By rights, the car in Race Injection that I should be most excited about
driving is the Pagani Zonda R. It’s like Satan’s own chariot – a
wailing, terrifying banshee of a vehicle, throwing out 750 horsepower.
But the thing about the Zonda R is that, more often than not, it’s
driving you rather than the other way around. Hanging onto it is like
being dragged around by a rodeo bull.
The true star of Race Injection can be found buried in the ‘Retro Cool’ category. Time and time again I find myself staring at the dashboard of the classic Mini Cooper S. It’s endlessly chuckable, making a mockery of the more powerful cars in its class, and I adore the way it cocks a hind leg around the faster corners as if it’s marking its territory – which in a way, it is. Mash the brakes and you feel the car squirming underneath you, coax it into a slide and you have all the feedback you need to avoid flying off the road completely.
It’s a testament to one of the most enduring and communicative physics models around that the Mini is quite so much fun. The key word there, though, is enduring. Race 07 forms the base for the Frankenstein’s Monster of DLC that is Race Injection. That’s a game that felt geriatric three years ago. Playing it now is like stumbling into a primeval era before shadows, shaders and motion blur. Because the focus was always realism rather than any kind of stylisation, it’s aged dreadfully. The car models themselves are tolerable – their sponsor-heavy liveries distract from any rough edges – but the circuits are angular wastelands, awash with repeating grass textures and hauntingly featureless cardboard spectators.
The true star of Race Injection can be found buried in the ‘Retro Cool’ category. Time and time again I find myself staring at the dashboard of the classic Mini Cooper S. It’s endlessly chuckable, making a mockery of the more powerful cars in its class, and I adore the way it cocks a hind leg around the faster corners as if it’s marking its territory – which in a way, it is. Mash the brakes and you feel the car squirming underneath you, coax it into a slide and you have all the feedback you need to avoid flying off the road completely.
It’s a testament to one of the most enduring and communicative physics models around that the Mini is quite so much fun. The key word there, though, is enduring. Race 07 forms the base for the Frankenstein’s Monster of DLC that is Race Injection. That’s a game that felt geriatric three years ago. Playing it now is like stumbling into a primeval era before shadows, shaders and motion blur. Because the focus was always realism rather than any kind of stylisation, it’s aged dreadfully. The car models themselves are tolerable – their sponsor-heavy liveries distract from any rough edges – but the circuits are angular wastelands, awash with repeating grass textures and hauntingly featureless cardboard spectators.
Screenshot
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 @ 1.8 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 1800+
Memory: 512 Mb
Hard Drive: 2.5 Gb free
Video Memory: 128 Mb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce FX 5600 / ATI Radeon 9600
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 9.0c
Keyboard
Mouse
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 @ 1.8 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 1800+
Memory: 512 Mb
Hard Drive: 2.5 Gb free
Video Memory: 128 Mb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce FX 5600 / ATI Radeon 9600
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 9.0c
Keyboard
Mouse
Link download RACE Injection
