I've been playing Test Drive: Le Mans again recently, and its been a few years since I really gave it this much attention.

I was really stoked with TDLM when it was released in November 2000. It was the most impressive racing game I had even seen! Although now dated, the technical achievements on DC hardware are still obvious. There can be 24 cars on the track! (Not all races have that many). And the opponent cars really feel like somebody is driving them. They make mistakes on the curves and end up in the grass (just like you will!). They also seem to be actively racing each other, not just you! There are so many graphical effects that seemed to be fresh and new ideas in TDLM at the time, like the brake pads glowing, sparks and smoke from changing gears, the bloomy headlamps of the machines at night, and even treadmarks in the grass and mud that are actually PERSISTENT! In other words, go around the track and your treadmarks will still be there from last lap when you went off-road. The lighting at dusk and the transition of day-to-night is awesome, and so are the rain/storm effects. The dark and the rain will change the feel of the course, especially if you don't have the layout memorized.

The game seems to run at a locked 30 fps. I don't consider this a negative (compared to Daytona USA's 60 fps) because it just doesn't matter at all - the game is very smooth both in motion and in feel.

The replays have fantastic camera angles! I'm watching them as I type this. The right-wheel-cam is probably my favorite. Too bad you can't pause the replay to get a clear blur-free picture.



I find the Championship to be a lot of fun. You can adjust your tires, starting fuel level, and downforce for each car. I mostly play on Intermediate difficulty - no auto-braking, but other driving assists are somewhat on. It isn't "too hard" yet is challenging. This is my favorite kind of racing overall - it is slightly skewed towards an arcade-style feel, but is peppered and seasoned with just enough real-world physics and sim aspects.



Its funny, this game is all about the 24-hour Le Mans race, but this mode is really just an extra to me. I usually play the other modes. In the Le Mans 24-hour race, you can play the day as 10 minutes (day/dusk/night/stars are greatly accelerated, which is NEAT!), and other manageable increments up to the real-time 24 hour race which would be impossible if they had not given us the option to save our game progress during each pit stop.

I feel that Melbourne House did a fantastic job with this game! I can only wonder what kind of performance the DC still had yet to offer , if it had lasted on the market a few more years. In comparison, perhaps MSR has nicer textures and details on background objects. And Daytona USA 2001 has the AM2-proven, 60fps fast arcade gameplay that can't really be beaten. Test Drive V-Rally has sweet rally-style gameplay. But Test Drive: Le Mans stands among them with more on-screen cars with more complex polygonal (and textured) construction and a lot more sim aspects , but not at the expense of fun gameplay. Oh, and one final thing - you MUST plug in a jump pack into the DC controller to experience the nice force-feedback when your tires hit the shoulder or you bump into a car or crash!



(_)3