The last time we had a licensed BTCC Game was in 1998. ToCa 2 Touring Cars was released in 1998 for the PlayStation and Windows. I haven't played that game for what feels like donkey's years, but I do vividly remember it being fantastic. Obviously compared to games nowadays, the graphics were atrocious, as you'd expect from a 20 plus year old game. But aside from that, it played well, the damage physics were awesome as most Codemasters games are, and the driving physics were pretty realistic for the era. It's not difficult to see why it took off so well.
Fast forward to the 2000's and the BTCC license disappeared from ToCa games. After Race Driver 3, the ToCa name was dropped altogether with Grid being favoured, a game that is obviously still going today. A few years back, there was rumours about the BTCC license returning to our game screens in the form of a new official release for XBOX, PS and PC. Of course this got fans like me very excited. So excited in fact, that when we found out the company had scrapped it, we felt like crying.
The BTCC, as I mentioned in an older post, is my favourite motorsport to watch. You can find out more about why by reading that post. Long story short, the competition is exciting, and literally anyone can win a race. And then there's the blatant disregard for the no contact rule. It's far better than Formula 1. Of course, those are just words, and at the end of the day, you can like whatever you want.
Back to before, we didn't think that the BTCC would ever be seen in the gaming world again. I mean sure, we had some games with odd cars. Grid has some of the older ones, and Forza has a couple namely BMW and Mercedes, but an officially licensed one seems to far gone. That was what we thought, until in April this year, PC racing simulator, RFactor 2 announced that as part of their Q2 update, they were going to be adding, 2 official BTCC cars and tracks. They are, the Infiniti Q50, and the Toyota Corolla from the 2021 season, and you can enjoy them around both Brands Hatch and Donington Park. I cannot wait to try it out. The game has been purchased already and I will be leaving a review when I have done so.
This is the closest thing we have gotten to a fully licensed BTCC game. RFactor knew that the last game was cancelled, and stepped in to pick the license up for itself. So all we can say to Studio 397, is thank you. You saved us all.