City streets are a familiar sight, filled with flashing lights and neon signs and soccer moms toting the kids to school in minivans. At night, however, the station wagons and mom-mobiles give way to the flashy, shiny, and downright speedy vehicles of the street racing lifestyle. Cruising the wet roads under the cover of night, these cars and their drivers meet to run races through the familiar sights of the modern metropolis. It’s about respect. It’s about cash. It’s about SRS: Street Racing Syndicate. Namco has dipped into the world of street racing to put together the Nintendo GameCube’s latest racing game, although SRS lacks the colorful mascots, fantasmic power-ups, and whimsical tracks of more common racing games. SRS is based on realism, from the officially licensed cars to the authentic after-market accessories to the realistic performances of the vehicles. Grab the wheel and prepare to put the pedal to the metal in SRS: Street Racing Syndicate.

The Lowdown

• Buy, tune, and race up to fifty officially licensed vehicles
  
• Enhance your ride with hundreds of after market parts and test it on the in-game dyno
  
• Earn respect, money, and women through a series of various racing challenges in Street Mode
  
• Race in official events, underground circuits, and through the city itself
  
• Dodge police, other drivers, and obstacles to avoid being fined
  
• Race for fun in Arcade Mode or challenge a friend in Multiplayer
  

I Feel The Need
The bulk of SRS takes place in Street Mode in which the goal is to acquire vehicles, earn respect, wager money, and attract women via a series of racing challenges. The first step in becoming a street racing legend is to purchase a car from the local showroom, and although only a few cars are available at the start of the game, more are unlocked as different goals are achieved and more respect points are earned. Look for cars such as the 2004 MR2, the 2004 Eclipse GT-S, the 1996 Supra RZ, the 1991 RX-7 R1, and the 2002 Impreza RS among the fifty various vehicles available overall, each one crafted according to the company’s specifications. Choose a car, then a paint color and transmission type. With an automatic transmission one need not shift gears manually, with the semi-automatic only requires the player to gear up with the gearing down performed automatically, and a manual transmission in which the player has total control over shifting gears.

Now the proud owner of a new car, the next step is to drive it over to the local garage and purchase after market enhancements such as spoilers, nitro, tires, and much more. Various combinations of parts effect vehicle performance differently, so fortunately Namco has included a dyno to gauge performance and horsepower both before and after your chosen parts are installed. If the performance isn’t what you’re expecting, simply swap out the parts and test again. Casual racing fans will most likely be happy with slapping a random assortment of parts into a car, but hardcore fans of the scene will revel in the ability to tweak and tune nearly every automotive aspect for hours on end. Just for fun players can purchase various vinyls and stickers to provide some color and personality to the cars. Repeat this sequence for each new car that is purchased (with cars currently not in use going into storage at the local warehouse) and after tuning the car, it’s time to head out on the highway.

I Can’t Drive 55
SRS provides a rather open-ended play experience. Players can choose whom to race, when to race, or even not to race at all and simply cruise the streets in style. The default control setting (which can be changed, incidentally) places the accelerator at the R button and the brakes at the L button with the A button acting as an airbrake and the B button kicking on the nitros for a brief speed boost. Shifting gears is accomplished with the X and Y buttons, although in automatic transmissions these buttons do nothing. The control stick steers the car and the camera stick controls the camera angle (either rearview mirror view or a variety of “behind the wheel” views). Pressing the Z button calls up the city map, revealing where to find various races. Pressing up on the control pad flashes the car’s headlights which is used in challenging random drivers to spur-of-the-moment races.


The rates of acceleration and braking are based on how much the R and L buttons are pushed. A light push on the R button, for example, keeps the car moving at a slow rate of speed. Push it a little more to speed up. Push it all the way down to rapidly approach top speed and hold it down to keep it there. While moving at top speed a tap of the B button kicks on the nitro booster, providing a brief speed boost until the B button is released or the nitro tank runs dry. Push lightly on the control stick to nudge the car in the chosen direction, but slam it all the way to turn the car quickly. Add in the airbrakes to perform sudden turns. While the controls may take some practice at first (F-Zero GX veterans will most likely hit the nitros instead of the brakes at first), eventually driving through the city becomes as easy as fastening a seatbelt. A map in the lower left-hand corner of the screen points out where the immediate points of interest are located, making the streets seem more familiar as time goes on. While driving through the city is the best way to learn where various points of interest are located, the game does allow players to skip the casual driving and jump directly to a chosen location in an instant.