In the genre of virtual racing, trucks are being used sparingly. If we leave out the purely civilian driving of the Euro Truck Simulator and the American Truck Simulator, the productions as part of other races that draw attention primarily to other vehicles, we will not have in our hands any full-fledged competition for the FIA ​​European Truck Racing Championship. There are more representatives of motorbikes and maybe even water boats or futuristic hovercraft. Simply blind between the one-eyed king. And this is a major problem and winning the FIA ​​European Truck Racing Championship.

The absence of a competitive environment makes otherwise slightly above-average races a fairly engaging ride with an official license. The game offers nothing original. Apart from the presence of the trucks themselves, the ETRC has nothing to impress. You get exactly what you expect and nothing more - a combination of arcade and simulator, in which you drive trucks around real circuits. There are none of the eight laps during the European Championship career, so you can look forward to Hungaroring, Nurburgring. World carousel is complemented by non-European sites in Canada, Fuji and Australia. Two dozen Volvo, Iveco and Mercedes trucks are modeled with a great deal of attention to detail, including the cab where you spend the most time.

In the menu you will find a traditional offer: one race, championship, career, multiplayer and debris in the form of a poor encyclopedia. The latter offer could provide interesting information, but eventually shrunk to a chopped database of riders and their modest description. The European and World Championships could offer much more material, but you won't find any of them here. Not just ordinary videos from real racing, rider interviews, tutorials, interesting facts. A missed opportunity for unseen material is still a weak appreciation of this step by N-Racing developers.

Leaving the usual offer - including the multiplayer I never found anyone in, so I led the sad and lonely life of a trucker - is the only fun of my career. And not any. If you want to get to the race with other riders, you have to endure a tiring 15-task tutorial where you learn how to brake, accelerate, turn and similar things seen in the race truly sporadically. Irony aside: because of the cumbersome time limits, you will also repeat simple entries. For example, you must brake at a specific location, otherwise you will fly through the stop zone and if you try to approach carefully, you will not be able to stop within the time limit. What will it teach you? Only that a truck is a multi-toned colossus, yes. And the stopping distance is a little longer, too. But in this stupid way, it's not very fun.

Well, you can handle all the assignments from the classroom and go on track. But that's not all, the teleshopping self told the perverted developer. If you want a contract from one of the teams, there's a track and a ride. Just learn it, aimlessly circle without growing your experience. If you decide to throw these boring passages behind and enter the first championship, you will not lose anything. However, the fact that it is going to be tough here and you need to learn the track and the right cornering, take it as a duty. However, why the practice mode in the calendar takes place on a different route than you expect in the carousel of the season is a mystery. You choose a contract, at the beginning it will be only for specific races. Complete the assignment and everyone is happy with you and you can move elsewhere. No one gives you a contract for the whole season at the beginning, you change the cabs of trucks like socks from the beginning.

However, if you are already on the track, it is always worth knowing. The reason is also not very realistic artificial intelligence of other riders. The truck behaves quite differently than a regular car, with which you travel through virtual circuits. You will get this surprising experience almost immediately. The overall cumbersome effect becomes apparent as soon as the accelerator pedal is depressed. Gradual acceleration or maximum speed over 150 km / h is no glory. However, as soon as after 2,000 revolutions, a turbo appears, it is a different coffee. You immediately feel the power of hundreds of horsepower, you have to work with gas or transmission with sensitivity. There is nothing worse than getting the truck into an uncontrolled skid, especially when cornering. It is not just that and you have to choose the bends more sensitive and especially correctly estimate the braking distance, which is much longer.

To make matters worse, jumping on the brakes is reflected in its increased temperature. It is best to hold it at the specified temperature range and cool at appropriate moments. Of course, not too much, its effectiveness is also important. You can leave this feature automatically for the game itself, but it would be a shame. Refreshing typically racing gameplay works. Gradually you will lose your qualification (multi-round) and you are already on the grid - twice a weekend. Scoring on different days is different, but you will find out for yourself. At the moment you have mastered the track, some frustrating moments come to the surface. It has already been suggested that artificial intelligence is nothing special, but sometimes it is already across the line.

Right from the start, you'll find that others, even with the lightest difficulty, accelerate faster. In short, take it as a fact and the only place where you can get something extra is the bend. Correct estimation of distance, speed and appropriate approach trajectory combined with sharpness of the bend can quickly get you to the top. It is not that others are slowing too soon. On the contrary, many times they overdo it so much that they fly off the track, but with sensitive work with gas and brake you can blow into the opponents. They do not give you anything, just do not move and it happened to me a few times that they sent me arrogantly within hours of tapping the rear axle. In the penultimate lap from the first position, it irritates considerably. You won't find the time-lapse here, and if you choose a full race that lasts about half an hour, after a similar incident, even the biggest phlegmatic will throw a nasty word to developers.

That kind of belongs to the motorsport (see some cuts from the official races) and that is why it is fascinating to concentrate a few tens of minutes and make the best of yourself. Truck control is different, and the gameplay can look more tired, slower. However, it does not detract from the interesting, because it is even more difficult to trim your controlled colossus. Pity the absence of more detailed statistics or records of your ride. Service around is basically missing and playing career becomes too monotonous after a few big prizes. Watching your own profile or looking for a racing team is a poor patch that doesn't solve anything.

Technical processing does not deviate from the average. The models of the trucks themselves are elaborated to the smallest detail, they look at them very well, the physical model does its own while moving and you will not disdain even the interior. Perhaps the typical swinging of the cab, or more shaking, could be more present, especially when meeting others. The damage model is minimal, not visually worth mentioning. If you have seen some videos, you can imagine how often you drive with huge metal plate tractors. The monsters are really big, the track width is often not enough to push them side by side. It is a pity that only 12 trucks can appear on the track.

The sound system focuses mainly on engine work, tire squeaking and the like. Full of humor is the voice in your radio that often misinforms and encourages you to push if you are in the first place with a good margin of a few turns before the finish line, praising for a good overtaking of the opponent (hitting him) and the like. Running the same scripts with buzz is long overdue in history. The surrounding of the track is below average, uninteresting, the barriers from the tires do not move after the impact. There is a lot of cameras to choose from, the best experience is from the perspective of your own eyes.

Whether the FIA ​​European Truck Racing Championship is recommended is despite the above question. It is a simple, straight to a dozen race, like two piles on the market. Being in control of trucks is a significant plus. Even the fact that it is not a fast-cracked arcade, but something exactly between a challenging simulation and an action driving model. The game requires the rider's attention all the time, but in the long run the player has no chance to keep. There's nothing more to offer from the ETRC. It is a great pity, a similar game with richer equipment is missing.