Viper Racing is for the new auto sim racer that seeks to break new territory in the racing simulation arena. It's a game somewhere between an arcade and simulation. Viper Racing is mighty impressive, especially when you consider that it is MGI's first attempt to penetrate the auto racing arena. Of course, that is less surprising for those who happen to know that MGI has a group of talented programmers, some of whom were brought over from Sierra's other subsidary, Papyrus of Sierra Sports, a known developer of racing simulations.

The Viper Racing concept involves the Dodge Viper which is noted as one of the fastest production automobiles there is. It is hardly surprising then to learn that this game is anything but slow! The physics are accurately done with "six degrees of freedom," meaning that these scaled models can "roll, flip, catch some serious air," etc.

The game includes eight fantasy tracks. And because they can all be reversed, there are actually sixteen tracks.


PHYSICS

Viper Racing has three modes of driving. They are arcade, intermediate and simulation. Weight transference, tire slippage, and steering input all progress as you move up through the levels.

The arcade mode mode is slightly better than your typical "Need for Speed" game. You can literally have your foot nailed to the accelerator. Steering input precision is not needed in this mode. Basically, it provides the driver with a "car on rails" type of feel. As an old hand at simulation racing, I decided to move quickly up the ladder of difficulty.

The intermediate mode, requires a wee bit more precision. The physics still make the car somewhat "forgiving" in this mode, but it is definitely more challenging than the arcade mode.

Simulation mode! Ahh. Viper Racing has a nice feel at this level. You can see your hood go up and down as you accelerate, get off gas or use the brakes. You can sense the weight transfer onto each wheel. You really feel the weight of the car as you progress through the turns. Feel the tire cry for grip as it slips across the tarmac.

Before I go on, I should point out that in all of the modes of driving, I enjoyed using the clutch pedal without any of the driving aids. I found that the help aids take away considerably a bit of the realism in simulation mode.

The clutch is accurately modeled in Viper Racing. It's nice to hear a third gear chirp from the tires breaking traction. As you start out in the lower gears, be forewarned that you must depress your clutch pedal all the way down. When you reach the higher gears, however, this is not necessary.

Damage modeling is exceptionally done. When you get hit, the degree to which your car is damaged seems extremely realistic. And, yes, you will get hit, and chances are, you will hit something else. And when your car is damaged, its performance suffers accordingly. If you want a quick repair, just hit the space bar, and it will fix your Viper. Just remember you have to do this under 20mph in order for it to work. And this of course causes you to lose additional time. You have to make similar decisions to a real racing car driver, e.g., is the current damage to my car sufficient to warrant repairs.

Drafting: Let's go to the track Dayton and do some drafting there. In Viper Racing, you really have to work to move up the field. This became apparent to me on the hardest AI setting. It seems as though you really have to get close and bump the CC's bumper to really move through the field. And when I mean bump, I mean bump! Of course, there are times during which the packs of cars space out at long intervals.


GARAGE

You basically have your transmission gears, dampener, final drive ratio, steering angle, anti-roll bars, front and rear camber, brake bias, and aerodynamics. But one problem I saw was that it didn't seem possible to add lefts and rights for adjustment. Nor was it possible to adjust the tire pressure.


CONTROLS

Viper Racing supports devices that range from a keyboard, joystick to a steering wheel. You can fine tune your dead zone on the Tune button. The game also supports Force Feedback.


MENUS

The menu speed and accuracy is very fast. I had no problems whatsoever with that nor with my mouse.


GAMEPLAY

The game claims that there are two modes of play in Viper Racing, but I actually feel that there are three. You have Quick Race and Career. However, in my opinion, the Ghost mode can be another mode of play, though, admittedly, you would look pretty funny racing your Ghost around! But hey, if it's your best laptime, why not try to beat it?

In Quick Race, you basically pick which track you want to race on and remember you can do them in "reverse." Then you decide whether or not you want to do a sprint, medium, or a long race. You also decide which driving mode you want to drive in. In addition, there is a box for you to enable damage. When you select your opponents, you can either race your Ghost or up to seven CCs (Computer Cars). For all Quick Races, the player starts in the back of the heap.

So you want to be a real car driver, eh? Career Mode is very well done. Regardless of what mode of driving you select, there will be a couple of CCs to compete with you. When you first start out, all cars are equal, unless you start wining money. After that, you can "upgrade" your Viper, you can change the engine, the chassis, the tires, body, or even the painting, though there is no price for this.

Your primary goal is to win the championship for all events, then move up a level. As you progress up each level, the price of upgrading skyrockets! Heck, just like real life. When you progress to the top level where "the big boys are," you will get the race version of the GTS-R, a simulation of the racing version of the Viper. The car is stripped down in weight, has more power, better suspension, etc.

During your career mode, you can test at the track and tweak your setup. I do need to note that in the lower levels, you can't do much to the setup. So as you upgrade, you will be able to tweak more items on your racer. Just remember you can qualify for a race here too. So it might be wise to make two setups, one for qualifying and one for the other for the race. There are numerous open spots for one to start a career. You can save up to eight careers.

The Hack modes: There are two modes for this type of play. In one of the modes you can drive anywhere on the map, until you have reached the end of the map, ala "four wheel driving." The other hack mode is Horn Ball, which is really fun. You use your horn button and depress it every second and your Viper fires a 5000lb ball at the other cars. Watch the physics of the cars!

You can also change the type of car you want to drive in the Hacks section. You have a choice of an exotic car (it looks like a Ferrari F50), a plane (it's rather boxy, more like a box with wings), a sedan (essentially a rally car), a sports car (another Ferrari, probably the 348) and of course, the Viper. These cars only work in Quick Race. Try that exotic out. Watch the car haul some serious speed!


ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The intelligence of the CCs in Viper Racing is quite different for a first version of a game. The CCs will actually think, give you room, or bump you! They also remember if you hit them or not. That really shocked me. I bumped one of them and he came back up on me and bumped me back!

You have three levels of AI to chose from, easy, normal and hardest. I do feel that for the hardest setting, the AI should be bumped up some.


GRAPHICS

Viper Racing uses Direct X 3d and for this game, it's quite beautiful to look at. There are options you can turn on and off in the Graphics under the Options menu. There's a beautiful rendition of smoke as well as great dynamic skid marks that stay on the track numerous laps! From the cockpit you're provided with a photorealistic view of a Viper, or if you get that far, a GTS-R. The Paintkit allows you to paint any exterior part of the car and also add decals of varying sizes.


SOUND

The tire screeching and hitting were great. But the engine sounds leave something to be desired. I was expecting a V10 throaty sound but was disappointed. The sound was far too high pitched for a big engine like the one in a Viper. I also noticed that when traveling in a tight pack of cars, the engine sound started to break up.


CONCLUSION

PROS: Great game. It's excellent for a new person starting in simulation racing. I highly recommend it even to the more "experienced" simulation racers. The game has multiplayer capability. The simulation mode really feels great.

CONS: I wish Viper Racing had a better engine sound. Also, I would like to be able to add more than seven AI to the track. It would be really great to have dynamic weather or at least rain. In the garage, I would prefer to have individual "left and right" settings and tire pressures. But because I'm an experienced sim racer, I may be overly demanding. Also for the control aspect of the game, it would be nice to have the game model the "separated axes pedals" properly. So MGI are you listening?


BOTTOMLINE

I'll say it again, it's worth every penny for a newbie or a pro. Even with the little flaws I mentioned. The game is just plain fun.