Superstars V8 Next Challenge

[Flamehead]

While released earlier this year in Europe, it appears SSV8NC will release in North America in February. Anyone planning on picking this up? A niche title for sure, but it looks promising.

http://www.amazon.com/Superstars-V8-...1991142&sr=8-3

I've searched for some reviews from earlier this year. Interestingly enough, the professional reviews are fairly negative, but many of the sim-heads on gtplanet really liked it based on this thread:

http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=122224

I think I'll pick it up based on these impressions. Anyone else?

They're honest about some of the flaws, but give it a thumbs-up.

[barryf1fan]

Re: Superstars V8 Next Challenge

I'll pick it up for sure, and this one is supposedly much better than the first one that came out about 18 months ago.

I think it will be a title like Race Pro - fun and good race game, but too niche for most to get in to.

[Kruza]

Re: Superstars V8 Next Challenge

I've been intrigued by Superstars V8 Next Challenge for a while now. I'll have it for sure.

And Race Pro is still a very good game to me.

Kruza

[Flamehead]

Re: Superstars V8 Next Challenge

I plan on getting this title on the 360 come January, but FWIW, I just discovered the first Superstars V8 title can be bought/downloaded on the PS3 network.

Perhaps you guys already knew this. I only discovered it because I'll be getting a PS3 from Santa this year and noticed it was a title available on the network via the PS3 website.

It'll be a nice way to scratch the itch and get familiar with the tracks before the second title comes out.

EDIT: Ok, maybe not. Upon further review, it looks like the first V8 title had nothing but the 3rd person view, though Next Challenge should have 1st person view.

[Flamehead]

Re: Superstars V8 Next Challenge

FWIW, I just imported this one ahead of the North American release. Assuming it's the exact same game (just with a different distributor/publisher for North America), I found the user comments on the gtplanet thread to be pretty accurate.

I spent about 45 minutes with it, half in time trial and the rest in a 10 lap race at Monza (hard difficulty).

Using a Logitech DFGT wheel, there is some deadzone in the middle, but you do get used to it after awhile. With all driving aids off, the car is not particularly troublesome but you can still lose it in the heat of battle if not careful.

Where it does appear to shine though is in the actual racing. The AI is really good. They battle with you and each other, can make mistakes, but don't get boneheaded either--probably the best racing AI I've seen in a while. I can see that this will be great online if you find some really good, clean competition.

The most challenging difficulty levels are "hard" and "legendary". While I'm still getting acclimated to the driving model, I found "hard" to be pretty good. I would imagine you'd really have to get your setups right to be successful on legendary.

Anyway, I'm not really saying anything that hasn't already been said on gtplanet, but I'm really enjoying this one. Anyone on the fence should at least give it a rent.

[mercalnd]

Re: Superstars V8 Next Challenge

FWIW, I just imported this one ahead of the North American release. Assuming it's the exact same game (just with a different distributor/publisher for North America), I found the user comments on the gtplanet thread to be pretty accurate.

I spent about 45 minutes with it, half in time trial and the rest in a 10 lap race at Monza (hard difficulty).

Using a Logitech DFGT wheel, there is some deadzone in the middle, but you do get used to it after awhile. With all driving aids off, the car is not particularly troublesome but you can still lose it in the heat of battle if not careful.

Where it does appear to shine though is in the actual racing. The AI is really good. They battle with you and each other, can make mistakes, but don't get boneheaded either--probably the best racing AI I've seen in a while. I can see that this will be great online if you find some really good, clean competition.

The most challenging difficulty levels are "hard" and "legendary". While I'm still getting acclimated to the driving model, I found "hard" to be pretty good. I would imagine you'd really have to get your setups right to be successful on legendary.

Anyway, I'm not really saying anything that hasn't already been said on gtplanet, but I'm really enjoying this one. Anyone on the fence should at least give it a rent.

Can you list the tracks that are in the game. I couldn't find a list anywhere so I went to the official site of the series and their 2011 schedule is quite a bit different from the 2010 schedule in terms of tracks. Since I have no idea which season the game is based on I'd like to know which tracks are in the game. There's a good chance I'll pick it up anyway but I'm curious.

[Flamehead]

Re: Superstars V8 Next Challenge

Can you list the tracks that are in the game. I couldn't find a list anywhere so I went to the official site of the series and their 2011 schedule is quite a bit different from the 2010 schedule in terms of tracks. Since I have no idea which season the game is based on I'd like to know which tracks are in the game. There's a good chance I'll pick it up anyway but I'm curious.

Sure. When you fire up the championship mode, it defaults to a 9 race series in this order:

Imola
Adria
Magione
Mugello
Portimao
Vallelunga
Mugello
Monza
Kyalami

However, you change the length of the race series to anywhere from 3-11 races and change the order of the tracks (I could make Monza the first and last race, for example).

Of course, these tracks can be used for other modes such as time attack, single race, etc.

There also appear to be 3-4 tracks that can be unlocked. I think those are Valencia, Varano, and Misano, but have yet to try to unlock them.