GTR2: Why are Modern Sims Still Not as Good?

[Paul Jeffrey]

GTR2 is 11 years old, features a series that no longer exists and was developed for technology less advanced than a modern smart phone. Unbelievably it's still one of the best sims available today.

What I want to know is why? Why in the last 10 + years have some of the many awesome features found in this now long forgotten game not made their way into something more modern? Ok granted many different games feature some of the bits in GTR2, but no single title has taken what was already an incredible base and expanded upon it with the aid of much advanced technology we now have at our disposal.

Driving School? Check
Fully animated pit workers? Check
Animated flag marshals? Check
Day - night transition? Check
Weather cycle? Check
Full official series licence, over two separate seasons? Check
...and the list goes on and on...

Simply put GTR2 was massively overdeveloped, period. SimBin Studios quite literally took every single aspect of the then premier GT racing series in the world and recreated it all into a compelling racing experience that still stands out as a top simulation even by the standards of today, 11 years after the game hit our shelves.

I just find it all incredibility bizarre. In very few industries outside of sim racing will you see a decline in product quality and content as the years progress like we have to put up with today. When GTR2 first shipped in September 2006 the game was a complete package, not splattered with ridiculous bugs that prevented anyone having a good time, not bombarded by wave after wave of disparate DLC content with little or no relevance to the main experience and not hanging on by the merest thread for dear life as another iteration of something that's been released by someone else already. It really was a golden time for sim racing fans, and those who witnessed it all first hand really did think this would be the beginning of something big in sim racing.

Fast forward to 2017 and sadly the progress expected post GTR2 has quite simply not materialised. The game, the official simulation of the FIA GT World Championship, was probably the very last fully feature complete racing simulation we have seen in our niche genre. We've had loads of new games since then, some of which have even been released by the same people responsible for GTR and GTR2, but none have even come close to matching the level of features and polish afforded fans back in 2006. It's down right strange.

Take RaceRoom Racing Experience for example, developed as the next GT game from the people behind GTR and GTR2, when the title first hit public beta stage back in February 2013 what did we have? Basically a hotlapping simulation with limited content, no official series licence, no AI to race against and precisely zero multiplayer features. Added to the still missing animated flag marshals and a range of other GTR2 items that haven't made the move over with time, it's all rather a depressing scene in which to take in.

Ok I appreciate Sector3 have worked exceptionally hard at improving RaceRoom to get to a level where it is barely recognisable now to what it looked like on launch day, but still to even consider releasing a game that was basically stripped of everything that made GTR2 great is simply mind boggling.

And it's not just RaceRoom that are guilty of missing out some key features considered par for the course 11 years ago, everyone is doing it! You only have to look at one of the most popular sims on the market Assetto Corsa as a perfect example, they consider themselves to be perfectionists on a mission to produce the most true to life experience possible, and they even miss out the core basics like weather and day to night transition, never mind such "nice to have" features like a driving school, proper flag implementation and multiclass racing options. It's simply amazing to realise that these features quite simply only exist in a game that was designed and released over a decade ago. Unbelievable.

GTR2 still looks pretty good on top graphics settings, still feels very nice indeed with my trusty CSW V2 and still sounds like it belongs in the very top tier of audio experience. All that whilst replicating a seriously mega international championship in a exceptionally detailed simulation that really does pick out all the little features that makes driving on a virtual track feel like the real thing. With that said and the pretty compelling physics considering the age of the title added up with stuff that no other sim has all together in one package, this is why I still believe GTR2 is, without reservation, the very best simulation racing experience one can purchase during 2017.

I love the game, it's just a bit sad that no one has thought to try and make something similar in the following 132 months since it was released.

GTR was released by SimBin Studios exclusively for PC. The game is still available to purchase on Steam for £4.99.

Like GTR2? Well lucky you, we are seriously considering a brand new informal league! Check out the GTR2 sub forum for general GTR2 discussion or our new GTR2 RDGT Championship forum for more details of the new league season. To prepare for the league all we ask is you have Premium membership, a fresh GTR2 install and these two additional patches HERE and HERE. Get ready for a return of the legend....

Do you still enjoy GTR2? What did the sim do right in your opinion? Why do features present in GTR2 still not appear in moderns sims? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[The Iron Wolf]

Completely agree with the original post. GTR2 is the only game I'd still go to if there was no rFactor 2. Absolutely awesome simulator. Where else would you find weather, flag system, and open modding support? And guess what, it still kicks even rF2, saying "I do have rain FX on a windshield, and you don't" I need to fire it up for good DTM 1992. Game is still alive and rocking.

