Less than two months after the release of GTR Evolution, Simbin has released another RACE07 Expansion/Full Game that brings us the Swedish Touring Car Championship. Is the STCC Game just a simple content pack or another refinement of the RACE07 series? Read the review to find out!
Just like GTR Evolution, STCC ??? The Game is available as both full game including all RACE07 content or as expansion pack to go along with RACE07 or GTR Evolution. Since the boxed full version is only sold in Sweden and Norway, 95% of all users will be buying their copy from Steam.
Priced at $19,99 the addon pack includes two new series as well as seven brand new tracks that can be used with RACE07 or GTR Evolution as well. You can use the STCC cars on the Nordschleife or go race the GTs in Sweden. The biggest advantage of Simbin??? s new addon-strategy is that everything blends together nicely, without the need to convert cars or tracks from one game to another.
The Cars
As the name suggest, STCC ??? The Game includes the 2008 Swedish Touring Car Championship season. Run to the same Super2000 regulations than the World Touring Car Championship, the STCC is one of Europe???s strongest privateer touring car series, having more manufacturers than its bigger WTCC brother.
Stalwart S2000 touring cars such as the BMW 320si or the Chevrolet Lancetti meet national N2000 cars such as the Volvo C30 or the Audi A4. The game includes five brand new touring cars, one of them sticks out like a sore thumb though.
While the Peugeot 308, Audi A4, Volvo S60 & C30 are represented as realistic as possible, the Mercedes C200 is missing. The German manufacturer declined Simbin the right to use their brand, causing the car to appear as BMS Incognito in game, featuring a slightly-changed front and rear end design. This is a real shame as the rear-wheel driven Mercedes BMS is one of the most fun cars in the field.
If you have enough of modern, sophisticated tin-tops, the simulation offers something else by including the Chevrolet Camaro Cup. What sounds like a simple one-make support series is actually one of the highlights the simulation has to offer.
While the Camaros are raced in Sweden is somewhat beyond me, raw V8-powered stock car-like racing cars are not exactly what I have in mind when thinking about Swedish motorsport.
The Tracks
If you thought of Sweden being the home of cheap furniture and big-boobed blondes, you might want to add another stereotype after trying STCC as Sweden also has some of the most stunning racetracks in the world.
STCC ??? The Game includes seven all-new tracks, six of them located in Sweden and one in Norway. Since most drivers in the sim racing community won???t be too familiar with tracks like Karlskoga or Sturup, most of you will be stuck learning these tracks first.
It???s worth it though as the tracks are a tremendous amount of fun, all of them seem to be made with bumper to bumper touring car racing in mind. There???s no modern stuff like paved runoff-areas, gigantic gravel traps or chicanes, some tracks even lack guardrails to begin with. But all of them offer a challenging, fast-flowing layout made for close racing.
While central Europe tracks often lack character and sport a uniform look and feel, every track on the STCC schedule is different. Mantorp Park includes a big drag strip, Knutstorp has banked corners while Falkenberg is the Scandinavian version of Lime Rock, an ultra short, quick roller-coaster ride that even the relatively slow touring cars complete well under 50 seconds. The lineup of tracks is rounded out by the Eco Drive Arena, a street racing course in the Gothenburg harbour area.
Graphics
If you own RACE07 or GTR Evolution, you know what to expect in terms of graphics. Like always, the cars are modelled and textured well with noting big to complain about. Again, some low res textures spoil some of the cockpits if you pay a real close look but that???s about it.
The tracks are all very well made, the amount of details put into track modelling seems to have put up another notch as all tracks come with fully modelled paddock areas, plenty of spectators and trackside details. This gives the tracks a very lively look, making them the best tracks made by Simbin so far.
Sadly, track object shadows are still completely absent as the game???s ISI engine is starting to show its age. Unlike GTR Evolution, there???s no nasty popping up of scenery, the only flaws being some low-res horizon textures and popping up LODs in some camera angles.
