Super Trucks Racing is a truck racing video game for the PlayStation 2, developed by British studio Jester Interactive. All drivers and sponsor information are based on the 2001 season of the Super Trucks racing series. According to the European box art, the game compares itself to TOCA on steroids. However, the North American box art is considered to be a simplified version of the box art seen in Europe. All visual effects and reviews are absent in the North American release and the ESRB rating is shown instead of the ELSPA rating. The theme song used at the opening title is "Bug" and is sung in a heavy metal-style by the bandFeeder. Most of the other songs in the game are considered to be techno music done to the tune of the souped up engines at more than. This makes the trucks slightly faster than their real-life counterparts who are restricted to a maximum speed limit of for safety reasons.
Gameplay
While the player does not have to worry about refueling his or her truck with gasoline, the player must maintain the temperature of his or her brakes by cooling them with water. An option in the menu can be toggled so this task can either be done manually or automatically by the game. Since there is not an unlimited amount of water to cool the brakes, even automatic brake cooling does not automatically guarantee that the brake temperatures will remain cool in the longer races or practice sessions. These specialized trucks are eighteen wheelers that are modified for racing on road courses; a large majority of these courses are located in Europe. Formula One-like physics and turning dominate the tracks. Darlington Raceway is considered to be one of the few North American courses in the game. However, it uses right as well as left turns like a road course instead of the standard oval used for NASCAR racing. All the real-world drivers that are in the game are European in origin. Although the pit lane can be seen while driving through the start/finish line, the entrance to the pit lane is blocked and pit stops are not permitted in any mode of the game. All manufacturers which competed in the 2001 European Truck Racing Championship are represented, apart from Mercedes-Benz, whose drivers appear in the game as part of an unlicensed "Moto LKW" racing team. This is due to Mercedes-Benz's then-ongoing relationship with game developerSynetic GmbH, who produced Mercedes-Benz Truck Racing in 2000, and would later produce Mercedes-Benz World Racing in 2003.
Gameplay modes
Reception
The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, where the game was ported and published by Success, also under the name Super Trucks, on December 18, 2003, Famitsu gave it a score of 25 out of 40.
