The racing genre is always expanding these days. Everyone has their own twists on the gameplay focus and how cars perform in their given situations. Right now Need For Speed: Underground and Project Gotham 2 are famous names flying from the mouths of gamers these days when the word racing comes up. While both hold their own respective features they by no means at all cover all areas. In comes R: Racing Evolution by Namco. A spin off title from the makers of the MotoGP and Ridge Racer series of games. The team describes the title as a balance between simulation and arcade appeal. Many hardcore fans have quickly dismissed the title but for the general population lets take a look and see what we really get from this new title out of Namco.

Powering on the options are laid out simply. Racing Life, Event Challenge, Arcade, Time Attack, Vs, Garage, Save/Load and Options. With an empty garage and a desire to figure out what this is all about lets jump into Racing Life.

The story is a bit simple but for a racing game I guess things shouldn't be all that involving. Players take on the life of Rena a Japanese ambulance driver with a passion for racing. During an emergency routine she rushes to drop a critical race driver off and is forced to use extreme measures to get the patient there in time before he dies. After a successful drop the team owner seeks to find out how far her talent reaches and the story then blows up from there as Rena takes to the track as part of G.V.I.'s latest program to revamp the image of racing with her as the showpiece for them.

14 chapters take players from start to finish in the story of Rena's life. The races include learning trials, single races and series races to push players more and more to develop their skills against the AI drivers. During this time players can judge their level with and without braking assist and also they can learn the pressure system which can make the CPU opponents crack under pressure.