Test Drive Le Mans for Dreamcast

In Endurance racing, driver fatigue and energy are a major factor. The 24 hr race at Le Mans really tests a driver's resolve to win. But this sort of endurance is difficult to simulate for console games or the PC. When you play an endurance race for a long time, your hands just get sore and your eyes hurt. Test Drive Le Mans feels so real, my body got sore sitting in one spot for a while even during a six hour race. Test Drive Le Mans discards all the bad vibes associated with previous "Test Drive" games. This is a truly impressive racer for the Dreamcast.

GRAPHICS:
The game has truly jaw-dropping graphics. There are only about 10 tracks in the game, so there is good detail in all the tracks. The cars have excellent detail. The headlight and tail-light reflections are cool, and driving at night is very well done. There is so much detail even in the sky, like the sun setting through the day, the moon, and the stars. The game runs very fast, and slows down occasionally with a whole lot of cars on the screen. The trackside details like grandstands and other objects also look real. Details like reflections, rain, glare, dust, and grass are all there. The only thing missing from making the game completely accurate is the damage engine, or lack thereof. The cars sustain no damage, and that's too bad. It would probably take a lot to model damage on all the different car models included in the game. The road looks pretty bland, but skid marks are stored through the duration of the race. There's some pop up, but it's only noticeable on the Le Mans tracks because it has such long straights. The replay mode really highlights the graphics superiority of this game, you have to really look hard to notice that it's only a game.

GAMEPLAY:
The game has a few modes including Quick Race, Championship, Le Mans, and Time Trial. You start the game with a basic contingent of cars to pick from, and about 4 tracks open to race. As you succeed through the quick races and championships, you unlock cars and tracks. There are about 10 tracks in all, and about 40 cars to drive. Some models are represented by more than one race team. The Championship mode is probably the most fun, because of the variety of races and weather effects that randomly come into play. Weather is selectable in the Le Mans race as well. The Le Mans race can be run in five different durations: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, and 24 hours. All races other than the 24 hour race are time lapsed to seem like a 24 hour race. In the shorter races, it's a little weird how the night passes by so quickly.

Unfortunately, there is no career mode that lets you upgrade your way through the game. Winning cars after a race is consolation though. But I found a major flaw in the game design: there seems to be no way to save your progress through the game (If somebody knows how, please tell me how!!). The game does save your options and there is a way to save your progress through a Le Mans game. I played the game a few times and got frustrated by this save game miscue that I now know codes to get all the cars and open all tracks so that I don't have to redo races I've already won.

The AI is very good in this game. The slower GT2 class cars try their best to move out of your way as you try to pass them. For the most part, the drivers ahead of you try to protect their position by some blocking, but if you start to get rowdy with them, they'll bump you pretty good and in some cases make you lose positions for trying to pass them. Clean passes don't elicit such reactions from the AI. The computer opponents do pit on the Le Mans races as they should, but they seem to pit less than you on some of the shorter races. One pet peeve is that when you pit, the game forces you to change tires when that might not be required. On some of the Le Mans races, the tires still look good but you have to refuel. If you could choose not to replace those tires, you might be able to save some pit time.

CONTROL:
TDLM has very good controls, and they actually feel more arcade like than racing sim. The cars really stick to the track well, and it's not easy to send cars into a spin, unlike games like Gran Turismo 1 & 2. It's fairly easy to win very decisively on the amateur and intermediate levels. But with all driving aids off, and the AI set at the expert settings, the game becomes very challenging.

SOUND:
The game has good sound effects, although the music is lackluster. Each car has a slightly different sound. The braking and skidding sound are authentic. The collision sounds do leave something to be desired. There is no in race commentary and that would definitely add to the overall effect. The grandstands and crowds are alive with good sound effects.

OVERALL:
TDLM is a great racing game for the Dreamcast, and among the best for the console. The 24 Le Mans Race is faithfully depicted and is definitely an endurance race even for the average couch gamer. The other races are interesting, but a larger variety of tracks would be welcome. There are enough cars in the game to keep the interest level. The game save problem that I encountered is inexcusable. I don't know if it's a bug or a problem that's limited to my copy of the game.