Hot Lap Racing

Hot Lap Racing Launch Version Review: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's Good About The Game? Car List: Car enthusiasts won't hesitate to note rare Brands within it's roster such as Venturi or Ligier. The game features a multitude of racing disciplines such as WEC, F4, F3, F3000, F1, BTCC, GT3, GT4, DTM, Stock Car, etc. making it feel reminiscent of Project Cars 2's impressive amount of racing disciplines. Career Mode: The career mode has genuine progression (breath of fresh air from bare-bones career modes like AC) and presents a driver rating system which will give you a letter grade for every event you complete, unlocking new events for obtaining for example 3 C+ class licenses. There is also reputation you earn which will unlock special events and parts for the final vehicle, Formula X. Aside from the career mode, multiplayer is present which includes 4 player local split-screen, which is so rare to have nowadays. Sense of Speed: This game gets speed RIGHT. If you're tired of cars going 200MPH and looking like they're driving through a residential area, this game is for you. For few people it can be TOO fast as you can feel like tracks are more difficult to navigate as opposed to GT7 for example. Devs Are Based: References such as an achievement called "Samir You're breaking the car", and cool liveries like the Daytona USA livery on one of the stock cars. It Feels Like a Game: It sounds odd to say but it feels like an actual game as opposed to a tech demo, which is really refreshing. The feeling of the game is very stylized, reminiscent of legendary racing games like Total Immersion Racing and TOCA race driver, albeit with a more modern touch of vibrance. The controls are faily simple and you can kind of just turn your brain off and enjoy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What Can Be Improved About The Game? Handling Model: The game uses it's own homemade physics engine which is impressive considering it's limited budget and staff (21 people). That being said, the cars are very hit or miss in terms of handling. Some vehicles like the Mygale F3R or the Ligier JS P217 handle really well, whilst other vehicles like the BR 200 (BAR 002) handle very oddly. Faster vehicles tend to understeer when going any faster than 220KPH (135MPH), and most have an over-steering issue when in the first 3 gears. You can kind of just chuck most of the cars into a corner going full speed and it takes away from the SIM aspect of the sim/cade. That being said, If you step away from the whole "sim/cade" idea, the handling is perfectly servicable and is great for casual play. Graphics: The game is mainly built for the Nintendo Switch, but despite that I don't mind the graphics of the game. The car models are actually really good on both PC and Nintendo Switch, I like the environments of the game despite the geometry being more simplistic. The biggest gripe people will have is the Anti Aliasing and the trees. The trees are mainly just low quality sprites and whilst serviceable, dent the graphical fidelity of the game much more than one would think. If the game were to receive graphical improvements, the trees would absolutely change the look of the game for the better. Performance (Nintendo Switch): The game can run smoothly on some tracks and have significant frame drops on others, bots don't affect the frame rate too much and the game visually looks decent. Optimizations would be great as this game was mainly targeted as a premier Switch Racer. Averages 25 FPS as of Version 1.02. Currently the game on version 1.1 averages about 27 fps, keeps consistent 30 more often however significant frame drops in certain tracks are still present. Multiplayer: After playing 6 hours of a private session, I can advocate for the need to improve the multiplayer aspect of the game. More often then not, lag spikes would prevent me from racing wheel to wheel with my peer. Moreover, our vehicles didn't seem to be in sync all the time which would result in one of us crashing the other car without noticing. That being said, whenever these issues weren't prevalent, the racing was fantastic. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What Is Bad About The Game? Lack of Usability: The game does not include MPH units, no fully custom bindings, no steering sensitivity option, no camera adjustment mode, and no ability to customize the difficulty of the Career mode. That being said, the devs have addressed all of these issues (See next portion of Review) AI: The bots are mainly tied to a racing line, and have absolutely no regard for human life. They will not hesitate to shunt you into the shadow realm, and their favorite thing to do is pit maneuvering. They are also not competitive at all, as I have been able to lap cars on Expert Difficulty. That being said, the devs have addressed this as well (See next portion of Review) The Price: Some people simply won't pay 30 dollars for an Indie title, that being said the game would fare much better if it went on sale as often as Assetto Corsa, or if the standard price of the game lowered to 20 dollars for example. