Drifting and racing are two completely different things. Unless, of course, you're talking about rally, where there's the requirement to drift around corners because you can't gain any traction at all on the poor quality roads offered up as stages.
Thus, the idea of Drifting, as in Drift 21; on tarmac, fills me with a sense of wasted potential. For so long I've become enamoured with sim racing, from Gran Turismo to Asseto Corsa, to Project Cars, and not once have I intentionally wanted to throw my car into a drift.
I guess what I am trying to say is that drifting is certainly not for me. I guess what I am trying to get at is the tirade that follows.
From the roar of the engines to the thrill of the drifting, smoking tyres, you could have captured my heart and soul. Every time I hear the sound of revving engines, my pulse quickens and my heart races with excitement but not here. The thrill of speed, the precision of the physics is simply not present in this game, and the adrenaline rush of the game does not at all leave me spellbound.
With you, I have experienced some of the most un-exhilarating moments of my life.
Drift 21 has some really bad physics when it comes to slowly snaking your way around a circuit. The only time I liked drifting was in Need for Speed Underground, and this game fails to capture the sense of excitement, speed and danger that the classic EA game did.
What it does capture however, is the distinct sense of "this is a really grass roots form of motorsport", as you must customise your car from the inside out, part by part, in order to go drifting.
This makes the title feel very much like a car mechanic simulator when you're in the garage / workshop, and it is easy to be completely enraptured by the amount of detail in the garage. It is exceptional, and almost every element of the vehicle's drive train and physical features can be customised with a wide array of parts.
All of this adds to very little when you're faced with the unalluring fact that once you get out of that garage, your soul duty is destroy tyres in the pursuit of making big, billowing, toxic blooms of smoke.
You're not even going fast. You're not hunting for the perfect apex, or the slipstream of an opponent to shave fractions of a second off your lap time. There's none of the cold, mechanical, mathematical competitive mysticism that goes into motorsport.
Where motorsport racing is a discrete, delicate balance of pushing the limits, drifting is instead represented in this game as fashionable coat, to be worn on the final days of humanity.
In case you didn't pick it up from this review; I don't enjoy drifting, and I don't enjoy this game. Drifting is just an inferior form of motor racing; and this game is an inferior type of driving game.
Credit where it is due, however; you could get an enormous amount of mechanical knowledge through playing your way through the garage segments of the game, using various tools, and replacing components. It's an expensive hobby in real life, so it makes sense to have a virtual "twin" if you're into car tuning.
The only problem is it is nowhere nearly as complicated or sophisticated as the real world. You won't be getting a torque wrench out here and ensuring that you're not cross-threading bolts and fastners.
Instead you're wondering why you spent so long playing the game, and why you probably spent even longer thinking about the words to type into this review.
Instead of playing this, let nostalgia feed you and go play an old school Need for Speed game instead. It will be much more enjoyable, I promise.
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