My first impressions of e-racer were the worst you can imagine: I absolutely hated everything about the game! Why?

e-racer is of one those Summer titles, you see reviewed everywhere, from popular tv shows, to underground internet sites, like arturmarques.com :). Most people drool about e-racer's graphics, like if they were the title's strongest point, so I installed the game expecting quite a visual luxury, at least relative to other features, such as the control system, and its "simulator" side... which I feared arcadish and incomplete.

I admit that I was influenced by a massive chorus of opinions that raved e-racer's looks, so I was shockingly *disappointed* with its lusterless screens, when playing at the highest possible resolution (1024x768x16bpp).

e-racer doesn't look that good when playing. Its textures are kind of mat or faded, forcing you to push both the bright and the contrast controls, in order to make it easier to spot those small track details that allow to shave lap times. This is particularly true when playing from INSIDE the car, instead of from the outside - which is the game's default PoV (point of view).

When you finally get INSIDE the car (I **HATE** outside views) you are literally attacked by the reflection of the engine cover on the right side of the windshield. This translates in being much harder to spot details, as they are blurred by that stupid reflection mask. Great graphics?! Sure they look good (not more), but they literally get in the way!

My frustration was aggravated by the facts that #1) e-racer does NOT allow separate axes for the throttle and brake pedals (how realistic!), and #2) there seems to be a bug in the scoring system that doesn't credit you enough for the wins, making your progression much harder, than it should be, at least on the "professional" racing level.

My first attempts to win the FIRST race on the career mode, were all in absolute vain. The adversaries are nearly impossible to beat, when your only weapon against their ferocious cars are a low budget, noisy, small Nissan clone.

Besides feeling impossible to push your car to the first place (second spot is also be acceptable to progress on PRO level), the lack of separate axes for throttling and braking, and a strange wheels locking affaire, that manifests at the slightest use of the brake pedal, gets on your nerves. You end up cursing Rage's e-racer, for its total lack of realism, and for its severe cockpit unfriendliness. Did they play the game? - You ask yourself. Then you quit playing e-racer.

Fortunately, somehow, I didn't stop trying. I can't quite explain it, but something got me playing e-racer, once in a while... until the afternoon I finished the first race, on second spot, and thus was allowed to try the next track.

Surprise, surprise: after the first track, things got much easier and credible. It didn't cost me half as much to win the following races, and unlock new cars and new tracks (stone quarry, parking area, airport, etc)!

As tracks are unlocked, it gets more and more obvious that e-racer's muscle is not the graphics, but the tracks' design! Most of the circuits are really imaginative, and penalize brainless driving (wall bashing)! The new cars are also distinctively different from the previous ones, and this contributes to a never-expected path towards "simulation", rather than a total redemption to arcades. I was surprised!

These days I love e-racer! I love its rich replay system, its tracks, its cars, and I even understand how to do drive with combo pedals. My eyes burn after some races (damn reflections!), but the game has proven its great value!

Its very easy to summarize my e-racer opinion: play at PRO level, and the day you manage to get past the first race, there is a great game waiting for you! Don't play at "amateur" level, since the adversaries are really lame.

If you are a no-quitter, go buy e-racer!