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What Can We Expect For The Future? Summer Update: The Devs plan to release a big global update later this August improving on all aspects of the game. Handling, AI, Usability options, and even some new content already. Steering Wheel Support: The devs are planning to release wheel support in October. More Tracks/Cars? The budget they have is limited, however depending on the success of the game, they will be able to license more vehicles and tracks throughout the game's lifetime. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENSUS: Hot Lap Racing is an Indie love-letter to the sim/cade genre of racing games. Despite its shortcomings, Zero Games Studios have provided a solid base to sculpt this title into a definitive indie racing game. If you like more sim oriented games, maybe look elsewhere as this game possesses a more arcadey feel. However if you love old school sims like TIR, TOCA race driver, etc... then this game is right up your alley. Initial game rating: 7.3/10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATES SINCE LAUNCH: 1.0.4 (global improvement, AI improvement, UI additions, livery/driver content, bug fixes) 1.1 (New GT3, LMP3, and JGTC cars, new overview feature, bug fixes) 1.1.1 (Wheel Support, Steam Deck Verified, Crossplay, Track Limits fixes, Slipstream improvement, bug fixes) 1.1.2 (Controller Vibration, New National Park Racetrack) 1.1.3 (New Circuit des Ecuyers track, steam achievement bug fixes) Current game rating: 7.3/10 >>>> 7.8/10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TL/DR: Project Cars if it was an early 2000's sim -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pros * Handling similar to GRID (2008)/GRID 2 minus the suspension detail * Career mode is better than Forza Motorsport (2023) * All cars have cockpit cameras * No rubber-banding * Decent amount of content for a small scale indie game * Local Splitscreen Cons * AI is terrible. Bots need lots of work * Collision system is really bad. In combination with chaotic AI, makes the game borderline unplayable * Graphics are bad * UI is underdeveloped * No split times * Time trial leaderboards are not separated in car classes. * Halo beams are way to big and create massive blind spots. No way to make them transparent * No damage model * Music is annoying * Audio is unrealistic and fits better in Mario Kart * Sausage curbs will launch you in space * Has multiplayer achievements and multiplayer is dead unless you set up private game * Follow camera needs more sway This game is not simcade as advertised. It is 100% arcade. All cars handle like open wheelers and you have to drive them as such to be fast. Handling reminds a lot of first 2 GRID games, just less detailed. There is little to no body roll and suspension feels like you are driving open wheel race cars even if they are production cars. Suspension is very stiff and turn in is very sharp, all cars feel light and none of the them will understeer. Brakes are super effective. You can brake in last few meters in every corner and still make it also in GT cars. If you don't expect any level of serious simulation out of this, you can get used to handling quickly and it's not all that bad. HLR has very bad collisions system. Hitboxes are larger than car models and on touching anything car spins around it's center point, like it has only one contact point with the ground right in the middle. It would be manageable normally, but in combination with AI drivers this makes the game borderline unplayable. AI drives like it is playing pool with cars. Bots are so bad, they will ruin your every race, unless you qualify in P1. AI races are mostly survival. If you come in contact with AI, you are gonna be the one spinning 100% of the time. And bots will contact you. They drive like psychopaths in tanks - chaotic, bumping into everything and will send you to shadow realm even on straights. ALL AI races will be about figuring out how to stay far away from bots and quickly get away from them after overtakes. And what makes this even worse, in career races, there is no restart. So make sure, you qualify well. Bots brake way to much, to