Looking Back on GTR2

[Paul Jeffrey]

Almost 13 years on from release, does GTR2 still have what it takes to entertain sim racing fans in 2019?

Many considered GTR2 to be one of the all time sim racing greats when it released back in 2006, however plenty of time has passed since those glory days of this sims early life - leaving me to wonder if the title still has what it needs to hold water with some of the more modern racing games of today.

Armed with the 10th Anniversary patch and the HQ Textures update, plus a few cheeky updates to the force feedback settings, we've embarked on a journey back in time to find out if this once legendary sim can still do the business in 2019.

Don't forget to check out the GTR2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment, a great place to continue discussing this olden but golden title, and pick up a few mods too!

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[Alexandre Costa]

We should have a Retro Club Race from time to time. With a good announcement on the front page it could be awsome.

 

[David Wright]

One of the all time best ones. It was really so compete, that I don't think we ever had such a simracing title ever since.

Still great after all this years, but we are around two generations ahead now, so wouldn't say it can compete with modern ones. GTR represents times when less grip = more realism, times changed.

Regardless of that I still fire it up from time to time (also P&G or GTL) and it's always an awesome experience. Much love for the old GTR2, but I'm glad we moved on.

The original GTR had unforgiving tyres, but GTR2 is pretty forgiving. I've not bought the equivalent mod for AC, but watching others drive it on YouTube it looks like the modern version is harder to drive.

 

[David Wright]

GTRitis ? move on mate ACC is the future

ACC is hopefully the future and arguably more GTR3 than GTR3.

But there is room for a 2003/4 season simulation - in one sense GTR2 is almost a GT Legends. These older GTs have more power than today's GTs and no ABS/TC. For me at least, cars like the Ferrari 575 stilll have a bit more magic than today's GT3s (but that may be my age). And then there is the NGT class providing more variety and multi-class racing.

I love today's laser-scanned tracks but GTR2 does let you race at some locations you won't find in ACC such as Anderstorp, Magny Cours, Enna Pergusa, Brno, Estoril, Oschersleben, Donington, Valencia, Hockenheim, Dubai, Imola, Zhuhai (OK maybe not a classic) and of course the classic 2003 bus-stop chicane at Spa.

In short, while GTR2 and ACC both offer GT endurance racing, they are sufficiently different experiences to co-exist.

 

[Durge Driven]

GTR2 is still relevant and you should all hope your AC's and ACC's and pCars last that long !
Said it before say it again GTR2 Anniversary is the most complete mod in any sim

When I played it a few months ago I noticed that my FPS were much too low for such an old game on my current hardware (core i7 7700hq and GTX 1070). FPS was around 70-90 only. However, when I changed processor affinity in task manager to use all CPU cores, my FPS jumped to a value over 300 FPS.

`

If you run single monitor enable DSR in Nvidia Control panel and select 4.00x (native resolution )
Run GTR2Config and select 4K, looks fantastic and puts fps to use

 

[Hal Burns]

I still enjoy the game ( Save Race!!!) and will be installing the update patch ASAP. Thanks!
PS; Installed...awesome...thank you.

 

[Arnold Carter Wong]

I basically got interest on GT cars and learnt my 3D skills because of this game and GTR1. It was my favourite game and didn't have the cars that I wanted so I made my own lol

The MC12 was my favourite in this game, I think it was also the first game which originally comes with that car too.

 

[Bob Gnarley]

GTRitis ? move on mate ACC is the future

Must remember to check back here in 13 years time to see if ACC is still up for discussion.

After years of running a succession of Logitech dfp/dfgt, left foot braking and general doing-it-all-wrong (lifelong cyclist and gamer), I recently have moved up to a T300 & shifter. This weekend i'll finally be learning to use the correct feet, with clutch & gated shifter and the sim of choice will be PCars2...Ha no, only joking!

After a year or so of neglect I have recently rekindled my love for gtr2. It has lost none of its immersion, and with the right mods and tweaks stands up well next to any of the current crop. As long as I have an OS that will run it, it will always have a place on my hard drive. As will Power & Glory, Ams, Rf2, Ac.....

