The British Touring Car Championships have never been on the same popularity scale as Formula 1 but a lot of people seem to find it more interesting. Codemasters have successfully boosted that popularity with their excellent console representation of the championships.
Although primarily created for the one player championship mode there is a split screen two player race option and one player single races where tracks are unlocked as you progress. The championship mode has short and full options which reflect on the number of laps per track.You can drive drive for any of the official car manufacturers and all the cars handle differently. Once you have entered your name and selected your car it's off to the race track to prepare.
The first obstacle is qualifying and three laps of the proposed track are to be completed in order to give you a feel of the track and determine your grid position. The quicker your time, the higher up the grid you start. Once on the grid it's showtime and when the lights turn green the engines roar, the tyres screech and you're away. Progression to the next venue is as follows:- You must race twice at each venue and points are accrued depending on where you finish in each race. Those points combined must equal or exceed the stated number of points or it's game over. The tracks have been digitally recreated to scale from the ordanance survey references of the originals which means that once you have mastered a track on TOCA you could go to the real life equivalent and drive round it with your eyes closed (well... maybe one eye shut). There are also different weather conditions to contend with and as you would expect travelling at 150mph, car handling is an art form which needs to be mastered.
The graphical representations of the motors are very nice if maybe a little rough round the edges but nevertheless they look like their real counterparts. A nice touch is the fact that damage to the car is shown as you blunder into crash barriers and other competitors but it doesn't seem to affect the handling of the car which is maybe a little unrealistic. There are a variety of views when racing including the in-car cockpit view which is very tricky to master. The track visuals are quite nice except pop up is noticeable if you have time to look for it.
The usual sort of driving music accompanies each race which is usually better switched off and all the engine sounds are remarkably similar. Nothing special but it does the job. Race intro's and outro's are provided by Top Gears Tiff Needle (or whatever he calls himself).
I would say that TOCA is probably the most realistic driving simulator in terms of handling and control (and yes that includes Gran Turismo) and the graphics and sound are good enough. The only downfall I found was the tediousness of having to do 3 qualifying laps and then 11 laps of a track only to be followed by exactly the same procedure again before I could either save my progress or carry on to the next venue. I also usually found that it's hard to keep concentration for the full 11 laps and usually being in first place veer off into a tree and get passed by all the other cars and finish last.