early and in combination with erratic movements, overtaking them is not always straight forward job. Pro tip: Always start races with chase cam and keep an eye on all bots around you. If you just stick to race line, even on straights, they are gonna punt you out 100% of the time. At least there's no rubber-banding, which usually ruins racing games. There is a reason to push and build a gap in case you make a mistake. AI will not be stuck to your bumper. Game has mix of real and made up cars. Some are licensed, most are made up or close copies. Tracks have little to no variation, elevation changes or interesting layouts. They are forgettable apart from off-brand Daytona, Paul Ricard and Magny-Cours. Graphics are bad. There are no noticeable post processing effects, filters, particles or special effects of any kind. Lighting, textures, everything is flat. Car liveries don't always react to lighting and maintain the brightest, cleanest colors. While technically game is not bad, devs clearly are missing some firepower in art departments. Assets have varied quality, detail and style. Visual style for all the assets is not unified. It looks very dated. Recently I've been playing a lot of older racing games from PS2/Xbox era and somehow those games look significantly better than this. It would have been much better if devs chose to make visual style more artistic, stylized maybe even low poly or retro style if they could not manage higher quality assets. But if gameplay for you is more important than visuals, I guess you can get used to it. Bad design extends to UI/UX. It is underdeveloped. Visually it feels like a placeholder or pre-made assets. Sessions will auto start without you confirming. Game does not show split times, which is very obvious in time trial modes. Time trial leaderboards are not separated in classes. It is the same for all cars, so If you want to compete, you can do it only with the fastest car. No restart button for races/qualifying. Halo beams usually do not translate from real cars to flat screen and take up to much space. That's why games usually come with option to make them transparent, but not here. In this game they are extra massive and create big blind spot right in the middle of the car. Music gets annoying quick. It's some kind of experimental fruity loops synth pop. I turned it off after few races. It's to obnoxious, repeating and does not fit the game. Cars sound like asset packs or public library sfx that would fit in one of Mario Kart clones rather than in more serious racing game. They are flat, non distinct, unrealistic. Despite unappealing presentation and horrendous AI, somewhere underneath there is a good indie racing game, that has a great potential if devs put more work into it, by addressing those issues. Game feels like passion project from racing fans. And most problems seems to be coming from lack of experience in game development or lack of resources. While technically it is very solid, presentation is rather outdated and AI is some of the worst I've experienced in any racing game. Career mode is better than many AAA racing games in recent years in terms of progression, events, unlocks. On top of that it has empty, but still working multiplayer, even local split screen, which is very rare as well. Handling is rather simple, but aggresive and sharp. Sadly racing fans have been so starved for good racing games that even this one seems like a somewhat decent option, but only on a deep sale and if you have impeccable patience. I would not recommend it for full price. It's asking way to much for what is here. But it is decent enough second monitor game if there's nothing better to play.

[h1]INTRO[/h1] An indie arcade racer with licensed content? What is this? [h1]THE GOOD AND THE BAD[/h1] + Incredibly obscure selection of licensed vehicles and tracks + Non-licensed vehicles, liveries and tracks designed to be very close to the original + Keyboard-friendly (despite the game strongly suggesting a gamepad) + Full-fledged, easy to pick up arcade handling (not simcade as presented) + Cockpit view, fully modeled with working side mirrors (unexpected, honestly) + Vibrant colors, performs effortlessly on low-range PCs as well + Impressive career system for an indie game, bigger games should take notes + Steam Cloud is not mentioned, but it's there and it works - Extremely frustrating AI - Super poor anti-aliasing regardless of your settings - Unpredictable physics, specifically kerbs and collisions - Fixed difficulty (or lack thereof) in career mode - Not a fan of the soundtrack, IMHO doesn't fit the concept of the game (while this is an arcade racer, it's still