''Super Trucks'' (known in North America as ''Super Trucks Racing'') is a

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

developed and published by

Jester Interactive Jester Interactive is a video game developer based in North Wales in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1997 as a trading arm of Morgan Computing Limited. It would later trade under the name Jester Interactive Limited, and after going into ...

exclusively for

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

. All drivers and sponsor information are based on the 2001 season of the ''

Super Trucks ''Super Trucks'' (known in North America as ''Super Trucks Racing'') is a racing video game developed and published by Jester Interactive exclusively for PlayStation 2. All drivers and sponsor information are based on the 2001 season of the '' Sup ...

'' racing series. According to the European box art, the game compares itself to

TOCA TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The company organises and administers the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the support series to the BTCC, sometimes known as the T ...

steroids A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

. 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 band Feeder.Super Trucks Racing instruction manual - page 16 Most of the other songs in the game are considered to be

techno music Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

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's truck has unlimited gasoline, the player must maintain the temperature of the truck's 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 a limited amount of water available to cool the brakes, even automatic brake cooling does not guarantee that the brakes will remain cool in longer races or practice sessions. These specialized trucks are eighteen wheelers that are modified for racing on

road courses Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

; a large majority of these courses are located in Europe (including the

Circuit Paul Armagnac Circuit Paul Armagnac also known as Circuit de Nogaro is a motorsport race track located in the commune of Nogaro in the Gers department in southwestern France. The track is named in honor of Nogaro-born racing driver Paul Armagnac who died in ...

Nogaro Nogaro (; Gascon: ''Nogaròu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the site of a distillery of Armagnac brandy. Geography The commune is bordered by six other communes: Caupenne-d'Armagnac to the northwest, Sain ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

-like physics and turning dominate the tracks.

Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...

(referred to in-game as "Darlington Autodrome" for no apparent reason) 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 The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

racing. All the real-world drivers included 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 Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

, 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 developer

Synetic GmbH Synetic GmbH was a German video game company specialising in racing games. The company was founded in 1996, in Gütersloh by five former members of Ascaron. All five original members were still working for the company until the company was liquida ...

, who produced

Mercedes-Benz Truck Racing Mercedes-Benz Truck Racing (MBTR) is a simulation truck racing video game developed by the German company Synetic GmbH and published by THQ. The game was released for Microsoft Windows in 2000. The development was carried out in cooperation with Da ...

in 2000, and would later produce

Mercedes-Benz World Racing ''Mercedes-Benz World Racing'' is a racing simulation video game developed by the German company Synetic GmbH and published by TDK Mediactive Europe. The game was released in 2003 for Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube, and only the Xbo ...

in 2003.

Gameplay modes

Reception

The game received "average" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. In Japan, where the game was ported and published by

Success Success is the state or condition of meeting a defined range of expectations. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. The criteria for success depend on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One person mig ...

, also under the name , on 18 December 2003, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of 25 out of 40.

References

External links

* {{moby game, /super-trucks-racing 2002 video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Racing video games set in the United States Sports video games set in France Sports video games set in Germany Success (company) games Truck racing video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom XS Games games Jester Interactive games