CART Flag to Flag

"Good... for a Week"

Flag to Flag is an interesting DreamCast racing game based upon the 1998 CART season. It is perhaps ironic that CART's title sponsor in the 1998 season (and thus seen prominently in the game), FedEx, has recently announced (as of the writing of this review) that it will no longer be the title sponsor as of the 2003 CART season... and after this past weekend's fiasco at Surfer's Paradise in Australia, I can certainly understand why :-(

The main note that may scare away potential Flag to Flag players is that car control is available ONLY by using the analog stick above the D-pad :-( This makes car control for aggressive drivers (such as myself) extremely difficult at best, especially on road courses (such as Road America or Burke Lakefront) or street courses (such as Toronto or Detroit). This issue is not quite as glaring when racing at the oval-style circuits (such as Miami homestead). Therefore, those unfamiliar with analog-stick driving who do not have a good amount of time to spend perfecting this driving skill should probably stay away from Flag to Flag. This game does fortunately support a racing wheel; I do not own one, but I suspect that car control will be MUCH easier for players using a racing wheel.

Flag to Flag contains only two race modes: Arcade and Championship. This means, unfortunately, that only the most diehard of CART racing fans will be keeping this game for any immense length of time. There are no unlockable items, no bonuses to be gained, no goals to attain (other than simply winning races), so it may be best to just borrow this game from a friend, or from a store which permits games to be returned simply for not liking them.

For those who simply want to start racing, this is the place to begin. Arcade Mode races are rather short, however - generally only three or four laps in length - so those looking for longer races should instead turn to Championship Mode (see below). Arcade Mode supports both single-player and two-player capabilities. Since these races are rather short, the player(s) will have very little time to try to maneuver up through the field, which makes the analog-stick car control issue mentioned above all the more crucial to success. Interestingly, players are always kept appraised of the driver of the next car ahead on the circuit (regardless of whether there is a difference in consecutive position and/or laps completed), which will help in learning to recognize which drivers are in which cars (by colors, logos, etc.).

Championship Mode is a single-player mode with the goal of winning the CART Drivers Championship for the 1998 season using all of the nineteen 1998 race venues in the actual calendar order. The Drivers Championship is won by having the most points at the end of the nineteen rounds of the season; at each race, the top twelve drivers receive from 1 to 21 points, with the other fifteen entrants not receiving any points. Obviously, consistency across all nineteen rounds of the (1998) CART season is key to winning the Drivers Championship. Fortunately, there are three difficulty levels for Championship Mode; selecting Easy at the beginning of the Championship Mode season will give the player a far better chance of attaining consistency (and wins) throughout the season. It is important to note that Championship Mode is the only mode in the game which permits car set-up customization.

Overall, Flag to Flag is an interesting game... but only for a while. In less than a week, all but a very few diehard CART fans will likely tire of this game and move on to other games. One must keep this in mind when considering buying Flag to Flag.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/02, Updated 10/30/02