Ford Racing 2 pisses me off

[FlightSuit]

Does anybody here find Ford Racing 2 as frustrating as I do?

 

What bothers me about it is that it's one of those games where so many of the elements of a great game are in place, yet they managed to mess it up. You've got very realistic physics, great graphics, beautiful, interesting race tracks, and a wonderful variety of quirky and unusual cars to choose from. My favorites would be the Starsky & Hutch style Torino and the equally elephantine and cheesy Mach 1 Mustang.

 

So what did they get wrong?

 

Well first of all, if you want to unlock all the cars and add them to your collection, you have no choice but to endure maddeningly impossible tests of your "driving skill." Rather than being able to win races and unlock cars by just driving the wheels off them and having a good time, you have to suffer through various tests where you need to hit every single floating hourglass on the track or keep your car on some imaginary line 90% of the time or "draft" other cars by staying in their slipstream for X amount of seconds. All of this is tedious and impossible and not very fun. As one commenter on Codez4Mac.com recently put it, "all this line driving is killing me."

 

Then there's the complete lack of "go anywhere" driving ability. Heck, there aren't even any hidden shortcuts in any of the tracks. How boring is that?

 

Another annoyance is the touchiness of the emergency brake. In any decent driving game, you can use your emergency break to help steer the car, enabling you to slide around tight corners, precisely aim your car, and come powering out of the turn. In Ford Racing 2, however, you don't dare touch the emergency brake under any conditions, because it will always, always cause your vehicle to uncontrollably spin out.

 

And of course, there's the fascistic limits on what car you're allowed to drive on what track. Once I've unlocked a track and added it to my collection, you'd think I'd damned well be able to drive whatever damned car I want on it, but noooo. Street cars can only be driven on the street, and NASCAR vehicles can only be driven on the oval tracks. Why the Hell shouldn't I be allowed to drive my Mach 1 Mustang on an off-road course if I so desire? If the car's not adequate for the terrain, let me have fun finding that out, for Christ's sake!

 

Another thing is the lack of any kind of ongoing "campaign," "season," or "career." I'm used to games like 4X4 Evolution 2, where, over the course of time, you can earn money by driving in various racing series, enabling you to invest in additional trucks and a whole host of upgrades and modifications for those trucks. Additionally, you can join various manufacturer's teams, giving you access to team-specific trucks and parts, and you can even get kicked off a team if you spend too much time driving a competitor's trucks.

 

There is none of that in Ford Racing 2. You can imagine that you're involved in some sort of ongoing quest as you try to unlock all the cars and tracks and add them to your collection, but once that's done, you're left with a game where every single race is pretty much a one-night stand, which I guess is OK from a casual gaming perspective, but it sucks that that's your only option.

 

Anyway, I just had to vent. Over in "Classic Gaming General," there's been much lively discussion regarding truly flawed or awful games, and this, in my opinion, is a modern game which fits into that category.

 

Thanks for listening.

[rockman_x_2002]

I agree.

 

Ford Racing 2 had every opportunity to be a good budget-priced alternative to games like Gran Turismo 3, and it couldn't seem to be any more eager to fall completely over itself in every aspect of delivery.

 

I got the game as part of a budget pack so in the end it only set me back $3, and it's well worth $3, or even $10. But no more than that. A similar situation with Ford Racing 3, although it at least tries to correct some of the problems. As a Mustang fan, I also have Ford Mustang (all these are PS2, btw). It's better in execution, but still not quite perfect.

 

Not that any of these could ever match Gran Turismo or Forza, but it could've provided a reasonable alternative.

[FlightSuit]

Thank you! I do most of my gaming on an Intel Macintosh with GMA950 graphics, so most of those other titles are probably not an option for me.

 

Speaking of Mustang enthusiasm, I'm sorry Ford Racing 2 didn't include a Mustang II of some sort. I know that's not exactly a popular car, but hey, if they can include something as cheesy as a '76 Torino, why not give us a Mustang II as well? Preferably a Cobra II or King Cobra, just for laughs. For that matter, an '84 SVO would have been a great one to include, as well as a notchback 5.0 LX. Also from that era, a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe and Merkur XR4Ti would have been great cars to include.

 

Tell me, which models are included in that Ford Mustang game?

[Atariboy]

I own it and wasn't particularly fond of it.

 

But I'm curious, you compliment it for things like realistic physics, and then complain that you can't do unrealistic things in it like using the handbrake (There's no racing series in the world besides off-road rally racing where you'll find a handbrake) or taking short cuts in racetracks (There is no such thing in real racing).

 

Its a budget title that was too ambitious with the developers trying to please both simulation fans and arcade fans, and both factors end up killing it by turning what had promise into a medicore game. They should've narrowed their focus into something that was more doable that they could've done really well.

[FlightSuit]

Almost all of the cars in Ford Racing 2 are street cars. Cars designed for street use do, in fact, have hand brakes, and they can, in fact, be used for whipping a car around under certain circumstances. I wouldn't necessarily call it an example of skilled driving technique, but it sure can be fun.

[TwinChargers]

Tell me, which models are included in that Ford Mustang game?

 

The list can be found in this FAQ page-

 

Mustang FAQ page

 

I will add, that this definitely plays like a budget title. It was nice to see a Mustang II though.

[rockman_x_2002]

I will add, that this definitely plays like a budget title. It was nice to see a Mustang II though.

 

Yes. Make no mistake about that. It clearly is a budget title and feels the part. Of course I come into it as a Mustang owner and fan (which is really the only reason I gave the game a second glance). At $15 it was priced okay. I don't think I would've paid more for it and felt like I got my money's worth.

 

Compared to the other two Ford Racing games previously mentioned, though, the Mustang one seems much better, even though it still commits the cardinal sin of driving sims of trying to be simulation and arcade rolled into one.

 

That never works. Ever.

[FlightSuit]

Since I'm not the only one here with a soft spot in my heart for the Mustang II...

 

 

This is a screen capture I took from the 1979 made-for-TV movie, Captain America II.