With indie arcade racing games having a varied and fun selection for players to enjoy, bringing a new racing game out without a strong, unique selling point or personality is a very risky strategy. Super Engine GT Turbo SPEC is a name that feels like it was built for search engine optimisation. It goes straight down the middle of various buzzwords attached to other games. It feels a little symbolic of my overarching thoughts on a game that feels a little safe, generic, and lacking a hook to keep you returning. Something feels just a bit… off.
Super Engine GT Turbo SPEC is a strictly single-player affair. No splitscreen. No multiplayer. In fact, there’s no time trial or championship mode either. Instead, we get 8 locations, each with 4 variations of a samey track that often struggle to stand out from each other. One has a crossover, another couple have some big kurb hairpins, but aside from that, the tracks feel like copy/paste bends from a basic track editor and bleed into each other quickly. The game has cel-shaded graphics, and when the world is bright and colourful, the look works. Some locations are more grey and industrial, and these look drab and barren.
Your goal is to finish in the top 3 in all 32 races, unlocked in sets of 8. The first thing you’ll notice is that the handling is consistent and fairly responsive. All the cars feel like they are rear wheel drive, but that they visually turn from the centre of the car. It takes a couple of corners to work out how much speed will trigger a skid, and then things will click. Braking is required, but I spent most of the game easing off the throttle instead. That’s because most corners are gentle or standard 90-degree turns, or chicanes where you can almost straightline the turn. Oddly, kerbs and grass seem to have the same grip levels as tarmac, so it incentivises cutting.
The next thing you’ll notice is that your car seems to have totally different physics compared to the 10 AI opponents you’ll be racing. They are slower down the straight and have more turning ability and grip in the corners, often taking quite a wide line around them. It makes for some odd racing because the AI will hit you in the corners, then rub against you like you don’t exist down the straights as you blast past them. It made the game quite easy, and because your cars all handle the same, and there are no classes of car or AI to beat, it made for quite a lonely experience racing them. The AI also don’t seem to realise their other AI cars are there either. I’d see them running nose-to-tail down straights and hitting off opponents in corners. It isn’t the worst AI I’ve seen – not close – but it isn’t intelligent.
All this adds up to a game I completed in 68 minutes. With no other modes to play, I have no reason to return to Super Engine GT Turbo SPEC either. This is a shame because with a little more personality and a few more modes to explore, there are the seeds of a better game here. Solo developer Josep Monzonis Hernandez has released racing games previously, and whilst they haven’t been all-time classics, they’ve had more charm and personality. They are games I’ve dipped in and out of periodically and have some replayability.
A review copy was provided by the publisher.
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