not Horizon Chase or some retro game with custom art style where this kind of music backdrop would be more fitting) [h1]NOTES[/h1] The minimal requirements on the store page provide false information, specifically the storage space. While it's true that the game downloads 4 GB worth of files, the actual game after unpacking takes up roughly 20 GB. That's still a perfectly fine number given the content included, but I feel it's worth mentioning for those who are really limited storage-wise. Also, the minimal requirements list GTX 1060, however the game runs steady 60 fps on GTX 1650 in ultra settings, so the game surely works on much weaker computers than advertised. Which is not surprising, considering the fact that the game is looking like something from late PS2-era upscaled to modern resolutions. I like the visuals though, very old school. The car models are detailed enough, but the rest looks rather dated, straight out of 2006. Not an issue as you get a super smooth performance in reward and it's a small indie game after all. I also want to mention that some achievements randomly unlock for no reason (way before you actually reach that specific milestone), but hey, it's better than them not unlocking at all, right? [h1]OVERALL[/h1] It's always nice to see a track racer with licensed vehicles that's not a simulator. Keyboard users and casual gamers deserve something too. Driving modern Le Mans prototypes (all classes!) in an arcade game is also unheard of, so for that concept alone it's hard to give the game a thumbs down. Where else can you drive a Ligier LMP4, Duqueine LMP3, Aurus LMP2, Alpine LMP1 or Peugeot Hypercar on the likes of Kuwait Motor Town, Salzburgring or Circuit du Var? That's right, NOWHERE! HOWEVER, it's way more fun to just drive around in your desired car rather than "race" here, which is the whole career mode (thankfully the vast majority of cars is unlocked straight away). The AI is so embarrassingly, offensively bad that I'm willing to believe the original concept of this game had nothing to do with racing and instead was fully focused on time trial (hence the Hot Lap Racing name). The AI doesn't give you space, doesn't even acknowledge you being on the track, they simply spin you out from the track, time and time again. On some tracks it's especially bad. Therefore, there's no actual racing here. Your job is to qualify first and run away as far as you can. Or you can skip qualifying altogether, start from last (which is where you are going to end up anyway after first contact with the AI you won't be expecting) and hope for the best (the races are too short to make up positions in some cases). THANKFULLY the hot lap mode exists too and there you can just drive around freely and aim for the best lap (the game only has two separate standings however, for modern and classic cars). Don't buy this at full price (which I guess has to be so high due to all the licenses included), but feel free to do so when you can find it in a bundle like I did or during an extreme discount. Despite its rather serious flaws, it still offers something that other games simply do not. Certain car/track combinations (especially in an arcade environment) cannot be reproduced in any other game. You can also set up open class races to take further advantage of the rather curious car list. For this alone I'm simply not giving it a thumbs down, though if I paid anything close to the full price, I wouldn't be happy with what the game offers or rather, how it actually plays, because the concept is genius. If only the actual races were enjoyable in terms of actually racing other people, which, you know, is a pretty key aspect in a RACING game, that also has the word RACING in its title. But regardless, I get a big mid-2000s racing game vibe, kind of like a modern take on Ford Racing, but solely track focused. It's very simple and straightforward, but enjoyable (if you stay far enough from AI cars). I'll surely devote (and already did) more time to this than I expected and more than the game honestly deserves. But it really gets some of the stuff right despite some key issues. I think people born in the 1990s can feel some weird nostalgia here. It may even end up as a hidden gem for some people (it surely does for me), but get it for cheap and accept its flaws. [h1]RATING[/h1] 5.75/10

I was looking for a Grid like game and this game had the potential. The car and track selection is refreshing, but the driving dynamics are way too much arcade like to my taste. Requested a refund. If you're look for a casual racer, this might be for you. If you're looking for a multiple car class sim racer, look elsewhere.

