BeaterCore

TLDR: A fun game with a surprisingly in depth physics model and percentage based degradation to parts. Marred by a simplistic npc handling model that uses rubber banding as a fix for difficulty. Good for someone who wants a casual experience on easier difficulties, but inconsistent npc behavior leads to a frustrating experience for someone who wants a challenging and competitive experience. This game is a nice little simplistic racer that relies on micromanagement of wear on the parts of your car to create an experience where you have to ask yourself before every race if it is worth it to bang your freshly rebuild engine off the limiter to get that win, when you will just be spending the prize money to rebuild it again, leaving you no money to replace the rear tires you just shredded. Pros: -Roughly 4 beaters per class (with 4 classes) bought at a rotating used car lot -Wear model that directly affects performance of parts -Old school but surprisingly in depth handling model -Tuning in the form of tire sizes, spring rates, locked differentials, and flywheel weights -Variety of tracks including tarmac, dirt, and snow with rain variants as well -Basic visual customization in the form of paint colors and stickers -could run on a rotten potato Cons: -AI handling model that has trouble keeping up and staying on track and sometimes upright -sometimes cars don't even start a race, or start before the countdown has ended -Use of extreme rubber banding at higher difficulty levels, which leads the AI to become heat seeking missiles as the handling model can't deal with all the extra speed. AI will regularly fly off the track into walls (or you), sometimes loosing wheels in the process, reset on track and be up your but 2 turns later. -No "performance" upgrades (you can upgrade the engine of a car to the next class) The game fits in a fun category and does the advertised things well. Lots of grinding races is needed, as sometimes you only make enough money to fix the parts that broke. The starting car is fun, but depending on you driving style can make the beginning very hard. I was pulling my hair out until i could afford another car in the same starting class. The AI however is in dire need of repair. On easy or very easy mode, the AI is much more predictable and has a good enough time handling a race, but feels too easy. They are very erratic regardless of difficulty, which gives a nice sense of wreckfest-esque beater racing as they will end up pit maneuvering you and smashing you mid apex. However on normal mode which is the highest difficulty, they receive a large boost to rubber banding. This leads to the AI in some cases to flip over on their own mid turn, or fly off into the trees, walls, or other obstacles if they are behind you. They reset almost immediately, and the rubber banding means they are almost immediately right behind you again if they are able to keep it out of the ditch. On long straights they will blow right by you like you are standing still, just to fly off the track at the next corner, or worse, they catch you in the corner like its a Forza Horizon lobby. This leads to scenarios where you are either walking away with the win as they can't keep their cars on the road, or you are fighting for your life to stay in 5th while the leader is half a lap ahead of you. This is regardless of your actual skill due to the rubber banding. Combine this with the fact that championship position is based on total time it took to complete the races instead of what position you finished each race in and you have scenarios where if you lose 1 race it can be difficult to make up that time due to the AI rubber banding to keep up with you. Recommended solutions are to reload and change difficulty when presented with a race where the rubber banding is broken, but that lack of balance is frustrating and ruins the natural progression. It leaves you wishing that the AI was just smarter, regularly faster, and more consistent. Its not that it needs to be easier, its that it needs to be a good challenge more consistently across whichever difficulty you are playing. I see a lot of people compare this to My Summer Car, which is not really true. The feeling is somewhat there but the mechanics are way way different. You don't build the car, and you don't turn any wrenches. Parts just pop on and off. If you're an old potato like me you might remember Street Rod from back in the Amiga and Commodore 64 days, and this game is more akin to that. I would only recommend this game to someone who appreciates the novelty of the game mechanics and wants a nice casual experience. If you are like me and want a competitive experience that rewards you for good driving and car prep, this game will be very frustrating. All in all a good game for the money, hopefully the game will get many updates and grow as time goes on.