 

[Durge Driven]

About your wheel, I suggest Shovas FFB PLR settings : txt are available in readme folder inside GTR2 10th Anniversary Patch, so copy-paste lines in your PLR file. Check Shovas blog as he makes updates quite often.

Been coming up with new mods


Individual #02 PLAYER NEW mods now have all edits for:
HQ recommended AI settings
Reborn recommended AI settings
Write Shared Memory = 1 So all plugin mods work one up
Shovas FFB v2.0
Shovas FFB v3.0
Default settings

 

[ernietheracefan]

The reason why I love GTR2: It's still runs perfectly in Win7.. (and I'm still driving with keyboard)

 

[Shovas]

The reason why I love GTR2: It's still runs perfectly in Win7.. (and I'm still driving with keyboard)

You owe it to yourself to get at least an inexpensive ffb wheel. It'll blow your mind.

 

[Bruno Iwanczuk]

I met sim racing with this game. It was amazing to race in the rain, such a challenge.

 

[saschalolXD]

for mods look to my side https://sjmodding.de.tl/

 

[racer68]

great video Paul - brought back a lot of good memory (10 years of) I still play GTR2 occasionaly - it's still one of the great sims.

 

[cristianoid]

Já dizia Carreta Furação: siga em frente, olhe para o lado!

https://racesimstudio.com/rss-gt-mod-release-date-saturday-23rd

 

[djtopa]

Já dizia Carreta Furação: siga em frente, olhe para o lado!

https://racesimstudio.com/rss-gt-mod-release-date-saturday-23rd

Hvala za link!Ipak mislim da vecina tko igra AC zna i za RSS mod A ovo je Hrvatski jezik...

 

[BrettSinclair1]

I maintain that GTR2 is the best racing sim of all time: I have never seen a more complete and polished game. It simulates an actual, real world championship with every single aspect a real driver has to face.

ps:
I urge you to buy the Simbin collection on the next Steam sale: The quality of the Race 07 series (complete with all the DLC) will still blow you away.

 

[Dave_6]

I need to try and get my copy to work again. Last time I tried it kept crashing or something, can't quite remember. Think it has something to do with me being on W10 since I last played it.

I've also upgraded to a DD wheel so I imagine I'll have the same issues Paul did where it's not going to recognize my h-shifter and Fanatec wheel since I have multiple USB devices (same issue with Nascar 2003).

 

[wombat999]

My first Race Sim and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The sheer number of mods and the quality of them was out-bloody-standing.
And of course, both GTR2 and rFactor 1 remain on my box.

 

[roadyroad]

GTR2 had been my main sim during many years. I was so used to the FFB that all other sims were not feeling right for me (except race07).

The only issue with GTR2 was the non dynamic weather during offline races. A patch had been released but it doesn't work on Windows 10. The AI automatically pited to change tires with this feature enable, so it was quiet unfair if you did not change tires and the weather changed 2 times in a few minutes ; I assume this was the reason Simbin had dropped the feature.

The rest of the game was absolutely amazing. Many complained about the grip because it was higher than in GTR1 but Simbin had stated they were wrong in the first game as they had not taken in account the improvements in tire technlology. And GTR1 was still based on the isi engine from F1 challenge with its major drawback, the loss of grip at low speed. With modern titles and their higher grip than in old sims, it is obvious GTR2 had gone in the right direction.

I remember having spent more time on the alms championship with the prototypes mods and the gt and gts from modders, and all the tracks. It was so easy to make your own championship, with the categories you needed and the points system you wished to apply. No other title can do that.

This was also the game that introduced me to the gt3 category (in mods) and after having raced the gt1 and the gt2 cars I could not understand the appeal of the gt3. Well now gt3 is the most popular category in simracing, times change...

There is no other sim with these cars and the same features (RSS gt1 are for AC, no weather system, raceroom has gt1 but ko weather system, the gt1 in pcars2 are those from 97/98 with higher downforce, closer to prototypes cars). So GTR2 is still unique. If you like old school sims, the closer to gtr2 is the wsgt mod for F1 challenge. It was the best mod ever done for F1 challenge but came too late, at the same time than gtr1...

GTR2 still highly recommended!

 

[Raikku]

Link for those hd etc mods/patches, and do they work in steam-install too? I have original installed somewhere too if I remember right(it's hard to remember what you have in your pc...)