New Star GP Review

New Star GP is an interesting mix of arcade and sim F1 racing game. While the main goal is race around, win races, each earning in-game currency to upgrade your ride, New Star GP aims to offer a racing sim experience mixed with arcade style. You’ll play through Grand Prix, Elimination Races and Checkpoint races.

One of the most important features is the Pit. As with real F1 racing, you’re expected to keep an eye on your fuel consumption and tire status. While your pit team will give you heads up (in unintelligible gibberish with text), it doesn’t hurt keeping an eye so you don’t break a tire or run out of gas.

However, unlike traditional F1 racers and the real thing, you have access to a boost that you can use to give yourself some extra firepower to catch up with other racers. The racing in itself is solid thanks to its tight controls. You’ll also have a racing line on the ground that will guide you; green, you’re good, yellow, meaning you should slow down and red, basically hit the brakes.

What’s interesting here is the simulation part of it where you need to maintain a certain relationship with your pit crew. As you progress and win races, you’ll be able to hire new teammates with their own specific skills and they will allow you to unlock new perks to assist on the race tracks. After certain races, some of your pals will ask you questions. Answer wrong or piss off a team member and they might abandon you.

The game looks great. While it doesn’t feature a realistic styles to compete against the likes of Forza or F1, it’s unique blocky styles makes it stand out compared to the familiar realism. It is also incredibly bright and colorful. The soundtrack is a cutesy score albeit very forgettable. The verbal gibberish is a bit annoying and would’ve loved if the developer had spent a bit extra to have real voices talk to you instead. Reading while keeping an eye on track is not always easy.

There’s nothing inherently wrong here, but aside from the gibberish, the biggest “nuisance” is that the other racers are overly aggressive. Some racers will have a blast bouncing you off track. Oddly enough, when leaving the pit, it feels fair trying to catch up to other racers, but if you’re bounced off and trying to catch up requires perfect racing skills.

New Star GP is a surprisingly deep, incredibly addictive racing game that offers a reasonable mix between arcade and simulation style. Upgrading your ride and maintaining your relationship with your crew offers some interesting gameplay mechanic. However, as with a lot of racing games, it does require a bit of practice given that A.I. racers are out for blood. New Star GP is a must play for all racing fans; new or old.