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Let it out my fellow gamer, let it out. Scream at the top of your lungs. GTR Evolution is one of those games. If you keep your frustration bottled up, you’ll end up going postal on your street. This is a game for those that scoff at Burnout’s damage obsessed antics, laugh at the arcade drifting in GRiD and complain that Top Gear is all about the entertainment. Yes you! You own a replica steering wheel with peddles and gearbox. You’d buy a life-sized model of the latest Ferrari to sit in while playing your racing titles. From SimBin, GTR Evolution is the follow-up, stand-alone expansion for the WTCC title Race 07. It’s PC only and it’s hoping to be answer to Gran Turismo or Forza. Race 07 pipped the only other notable title, rFactor at the post but does GTR open up the lead enough to warrant a purchase or should you stick with Race 07?

Luckily you (or at least we) didn’t / don’t need to worry. Buying GTR Evolution will net you Race 07 as a package. As with any expansion pack the obvious place to start is what’s new. Picking up the full version will net you 49 cars, 500 versions of such; 10 tracks (with 40 layouts) and the usual abundance of engine tweaks, gameplay fixes and bug removals. For those with Race 07, there’s just enough to get you to part with your cash and for those who are new to the series you’ll have plenty to get up to.

GTR Evolution is a game that values quality over quantity. There’s no need to provide 700 identical cars that have no difference of control between them. GTR Evolution (being a simulation) takes a handful of officially licensed cars and attempts to recreate what it’s actually like to drive them.  There’s nothing iconic or extreme about the motors you can drive, just that these are racing machines. They’re tuned to a tee to provide as much performance as possible. Allowing gamers to harness such power and still enjoy a rewarding game experience is a difficult process. Luckily SimBin are veterans at doing just that and GTR is no exception. This is a game that loves the smell of fresh tires, one that painstakingly recreates engine sounds and attempts to provide you with a car to drive, not a game to play.

If you’re feeling wary at this point, don’t worry. GTR: Evolution has the option to tone stimulatory factors down. The trademarked R-Cade mode lets you jump into a race weekend and go at the competition. The aids are on, the automatic gearbox and clutch activated and the sole aim is to have a laugh at leaving your opponents for dust. It’s a minor distraction from what is otherwise a customizers dream. Every option from laps, driving aids, weather, AI difficulty, flag rules and clutch can be setup exactly how you like it. From then on you can tweak / tune your car to oblivion. Everything is available for change and if you know what you’re doing you can mimic realistic setups.

All this can be done in the Race Weekend setting, Practice, Time Trials, the official Championship (which spans the official WTCC calendar), Online and over LAN. The majority of your time will be spent in the Championship which lets you Practice (twice), Qualify, Warm-up and Race twice. GTR: Evolution can eat up your life if you want, but there are plenty of casual options.

Once you’re behind the wheel there are the usual array of views. There’s a tasty instant replay option which mimics the endorsed Eurosport. The game’s using an utilised version of Race 07 and it still seems competent. Stability wise we had no problems even when there were 25 cars on the grid. The game does a decent job at recreating the official tracks with vegetation, stands, car models and track surroundings realistically rendered. It’s not breathtaking, but you’ll definitely recognise where and what you’re driving.

The cars handle as they should, the multiplayer works well (even if you do get idiotic drivers who crash the first corner and then make it their aim of ramming you off the track), and the game’s sound-design is worth noticeable mention. It’s difficult to consider the game as an ‘evolution,’ more a continuation. If you’re into your racing sims, then feel free to grab it, otherwise you’ll be hard pressed to get significant playtime out of it.

Score: 7/10

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