Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends Review

The Test Drive series has never managed to find critical acclaim in quite the same way as certain other racing games out there. Slightly Mad has now moved away from pushing the open road and open world of its Unlimited series with something a little more traditional racing.

Rather than insisting that players buy houses, cars, sunglasses and other wasteful paraphernalia, Ferrari Racing Legends focuses on one thing – driving Ferraris very, very fast.

Breaking itself up into three Ferrari-based time zones, Slightly Mad’s game covers an exhaustive amount of the brands history.

It’s this attention to detail and clear love of the car manufacturer that is the primary reason you should choose this over other, let’s face it, better racing games.

That’s not to say that the core racing experience here is bad, it’s not, but there’s a limited amount of mileage that can be gained out of its laser-like focus.

Work through the main campaign and you’ll be presented with the entire gambit of Ferrari’s legacy, but Slightly Mad struggles to keep things interesting. Beyond time trials, races and umm, races in different Ferraris, there’s not a whole lot to occupy your time.

The races themselves are interesting affairs peppered with peculiar moments fuelled by errant AI opponents. The mixture of different handling styles can be jarring, but beyond that, Test Drive requires a high level of player skill.

Forza’s wrapped up so much of the racing genre we wonder if anyone else can compete.

There’s a racing line, but it’s so small you’ll easily lose it in the pack or in the glare of the sun. Getting to grips with the cars can be a struggle and, ultimately, Test Drive finds itself falling into the territory of ‘there are better racers out there, they just don’t have quite as many Ferraris’.

Without the constraints of a huge open world, Slightly Mad has been able to visually raise the bar, but this still suffers from pop-up and an overall clinical nature that belies the raw energy of Ferrari’s cars.

This really is a racing game for true fans though, and without the licence there’d be no reason at all to play what is a perfunctory, albeit above average, racing game.