(Deutsch) Habe das Game vor Release schon an die 14 Stunden schon gespielt als Spieletester. Von den Einstellungen des Game kann man einiges einstellen wie einige Grafikeinstellungen wo man auf deutscher Sprache einige Texte kürzen sollen die geht über die Maske heraus der Text, das sieht man in meinem ersten Part 1 Video des Game. Beim Sound kann man nur drei Sachen einstellen SFX, Musik und Autolautstärke. Bzw. unter anderem die Hauptlautstärke. Das Game habe ich mit meinem PDP Xbox One Controller gespielt. Habe die komplette Karriere des Game gespielt. Von Sicht der Auto sehen gut aus das man auch die Lizenzen bekommen haben für das Game. Das Cockpit sehen einige auch toll aus aber manche sind überarbeitungswürdig wie der Rückspiegel und bei einem Auto der Seitenspiel ein Klotz im Spiegel zu sehen ist aber die Entwickler wissen Bescheid. Die Strecken sehen gut aus nicht wie einer schreibt das die Grafik PS1 Niveau hat man kann auf die PS3 Niveau gehen von der Grafik man bekommt kein Augenkrebs etc wie bei den PS1 und PS2 Spiele wenn man die vergleicht. Wenn man Strecken abkürzt und dann Strafe bei euch steht und denkt was ihr für eine Strafe erhält euer Wagen wird glaube so geschäft 3-5 Sekunden langsamer dann könnt ihr wieder beschleunigen. Dann gibt es wegen der Lizenz wenn man Strecken Abkürzt oder Unfälle kollidiert wird die Lizenz Note schlechter am Ende des Turnieres bewertet. Es gibt im Fahrerfeld viele bekannte Rennlegenden die als Gegner gegen dich antreten und einen muss du vor dem Turnier auch auswählen welchen Wagen du in dem Turnier dann fährst. Dabei sind auch eigene Entwickler im Starterfeld vertreten. Als erstes wenn man die Karriere anfängt gehr wie jeder Rennlehrling in die Fahrschule das habe ich im Part 2 alles im Video gezeigt komplett. Wenn man die geschafft hat kommen drei Turnierbäume da muss man mindestens B und C Lizenz schaffen bei den Turniere um die anderen Kariere Leveln freizuschalten. Dabei schaltet ihr 8 separate Events frei die man noch nebenbei noch spielen könnt findet ihr unter dem Punkt Elektro Assistent und dann mit RB Taste Events klicken dann erscheinen die 8 Stück. Habe kein Video gemacht, weil das Electro Event das 7. fehlerhaft noch ist und nicht erfolgreich abschließen kann, habe den Publisher schon Bescheid gesagt. Bei den Turniere sammelt ihr bis ihr zum großen Finale seit 9 Autoteile ein für das Formula X-Treme Finale wo ihr dann ein 400 km/h Boliden fährt der in sich hat. Dann gibt es noch der Hot Lap Event wo ihr eigene Wagen und die Strecke auswählen könnt und die Zeit aus aller Welt schlagen könnt. Dabei gibt noch die Meisterschaft wo ihr verschiedene Klassen eine Meisterschaft spielen könnt und auch eigene Strecken auswählen könnt. Am Schluss gibt es noch ein Multiplayer Bereich den man Lokal, Host, Privat wählen könnte. Da warte ich wann der Publisher Zeit hat dann werde ich noch ein Part 40 Video darüber machen über den Multiplayer. Fazit: Wer auf so Automaten Rennspiele steht ist das Spiel passend, weil es gibt kein Schadenmodell, Reifenabnutz und Benzinverbrauch. Wer auf Arcade unds Simulation Rewnnspiel denkt seit ihr falsch. Mir hat das Game Spaß gemacht habe über 35 Stunden das Game gezogt dabei die 14 Stunden abziehen die ich vor Release gespielt habe sind es 21 Stunden die ich in das Spiel investiert habe. Der Release Preis wenn man es nicht kennt wären viel zu hoch aber ich kannte das Game schon. Da würde man eventuell abwarten wenn ein Salepreis kommen wird. Es werden auch Update noch kommen es gibt eine Roadmap die ihr auf der Steam Seite zu finden gibt. Hier mein komplette Playliste auf Youtube zu dem Game Hot Lap Racing: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4L1-3zk3d9uwOJUFCkTjGI1Js93CHH6W __________________________________________________ (English): I played the game for about 14 hours before it was released as a game tester. You can adjust a lot of the game's settings, such as some graphic settings where you can shorten some of the text in German, the text is shown via the mask, you can see that in my first Part 1 video of the game. You can only adjust three things for the sound: SFX, music and car volume. Or, among other things, the main volume. I played the game with my PDP Xbox One controller. I played the entire career of the game. From a car perspective, they look good, and they got the license for the game. Some of the cockpits look great, but some are in need of a makeover, like the rear-view mirror, and with one car in the side game, a block can be seen in the mirror, but the developers know about it. The tracks look good, not like someone says, that the graphics are PS1 level, you can go to PS3 level in terms of graphics, you don't get eye cancer etc. like with the PS1 and PS2 games when you compare them. If you take shortcuts and then you get a penalty and think about what penalty you will receive, your car will be about 3-5 seconds slower and then you can accelerate again. Then because of the license, if you take