, and you don't want it too soft. I've found the best setting, and the best balance between everything is to set the wheel to 900 degree steering, and 100% sensitivity

That's assuming you're using a wheel. If you're on a controller I'm not sure because I don't use controller

Thanks 👍!

 

[nigelbyers]

Cracked 'A Helping Hand'!! The trick was not to go flat out but just to do 1:56 laps, then the tyres last & you can get to 2nd place well before the end.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

[PepeMickey]

This game is such a missed opportunity. Great car list, great track list and that's it, everything else is just awful. The guys who say that this is more realistic than Shift 2 Unleashed have no idea. Shift 2 only requires tunning knowledge and a bit of tweaking, this... you can't do a thing to improve it. I paid 10 bucks for this and I feel ripped off.

 

[NCRthree]

This game is suched a missed opportunity. Great car list, great track list and that's it, everything else is just awful. The guys who say that this is more realistic than Shift 2 Unleashed have no idea. Shift 2 only requires tunning knowledge and a bit of tweaking, this... you can't do a thing to improve it. I paid 10 bucks for this and I feel ripped off.

That's funny, I feel the exact opposite. I'd like to know what steering settings you use in S2. I tried every setting posted on GTP for Logitech wheels, no luck. Steering lag drove me nuts. Went back to it the other day and tried again. Just wanted to do some hot laps. Used a RX8 Tuner Car that I'd won. Bone stock it swayed back and forth so badly down a straightaway, it was undrivable. Now I only used stock cars with no tuning like I do in GT5. Is there some tweak in tuning to get rid of the swaying and lag?

I certainly don't consider FRL to be that realistic but at least it's drivable.

 

[PepeMickey]

Stop looking for settings, tune it yourself. I could even make it work with the DS3 and using stock cars too. I'm telling you to do it yourself because you have to find your own sweet spot.

 

[gman1647]

Stop looking for settings, tune it yourself. I could even make it work with the DS3 and using stock cars too. I'm telling you to do it yourself because you have to find your own sweet spot.

Re: Shift 2,I agree. I found setting the dead zones to zero and the inputs to linear combined with increased caster and lowering tire pressure gave really nice feel. I like extremely responsive steering so that small inputs move the car so my wheel is set to 360 degrees. From there the cars are easy to drive and it isn't too hard to dial in the car more accurately as the tuning screens are very clear about what each change will do. I do hate when I have to drive a stock car, but they are at least drivable for the most part with my settings. It took about an hour to set the game up to my liking, but it was worth it. The game is a blast!

This is my worry about the lack of tuning options in TDFRL, but it sounds like a misplaced fear.

 

[NCRthree]

Stop looking for settings, tune it yourself. I could even make it work with the DS3 and using stock cars too. I'm telling you to do it yourself because you have to find your own sweet spot.

Well, I don't need anything special nor do I want to spend hours tweaking which is why I hunted down settings here in the first place. I had no success and ended up with more of a mess. Looks like there would be some default settings for Logitech wheels that function properly.

I just want to be able to take a bone stock car and not have a split second delay when I turn the wheel. The steering should be accurate. Having a bone stock car weave back and forth just should not happen either.

Any way you could post or pm me your settings since you've obviously had good results? Thanks.

Edit: Best after some fiddling. Steering Linearity 20%, deadzone 1%, lock 270. No more lag or weaving. Still not enough feedback, drivable at least. Too much steering input required, steering more like a '80's Ford pickup than a sportscar. Too much imprecision for me to enjoy after being used to the FFB in GT5.

 

[Adrianf1]

Race of two laps and simultaneous replay in Imola Historic circuit, with the Ferrari 312 B3-74.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ieXbi2rf_I​

 

[PepeMickey]

To sum the game up, it has Shift 1 physics (drift through every corner) with Shift 2 input lag, deadzones and unresponsive steering. The latter could be tweaked in S2U through various settings and the game overall was much more polished than TDFRL. The inability to tune the cars in TDF makes the game almost unplayable. The most difficult races in the game are just a result of the awful physics + controls.

Sounds are better than GT5 of course but much worse than both Shift games and there are a lot of reused samples. For some reason SMS eliminated all the ambient sounds that made SU2 so immersive.

Graphics are definitely worse than both Shift games and in some cases the System 3 games look better. Sometimes, the game engine doesn't even work properly, causing weird graphic glitches and invisible walls sending you to Oblivion.

I don't know what SMS was trying to do with this game to be honest, the game was pretty much dead on arrival, it wasn't advertised and it wasn't supported after release. It's like they didn't want you to know that the game was out.

 

[Tyger]

I must admit I still want to give this game a go, but only if it comes down to about gbp12.00 or less. That said, I guess I should play the System 3 game through first as I was enjoying that, then there is GT6 and I am still working through Forza 4...hmm.

PepeMickey if it's not too much trouble I would be interested in your settings for S2U as I played it some but never really got around the input lag issue. It was still challenging but it felt more because of the control issues, which isn't good. I was using/use DS3 rather than a wheel though.

 

[PepeMickey]

I must admit I still want to give this game a go, but only if it comes down to about gbp12.00 or less. That said, I guess I should play the System 3 game through first as I was enjoying that, then there is GT6 and I am still working through Forza 4...hmm.

PepeMickey if it's not too much trouble I would be interested in your settings for S2U as I played it some but never really got around the input lag issue. It was still challenging but it felt more because of the control issues, which isn't good. I was using/use DS3 rather than a wheel though.

Sure but I'll PM them to you because you need more than just the settings to make it that much better.

 

[ussr]

Amazing game. No steering lag no freezes or slow downs like it both shift. This game is such an improvement and huge fun too. I haven't noticed any input lag, deadzones and unresponsive steering. For me it was top notch racing game. And it was simple to, no unnecessary tunning, equal level for everyone and good balanced races.