Auto Modellista

"Auto Modellista: A racer with an identity crisis"

Auto Modellista; a brand new cell shaded racer from Capcom has just been released.

Move over Gran Turismo? Not yet. You see, Auto Modellista is a racing game with an identity crisis. It’s not sure if it wants to be a simulation, or an arcade racer. I have read a couple previews with interviews from the game designers and they stated that they wanted to create their own style of racing game. An arcade racer with sim elements. But as we can see with this game that while normally that would be fine, a certain balance needs to be obtained between the two genres in order for the game to work correctly.

Auto Modellista straddles the proverbial track and teeters neither to either side of the racing genre but right down the center lane. And that’s where it blows a flat.

By adding loads of customization functions, changing car color, adding premade and custom decals, adjusting car weight, tires, brake pads and settings, suspension, engine torque and balance, gear settings, all with authentic brand name parts and over 90 real world cars to choose from, Auto Modellista has all the ingredients to make it a perfect sim racer experience. But the problems begin when you take your car out on the track. That is when the game throws all the arcade elements back in your face and casts all the sim elements to hell.

Auto Modellista sports a pretty nifty online mode. Taking your customized ride online is the where the real meat of the game is. You can race with 2-8 other players in and on the same offline tracks as well as show off your car in a pretty cool Club Mode.

Club Mode is a tight mode where basically you and 2-8 other players get together in a small parking lot area to show off your ride and trade racing and tuning tips and also trade your custom vehicles.

The regular online racing like I said above consists of racing on the same tracks as the offline mode. The only real problem is that there is no way to place horsepower restrictions on the races, so each race boils down to whoever has the fastest car wins. Its good if you want to hop online and chug it out with your best car, but don’t think of putting that Honda Civic that you put so much hard work in online and think you will stand up against the myriad of Nissan Skylines that populate and dominate the online racing circuit.

Instead of listing all of the game faults, I decided to add a wish list of what I would like to see in an updated version, or a sequel.

I wish the handling was better.

I wish that slamming into the walls slowed you down instead of just bouncing you right back on the track.

I wish that power sliding into a corner at 50mph didn't make me spin 180 degrees.

I wish there was HP restrictions in online play.

I wish that in the single player race that if I catch up to the lead car, who was previously beating me by a mile in the first two laps, didn't have a speed burst and pass me up even though I am still going the same speed that I was when I caught up to it and passed it.

I wish that my car didn't start to drift when going in a straight line.

I wish that picking a brand of parts actually made a difference.

I wish that I could trade just logos.

I wish that I could put a custom logo ANYWHERE on my car. Not just on the hood, door and bumper.

I wish there were a point to racing on the dirt tracks. Why add dirt tracks if there is only one track and its just an oval?

I wish that tuning anything else besides HP and Acceleration actually made a difference in handling. (Or anything else for that matter)

I wish there was a voice chat function.

I will say this about Auto Modellista. The graphics are astounding. The sense of speed is both tremendous and exhilarating. When you hit 200mph, you feel like you are going 200mph. The cell-shaded look is perfect and the cars look astounding although there are times when the cars will act a little quirky. I have seen cars that are traveling at 150+mph go sideways across the track. The laws of physics must have been asleep that day. The frame rate rarely dips, although the picture will blur for a split second when barreling down the track at 140mph. Not really a big deal, but it is worth noting.

The music is a decent mix of Japanese pop and jazz and tends to flow well with the race in progress.

The sound effects are decent as well but there are some concerns. When using the regular behind-the-car viewpoint, the cars sound like finely tuned machines but when in the first person view, the cars sound like hulking 747 jetliners. Curious indeed.

The race announcer is flat out annoying. He is always a day late and a dollar short. Slamming headlong into a gaurdrail and and you hear him say Crash!” Or power sliding around a corner nets you the response; “I’ve never seen such technique!” There are times when I have power slid into a guardrail and heard both comments. He has other quaint responses, but be prepared to hear these two statements at least 30+ times in a 4-lap race.

This game needs polish. If they fix the handling issue, this game can be a real contender. Bottom line if you are hard up for an online racer, go ahead and buy it. Otherwise wait until Midnight Club 2 comes out and make your decision about the two then.

In the mean time play Gran Turismo. You won’t be disappointed with that one.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/03, Updated 03/31/03