Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli – PS3 – Review

It’s hard to argue with that view. Ferraris are
fast, gorgeous, and ultra-expensive. If you can have one, it sends a message:
you aren’t just another driver on the road. You are the driver on the road.

Over the years we’ve seen many licensed racing
games, but only a handful of them focused on one particular automobile
license. And of those few, just one left a lasting impression: a low-budget
Ford racer that was nowhere near as cool as the vehicles it featured. Once
Ferrari Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli was unveiled, it seemed the tide would
change in favor of the single-licensed racer. How could it not? Dozens of
Ferraris, 12 licensed tracks, adaptable AI and 1080p support were all on the
roster of promised features.

Zoom Zoom

Sleek and stylish. Those are the first two
words that come to mind when looking at Ferrari Challenge. The 50+ Ferrari
models have been re-created with optimal realism, allowing them to impress
onlookers distracted by Burnout or Gran Turismo. The deep interiors, intricate
touches and textures that are generations closer to achieving photo-realism
make this the best visual representation of one automobile license in a single
game. Even the menu screens are enhanced with giant images of a Ferrari, each
taken from an in-game model.

If "sleek" and "stylish" are the first words
triggered by the graphics, you’re probably wondering what other words come to
mind. As an officially licensed product, Ferrari Challenge couldn’t be made
without the watchful eye of the auto manufacturer. Real-world tracks are
available, including Infineon, Misano, and the Virginia Raceway. But once the
first race began – and every other race after that – only two words came to
mind: slip and slide.

Ferrari Challenge(d)

There’s a significant difference between
intelligent AI and perfect AI. Intelligent AI feels realistic; perfect AI just
means your opponents are pre-programmed experts that never screw up. I’ve got
nothing against a challenging video game. In fact, challenge is preferred 100%
of the time. But while you are technically racing against the most skilled AI
opponents on the planet, you are physically battling unstable controls and
corner-heavy courses. The way a Ferrari handles in this game is akin to a
drift-based racer without the drifting, or like Burnout without the ability to
turn quickly. On your first race, you might even think of it as hard-to-steer
version of Test Drive Unlimited.

To make it through even a medium-sized corner,
you must brake severely, as shown on screen by the red line in the middle of
the road, should you choose to leave the acceleration/deceleration indicator
turned on. If you brake too soon, time is wasted; if you brake too late,
there’s no way you’ll make the turn without going off the road, leading to an
instant skid – or worse – a spin-out. This isn’t spontaneous but continuous.
There is no happy medium where the player suddenly learns to recover from
these issues. The only way around a mistake is to not make one at all. If this
is the closest thing to real-world racing, I’m perfectly content playing
racing games that bend the truth.

There are a few different modes, including
season and trophy races, but they differ only in the way each course is
presented, not in the way the game actually plays. On certain courses in the
arcade mode, if you go out of bounds slightly but on purposely to pass an
opponent, there won’t be any repercussions. But if you slide off the track
accidentally, it’s an instant penalty.

Now what happens when you bump an opponent,
causing him to drive off the track (and likely lose the race)? Kick back and
relax. You won’t be punished. But suppose you’re trying to stay on the track
and the opposite happens (an opponent pushes you off). Now you’ll get a
penalty for sure.

In the arcade mode, penalties aren’t dished out
the old-fashioned way. Actually, to be clear, arcade modes rarely have
penalties of any kind. But when they do, they’re given in the form of time or
point deductions that are calculated at the end of the race. In Ferrari
Challenge, penalties are delivered on-the-spot by physically slowing your
vehicle. For the three or four seconds that the penalty lasts, you won’t be
able to drive more than 30mph. Though it’s possible that real Ferrari racing
is the same way (I suppose there could be a mechanism inside each vehicle that
allows race officials to reduce your speed at will using a remote control), in
a video game, and certainly in an arcade mode, it’s an annoying feature that
doesn’t fit.