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What hath Viper racing wrought? As far as I know, that was the first title to feature one make or model of car, and now Empire has followed in VR's footsteps with Ford Racing, featuring cars from--you guessed it--the Ford Motor Company. While not as focused as Viper, it still narrows its focus, which should make it easier to faithfully represent the cars. Viper Racing did a pretty good job of it, but Empire hasn't distinguished themselves with auto enthusiasts. Did they change that with this release? Read on and find out.

Presentation/Graphics : 94
There's absolutely nothing wrong with Ford Racing in this department. The cars are among the best I've seen in any title, with each being easily identifiable and true to its real life counterpart--the overall shapes and textures are nothing short of fantastic. The tracks are very well done, too, and are very believable for fictional venues. There is some scarcity of off-track scenery, but there are few repeated textures, and each track has a distinct look about it.

One of the biggest drawbacks, and also one of my pet peeves, is the absence of an in-car view while driving. The only available view is a chase camera (or a chase camera with a small TV-type display), but this isn't very well placed and could have been done much better. The lack of choice in the driving view is odd in light of the plethora of replay views available--there are multiple camera views to choose from, some of them quite good. This feature is, once again, among the best I've seen anywhere.

If looks were the only benchmark to meet, Ford Racing would be a contender--but we don't live in so simple a world, and this is not the case.

Presentation/Audio : 34
One word--blah. The only saving grace in the audio area is a decent skid sound, and that's not enough to excite too many racing fans. The music is typical fare (which, as usual, I turned off immediately), and the engine sound is horrible. At the least, I would expect a Ka to sound different from an F-150--but in Ford Racing, they all sound alike, and this is not a good thing. The cars (and trucks, and SUVs) have a sound not unlike a slumbering wasp's nest, and that's being kind. Good sound is an integral part of creating a convincing environment, and Elite completely missed the boat with this one.

Interface/Options : 80
There isn't a lot to complain about when it comes to the interface--it's mostly straightforward, and pretty intuitive. At first I thought it was more complicated than necessary, but after some use I found it quite good.

There are plenty of graphics options, most of them adjusted by sliders (a good idea), and the audio options are all there--but what happened to the controller setup? The only settings are choosing from a joystick, wheel, or keyboard, and some very basic configuration. When using a wheel or stick, the only assignable functions are for shift up and shift down--I have no idea why this was done, but it's nowhere near complete. Ford Racing also supports only 2-axis controllers, so be sure to set your wheel up right before starting the software.

Gameplay : 36
I wanted to like Ford Racing--and I really tried. There are some good ideas here, but a few glaring flaws more than counter them. I'll cover the good points first: