My racing simulator knowledge pretty much begins and ends with Gran Turismo, but it certainly isn't the only game in town with realistic racing in mind. The PC is the platform of choice for simulations, and it's home to GT Legends, a celebration of vintage cars, stripped of all comforts and hurled around a track as fast as their ageing engines can manage.
I've been on a bit of a GT binge recently, but in the form of the board game Rallyman: GT. I doubt my skills at rolling dice will transfer to video games, but let's see how well we can race.
Frustrations
A short, stylized intro video shows off some old, probably-recognisable-but-not-to-me cars, and ends in a simple menu with single and multiplayer offerings. Hoping to just get a race under our belts, we head to a quick race and learn that a lot of content is locked behind progress in the single-player mode.
A lack of tracks I can deal with, but two cars to choose from is a little too tight for me. I know games like Gran Turismo lock away cars as well, but they at least give you a choice of lesser cars beforehand.
Grumbles aside, we've got to start somewhere, and this is just a practice race to see where we stand and find out what kind of game GT Legends is.
We start in the pits, being motioned out and onto the track, in a first-person view. I had a cursory glance at the options, and there were an awful lot of realism checkboxes. Perhaps I should have looked in more detail, or indeed, had a look at the controls to see what the change view button is if there is one.
To be honest, though, I kinda like this view.
Fun Times
It's not that I like this view for racing games - I'll change views depending on the game, really - but that it is working well with the feel of this Mini. There's something about this game, be it the graphics, the audio, or the controls (or any combination of them, I suppose) that leads me to believe that despite the looks of the menus and the locked off content, there's something special about GT Legends.
Maybe special is the wrong word, but there's something here that I like.
Further Frustrations
What I definitely don't like are the default controls when using this Xbox controller. Steering on the analogue stick is joined by braking and accelerating on the same left stick, and the dead zones definitely need to be adjusted, because I'm weaving all over the place.
Setting a lap time, I realize that this qualifying session is 40 minutes long. I'm not sure that's the definition of 'quick race', but that's on me for deciding there would be a qualifying session, I guess. Sure makes GT Legends more of a simulation than a great many other games, though.
Skipping the rest of the session means we start from the back, some four seconds off the pace, but I just want to get a feel for this game as a racing game. The simulation aspect continues, as I immediately jump the start. Out of respect, I make sure to not speed off until after the others do.
Further Fun Times
Once the race got going for real, though, and once I'd gotten a bit more used to the controls that I desperately need to change for a better time, GT Legends was performing like it was its own thing. You do your arcade racing, you do your Formula 1, you do your collision models... we'll write this love letter to GT racing.
Because that's what GT Legends does best. It's not the prettiest of racers, but it's pretty damn good, to be fair to it. I want to change up these controls a little more to my liking and get stuck into a cup.
With a more familiar control layout - albeit one that sacrifices a lot of stuff to the keyboard, like showing your Pit Board and sticking your headlights on - GT Legends was beginning to win me over. I miss having the speedy thrills of a Gran Turismo race, accompanied by its varied soundtrack, but that's a different game. GT Legends isn't attempting to ace the real driving simulator. It's attempting to be the only driving simulator to cater to this class of car.
Like Grand Prix Legends, this game roots itself in what it's trying to represent, sticking with realism above all else, and is all the better for it. This is racing where you need to know your car, at least a little bit. You need to know how to race slow, lumbering masses of metal around a racetrack in as smooth a manner as possible, and by the time you get that down, you'll hopefully have unlocked faster cars to try out, or else have earned enough in-game cash to purchase the ones you want.
After a single cup, and a single new car to play with, I want to try out a lot more. I've two choices. Persist with the single-player and get into the grind, or hope this 'cheat' works...
Final Word
I want to explore these tracks, many of which are unfamiliar to me. I want to drive these classic cars, again, many of which are unfamiliar to me. I want to experience what GT Legends has to offer, but I want to do so without working for it. I want the fun of the race, here and now, on whatever track I choose, in whatever car I like.
In days gone by, I would have worked at unlocking the cool cars and the alternate tracks. But those days only come to a select few games now, and I'm not sure if GT Legends is one of them. Do I have the time and patience to do it as the developer intended? Do I have the skill, assuming some content is locked behind harder challenges?
What I know for sure is that I intend to play some more. It's actually almost making me regret not trying harder in Grand Prix Legends, but that really is a monster of a game that's hard to install, let alone play. No, GT Legends is about the right level for me, I think. Easy to get into, but different from what you're used to.
If you've any interest in slightly unusual racers, this is definitely worth checking out, if not for the cars, then for the tracks. It's like a museum for the forgotten, and it's well worth the admission price.
Fun Facts
Attention to detail: This is a simulation of modern-day races of car classes from the 1960s and '70s, not a simulation of old races, so the circuits are accurate to the 2000s.
GT Legends, developed by SimBin Studios, first released in 2005.
Version played: PC, 2005.