FIA European Truck Racing Championship
- August 20, 2019
- N-RACING
Despite some aggressive AI and an unforgiving penalty system, FIA European Truck Racing Championship is a solid and highly enjoyable racing sim
Get on Steam"FIA European Truck Racing Championship is a racing simulator that accurately recreates the challenges of truck racing, including temperature and weight management. The game features 45 official trucks, 20 teams, and 14 circuits, including some not in the official ETRC. It offers five single-player and three multiplayer modes."
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- Great graphics and driving physics that make the trucks feel heavy and realistic.
- Fun and unique gameplay experience that offers a refreshing change from traditional car racing games.
- The game includes a variety of official trucks and circuits, providing a decent amount of content for fans of truck racing.
- AI behavior is inconsistent and often leads to unchallenging races, making the gameplay feel repetitive and boring.
- The career mode lacks depth and can feel grindy, with no option to save custom championships.
- The game suffers from technical issues, including poor optimization and bugs that can disrupt the racing experience.
- graphics51 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising their quality and realism, particularly in terms of physics and environmental details, while others criticize them as outdated and lacking polish. Many users note that the visuals feel reminiscent of older titles, with some glitches and optimization issues detracting from the overall experience. Overall, while the graphics are deemed satisfactory by some, they fall short of modern standards for others, leading to a polarized reception.
“The graphics are great, the physics are great, and it's not overly difficult to win, but there's still exciting parts to make it challenging and fun.”
“On the plus side, the graphics are quite nice, and there are some realistic features like brakes getting overheated and even turning red if not cooled down at the right moment.”
“Smooth graphics, trucks feel heavy, and control feels real.”
“It is a heavy GPU game, although the visuals are like from 2012.”
“Waste of money and time, crap graphics, no manual FOV adjustment, poor FFB.”
“2013 graphics, no difference between wet and dry, didn't meet any expectations, was so hyped for this, on top of all that highly overpriced, this is not worth more than $15.”
- gameplay16 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
Gameplay is generally considered enjoyable and accessible, with interesting mechanics like water cooling and sound design for diesel and turbos. While some players find the upgrade system ineffective and the graphics dated, the game offers good training for newcomers and becomes easier as players familiarize themselves with the driving mechanics. Overall, it combines fun elements with a straightforward learning curve, despite some criticisms regarding its visual presentation.
“The diesel and turbos sound good in this game and the water cooling is an interesting mechanic.”
“Good training/licensing to learn all the mechanics of the game.”
“A really fun and interesting game with good mechanics.”
“The pay is useless since the couple upgrades don't do anything as scripts decide the gameplay.”
“So dated and the screenshots don't match gameplay.”
“Once you get used to the driving and some of the mechanics, the game becomes easy.”
- optimization7 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 29 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is criticized for its inadequate graphics performance and weak AI, leading to a frustrating racing experience. Players have noted significant issues on the Switch, particularly with framerate drops and poorly optimized assets, which detract from gameplay quality. Additionally, overheating brake pads further complicate the handling, making it difficult to navigate bends effectively.
“Let them heat up too much and your brake pads will begin to deteriorate, which will reduce their performance and make taking bends and chicanes a nightmare.”
“On the downside, the AI performance is pretty weak.”
“However, the problems with performance on Switch - both in the framerate and the poor optimization of trucks and track assets in handheld mode - really cause an already unwieldy racing experience to veer off the track.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of race weekends to be excessively long and unfulfilling, leading to a lack of achievement and enjoyment. While the tutorial is helpful for newcomers, it can become tedious for seasoned players.
“The race weekends are so long and grindy, leaving you with no sense of achievement, satisfaction, or just plain fun.”
“The tutorial is effective and useful for beginners, but it can feel tedious for any experienced driver.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find humor in the game's quirky AI behavior, particularly when vehicles repeatedly crash in amusing ways, such as a favorite team truck failing at the same corner. Additionally, some users noted comical bugs, like the inability to see the lights turning on and off during races, adding to the lighthearted experience.
“The AI is a bit strange; on my first weekend race, one truck just kept wiping out at the same corner every lap. The funny thing is, it was from my favorite team.”
“I noticed a funny bug, or my eyes are fooling me: I couldn't notice the lights on/off during the race. :D”
- music2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is often described as annoying, leading some players to turn it off to enhance their experience. The repetitive nature of the music, particularly associated with a character, detracts from the overall enjoyment of the gameplay.
“The constant interruptions from the annoying lady made me turn off the music, and now I can finally enjoy the racing!”
“The repetitive voice lines from the character were so irritating that I had to mute the music to focus on the game.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users report significant stability issues, noting that the game frequently freezes and experiences jumps, which detracts from the overall experience.
“I thought it would be okay, but it freezes and jumps.”
“The game crashes frequently, making it unplayable.”
“I experience constant lag and instability during gameplay.”
Critic Reviews
FIA European Truck Racing Championship review — Snail race
Truck Racing Championship is a somewhat decent racer in its own right, but it's an acquired taste compared to other racing games.
60%FIA European Truck Racing Championship Review
Racing Lamborghinis, Porsches and other supercars in games such as Project Cars and Forza Motorsport is fun and all, but sometimes it’s nice to experience something a little bit different. That’s where FIA European Truck Racing Championship comes in.
80%FIA European Truck Racing Championship Review
If you enjoy long track races, and want a new challenge, ETRC is almost certainly that. However, if that’s not your thing, there is nothing this game does that will lure you over.
60%
