There are only 2 words to say after playing this demo from Image Space...TOO AWESOME!!!! After all the time that was spent on this game, and getting pushed back a time or two, it's defitely worth the wait. I cannot believe how much fun I've had already with this demo, and plenty more where that came from.

WOW! is another description I'll use, because I can't put it down. Image Space did their homework on this, and it's going to be a winner. The work, the racing, the menus, everything...is what a new generation sim should look like.

Installation was very straightforward, (as are most Win95 applications) but even better was how easy it was to setup. The menus are fairly well placed and intuitive (although there is a 'pop-up' menu from the bottom that took a minute to discover) and my Suncome G-Force yoke/pedal installed TROUBLE FREE! You must make sure that your controller is recognized in Win95 first, so don't forget that. But I was able to set up my controller how I wanted it...and the wheel travel, ect, worked right THE FIRST TIME, as opposed to a few other sims lately where I had to crank on the sensitivity a bit to get it where I liked it. One other really amazing thing was the fact that this runs fine with a Rendition card (Stealth 2 S220) using Direct3D. I had no problems running a race with 4 other cars in high rendering mode, there was a bit of frame loss, but not undrivable, once you got the hang of not overcorrecting in the corners. I actually got some hassle from someone on the newgroups for complaining about the horrible lag in another new (useless) racing game because I had to use Direct3D, this one shows the way to do it.

Setup options? You want them? You GOT them! Everthing from the wing, tire pressure, roll bars, spring rates, bump, ect is tucked away in 5 nice little menus in the garage, so you can adjust to your heart's content. One other nice thing about this demo was the fact that it steps smartly between menus...no messing around waiting for it to load something. I'm running a Pentium Pro 200 w/48 Meg RAM, so it's not an overpowered machine at all.

And now to the best part...the RACING! This is definitely, without a doubt, the best 'modern' car simulator out there. Lime Rock Park is the track available with the demo, and it's modeled superbly, at least from the standpoint of someone who's only watched the races on TV. The car will lose traction as you drop out of turn 5, the rear of the car gets light and you'll most probably leave some black marks as the car squats to accellerate out of the turn! WHOA! Nice job with the gravel too, you will definitely lose momentum if you drop a tire off into the kitty litter.

You have a choice of 3 cars to drive in the demo, The Ford powered Panoz GTR, the BMW M3, and a 'base' model Porsche. The cars all handle differently, and I had just as much fun driving the Beemer as I did the Panoz! Haven't got to the Porsche yet, but will do shortly, I'm sure. Racing each one in a race is a blast! The competitors really seem to drive realistically, I had one car give me a nudge in the rear when I cut him off in the corner, and had the Saleen 'Stang spin out right in front of me on the last lap of the race! WHOA! Too much fun!

The sound is superb for the sim, great engine noises, and nice rumble strip BUZZZZZZZZ as you clip it in the corners. There are only a few things that I can point out as possibly bad in this demo, one was the fact that if you want to see dash, you have to select it each time you race. The other was (again) the fact that some of the setup options should have a 'hot' key or something for people who are not sure what 'bump' and 'rebound' are. As well, couldn't find a place to save that setup, it seems to be that if you want to change what is currently on the car, you have to write it down if you want to go back to it. Not good if you want to do some experimentation. I didn't see any way to change car paintjobs/colors...I hope this is only something that was left out of the demo, not what is NOT going in the game.

The rest of the options seem to be really excellent. You can specify how long of a replay you want to save, whether you want to allow modified cars in a race (setup, presumably) you change the video and sound quality, you can have a speed equalizer (this must be for those who really need some practice) and you can adjust the gas and tire wear so you can simulate the car on long runs with only a few laps in the books! Too cool! The replay camera is second to NO ONE! You can adjust any angle, at any time, and take screenshots of that great pass-in-the-grass, or go back and see exactly why you DID take leave of your brain while going into the corner at 180 mph...

If you have any feedback you would like to post about SCGT, Image Space would like to hear from you. You can send an(email)to us, we will make sure that it gets to them.

This is my pick (so far) for game of the year. It blows away it's recent competition without any problem. Perhaps we should have a V12 rating, but we don't, so it get's a very healty V8! Demo available at The Pits!