Mercedes Benz World Racing (PC Game Review)

This game features 144 cars!, all Mercedes Benz. You can tweak all the game options easily: it took me no time to cancel the "arcade" mode and stick the software to "simulation". It was also a breeze to configure the wheel controller to use separate axis for the throttle and brake pedals, something that can be a bit of a nightmare with other titles, often requiring a patch...
It is also possible to set the opponents' strength to 100%, instead of to other less challenging number or to the dumb "dynamic" option, where it is easy to fool the PC to think that you are a lousy racer and then, on the last lap, surprise everyone.

So MBWR has a neat and complete interface. Graphics are nice too, very much like in the popular Need For Speed (NFS) series; that is to say very good, but a few steps below Papyrus' benchmark level, like the quality you'll find in Nascar Racing 2003.

For a "simulation" racer, the #1 question is how real does it play?
Unfortunately, MBWR is not very realistic. But there is a twist: you won't notice it until you try different cars. In fact, I was fooled to think that this game's realism was reasonable indeed.

I started the game with the small Mercedes Class A, racing against Kompressor and class C adversaries. It was hard, but after 5-10 attempts, I managed to win the first two (great) tracks. I was enjoying the game!
For the third track (Japan), I decided it was getting too hard and it would be wiser to choose a more powerful donkey, so I navigated to the menu where such selection is possible and didn't blink an eye setting myself for the most powerful beast of the pack: a Kompressor CLK.

After winning all the first (2) races of the career mode until then, driving the Mercedes equivalent of the Renault Twingo, I thought it would be much easier to sustain the competition, driving a more powerful model. I was wrong and became very disappointed.
I simply couldn't hold the #1 spot. I quickly noticed that while the petite Class A speeded up to 90 kmh in 2nd gear, the CLK was dying already at 82 kph - how strange.
Further attempts confirmed the worst scenario: there is no realistic correspondence between many of the featured 144 models and their true performance. Class A versus CLK is just the easiest example.
The cars behave only like their artificial "performance" graph suggests, not like their "real life" cousins. Sometimes, the performance graphs are crudely odd: for example, how come the graphed-as-powerful CLK revs up slower than the Class A? Or why is it that the convertible version of some Class C have better graphs for "handling" than their full chassis versions?

For now, I regret this great void between featured cars and the real thing, however the game is rich and captivating: the tracks and non-repetitive - very interesting! And the adversaries are challenging.

This is a good racing game, with a patch coming soon, in February 2004... But it could have been so much better...

You can buy this and/or related products here.

for european costumers:

title: Mercedes-Benz World Racing (PC)
price: £16.99
url: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000D9TY3/arturmarques
ASIN: B0000D9TY3
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for american costumers:

title: Mercedes-Benz World Racing (XBOX)
price: $29.99 (USD)
url: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000859TN/arturmarquesc-20
ASIN: B0000859TN
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for real time monetary conversions, please use the XE service.