AutoGaming Central » Ferrari Challenge: Preview

Game Informer has posted it’s preview of Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli, and come outright it saying the game is really worth its buck and is a full blown simulation racing game. I guess we can say Mark Cale’s boasting was not really just a bag of empty promises.

The game can be considered an all-round well built simulator. Everything from the interface, music, cinematic replays and much more is that of professional racing rather than a hollywood high stakes racing game. Cale explained that the European market has taken well the the game but the Americans are not so fond of the “simulation” aspect, because they more prefer a hollywood action jam packed block buster racing game. System 3 strived towards a top class simulator, and achieved that.

The game features 15 beautiful European and North American test tracks, some being Silverstone, Monza, California Speedway and the Ferrari test track at Fiorano. These tracks were all modelled from thousands of reference photos from the live tracks. 50 of Ferrari’s unique race cars are featured, each of which have been highly detailed. The studio took away attention from actual damage to the car because they wanted drivers more focused on driving rather than maneuvering a beaten up wreck. There are a lot of features such as car customization, racing leagues and standings, challenges and much more. There are also in-game tutorials which teach you the tricks to successfully driving your car around the track in the least amount of time. AI has also been an area of focus. The system behind it is very complex meaning AI won’t do the same thing over and over. It’s quite intelligent and can perform real blocking patterns as real life competitors would.

The game is set to be released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and DS. As you can see, the Xbox 360 is not mentioned. Our previous post explains why as so does this preview. CEO Mark Cale is adamant that this Xbox 360 is not worthy of playing such an advanced game because he believes the system is incapable of producing the power to run the game smoothly.

In summary, this game is worthy as it is said, if you look at it as a simulator. It’s worth every penny. It is set to hit stores on Labor Day. Here are some preview shots below.