SimBin

Real-Time-Racing

RTR is a race sim which makes drivers race against real cars against real drivers. what this means is you can race online in your living room while your opponent is racing in real life against you. RTR unfortunately ended its beta stages some time last year but is said it could be bringing back live events. In Real-Time-Racing you race around the Zolder circuit in Belgium in 6 different cars. The cars are the Swiss made Matech GT1, the German made BMW Z4 GT3, a Racer GT1 (a Corvette rebranded to be in the sim.) The nimble BMW Mini Cooper S, the British made Marcos Mantis and the Spanish winning touring car, the 2-litre Seat Leon TDI. Even though this is a free SimBin game, it's also the first free SimBin title to have car setup, time change, rules you can adjust, weather that changes, race against a lot more than 11 opponents, have mechanical failures like tire wear and car damage and race up to a maximum of something like 2,800+ laps. If you race in a car that's not the Seat, you race against all the other cars except the Seat, so if you race in the Mini, you're also racing against 2 different types of GT1 cars and 2 different types of GT3 cars, that's not fair! To load in the game is complicated to, to load in you have to go to http://www.real-timeracing.com/go.aspx and click if you want to practice or participate in a stored race event and they give you 105 credits to buy 1 credit events (the practice is free.) Also at a point with a G27 it kind of pulls to one side an then all of a sudden it comes back to normal. This isn't the first time it happened in a free SimBin title as in Volvo the game it did the same thing with the steering. Overall, it is a good sim. But because the few downfalls let it down, I would give it an 8/10

Official WebSite: http://www.real-timeracing.com/

RaceRoom The Game 2

Another one of SimBin's free titles RaceRoom The Game was released at the start of November last year and recently the sequel "RaceRoom The Game 2." RaceRoom The Game features the Hockenheim circuit in Germany,  the Nurburgring (the F1 circuit) Imola in Italy and Laguna Seca in America. It also has the fastest car made by SimBin (the FormulaRaceRoom) the Chevrolet Camaro, the Matech Ford GT1, the BMW 3-Series WTCC car and my favourite, the Radical SR3 205 bhp. RaceRoom The Game 2 features everything from RaceRoom The Game 1 so includes hot-lap challenges where you can win prizes with RaceRoom. Unlike the other free SimBin titles the Logitech G27 doesn't have any glitches when you're racing. Even though this is an upgrade to RaceRoom The Game 1, it doesn't have alot of the features that Real-Time-Racing has like car setup, qualifying, car damage, change what time of the day you want and you can only race up to 12 cars on 10 laps. If RaceRoom The Game 2 had these features it would be as good if not better than RACE 07/ Real-Time-Racing. I would give RaceRoom The Game 2 a good 7/10

Official WebSite: http://www.raceroom.net/games/raceroom-the-game/

Volvo The Game

Volvo The Game is a sim to make Volvos look cool! you race on 2 different tracks which are the Gothenburg Eco Drive Arena which was featured in STCC The Game and Chayka which was featured in GT Power. You also race 7 different Volovos. The cars included are the Volvo S60 Concept, Volvo S60 Concept Race, Volvo S40 BTCC, Volvo 850 BTCC, Volvo 240 Group A, Volvo C30 STCC and Volvo S60 STCC (not the concept.) all the features you should be familiar to if you play RaceRoom The Game like the difficulty settings and laps. The sim feels alot like STCC The Game 1 and 2 in some way but probably because most of the cars and Gothenburg is featured in that sim. Like Real-Time-Racing the Logitech G27 has some glitches when you're racing but there are no problems with the Logitech GT Driving Force wheel mind you if you have RACE 07 and you have a G27, write down the advanced + forcefeedback settings for the default settings for the G27 and there should be less glitches but at some point it will come back. Another glitch is at Chayka where in a race at the last corner where when 1 car spins out everyone behind him spins out aswell. Volvo is also one of SimBins free games and also a road safety simulator in Portgal!? Also over 15,000,000 hits on Google! and 50 percent more people visits the Volvo website after this launch. To Volvo this definitely helped  them in sales but also helps people in Portugal get their drivers license! This game deserves a good 7/10

