The racing genre on the Xbox is pretty well covered at this point but there is always room for more good racing sims. TOCA Race Driver 3 from Codemasters doesn’t really bring anything new to the table in terms of gameplay, but it gives you a ton of tracks and a ton of different race types – everything from go karts to F1 to GT to monster trucks – to play with. TOCA 3 is a fun game that can satisfy your need for speed in more driving disciplines than you can shake a stick at.
Features and Modes
The main draw in TOCA 3 is the more than 35 racing disciplines included in the game. No matter what your mood, whether you feel like Indy cars, sprint cars, stock cars, or even semis, TOCA 3 can accommodate you. And since this is a sim-style racing game, each of the different disciplines handles markedly different from the others. Every time you enter a new discipline the game feels completely new and fresh which is absolutely amazing.
This fresh feel is particularly important when you consider TOCA 3’s various modes. You can play through a world tour mode where you are given a choice of races and can pick and choose your way through 32 tiers of racing. This gives you just a little taste of each of the different race types. Or you can play the career mode where you pick a single race type and then progress through all of the tracks and vehicles and championships that discipline has to offer. When you add it all together there is enough single player racing goodness to span a few dozen separate games but TOCA 3 gives it all to you in one package.
You will also find splitscreen as well as Xbox Live multiplayer in TOCA 3 and it works well. You can adjust the rules to weed out rough drivers online, which is nice.
Gameplay
Codemasters
As far as the gameplay goes, TOCA 3 stands up very well against the other simulation racing games on the market. I can say without a doubt that of the major players in the sim genre TOCA 3 definitely has the best AI. The computer-controlled cars take surprisingly varied lines around the track and they aren’t afraid to spin you out if you get in their way. Just sitting back and watching the cars jostling for position ahead of you is interesting because the AI behaves more realistically than in most other games. Knowing how to drive correctly and smoothly is absolutely vital, of course, because while you’re slamming on the brakes to make it around a corner or dropping a wheel off into the grass, your opponents can and will pass you. Overall, I would say that TOCA 3’s gameplay is just a notch below Forza Motorsport, which means it is still very good. Most importantly, though, is that TOCA 3 spreads that extremely fun and solid gameplay over a ton of different race types and the simulation racing experience is very consistent throughout. There are some limited tuning options, mostly to adjust the handling, but for the most part you don’t really even have to worry about it. You can just pick it up and play.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, TOCA 3 is a very nice looking game. The car models are very detailed and when you get into a wreck the cars deform just the way they should. Again, this is especially cool since there are so many different types of vehicles and all of them bend up very nicely.
The sound is also very good, but it could have been better. I’m not crazy about the engine sound effects for the vehicles. Sure, they all sound different, but none of them really sound right. There is quite a bit of voice acting throughout the game, most of it coming from your Scottish mentor that likes to give you a hard time while teaching you the ropes of racing, and it is all very well done. The music isn’t spectacular, but it doesn’t detract from the experience either.
Bottom Line
Codemasters
TOCA Race Driver 3 is a very solid game all around that Xbox racing fans should definitely check out. It is easily the best of the TOCA series and also stands among the best racing games on Xbox thanks to the good gameplay and sheer amount of stuff to do. The game offers 70 licensed cars, 35 different racing disciplines, and 80 tracks to keep you busy. It doesn’t quite look, sound, or play as well overall as Forza Motorsport, but TOCA 3 makes up for it in the sheer volume of vehicle types and that definitely counts for something. Even if you are sick of tracks such as Laguna Seca or Nurburgring (or one of the many, many other tracks that have appeared in both Forza and Gran Turismo 4, and now TOCA 3) the experience is completely new and fun when you get to rip around them in something other than a supercar. Since this is a simulation-style game, you might want to rent it to see if it is your cup of tea, but hardcore racing fans will find a lot to like here that makes TOCA Race Driver 3 worth a purchase.
