Product Description

An amazing range of high performance classic cars to choose from including Austin Mini, Austin-Healy, MG, Rover and Triumph

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3574 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: DDI
• Released on: 2008-03-14
• Platform: Nintendo Wii
• Dimensions: .30 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

An amazing range of high performance classic cars to choose from including Austin Mini, Austin-Healy, MG, Rover and Triumph

Each car is accurately recreated under license and feature the real handling characteristics of the vehicles

Designed to please Classic Motor fans! This is your chance to own and drive a piece of British Motor Racing heritage.

Customer Reviews

An insult to British automobiles. IGN Review
Oh, Data Design. Why do you hate us? We just wanna have a little fun with our Wii and here you are churning out disgrace after disgrace and calling them "games." Classic British Motor Racing is another in a long line of terrible offerings from the company, along with classics like Billy the Wizard: Rocket Broomstick Racing (2.0), London Taxi: Rush Hour (1.0), and Myth Makers: Orbs of Doom (2.9). The developer licensed 13 vintage cars from BMW and MG Rover. I'm going to assume that's where all the budget went and there just wasn't any money left over to make a game.

This is probably the most boring racing game I've ever played. The basic concept of cars racing to a finish line is here, but there isn't a single bell or whistle. The cars don't take any damage, the scenery is dull, and there aren't even any collision sound effects. All of the graphics are jaggy and blocky. Wins will unlock new cars and tracks, but that's not much of a reward for trudging through the game. There is one licensed pop song that plays during every race.

Before each race you're given plenty of time to psych yourself up as you wait for long loading times. I don't know what takes so much time to load. The game is polluted with nasty pop-up and terrible collision detection. Bushes, flower beds, and blimps all appear out of nowhere. On my very first race, right out of the gate I veered off road and into a mountainside -- but my car sailed through the wall into a void and fell into space. There is a track with a giant Ferris wheel in the background, but half the wheel is apparently invisible. When you run into other cars, sometimes they will vanish into thin air.

Drivers have no choice but to tilt the Wii-mote to steer their car. Now, I have never driven a classic British racer, but I imagine it must be pretty fun. And I imagine it is possible to steer the actual car without swerving all over the road. In Classic British Motor Racing, this is impossible. The controls are way too loose, so taking turns inevitably results in going off-road.

It's hard to believe this game runs on Havok, the same physics engine that Half-Life 2 uses. Here, cars appear to be weightless. Driving over a small rock can send your Mini Cooper soaring into the sky and over a street light. It will land not with a thud, but kind of a "meh," as if it had never left the ground in the first place.

Closing Comments
Let me break it down for you: this game sucks. It's not that I'm too harsh on "casual games," it's that nobody in the world is going to have any fun playing this. Regardless of the demographic you're trying to reach, if you're making a racing game the cars should be fun to control and it should somewhat approximate the exhilaration of driving really fast. The only thing Classic British Motor Racing approximates is playing a bad game.

2.0 Presentation
The entire game is explained in a 3-page manual. The box and menus are made of the same template as most of Data Design's Wii games.
2.5 Graphics
Massive pop-up, low frame rate, jaggies, and terrible collision detection sting my eyes.
2.0 Sound
There is one song. It is played on endless repeat.
1.5 Gameplay
Terrible controls, floaty physics, boring tracks... There is no fun to be found here.
2.0 Lasting Appeal
Only six tracks and 13 cars. There is multiplayer for two, though.
2.1
Terrible OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)

Could be so much better
There are a few nice touches to this game, but overall it feels a mess. Good points first - the controls, while seemingly impossible at first, can be mastered. When you do, there is a certain level of realism in that, unlike many racing games, the amount of time you need to spend lifting off the throttle and dabbing the brakes for corners is much like real driving. It is also nice to have a game that features 'classic' cars rather than modern day performance cars. These positives are far outweighed by the negatives however - the graphics are third rate and the game lacks features - there is little to hold the interest once you've unlocked the various cars. At times the sound seems to become almost inaudible - with the exception of the track set in London by Big Ben - where the chimes sound almost continually, striking the hour. This despite the fact that when you drive past the hands are quite clearly at ten to three (on every lap!). I could go on.

In short, with more development (a lot more admittedly) this could have been a really good title, and something a bit different from your average racer. As it is, it just feels desperately lazy and third-rate.

Classical challenge!
Having had this game since Christmas, I am still struggling to come to grips with the actual game play. The cars are often difficult to control and the tracks are ...... challenging (to say the least). Hence I am still trying to unlock a large part of the game! Who knows, once I am further into it, it may gain more stars?