Due to limited inet access for a few weeks I came to re-install GTR2 recently and after a few years absence only running RRE (and DIRT Rally occasionally) I was surprised how good GTR2 still is in terms of physics, GFX (while today I can really max out the gfx) and overall performance compared to RRE - well after a few laps you know where the roots of RRE are -the typical "Simbin" feeling is unmistakeable. Well, yeah, GTR2 has some flaws and bugs (but tons of community based mods, utillities and fixes for that) but from my perpective it was the most complete Simbin Title so far, GTR Evo I considered more as a kinda Add-On or what you might get as a DLC nowadays and RACE wasn't my cup of tea anymore. And what I'm still painfully missing with R3E are features like Multiclass Endurance Racing (SP), Realtime Weather Dynamics & Daytime Settings and all that countless features that were implemented (like look-to-apex ). Tbh I like Singleplay Racing (good challenge but relaxed approach) as much as Multiplayer ( in terms of e-sport) if the product provides that on a true "Get Real" level and the chances are good , that in cooperation with S3, Simbin UK will release a top successor with GTR3, let alone the long awaited quantum jump to DX 11 with the unmatched Unreal Engine. I'm thrilled to get another GTR title after ten years and I'm sure it will be worth the wait.....
I loved GTR2 too, and when I tried R3E for first time I felt this "known feeling" coming somewhere from the past... I know this! haha Driving, bumps on track, sound... The second thing I recognized was the huge amount of options, allowing each user to adapt the game to its own preferences with a good level of detail (sound, gamepad, FFB...).
GTR2 was the sim that made simbin a force to be reckoned with in the sim racing industry. GTR3 is kind of like the half-life 3 of sim racing. It is one of those games that has to beat the predecessor that has already set a very high standard, that it becomes quite the difficult feat to beat it. There are a lot purported "red flags" that people have pointed out with this sim. One of them being the sudden establishment of simbin uk and its low number of employees, another red flag they pointed out is the utilization of unreal 4 as the gaming engine for the sim. People will point out that ue4 was never built to sustain race simulator physics. Despite simbin claiming to only use it for the graphics of gtr3. I know that James at Pretend Race Cars seems to be critical of GTR3's potential (https://pretendracecars.net/2017/02/21/unreal-promises/) (The blog is pretty much full of sim racing drama period). Despite this, I'm still curious to see how GTR3 will turn out after ten years of waiting.
Well it's a blog, what did you expect considering today's standards of proper journalism are basically gossip-magazine level?