Racing games don’t tend to bother with a backstory; they tend to take two forms; either professional simulations, where players worry too much about the depth of their tyre tread, or ridiculous themed racers, where your car can take more damage than Charlie Sheen’s liver. Vae Victis’s Victory: The Age of Racing is more in the second camp but, as the video below shows, it’s got a unique dystopian backstory.
So, the totally-irrelevantplotis when that the government fairly decides that people can’t control cars properly and that should all be automated (not such a huge leap given what the google cars have been up to) a bunch of selfish petrolheads start rebuilding old gas guzzlers toendanger the world all overagain. And you get to be one of those aberrant reprobates!
Despite that premise, the footage we’ve seen makes it look like vanilla, populist racing. Once you’ve downloaded the client, you get to customise and create your cars, then try them out in multiplayer races with other players.
Though the game includes in-game gold (which we’ve got 5 Euros of below, should you want to try it out), there’s no pay to win – it’s purely for cosmetic items. This is key in a hardcore racing game, as the complexity of the simulation has to be wide enough that there’s always room for tinkering to increase your performance on particular tracks – just like real racing.
The races themselves are short and fast, happening in quick succession, not lasting for hours. Compared to Codemaster’s paltry browser-based F1 management sim, this is a proper AAA racing sim. You learn the basics on the Rookie class cars, and gradually start playing with the Semi-Pro and Pro classes as time goes by. All player stats are freely available on the game’s website, so you can get an idea of who you’re racing against.
It’s currently in the second stage of beta with no release date announced, but it’s being patched regularly.
Here’s five free Euros of in-game gold. http://victorythegame.com/promo/5euro?idAff=35