Official WebSite: http://www.simbin.se/games/volvogame.htm

Formula RaceRoom Add-On For RACE07

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You've raced the Formula RaceRoom around Hockenheim, now take it around the world with the Formula RR add-on to RACE07. It adds the 3 variations of Hockenheim and custom made skins for the RACE07 Formula RR painting competition which took 8 months to decide which one won! This add-on is for RaceRoom online members only so to get the best car in RACE07, you need to become a member and you should recieve an e-mail telling you the steam code you need to type in at the top Steam. to ctivate the code go to the top of the Steam program and click on Games and then click on Activate product on Steam and type in the code you were sent. To download steam click here and also click on the RaceRoom Member Registration page...

Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/about/

RaceRoom Registration: http://www.raceroom.net/register/

The Formula RaceRoom Add-On is a 2011 sim of the year conteder. because it's great. now you can take the fastest car from SimBin around Macau, Nordschleife and Laguna Seca! You can now setup the car and wreck it with wings and wheels flying off and also create a custom Formula RaceRoom race series! To find out more about this epic car, click on the links below but I definately think this sim definitely deserves a 10/10

Official WebSite: http://www.raceroom.net/games/race-07-formula-raceroom/

GTR Evolution

Seeing that GTR 3 was announced today I thought I should review a GTR sim and that sim is GTR Evolution. It is not only a stand alone sim but also an expansion pack to RACE 07. It adds many new cars which have all been seen in RACE 07 but adds GT1,2 and 3 cars with production road cars like the Aud R8 and the Gumpert Apollo. It also adds a completly new race series called the WTCC EXTREME which are based on the 2007 WTCC cars with heavily improved aerodynamics and 600 BHP and I took 1 of them ( the BMW ) around the Nordschleife in 6 minutes and 28 seconds. Speaking of the "Green Hell" GTR has all the seen before tracks just like the cars but has been expanded to 3 new variations of the Nurburgrng, the GP track, the Nordschliefe and the 24 Hour course. The cars in GTR Evo expands to 500 options of cars to drive and has 33 tracks with many different variations of them. If you're not a great driver and you want a quick pick up and race mode GTR Evo has a new mode called the R-CADE EXTREME MODE where you race WTCC EXTREME cars around a track of your choice and the difficulty has been lowered for the more casual racer. The cars drive and sound great and have great graphics even though it uses ISI's Gmotor 2.0 engine and the level of detail also goes with the tracks especially Nurburgring with the writing on the road and when you race on the writing you lose traction slightly which is very impressive. GTR Evo also comes with 3 new championships which you can name and adjust to your liking. Also create your own race series with your own tracks and cars to race in. there is a slight glitch on the 24 hour track of the Nurburgring where you can see no sky at parts of the track and at some point's you can but despite this GTR Evo is my Favourite RACE 07 add-on so GTR Evo deserves a 9/10 because of the 24 glitch.

Official WebSite: http://www.gtr-evolution.com/

GT POWER

Another addition to the GTR series, GT POWER. It features 2 GT PRO cars (Matech GT1 & Pagani Zonda GT) a new GT SPORT car (BMW M3 GT2) and a Pagani Zonda R race series. It also features 2 new tracks which are Chayka which was featured in Volvo The Game and is one of my favourite tracks in the whole of the SIMBIN titles and Mid-Ohio which was featured in SimRaceway. All of the cars have a different feel. The Matech focuses on pure speed, the Zonda's are all about POWER and handling and the M3 is made to be one of the most grippiest race cars ever made. This is an expansion to RACE 07 with alot of other add-ons like STCC THE GAME, GTR EVO and the RETRO EXPANSION. All of the cars have many different liveries including new ones like RaceRoom liveries, KW Performance liveries and GoGreen liveries all of which look fantastic. The track and car details also look fantastic and the detail of the weather changeability is great. This sim mind you isn't one of my favourites I think this sim is worth being bought just for the Zonda R because the M3 is too boring to drive and the Matech handles worse than anything i've ever driven in the whole of RACE 07 in fact I think the Camaro Cup Cars from STCC The Game handle better to be fair but the tracks make up for it so GT Power get's an acceptable 6/10

