Viper Racing is a highly realistic racing simulation designed to appeal to fans of Papyrus' other racing products. We feel that it should be reviewed as a simulation and not as an acrade driving game...the underlying technology is that of a simulation
- from the Viper Racing Reviewer's Guide
Viper Racing
Viper Racing, from Monster Games Incorporated (MGI) and published by Sierra Sports, brings the thrill of one of America's premier sports cars to the more serious racing gamer. As Sierra claims in the Reviewer's Guide , Viper Racing aims to please the more demanding racing fan. But Viper Racing is not limited to the hard-core simulation driver; arcade drivers get a piece of the action too.
While the Arcade mode may be helpful for the first two or three races, the real pleasure of the game comes from Intermediate and Simulation mode racing. Arcade mode racing lacks challenge -- especially when racing against other Arcade skill drivers and damage modeling is disabled. I don't recommend the Intermediate Mode because you will eventually want to move to Simulation Mode. Any time spent in Intermediate mode works against you in Simulation mode, as you must re-acquaint yourself with the changed handling and performance of the car.
Viper Racing accurately models these effects to produce a driving experience with realistic details and real-world handling. I had been racing on the Dayton track and found myself unable to take one of the tighter turns at the speed I felt I needed. The rear wheels lost traction and the car became unstable. At this speed, any steering correction was futile -- the race was lost. I adjusted the downforce on the rear wheels and took her out for another try. The increased downforce allowed me to take the turn at a higher speed, but at the cost of a reduced overall top speed (the downforce creates more friction, hence more drag and a lower top speed). Further adjustments to the gearing allowed me to achieve the speeds I needed while maintaining control in the turns.
Viper Racing allows the player to choose from several views, including behind the car, above the car, inside the car with a view of the interior, inside the car with no interior view, and an X-Ray view with the front suspension visible. Views are changed with the function keys and can't be configured for a wheel button. Even though Viper Racing comes with a "rear view" feature, it's useless because you must take your hands off the wheel to tap the F8 key. I found the X-Ray view the most helpful -- I could see the track without the interior overlay (meaning I had a better view of the track) and the motion of the suspension helped to provide feedback during braking and turning. I would like to see the X-Ray view in every racing game. Without a rear-view mirror, however, you must rely on the F8 key to watch your six and keep other cars from passing.
Career mode takes you from neophyte driver through the ranks of professional racing. Players begin with a basic Viper and must earn money for upgrades. Winning races means more money and points. If you win the series by finishing with the most points, you get to advance to better competition (with more upgrades available). For example, after completing a few races (but not winning the series) you probably have enough money to buy competition tires. These tires help you to win more races and (hopefully) the series. Some upgrades aren't available no matter how much money you have -- you won't be able to drive a racing-class Viper in the novice class series.
What I didn't expect was the cars to follow some "imaginary line" that intersected with my "line." No matter how many times I raced the track, I was always hit from behind and spun out, losing the race. I certainly didn't initiate the contact and I even tried driving a wider line to avoid the other cars. It seems the other drivers have no real fear of hitting another car. This became quite frustrating in Career mode because so much effort is put into setting up the car and racing a perfect qualifying race only to be bumped out of contention by some idiotic driver. Even though my race was effectively over, I had two choices: complete the race and finish somewhere in the middle or abort the race. Neither option is acceptable. Completing the race has little reward -- especially when you've set your eyes on first place, not fourth. Aborting the race hurts your overall standings in Career mode. It's not my fault!!!
Arcade racing fans looking for a little more realism will enjoy this title. NASCAR and F1 simulation fans may enjoy driving a sports car with full realism settings turned on. Unfortunately the game begins to wear thin about the same time you are mid-way through a career. Why? At some point it's just not fun to drive a Viper against other Vipers. Even though the Viper is great to drive, I felt I had driven it enough and was ready for a different challenge, perhaps a Porsche or even a Ferrari. But Viper Racing is racing Vipers, not Porches. So the game falls apart rather abruptly, like the relationship you suddenly realize isn't worth any more effort. I am reminded of a line from Steve Martin's movie, L.A. Story : "You may not know when love begins, but you certainly know the moment when it ends."
Newcomer Monster Games came up with an interesting concept for Viper Racing: Create the type of ultrarealistic physics model found in games like Grand Prix Legends and use it to simulate racing a high-dollar production car. It might not sound that groundbreaking, but with the exception of 1993's Car and Driver, it's probably the only game featuring a car like the Dodge Viper that isn't 95 percent arcade action and 5 percent realistic racing.
Viper Racing sports a full array of multiplayer options (modem, serial, LAN, and TCP/IP for Internet play), but just as with Grand Prix Legends, Sierra has tossed a potentially great multiplayer game on the market with zero support to help owners set up races. Serious racers will find a few Viper Racing leagues to join, but those of us looking for some quick racing without the commitment that goes along with league play are out of luck. Here's hoping Viper Racing makes it onto WON or the Internet Gaming Zone soon.
The first simulation of sports-car racing that features exclusively the Dodge Viper, one of the most popular racing cars on the road today. Viper Racing combines both the easy-to-master arcade racing mode and the challenge of a serious simulation mode with three levels of difficulty.
A career mode is included to let you earn money to upgrade your car and move up through three different classes of the Viper racing league. Many tracks are included, along with replays, for reviewing races later, and a garage mode, for tweaking your setup.
How do most racing games make names for themselves? Good control? Kick ass
graphics? Axle breaking chases with the long arm of the road-kill law? Illegal
weapons? Pedestrian splattering? Well, one thing that you can be assured is
that most do not promote themselves based on a hyper realistic 3D visual/physical
damage modeling system. Viper Racing, on the other hand, does.
The racing itself is compelling. The game can be played in varying levels
of realism between Arcade and Simulation. Arcade is not
Need For Speed 3 or DethKarz, but it is accessible
enough to the average everyday gamer who is not familiar with the proper procedures
for finessing a Formula 1 racecar into 1st place at Monaco. In simulation, you
basically spin out a lot, but this is not a flaw in the very accurate physics
model of the Viper. The damned thing just has a whacked power distribution between
front and rear.
The good news for Dodge/SRT/Mopar racing fans is that Mopar still dominates the upper ranks of NHRA drag racing. However, they have been successful this year and since that seems to be a criteria for killing, we have to wonder how much longer the accountants will allow the company to support the drag racing program.
In this week's episode, Wayland calls in from Fiat-Chrysler's "What's New" event to mourn the loss of the Viper and talk about the recalled rollaway Jeeps. Later, Dodge boss Tim Kuniskis talks about FCA's drag racing plans for the Woodward Dream Cruise.
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