Circuit Superstars is yet another homage to the wonderful world of motorsports. It promises high-speed racing, multiple classes, and a load of different tracks and track lay-outs in an arcade-style top-down racing game. Considering it’s published by Square Enix and has been featured in a collaboration with Top Gear’s pandemic version of Star In A Reasonably Fast Car, I found it pretty intriguing, to say the least. Let’s zoom in on the game now, shall we?
The game itself is basically what you expect from any top-down racing game. It is a typical racing game in every sense of the word. However, that does not mean Circuit Superstars doesn’t differentiate itself from other top-down games. What I noticed immediately was that the cars behaved fairly realistically and classes were vastly different. Modern-day F1 cars feel more refined than the old, legendary cars motorsport fans know and love. Rallycross is tricky with the changing roads and the more normal cars behave more normally too. This makes the game feel more immersive and diverse and does the game well.
The tracks are very different and do seem inspired by tracks from around the world. I am pretty sure I have seen a rendition of Zandvoort, Monza, and Silverstone in there, which makes the game feel so much cooler. These tracks also have different layouts depending on the class, giving the game a high replay value due to loads of different racing experiences.
In the races, you need to keep track of your tire degradation, fuel, and damage. It forces you to strategize, even though the races are short. Pit stops are a regular thing and you can contemplate doing a quick stop to get out faster, or take the time and be faster around the track subsequently. This again brings an element of strategy to the game.
The game also has a penalty system for cutting corners and using the wall to go through corners faster: it just cuts your speed. Although this is a nice simple penalty system, the AI drivers are maniacs sometimes and ram you into the bollard; subsequently giving you the penalty, which is annoying. The game is not at all easy but does feel rather intuitive. I usually found myself near the back of the pack, trying to figure out how to get closer to the front. But then again, motorsports isn’t easy either.
Then there’s the customization, you can customize your race driver and cars. The patterns are different a sometimes do look oddly reminiscent of well-known cars and helmets of the great drivers of the past. The only downside is the odd and very confusing color-picking wheel.
As mandatory in racing games, there are multiple game modes of which the main two are Grand Prix and Time Trial. You can freely practice, race online and there are weekly time trials as well. The game simply has a lot of different content to keep you busy, offering good value if you like top-down racing games.
In conclusion, I’d say Circuit Superstars is a great racing game. You truly feel that the game is made by fans of motorsports. It offers you many hours of racing fun, and plenty of customizability to give you the experience you want to have. It’s rather difficult and the AI is sometimes fairly annoying. Whilst I do have to say that I prefer first-person racing games over these arcade-like racing games. But I can’t say I disliked Circuit Superstars.
7.5/10
Tested on PlayStation 5
