So what's your dream car?  A Ferrari, Porsche or BMW?  Possibly it's a more modest Mazda Miata or Honda Civic.  Well whatever it may be, you'll most likely find a car that you'll enjoy driving around the tracks in the new racing title for Playstation 2, "Driving Emotion Type-S."

Over the years many games have tried to capture a real life driving experience through accurate controls, realistic cars, and supporting background imagery.  Most games fail miserably in combining those elements in an enjoyable and fun driving game.  "Driving Emotion Type-S" makes a nice effort to meet gamers' expectations, but I don't think Squaresoft™ has quite pulled it off with this new title.  Although the cars and scenery looks very realistic, the steering might be a little too real making for a frustrating and miserable time playing this game in the beginning.  It does nothing to thrive over the competition or advance the driving genre except for the realism in the cars.  The look of the game is a very noticeable Gran Turismo rip-off; the music is tack and the controls too touchy.  One thing this game does have going for is its superb graphics and a total sense of realism.  The cars are identical replicas and unlike most games the play control is like the real thing in the sense that you actually have to brake and don't just bounce off other cars after you hit them.  It is not your typical "never let off of the accelerator" racing game.  You are forced to accelerate, brake, and steer accurately.  This may be a breath of fresh air for some gamers who find typical driving games too easy but will frustrate most who are just looking for a fun game to play with their friends.

To help you get started, the instructions do a nice job explaining typical driving techniques that should be utilized while racing.  Taking the advice of "Slow in, fast out" for turns is very important if you plan to win any races.  They instructions also go into depth about each track, giving you pointers for every turn, impressive!  The first big challenge in this game is figuring out what exactly it is you're supposed to do.  Nowhere in the instruction manual or game interface does it tell you how to unlock new courses and cars, something you'll want to do as soon as possible given the very minimal selection you have starting out.  This initial selection includes the Honda Civic Type-R, Toyota MR-S, Toyota Celica, and the Mazda Miata MX-5.  As you progress you will gain access to cars such as the Honda S2000, Mitsubishi GTO, Ferrari 360 Modena, Porsche 911 GT3, and many more.

Once you are begin racing, you'll notice right away how different the controls are that most driving games.  Whether using digital or analog, you'll probably start off spinning all over the place and finishing in dead last.  A driving wheel might help out for "Driving Emotion Type-S," since it would let you more precisely adjust the steering.  I found the controls to be very sensitive which was extremely frustrating and irritating when I was getting started.  Once I finally got used to it, I actually started to enjoy the unique steering.  After all, it really is a lot like actual driving.  You need to use your brakes, time steering with some thought and avoid using the other drivers as bumper cars.  It's possible to drift the cars around corners, but often times the game doesn't allow you to counter steer as much as you realistically could so you end up slamming into a wall.  This could definitely use some refinement.

Even after you have mastered the controls, you will still find that finishing in first place (out of six cars) is pretty difficult.  Once you end up finishing first, you will gain access to a new car and sometimes a new track.  You don't get anything for finishing in second or third, and this I dislike, since it is now how real races work.  Oh well.  As you get the hang of the game, it's not incredibly difficult to win the races, but most people will still find it challenging.  Usually a single spinout will cost you the race, so you must be careful.  Once you complete a race, the replay is automatically shown, and wow is this ever annoying.  Since the time it takes for the replay to load is a little lengthy, I'd prefer an option of whether or not to view the replay.

Drivers can choose from three different views while racing.  The first is a typical chase view, which is nice, but I would like to see another chase view that is not so close to the car.  The second view allows you to only see the road, no problems here.  Lastly is the in-car view that lets you see the steering wheel, the driver's hands and the realistic gauge cluster.  I like the idea of having this view, but unfortunately there are some flaws in it.  Everything outside the car appears too dark from this inside view and this makes for some difficult driving.  Also there is no rearview mirror!  This is absolutely essential for a racecar, yet is somehow absent from this supposedly realistic game.  L1 functions as a rear view button, but for some reason it rarely worked for me!?

You have the ability to customize many aspects of your car.  The suspension can be fine tuned (but this takes some expertise), color can also be adjusted to your exact liking, and new wheels can be put on your car too.  Unfortunately there isn't any way to upgrade/tune the engine in this driving title.

"Driving Emotion Type-S" does present some phenomenal graphics.  The cars do look amazingly real in every sense.  This goes right down to the look of the gauges in your dash - if you choose the in-car driving view.  The backgrounds, while not exactly original, are well detailed and sharp.  The sky and buildings in the background are beautiful and were obviously very well thought out.  As you zoom past this scenery, it is easy to mistake it for the real thing.  Lens flares, which are caused by sunlight or the headlights of a vehicle, are also quite impressive.  The seemingly high frames per second rate allows for smooth game play throughout.  I can't stress enough the quality of the replicas of each of the cars included.  This game will definitely up the standards as far as graphics are concerned and may even give the highly anticipated release of Gran Turismo 3 a run for it's money, who knows!  The only poor looking graphics I noticed were the backgrounds in replays.  It was almost as though the background wasn't refreshing fast enough so the renders looked horrible.

The sound in "Driving Emotion Type-S" is definitely lacking and it does not present anything new.  The background music is in no way up to the Play Station 2 standards we've all come to expect.  Cheesy and annoying, you're better off turning the music off and flipping on your stereo.  The sound effects are nothing special.  Included are the sounds that we'd all hope for: engine noise, tires squealing under hard braking/cornering and chirping when shifting to a new gear, along with other miscellaneous noises.  You'd think that every cars' engine/exhaust would sound distinctively different in a modern game of this nature.  Well, you'll be disappointed to know that all engines seem to make a very similar sound, a typical "buzzing" sound.  I'm not impressed.

This game supports up to two players in vs. mode.  Nothing special here, it's just your typical horizontal split view.  "Driving Emotion Type-S" is rated E for everyone.

Being a car enthusiast, this game fell short of my expectations.  I would recommend saving your pennies for Gran Turismo 3, unless you need something to satisfy your need for speed immediately.
 

Install: N/A

Gameplay: 6.5
While the physics seem right on at times, other times they are definitely not and this makes the game hard to play.  The controls could use some refinement also; specifically they could be a little less sensitive.

Graphics: 8.5
Smooth and detailed, not bad!

Sound: 4.5
They definitely should have paid more attention to the sound development because the low-quality sound really takes away from the overall package.

Difficulty: 8.0
Once you get used to the game play, "Driving Emotion Type-S" allows for some nice competition without being too difficult.

Concept: 7.0
Not much new here, but still a relatively fun driving simulation game.

Multiplayer: 7.5
Allows for two-player head to head racing action.

Overall: 7.0