Spirit of Speed 1937

Something is deeply wrong, when most games' magazines don't recognize GP Legends as the BEST racing title ever released. Instead of firmly supporting software based on true physics, and featuring top realistic 3D graphics, the world's most popular magazines, rate titles like Midtown Madness, as the best you can buy.

While Midtown Madness is a superb game (one of my favorites), it is obviously oriented to a different costumer: someone who expects a quick race, who enjoys arcade driving and doesn't want to worry about "true handling". And what about "the other costumers"?- the ones GP Legends is dedicated to? The ones who eager for REALISM, for truly unforgiving handling? For selective driving? I guess those ones must look on the web, for support on their titles, as the "paper establishment" won't do that for them.

Because of a certain lack of industry support, it is rare to find titles a la GP Legends [GPL]. Old cars don't have the appeal, the marketing, the power and the easiness of current ones, and hard handling is a pain for reviewers, who just want to earn their buck $$ and jump to the next title.

When I first knew about Spirit of Speed 1937 [ss37] I got curious, expecting it to be something that approached serious racing, as it features old cars... in fact, cars 30 years older than GP Legends' (1967). Well, how good is it?

SS37 is a good game. It is not superb; it is far behind GPL in every aspect, and it is more of an arcade racing software, than a simulator, but it somehow manages to hold my attention, mostly because of the featured cars.

Nowadays, a game must have something different or must be nearly perfect on established aspects, to deserve most gamers' time. SS37 has great sound, very respectable graphics, poor handling, and a top difference: you get to race cars that you won't find anywhere else!

Handling is the key for most racing games. It is now so terribly easy to find shitty titles, because of their handling (Silkolene Honda, Le Mans 24...) that - it can be written - there is a certain crisis on racing titles.

Question: this said, how can SS37 be a "good game", if it has a "poor" handling? Answer: Well, SS37 demands you to steer the wheel with supreme delicacy, but as soon as you understand its softness, you'll be driving with very credible responsiveness. It is a matter of testing, but I would advise Hasbro Interactive / Microprose to patch it, soon...

For official info on the game, visit its website.

So far, I did one championship race, on "hard" level and won it, on my 1st attempt. It was too easy, but I understand it was fault of the race length: just 5 laps that didn't demand me to do a pitstop!

Race strategy is actually very important on this game. There is a fine balance between faster / more powerful cars, and their slower mates, because the slower are much more economical!

or example, with the Mercedes Benz 154 (capable of 300 km/h), you can lap no more than ~20 minutes, on high revs; but if you opt for the Alfa Romeo P3 (that won't throttle more than 225 km/h), you can race for nearly three (3x) times that distance, giving you the chance to win, as long as you can keep calm and obey to a pre-determined strategy.

Amongst others, you can drive the Bugattis 35B and 59, the Auto Union C and the Alfa Romeo Bimotore! These mythical machines are enough to keep the SS37 flame alive, though they are just examples of a wider choice.

Being behind the wheel of these old monsters, is an emotion! They are NOISY, they TREMBLE all over the place (and you can see such tremble!), they SLIDE easily, and they WEAR tires and fuel, at paces you surely don't suspect...

I am still a virgin with these old cars and this new game, but it looks promising. Tracks are well designed, with blind corners, great décor, imaginative twists, overtaking spots and misc terrains.

Adversaries looked a bit stupid to me, but - again - I need a longer race for a stronger opinion. Stay tuned.

This game is INCOMPATIBLE with Windows 2000. What a shame.