Pacer

R8’s anti-grav racer gets back on track

Lots of science has gone into making Pacer’s sleek anti-gravity racing cars glide so effortlessly over the dips, banks and loops of its intricate tracks. The fiction behind R8’s futuristic racer suggests that by 2075, quantum levitation tech has become sufficiently advanced as to allow these elegant craft to be suspended above the tracks via nitrogen-cooled superconductors. Meanwhile, magnetic buffers along the sides help cushion collisions with the walls – a real necessity when we’re playing.

The game, too, has required plenty of invisible work to get it up to speed. The PC build we play runs at an unwavering 60fps, and we’re assured the same is true of the console versions. We’re promised more visual effects will bring these tracks to life – currently they are indeed a little static – but that framerate is non-negotiable. With vehicles this nippy, the extra responsiveness is essential for negotiating sharp corners without hitting the sides, and for avoiding collisions with other racers. And, for that matter, dodging the projectiles they fire and the mines they drop, though the weapons here currently lack impact: a fix producer Steve Iles tells us is at the top of his to-do list.