The most underrated driving game ever?

When it comes to console-based racing simulation games the two big players are Sony's Gran Turismo series and Microsoft's Forza Motorsport series. Both of those are good series and they offer tons of depth, but when it comes to the actual driving part of the game, Konami's Enthusia Professional Racing for Playstation2 is by far the  best. Unfortunately, this game was released just after Gran Turismo 4 came out so it was overlooked by many racing game fans and in my opinion never really got the credit it deserves.

The game is not perfect by any means. There are no cosmetic upgrades and the modification system is very simple compared to GT and Forza. A lot of game reviewers also complained about the game's menu presentation and the the game's "tricky" physics. Those "tricky" physics are what makes the the Enthusia driving experience so great. The game simulates weight transfer, body roll, and tire behavior like no console racing I have seen. The game also includes a fully analog clutch button for manual transmission cars, making drifting much more realistic than the other games. The game also simulates the feel of shifting gears much better than others. Also,, if you choose a car like a Toyota Celsior that was never available with a manual transmission the game will only let you choose automatic or semi-automatic. These cars actually drive like they have real automatic transmissions that shift much softer than a manual. When you take out one of the big luxury cars, the weight, body roll, and auto trans are accurately represented, making it real challenge.

On the old Enthusia website, there are some great interviews with people in the car industry who talk about the physics engine and other parts of the game. These people include "Gan-san" Kurosawa of Best Motoring and Hiroshi Ito of Mazda's chassis dynamics department. Although it was part of the marketing, after playing the game you can see that they were not BS'ing.

http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/enthusia/eng/interview/mazuda.html

Here is an old video that demonstrates the physics compared to real life-

 

In my opinion, the biggest fault of the game is the track selection. There are only two real-life circuits in the games, Tsukuba and the Nurburgring.  It would have been nicer to have more real race tracks. There are some decent fake courses though, including a cool downhill/uphill Japanese touge course.

I bought this game right when it came out in the United States and for the past month and a half I have been searching through game shops for a Japanese version. Finally, the other day after weeks of searching, I found a used copy at Book-Off for 1000 yen (a little less than $10 USD). After playing it a little bit, I have rediscovered why I love this game so much.Unfortunately, the game was failure sales-wise, so it is very unlikely there will ever be a sequel made. It is a real shame knowing the physics engine probably will not be used again.  For now, if you want to breathe some life back into your PS2, I suggest going to your nearest game store and picking up cheap copy of Enthusia. Sure, you may not be able to paint your favorite anime character on the hood of your car, but that doesn't compare to the feeling you get after completing a glorious, clutch-kicking drift through the Dunlop corner at Tsukuba.

Comments

[Lawrence]

Cool post, Please include more Racing game posts like this one in the future, including Gran Turismo and Forza 2.

[Lawrence]

Cool post, Please include more Racing game posts like this one in the future, including Gran Turismo and Forza 2.

[A Spec Logan]

Sweet

IMO the most underrated racing game of all time was for PS1, and was called Racing Lagoon (by Squaresoft). That game was super fun (Japan only release though).

[Russ]

I'll have to look out for that.
I had never heard of it before.

Looks awesome.

Looks like some drift coming up.

[Rob]

I remember playing this in a racing seat with steering wheel for its release at TAS in 2005 or so. Awesome game.

[Waider]

When I saw the title I was sure that you speak about this game!!!
And I so agree with you. You get all my respect for speak about this game!!!

Here is my video (drift on the Dragon range touge)
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=dmsj6VEk01Y

I've heard about a sequel on ps3 but don't know if its a rumor.

[Hon]

the video u tagged aint working anymore..
anymore links? :)

[RE-Xtreme]

I just got this game.

I can see why it didn't sell well.

But your right its pretty awesome for real drivers.

:)