TOCA Race Driver (called DTM Race Driver in Germany, Pro Race Driver in North America and V8 Supercars: Race Driver in Australia) is a racing video game developed and published by Codemasters and released in August 2002, being part of the TOCA Touring Car series.
The game took a new direction, since the main game mode featured a plot (leading to the game being labelled as a "Car-PG") where the user took on the role of a fictional race driver called Ryan McKane, trying to make a name for himself in a multitude of car championships, all the while under the shadow of his more successful older brother and haunted by the death of his father on the racetrack (as witnessed by Ryan as a child).
Despite this slightly clichéd script, the racing elements of the game continued to receive positive reviews and the game went straight to number one in the UK game charts. Xbox and PC conversions followed in March 2003, with a further Xbox version released several months later at budget price adding Xbox Live support. The game came under heavy criticism because of its inaccurate damage models, in some cases a Mini was able to complete the circuit despite only having 1 wheel and no doors.
Interestingly, the British Touring Car Championship (TOCA) which gives the game series its name, returned for this game. The real-life championship had undergone a transformation after most of the manufacturers had pulled out, and crowd numbers dropped, so TOCA asked Codemasters to include the series to boost the audience interest. However, the return was short-lived.
Many tracks were added, and some of the "World" tracks were not continued from TOCA 3, despite their popularity, such as Watkins Glen and Surfers Paradise. The game continued with random grid positions and no penalties for bad driving.
Read more about TOCA Race Driver: Cars, List of Tracks
Famous quotes containing the words race and/or driver:
“Nobody is glad in the gladness of another, and our system is one of war, of an injurious superiority. Every child of the Saxon race is educated to wish to be first. It is our system; and a man comes to measure his greatness by the regrets, envies, and hatreds of his competitors.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“God help the horse, and the driver too!
And the people and beasts who have never a friend!
For the driver easily might have been you,
And the horse be me by a different end!
And nobody knows how their days will cease!
And the poor, when they’re old, have little of peace!”
—James Kenneth Stephens (1882–1950)