Group S Challenge has 20 tracks, 87 real-life cars, and a half-dozen modes of play -- yet it's a remarkably unengaging racer -- a Gran Turismo clone which almost flawlessly copies that series' groundbreaking look of icon-based menu screens and photorealistic graphics, but never comes close to achieving its remarkable feel. If ever there was a game that represented the mysterious nature of great gameplay and the incredible difficulty of delivering it, Group S is the one; it contains all the elements of fun without actually being fun.

It's painfully mechanical in the way it puts you through the motions of the race-and-upgrade process, turning what should be the joyous act of assembling a garage full of mean machines into one of repetition and drudgery. One wonders if the developers had any fun putting Group S together, if it was a game they wanted to play, or if they just threw a collective bag over their heads and did it because that's what they get paid to do. Turismo's developers at Polyphony Digital (and I take note that the developers of Group S have even half-copied Polyphony's name) are totally obsessed with cars, but I sense no such obsession here.

What's worse, Group S doesn't even attempt to improve on Turismo's handful of flaws. While the lack of body damage is, as with Turismo, almost certainly a condition of car-manufacturer licensing agreements, it remains a more ridiculous concept than a hockey game without fighting, and Capcom should have fought for its inclusion. (I'm also mildly surprised that the ignorant parents' groups which protest video games as the devil's playgrounds have ignored racing games where teenagers -- which are, statistically, the most dangerous drivers on the road -- learn that there are no consequences to slamming into walls at 140 MPH.)

There are only six cars per race in Group S, as in Turismo, and their behavior is governed by rudimentary AI in which your opponents follow the best line and drop their speeds to near-zero when you crash. NASCAR Thunder 2004 has raised the bar on racing-game AI, but Group S's opponents might as well be a half-dozen ghost cars. Also, the absent body damage allows you to use the dubious technique of accelerating into turns and slamming into your opponents to "pass" them.

Other problems include uninspired track design and a lack of custom soundtrack support, which is damn near unforgivable. One of the many joys of driving fast in real life is being accompanied by your drive-fast tunage of choice, but Group S doesn't allow the player this small and easily implemented pleasure. (Perhaps Capcom was concerned that drive-fast music would conflict with the game's sluggish pace.)

Group S's picture-in-picture is its keenest visual trick.
Group S's multiplayer mode, which has no four-player support and no Live or System Link play, is clearly an afterthought -- and like the solo action, it suffers from quirky steering and frequent lapses into slowdown. It's more fun than playing alone, but in a misery-loves-company kind of way.

Group S Challenge is the Don "No Soul" Simmons of racing games; it has most of the gameplay options and technical competence you'd expect from an A-list publisher, but it never once engages you on an emotional level. Capcom's previous racing game, Auto Modellista, was a colossal failure, but I'll remember that game for its well-meaning attempts at style and innovation long after the generic Group S has faded from memory.