shortcuts or have accidents, your license grade will be worse at the end of the tournament. There are many well-known racing legends in the driver field who will compete against you as opponents and you have to choose which car you will drive in the tournament before the tournament. Our own developers are also represented in the starting field. First of all, when you start your career, you go to driving school like every racing apprentice. I showed everything in the video in Part 2. Once you have done that, there are three tournament trees where you have to get at least a B and C license in the tournaments to unlock the other career levels. You unlock 8 separate events that you can also play at the same time. You can find them under the Electric Assistant item and then click on Events with the RB button and the 8 will appear. I didn't make a video because the Electro Event 7 is still faulty and cannot be completed successfully, I have already informed the publisher. In the tournaments you collect 9 car parts for the Formula X-Treme finale until you get to the grand finale, where you drive a 400 km/h racing car that is really something. Then there is the Hot Lap event where you can choose your own car and the track and beat the times from all over the world. There is also the championship where you can play different classes in a championship and also choose your own tracks. At the end there is a multiplayer area where you can choose local, host, private. I'm waiting for the publisher to have time, then I'll make a Part 40 video about the multiplayer. Conclusion: If you like slot machine racing games, this game is suitable because there is no damage model, tire wear and fuel consumption. If you think it's an arcade and simulation racing game, you're wrong. I enjoyed the game and played it for over 35 hours. If you subtract the 14 hours I played before release, I invested 21 hours in the game. The release price if you don't know it would be way too high, but I already knew the game. You might wait until there's a sale price. There will also be updates and there's a roadmap that you can find on the Steam page. Here's my complete playlist on YouTube for the game Hot Lap Racing: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4L1-3zk3d9uwOJUFCkTjGI1Js93CHH6W

This cant be called a racing game. This can be called mario kart or some Unity asset flip quality. The car handling is the absolute worst. AI crashes into you: You spin out so easily and you cant recover. You crash into AI: You spin out not how it works I think?

Hot Lap Racing is the best and entertaining game that has improved and gives you the excitement drama and enjoyment at the same time, it has all the GT, Endurance and F1 Race cars that gives you the chance to become the next Lewis Hamilton, Graham Hill, Jim Clark and the rest to be a world champion in your own right, it is very competitive with Forza Motorsports and Gran Turismo just to make it more fun. overall i give it 10/10

eu gostei do jogo, a jogabilidade arcade me agrada muito, porém ficou devendo na parte do finla do jogo e em um campeonato mais completo com uma full race ia ser muito louco uma 24horas de le mans ou então um jogo uma mais danada!!!!!

I appreciate that they strived to make something more simcade-y and approachable, but this just doesn't feel good to drive; it's incredibly floaty and weightless, the car classes all feel too similar to one another and the AI is braindead decent soundtrack tho

The developers of this game sound like they went: """OK, we made the case to our investors, and now we have a bunch of licensed cars & tracks. Our game kinda sucks and the licensing blew our budget, so let's polish up what we have, and hype it up and pretend it's some Premium Experience™ and hope people pay over 4x what it's worth.""" I can't help but shrug my shoulders at this game, because it's in some weird middle-ground of production value. It borderline feels like a cheap mobile game, but at the same time, some real effort was put into it; such as the presentation & polish, the 1st person cockpit cams, and the fact they engineered (I assume) AI from scratch for this game - which is no meager feat. That and 20 real-world tracks and boatloads of real-world cars was probably tough to get licenses for. At any rate, what brings this game down for me are the physics. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's slidely and strange - and when your car begins to slide or begins to regain traction, it's like an ON/OFF switch has been toggled, rather than being driven by what's happening to your car's tires/suspension/center-of-gravity/etc. It also doesn't help that while the cars look nice, they feel like static meshes just floating above the ground while magically sliding sideways due to meme physics. Overall this is nowhere near worth $42 CAD. It feels worth $10 at most to me, and even then I'd question its value. If you want an Arcade or SimCade racer, there's much better alternatives.