GTS Racing Challenge Review

GTS Racing Challenge for the Palm OS pushes the boundaries set by any racing game on a handheld before it. Even this year’s MicroQuad could not outperform this graphics engine. Equipping my Zodiac and “unpacking� the game, I knew this was a game that I would play for months, possibly years, to come.

Like all racing games, your goal is to race and win. Where GTS owns the competition is the game mode variety. You can play in a Single Race, Challenge Cup, Grand Tour, and a Championship mode. Single race is self-explanatory. The Grand Tour is a grand total of 32 races, while the Challenge Cup is only 8. You select the difficulty level, and must place a certain rank to continue.

The courses in GTS Racing have many turns. A sign on the screen will pop-up before these turns, telling you when you should turn sharply and which way. The speed of the game is much higher than that of MicroQuad, giving it an edge in the fun department. For me, real race cars are always more fun than a kart, but they are more or less different genres, or at least sub-categories.

Championship mode is similar to Challenge in that it has 8 races. In these, you will have to qualify for your position. Once you’re in an actual race though, you won’t be forced to place a certain rank. Instead, you will receive points for your rank, and they will rollover from course to course, until the end, where a final score is determined.

On the controls side, you’ll be using the joystick to move your vehicle, while using the hard keys to accelerate and reverse. Yellow accelerates your vehicle, while red is used for reverse. Simply let go of yellow around corners and you should be fine. The screen is only 2/3 game area, due to the graffiti pad. The pad plays no role, and if touched, will freeze the game.

The controls and overall realistic movements help make GTS Racing a stellar racing title for the Palm OS. You can choose from a sports car, coupe, and formula vehicle. Each has different steering, control, and speed, from what I noticed.

The game’s graphics are overall well done, for the most part. The backgrounds are either photos or postcards, so I would suggest next time around that they be a little more original than that, but MicroQuad did the same thing, if I remember correctly. The cars look fine in what is a 3D playing field, though all play is linear and confined to the track.

Despite these graphical limitations, GTS Racing is a good game that I would suggest any day of the week. It’s a quick play, but the number of courses will keep you coming back for more, along with the three vehicles to choose from.