 

[Charles Amyouni]

I still own GTR2 and still running the game to this very date.

 

[kamackeris]

To those still running it.... What have you done to it mod wise to bring it more up to date? Think I read there is an AI mod for example that betters the ai?

 

[The Iron Wolf]

To those still running it.... What have you done to it mod wise to bring it more up to date? Think I read there is an AI mod for example that betters the ai?

IMHO AI is not much worse than AI in current titles. The biggest drawback is simpler tire model, and somewhat worse graphics, though the beast still looks good. And, yes, no Crew Chief. But compare it to racing with no flags, no weather, no day/night transition, fake liveries, it is still a very decent game.

Reborn mod supposedly improves AI, but I am personally quite happy with what SimBin coded in.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

This is a bit like comparing footballers. Pelé might have won more world cups than Messi but we all know who would win a head to head.
The whole market has changed in terms of competition, licensing etc etc

 

[Rupe Wilson]

3 clicks and your racing, modern user interfaces can be so tricky to navigate..

 

[Enpassant]

Paul Jeffrey touched the heart of the matter. Thank you Paul for this great article!
Today (and also in the past, but then we did not have a rigs to simulate car on the track) the racing sim is not only about the rolling wheels. Many people, many sim lovers (included me) like to do more than grinding lap alone in the track. I like to cutomise my cars, I like to see stats about my effort on the track, I like to see more meaningful purpose to be bether and bether in my car. And at last but not least, I like to feel this elusive smell of the racing day. What is this? That is the point. That is the question of which the sim developers must to find the answer. Everyday when I put my crocked as on the seat in front of my computer screen, I ask myself that question. Why shoul I must to turn on my wheel and my beloved sim? Because I love the rolling 4K resolution wheels? Naah...!

 

[miy1925hassun]

1 reason and only one 1 reason, the car roster is inadvertently one of the best you could assemble because racing changed significantly shortly thereafter. Now we have BoP which makes every car much the same, GT3 cars do GT1 lap times in places not thanks to power or even downforce, but simply megasupertires and electronics - despite having 100 fewer HP. That's the world of racing.

I mean you have a 993 GT2, the god mode 550, the ultra fast tire shredding S7R, a Viper well past it's prime and clearly off the pace, Lamborghinis made of glass... THAT is what made GTR2.

(...this is me saying that if GTR3 is GT3 they might as well not even bother as it will have zero chances of recreating anything the original GTR games did...)

Otherwise, besides nostalgia it offers nothing over the modern crop. Rain is and was even at the time poor, night is - as all Gm2 titles - incredibly poorly optimized, and unless you are clueless the driving school is nothing more than a trivial challenge for the sake of gamifying things. At the time the AI was marginally better than most rF1 circuits, and about the same (how shocking...) as the quality stuff. Championship mode? Nothing more than a way to convince you to grind to unlock circuits if you choose not to cheat. Flagmen? No really, flagmen? Sure, that's sweet... but is that the golden ticket?

I don't see this package that we don't have today beyond the cars. It still boils down to driving virtual cars around virtual circuits racing stupid AI or if you are lucky finding an online race. Where is the difference? You can do this in most every title now... yet now we complain about it. Nostalgia Goggles, man.

I dunno. GTR2 is one I love and probably the one I played the most, but it was for the cars and nothing else. So many of the things that "supposedly" makes GTR2 this fantastic thing were nothing more than features to check the boxes rather than things that worked absolutely properly and were amazing features.

Or in other words, the rain / weather did not make the game better. It's fun for nostalgia and the fact it's fun because sim racing is fun (right....?), but where is this magical complete package? It has different FIA GT themed menu graphics?

Don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic time and is still a heck of a lot of fun, but not because of the mythical reputation it seems like has been assigned to it in the last 4-5 years or so.

Couldn't agree more. The cars are distinct and are just sooooo much fun to drive(I mean c'mon these are GT1 cars we're talking about). The feeling you get when you get that old Viper to the top of the podium and trying to squeeze out every ounce of performance out of that TVR is just something that I can find with the modern sims anymore. Also with GTR 2 Reborn mod the physics are at a whole new level. By the way thanks so much once again to you and the guys at IRG @Chronus!