Sounds
While RACE07???s sounds were nothing to complain about, some fine-tuning can be heard as all cars deliver the proper touring car sound. The sound highlight is definitely the Chevrolet Camaro V8 sound, sending shivers down your spine.
Just like GTR Evolution, STCC ??? The Game includes improved tire sounds that give you better feedback of what the car is doing. If you??re sliding around the track, you??ll be hearing it too. The sound department is rounded out by an excellent soundtrack provided by Swedish band Mustasch.
Physics & AI
The RACE07 physics have been much discussed. Some blame Simbin for giving the cars too much grip, making them easier to handle. On the other hand, real WTCC drivers like Pierre-Yves Corthals or Marc Hennerici praised Simbin exactly for that, since hard doesn???t equal realistic in their book.
Simbin sticks with that, making the STCC cars fairly easy to handle until you start pushing them to the limit. The new cars provide a good mix of rear-wheel and front-wheel driven cars,??? with the new Volvo C30 being the most competitive of all of them.
The real highlight in terms of driving fun is the Camaro Challenge though. Powered by a 480hp engine and a manual four-speed gearbox, the Camaro is a pure, raw, race car that feels refreshingly different. Unlike the touring cars, the Carmaro slides all over the place, handling more like a boat than a race car. The car tends to oversteer quite heavily and a 20 minute race in the Camaro will certainly keep you busy.
Compared to RACE07, the AI feels very much improved as it???s now possible to have proper races against the computer. The AI cars are fun to race against and even make the occasional mistake by running into the grass or gravel.
Settings & Surroundings
STCC ??? The Game can be combined with both GTR Evolution and RACE07 and thus, uses the exactly same menu layout. If you own one of these games, you??ll feel instantly at home.
The game comes with a bunch of new features to suit the STCC series rules such as the Superpole and mandatory pit stops. These new features can be used with any of the games??? series, so if you want to run a WTCC race with Superpole qualifying or a GT race with mandatory pit-stop you can easily do just that as all rule options can be combined with any series.
The Superpole is a qualifying shootout for the top eight cars, allowing you to put down one qualifying lap to determine your position in the top 8. Sadly, there???s one big bug with the Superpole as there is no way to accelerate time once you??ve completed your lap.
Even if you posted the slowest lap, you??ll still be on pole if you end the session early simply because you were the first one to set a lap. The result is that you have to sit down and wait until the AI completed their laps to have a realistic grid ??? Rather annoying.
The mandatory pit stops spice up short races as you can easily lose or make up some time by having your pit stop at the right time. The game informs you on when the pit window opens, warning you if you??re about to ignore it.
Once you enter the pits, you can choose to use one of the pit stop presets or set the values yourself. As the pit window is rather small, the pits can get very crowded, a problem that has been solved by simply disabling the collision model while pitting.
Conclusion
Time to answer the important question: Is STCC ??? The Game worth your money? Selling for about $19,99 on Steam, the addon-pack is a bargain if compared to what other simulations charge for this kind of content.
The STCC Championship provides great racing with an interesting mix of cars and improved AI. But even if Super2000 touring cars aren???t your cup of tea, there???s plenty to enjoy in STCC.
I??m sure the Chevrolet Camaro Cup will become very popular with online leagues as it???s one of the most fun & demanding single make cups I??ve ever driven. The real gem in STCC ??? The Game are the seven tracks though.
Even if you may haven???t heard about these tracks before, trust me when I say that you don???t want to miss out on these. In times of dumbed-down Formula One tracks, real race tracks are rather hard to find ??? STCC includes a whole bunch of them.
If you own GTR Evolution, STCC ??? The Game is easily worth ist price simply for the tracks included. Running a full field of powerful GTs at Falkenberg or Knutstorp is a mind-blowing experience as these tracks are excellent to have close and hard races.
The game???s biggest flaw right now is that most of the potential customers can???t get a hold of it now as Simbin has not yet announced a Steam release date. The simulation is well worth the wait though as Simbin continues to deliver solid & very enjoyable content that you can???t find anywhere else.
Don???t agree with my view? Please let me know by leaving a comment ????
Screenshots
