Do You Remember... RACE 07

[Paul Jeffrey]

Race 07 had a glorious few years in the sun as one of the best sim racing games on the market, but over a decade later - is it still a good title?

I admit the idea of an officially licenced and realistic racing simulation based on the FIA World Touring Car Championship was the sort of thing that would grab my attention back in 2005/6/7, and certainly Simbin Studios AB very much achieved that sort of reaction, releasing first the 'Race' standalone touring car sim and then later Race 07, Race On and the various DLC packs that would follow.

You have to remember that the years initially covered by Race and Race 07 (2006, 07, 08, 10) where arguably of the time when the World Touring Car Championship was at its very peak - drivers the talent of Yvan Muller, Andy Priaulx, Alex Zanardi, Gabrielle Tarquini, Alain Menu and Nicola Larini gracing some of the finest race tracks of the world for works team from BMW, SEAT, Chevrolet, Volvo, and strong independent outfits running competitive Alfa Romeo's and Honda's all combined to make a simply phenomenal championship, one that is hard to argue against as some of the best racing on offer of that era.

Keen to tap into the growing popularity of the series, along would come SimBin Studios and the 'Race' franchise of games, attempting to recreate the championship in virtual form, and taking sim racing by storm as one of the most popular on and offline racing titles of its time... even running trackside "eSport" series facilitated by your very own RaceDepartment! (remember this was before eSport was even a thing...).

In the first of a series of new videos (video at the top of the article), I thought it might be fun to blow of the dust from my copy of the game (ok that's a lie, I've got it on Steam), and see how it compares now, over a decade after initial release, and also use the opportunity to ramp graphics right the way through the roof and see how it looks in a way my original rig would never have been able to manage back in the day.

Hope you enjoy the video, and keep an eye out on our YouTube page for more from footage of olden but golden racing sims in the coming weeks ahead...

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 Have you fond memories of the now classic Race 07 title? Do you still play the game? What are your favourite moments from the sim racing series? Let us know in the comments section below!​

 

[sKeno]

until today one of my favorite racing games.

 

[Chris Down]

Race 07 and LFS were what got me into sim racing in the first place, so they both still hold a very special place in my heart

 

[Ole Andreasen]

Saw your video on Race 07, on YouTube yesterday Paul. Luckily I had Race 07, with all available addon packs/DLC´s on my harddrive, and I fired it up after the video you did. Result was that I spent most of the night around Jyllandsringen and Nordsleife... Darn it was a good couple of hours spent.
Yes the game still holds water. Fantastic game and fantastic era of racing. I hope you make more "retro" gaming videos Paul.

 

[John Addison]

Race 07 sitting on my shelf right now. Been there awhile. Gonna go make me dust if off now.

 

[Nevini]

Gonna be the first add VR in a patch and I may play it again ;-)

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Yes the game still holds water. Fantastic game and fantastic era of racing. I hope you make more "retro" gaming videos Paul.

Thanks Ole!

Yes plenty more coming. Got the F1 series from 2010 - 2018, rF1, GTR2, GTL and plenty of others that are going to be in the works

Seriously though, I was shocked how good Race 07 still feels / looks. I reinstalled it just because I thought a video might be fun, but I'm damn well keeping this on the harddrive and I'm going do a full offline season. Such good, good, good fun!

 

[Nevini]

Race 07 was pretty good game back in the day

 

[theravenousbeast]

First, its esports, not eSports.

Second, esports was a legit thing long before your competitions. See Quakecons, CPL and Korean Starcraft in the early 00s

 

[Dennis Phelan]

On the HD, played when an IRL event is upcoming and no other title has the venue!
Thousand + laps on the Nordschleife!
If I remember right I ran 35000km on various tracks my second year at RD using it.
4555 hours played!
What would it have been without Yves Larose and Keith Barrick?

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

4555 hours played!

Damn that's some commitment

 

[the steeg]

Still love Race07. actually raced it the other night, was still good

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

First, its esports, not eSports.

Looks like we are both right, or wrong, depending on your position

Second, esports was a legit thing long before your competitions. See Quakecons, CPL and Korean Starcraft in the early 00s

Wow Korean Starcraft, how did I miss that "sport"

 

[Cote Dazur]

Remembering Race 07, we came a long way.

 

[theravenousbeast]

Wow Korean Starcraft, how did I miss that "sport"

[mod edit: offensive language]

edit: here's a read for you
http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_...ated-press-stylebook-went-esports-not-esports

 

[Amanda]

Race07 was my first true simulator.

In 2012, for some reason, YouTube offered me a video from race-media.tv. It was Sean Edwards racing his Porsche Cup on the Nordschleife (RIP). I thought "cool! let's see this guy driving". It was amazing seeing what he could do.
Having played a few F1 games from CODEMASTERS before, I knew a lap shouldn't take more than a few minutes. So, a few minutes went by, and since I didn't know the track, I though "OK, a lap must have passed already". But after several minutes I saw something I remembered seeing before, and it was long apart. I then researched what "nordschleife" was and was again amazed , now at how long the track was.
So, I searched about this track on YouTube and saw people playing games on it. I knew I had to try this by myself and this is what got me into Sim Racing.

One of these games was Race07. I then went to Steam and downloaded the demo, and it an insta-buy for me. However, it didn't come with the Nordschleife, so I looked for a download of it. That's when I bought everything SimBin related, because I didn't know which expansion contained the Nordschleife and no mod had the one I wanted.

And that's my story on why Race07 is still one of my favorite sims to these days, and how the Nordschleife is one of my favorite tracks.

Race07 is one of those rare games where everything just works. I still play it sometimes, though GTR2 is the one and old sim I play the most after rFactor 2, Project Cars 2, and RaceRoom.

 

[Terry Rock]

Its still on my harddrive and in my Steam library.
I'm curious now.
I haven't tried to run it since WindowsXP days.
It was always good fun to 'push' that Chevy Lacetti around the Nords.
What'll be fun, is turning every single setting to max with hardware that can run it.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Good to know there are still ignorant around

Edit: Decided to tone down my reply.

BUT I have made a report, and recommended a ban for you. I think RD deserves a better class of person than yourself.

 

[Antony Snook]

I am a fan of Race 07 even today. I have not had a good time with codemasters as i feel the game is Arcade and very hard. rFactor 2 is better but has issues setting up and making it work.
The Race 07 game has a simple interface and you can be competitive even with minimal skill and talent.
Much like the game i grew up with in the 80's Geoff Crammond Grandprix. Wish i kept the old Comedore Amiga so i can still run it. real simple real easy and none of the behind scenes stuff like stupid videos and stuff. The Graphics has improved but not the game play.

 

[theravenousbeast]

.

You would think motorsport fans would be less ignorant of esports, considering many sports fan do not consider motorsport a proper sport as well as not recognizing racing drivers as athletes.

EDIT: Another good read.

edit: you're not getting away with deleting your response by the way.

EDIT 2: Actually, I am