> Is Ford Racing 2 any better than the original? I tried the oriinal and
> found it pretty weak. I'd love to find another NFS:PU type arcade racer to
> fill in the off time.
> MadDAWG
Ford Racing 2 is LIGHT-YEARS ahead of the original -- in fact, Ford
Racing 2 was developed by Razorworks using the same physics engine
that they used for Total Immersion Racing . . . which means that from
a physics standpoint, FR2 is every bit as tweak-able as TIR.
Straight out of the box, though, Ford Racing 2 is very good, IMO --
the scenarios and track/car unlocking structure is VERY engaging,
rather than annoying and intrusive, as this sort of thing typically
is. There are cheats available to unlock all cars and tracks from the
start, but I've had as much fun unlocking things in FR2 as I did in
NFSPU. Lots of fun all around, with both off-road and asphalt tracks,
and a wide variety of historic, classic, competition, and prototype
vehicles. It feels a lot like a mix between the NFSPU
gameplay/mission objective approach and advanced physics combined with
the earlier versions of NFS (NFS 1 and 2 come to mind). The track
designs are outstanding (all fantasy tracks, but there is a nice mix
of faux road circuits and fantasy race courses, all of which are
nicely executed), the vehicle handling is predictable, with different
physics for each car type. The AI is reasonably challenging at the
higher levels, and although you do get some fender-banging, the AI
seems "smart" enough. There is a wide variety of scenarios, some of
which seem like they should be too hokey to endure, but even the ones
that seem like they will be silly are engaging and -- imagine this --
FUN. Quite a bit of fun, in fact -- maybe not as rigidly structured
as the Factory Driver stuff in NFSPU, but every bit as fun. The
sounds are also outstanding in FR2 (again, unique sounds for all
cars), and although there is no***pit view available, my camera
utility goes a long way towards rectifying that. All in all, there's
a lot to like here, IMO.
In short, I'd call FR2 a HUGE success as an arcade racer with fairly
serious physics -- it's not GPL, but it is a heck of a lot of fun, and
driving FR2 doesn't degrade my GPL driving skills one bit (this
criteria is something I use as a measure of how "realistic" a sim is,
Pro Race Drive actually makes me slower when I return to GPL, but the
"good" racers don't have any negative impact on my GPL skills).
FWIW, I found Ford Racing 2 locally at a Wal-Mart for $19.99. After
spending some time with the demo, I was thinking hard about going back
to Wal-Mart to pick up a copy, but over on the High Gear TIR message
board, Bad Bud pointed out that you can get Ford Racing 2 for $9.99
plus free shipping from the EB Games Website:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Note that this DOES include free shipping -- the "shipping info" link
on the site indicates that the "EB Saver" rate is $1.99, but when you
process the order, it gives you shipping for free if you choose the
"EB Saver" rate.
At $9.99 plus free shipping from the EB Games site, I snapped up a
copy immediately, because I remembered how difficult it was to find
TIR after it initially appeared on the store shelves in my area -- I
finally had to find a copy of that on ebay.
Hope this helps a bit!
-- JB
