Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Take the Challenge with GTS Racing Challenge 1.03.13
Posted by Philip Colmer in "SOFTWARE" @ 11:00 AM
Eight cities, three different cars, four different racing modes. All this is on offer with GTS Racing Challenge ... are you up for it?
GTS Racing Challenge from AstraWare is a visually impressive arcade-style racing game. The number of permutations of tracks, difficulty & modes should keep you occupied for a long time ... if you are into driving games, that is 8)
Getting Started
Installation is very straightforward. Running the downloaded executable kicks off the normal ActiveSync installation. After installing the software, starting the game takes you to the opening screen of a rotating red sports car with a flashing "TAP TO START" message. Tapping the screen takes you to the "Select mode" page, with three of the different race modes disabled until you register the software - a simple process of entering an unlock code.
Figure 1: The Select Mode screen
Under the options screen, you can set the volume level, the brightness, the car's transmission (automatic, automatic+revs or manual) and the game speed (fast, medium or slow). You can also specify whether you want warning arrows for the corners, lap times displayed, your speed in MPH or KM/H and your name on the leader board. You can also change the controls to suit your taste.
Picking a Race to Race
The modes available in the full version are: single race, challenge cup, grand tour and championship. For each mode, you get to pick the difficulty level (easy, normal, hard or extreme) and the car you want to drive (sports, coupe or formula), as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Your choice of cars
The coupe has a V8 turbo engine with 300HP and a maximum speed of 175MPH (as shown in Figure 3), the sports car has a V10 turbo engine with 450HP and a maximum speed of 196MPH, while the formula car has a V12 engine with 570HP and a maximum speed of 212MPH. It isn't really clear to me how that translates into different performance characteristics within the game, although I did find the formula car faster to turn and less prone to getting stuck when you fall off the track.
Figure 3: The sports car
GTS Racing Challenge from AstraWare is a visually impressive arcade-style racing game. The number of permutations of tracks, difficulty & modes should keep you occupied for a long time ... if you are into driving games, that is 8)
Getting Started
Installation is very straightforward. Running the downloaded executable kicks off the normal ActiveSync installation. After installing the software, starting the game takes you to the opening screen of a rotating red sports car with a flashing "TAP TO START" message. Tapping the screen takes you to the "Select mode" page, with three of the different race modes disabled until you register the software - a simple process of entering an unlock code.
Figure 1: The Select Mode screen
Under the options screen, you can set the volume level, the brightness, the car's transmission (automatic, automatic+revs or manual) and the game speed (fast, medium or slow). You can also specify whether you want warning arrows for the corners, lap times displayed, your speed in MPH or KM/H and your name on the leader board. You can also change the controls to suit your taste.
Picking a Race to Race
The modes available in the full version are: single race, challenge cup, grand tour and championship. For each mode, you get to pick the difficulty level (easy, normal, hard or extreme) and the car you want to drive (sports, coupe or formula), as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Your choice of cars
The coupe has a V8 turbo engine with 300HP and a maximum speed of 175MPH (as shown in Figure 3), the sports car has a V10 turbo engine with 450HP and a maximum speed of 196MPH, while the formula car has a V12 engine with 570HP and a maximum speed of 212MPH. It isn't really clear to me how that translates into different performance characteristics within the game, although I did find the formula car faster to turn and less prone to getting stuck when you fall off the track.
Figure 3: The sports car