 

[Slyfrequency]

A lot of games back in the day set their strides in the sim racing world. GTR2 was really good and a game I was introduced to a couple years ago, it was a blast to play and I'd happily fire it up and play it today, graphics don't mean a whole lot to me, it's nice to get some realistic visuals but for me it's about physics and feel of the car that's the most immersive. As someone who still races in fFactor at the clubs here on RD, I've had many great times. I used to be part of a huge community for nr2003, and even though the branches of the community have died down, the core of the community still remains for it.

Games now, have set their strides like games of the past did, these days developers use more complicated software and coding that bugs don't appear until tested on multiple systems and configs, they have deadlines they need to meet (possibly set by publishers) and money to make. AC and Raceroom have great sound, rF2 has fantastic physics, Pcars has some cracking visuals, BeamNG has an amazing damage model. Unless all these studios combine to build the ultimate simulator, I can't see there being one sim that does it all, ever.

 

[JayJayRaceinho]

great article. i'm gonna look at my old gtr2 copy i uninstalled a few years ago for all those great Sims that would beat gtr2

my old gtr2-max settings is still on youtube, hey, 3.5k views, my best youtube-success

there seems still to be a very active gtr2-modding-community http://www.esport-racing.de/?path=start

 

[JoelGL]

Around $5 in Steam. Is this a complete package already, or requires DLC's for add-on cars/tracks?

 

[Rupe Wilson]

That's the complete game, apart from 2 downloads you can use to re activate the Porsche and Ferrari..
found here.
http://www.racedepartment.com/forums/gtr-2-mods.436/

 

[JoelGL]

That's the complete game, apart from 2 downloads you can use to re activate the Porsche and Ferrari..
found here.
http://www.racedepartment.com/forums/gtr-2-mods.436/

Thanks. Sorry, what do you mean by re-activate? Also, so there are no more mods add-on cars/tracks?

@JayJayRaceinho , nice vid! I don't see the settings posted though in YT.

 

[Andy_J]

Some very rose tinted spectacles being used here. Great thread @Paul Jeffrey

Some of us have always still played GTR2 and quite often sing it's praises because it has the whole thing simulated that modern sims lack. But modern sims generally feel many times better, look better and drive better. But by god GTR2 had it all. But that's how race sims were back in the early days. Complete, out of the box, all things present and generally ready to go and enjoy. These days we are beta testers for all time it seems and we constantly crave more of the missing features even though the general feel/physics/ffb has greatly improved over the last 11 years.
I regularly load up GTR2 because I still love it, just like I regularly boot up my Nascar Racing 2003 (although heavily modded) and Grand Prix 4.

 

[Rupe Wilson]

You can also take the full game folder out of steam and run it as a standalone.
add all the mods you want,
i have 3 versions installed
Version 1 vanilla, + with only the 2 downloads to reactivate the Porshe and Ferrari (this one will be used for the upcoming RD events)
version 2 filled with extra mods tracks and cars, hd graphic packs..
Version 3 power and glory mod

 

[Augusto Dufloth]

How large was Simbin dev team? I think it's not much different than R3E

There is simply no excuses to not make a finished product to a such small niche other than make money. And it's ok to do so. Unfinished sandboxes with a plethora of DLC is a way of making constant money.

 

[JoelGL]

Does it support the 900deg wheels? And triples? Or what customizations/adjustments need to be done to have the game run w/ these?

 

[Stephen O'Sullivan]

If anyone is interested, the GTR2 Essentials mod package gives this great old sim an overhaul.

(Incidentally, I would like to see an RD article about modders and their contribution to the wacky pastime of sim racing.)

 

[Rupe Wilson]

Thanks. Sorry, what do you mean by re-activate? Also, so there are no more mods add-on cars/tracks?

@JayJayRaceinho , nice vid! I don't see the settings posted though in YT.

Due to licencing the Porsche and Ferrari we not in the steam version, so we have a fix that allows them to bee seen and work as the disc version was.. real simple fix..
you only have to google to find extra cars and tracks and other mods for the game..on other well know sites that have mods to download and install.
The one posted by Scraper above is a great example..

I run triples and it works good straight out the box,
i use a t500 so 900 deg is possible, In game the wheel in the car does not rotates 900 deg, but i have that turned off any way so no probs there for me (its only a visual thing anyway)

 

[Jebus]

GTR2 might be the best racing game of all time as a whole, but I find driving itself in AC and AMS (maybe a bit of a stretch to call AMS as a modern sim but still) to be a lightyears ahead of GTR2.

I've definitely got my moneys worth from it but I see no reasons to install it again.