Official WebSite: http://www.raceroom.net/games/gtpower/

STCC The Game

STCC The Game is another add-on to RACE 07 aswell as a whole new sim. Like GTR Evo this sim has all the same cars and tracks from RACE 07 but has been expanded with the 2008 STCC cars and 2008 Camaro Cup Cars. STCC also has all the tracks from the STCC 2008 season. The STCC is the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship and many WTCC stars like Colin Turkington and James Thompson raced in it. All the tracks remind me of kart tracks, fast and short. It adds 7 new tracks and 11 new cars from the STCC, many of them seen before like the tracks but adds in new ones like the Peugeot 308, Volvo S60 and C30 and a new rear wheel drive that is the BMS Incognito which I have never heard of but to me looks like a Mercedes C-Class rebranded to be in the sim and the Camaro Cup cars which even though I hate american cars, I think these cars drive all right.. There is a slight glitch at Knutstorp as at one part of the first chicane about 3 or 4 cars roll over by taking to much kerb infact I ran a race with 22 cars and only 7 finished. The intro to the sim is quite enjoyable but when I mean intro I mean the introduction heavy metal music which is just awesome! One other problem is the lack of race series in the sim as it does not have the Swedish Porsche Carrera Cup series or the JTCC which I think would've been enjoyable. There is also a sequel to STCC that's STCC 2 The Game which have fixed the lack of cars problem as it adds many never seen before cars like the Toyota Corolla T-Sport and old classic Volvos. STCC is a must have for any sim racer so I would give it an 8/10.

Official WebSite: http://game.stcc.se/index.htm

Race On

An add-on to RACE 07 which requires an add-on to run it? RACE ON requires not only RACE 07 but STCC The Game to make it run. RACE ON comes with alot of race series including the following... WTCC 2008,2007,2006 and 1987, MINI Challenge, 3 types of Caterham, the Formula BMW, 3 types of Radical SR3 and 3 types of SR4, STCC 2008, Camaro Cup Cars, Formula Masters, US Muscle Cars, Chevy Camaro, Cadillac CTS-V, Dodge Charger and the Dodge Challenger SRT-8. Now that is a tonne of cars in 1 sim and as for the tracks...  Curitiba, Puebla, Valencia, Pau, Brno, Estoril, Brands Hatch, Oschersleben, Imola, Monza, Okayama, Macau, Laguna Seca, Road America, Vara Raceway, Anderstop, Porto, Zandvoort, Magny-Cours,  Falkenburg, Gothenburg, Karlskoga, Mantorp Park, Knutstorp, Sturup and Valer! But that's not the end of the endless tracks, because many tracks have numerous layouts.The cars also have hundreds of liveries to choose and this sim is definitely the closest thing to GT5 on a PC at how the game is complete. In the menu, there is commentary from the 2008 Macau WTCC race which I think make it the best menu sounds in any game or sim! I also like the inclusion of new U.S. tracks especially Laguna Seca. There is also a new pre-made Race Series- to enter, the 2008 WTCC season. SimBin also made a new race series of their own, the Formula Master which I think are based on GP2 cars and the skins for them are great aswell. All the cars sound and feel great when driving and my favourite car in the sim is the Volvo C30, there is also a completely new car which is the Lada which to be honest is terrible to drive but despite that there is a car for everyone in this sim and if there isn't I can't think what sim is. What I really like about RACE 07 is that it has constant add-ons to it but unfortunately after RACE INJECTION and GTR 3 which is now SimBins main focus, RACE 07 add-ons is no more. But this is an add-on which I use quite alot and there is no problem with from what I can tell so RACE ON gets full marks... a 10/10, RSR's first ever perfect sim and is a 2011 sim of the year contender without a doubt.

Official WebSite: http://www.race-game.org/raceon/