Ludography
64/100
Players17 ratings
77/100
Critics2 reviews
Pro Race Driver cover

2002 · Codemasters · Racing · Simulation

Pro Race Driver

Timed PlayStation exclusive

Pro Race Driver is a racing video game part of the Toca Touring Car series.

Released
23 August 2002
Platforms
PlayStationPlayStation 2WindowsXbox
Genres
RacingSimulationSports
Developers
Codemasters
Publishers
Codemasters
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
First personThird person
Themes
Non-fiction
Country
United KingdomAustralia
Age ratings
PEGI 12ESRB TACB G

About

TOCA Race Driver (DTM Race Driver in Germany, Pro Race Driver in North America and V8 Supercars: Race Driver in Australia) is a 2002 racing video game developed and published by Codemasters for PlayStation 2, Windows and Xbox. It is the fourth game in the TOCA series. The racing elements of the game continued to receive positive reviews and the game went straight to number one in the UK game charts. Xbox and PC conversions followed in March 2003, with a further Xbox version released several months later at budget price adding Xbox Live support.

While Xbox Live support for all original Xbox Live games was terminated in 2010, TOCA Race Driver is playable online on the revival online servers called Insignia and XLink Kai.

Keywords

  • burnout
  • race cars
  • motorsports
  • bink video
  • xbox 360 backwards compatibility

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Race Driver took the game in a new direction, since the main game mode featured a plot (leading to the game being labelled as a "Car-PG") where the player would take on the role of a fictional race driver called Ryan McKane, trying to make a name for himself in a multitude of car championships, all the while under the shadow of his more successful older brother and haunted by the death of his father on the racetrack (as witnessed by Ryan as a child).

The British Touring Car Championship (TOCA) which gives the game series its name, returned for this game. The real-life championship had undergone a transformation after most of the manufacturers had pulled out, and crowd numbers dropped, so TOCA asked Codemasters to include the series to boost the audience interest. However, the return was short-lived. Many tracks were added, and some of the "World" tracks were not continued from TOCA 3, despite their popularity, such as Watkins Glen and Surfers Paradise. The game continued with random grid positions and no penalties for bad driving.

Reception

The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions received "favourable" reviews, while the PC version received "average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator website Metacritic.

In the UK, Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine gave the PS2 version a score of eight out of ten and said that it was an "ultra-realistic racer with top visuals"; they also listed it in their top 100 games and awarded it a Bronze Medal.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
PlayStation 223 August 2002Europe · Australia 27 August 2002 · North America 6 December 2002
Xbox28 March 2003Europe · Australia 12 April 2003 · North America 16 April 2003
Windows28 March 2003Europe · Australia 12 April 2003 · North America 17 April 2003

Editions and related releases

Expanded editions
TOCA Race DriverDTM Race Driver: Director's Cut
Followed by
TOCA Race Driver 2
Built on it
TOCA Race DriverDTM Race Driver: Director's Cut

Games like this

Collections1 collection

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.