TOCA Championship Racing
Windows - 1997
| Alt names | TOCA Touring Car Championship, TOCA Touring Cars |
|---|---|
| Year | 1997 |
| Platform | Windows |
| Released in | France, Germany (1997) Japan (1998) Germany, United Kingdom (1999) United Kingdom (2000) |
| Genre | Racing / Driving |
| Theme | Automobile, Licensed Title, Off-Road / Monster Truck, Track Racing, Vehicle Simulator |
| Publisher | Codemasters Software Company Limited, The, Imagineer Co., Ltd., Sold Out Sales & Marketing Ltd. |
| Developer | Codemasters, Codemasters Software Company Limited, The |
| Perspectives | 1st-Person, 3rd-Person |
| Tested on | Windows 10 |
Description of TOCA Championship Racing
TOCA Touring Car Championship is a great racing game from Codemasters that remains relatively unknown to many racing fans.
A passionate and wonderfully comprehensive review at MobyGames says it all: "TOCA Touring Car Championship is the official game of the BTCC, which stands for British Touring Car Championship. I doubt whether a lot of people outside the UK have heard of the BTCC (here in the Netherlands we can receive the BBC, so I had seen a few glimpses of the action), but don't let that spoil your fun. Of course driving a Nissan Primera on the Snetterton circuit isn't as glamourous as let's say speeding through Monte Carlo in your Ferrari F1 car, but I actually enjoyed the fact that the game focusses on a niche.
Almost all the tracks were completely new for me (we all know Hockenheim, Monza and Suzuka by now don't we). Silverstone was the only circuit I'd seen before. In TOCA there are nine different circuits to race on: Donington (GP and short version), Silverstone, Thruxton, Brands Hatch Indy, Oulton Park Fosters, Croft, Knockhill and Snetterton. The championship consists of 12 rounds of two races each for a total of 24 races. This means you'll have to race four times on certain circuits in a full championship.
Since all tracks are located in the UK and are based on real tracks, there's not a wide variety of exotic locations (it ain't Need for Speed). But still, the tracks themselves are quite different. One has a lot of corners (Croft), the other has long straights (Snetterton) another is very short and bumpy (Brands Hatch). I got the impression that Codemasters put a lot of effort in recreating the tracks as accurately as possible.
In TOCA you race in modified versions of common street cars (8 including Honda Accord, Ford Mondeo, Renault Laguna etc.). Each car feels a little bit different. You don't have the option to modify your car. That's fine with me since I take no joy out of changing tire pressures etc. Although all cars are from real brands, the cars take visible damage!! With a couple of hard crashes you can really turn your car into a wreck. Break the windows, demolish the bumpers, loose the hood etc. You can only damage the exterior of the car, it doesn't effect the way a car drives. Car handling is excellent with firm suspension & realistic tire-grip. When you drive on the grass next to the track you will certainly spin (it's rather easy to make a 360) if you don't know what you're doing. You'll need to know how to approach each corner. So there is a bit of a learning curve, but it also feels very rewarding when you have finally mastered the game and have driven a fast lap. The weather conditions (you can choose sunny, rain, clouded, storm or snow) really have an impact on the way your car behaves (driving during heavy rain is even more difficult). You need to stay focused all the time.
One of the best aspects of TOCA is the HeadCam View. This is the first person view, but with a difference. It's like there's a small camera on the front of the driver's helmet which records the action. The trick is that the image produced is not static. When the head of the driver moves your point of view changes, this is incredibly immersive and especially fun when you're hit from behind or spin-out since the camera shakes violently. You can also see both hands (one of them shifting gears) instead of just the steering wheel & dashboard. Every racing game should have this feature. I have one major problem with this game, the way the championship mode is implemented. As is common these days you don't get all the tracks at once (only two are available at the beginning), you have to earn them by progressing in the championship. You progress by scoring 20 points or more per round (=two races). Even when you've unlocked all the tracks you still need 20 points per round when you start a new championship.
The championship mode in TOCA isn't that easy and the fact that you're not allowed to practice on a track until you've progressed past it in the championship mode only makes it harder. Also, you can only save your game after two races. This means that if you compete in the full championship you will have to drive up to 50 laps (including qualification), which can take up to an hour, before you can save your game. It is frustrating to restart a race several times because you need a certain amount of points at each race before you can go to the next one. Especially when completing a round takes that long. Competing in the short championship (fewer laps per race) is not an option since the A.I. drivers perform really well during the qualifying sessions and you'll need a couple of laps to reach the front of the pack.
All this basically forces you to select one the faster cars in the championship mode. Why do game developers seem to make the same mistakes over and over again. Codemasters have made a great racing game with real cars, real tracks & realistic handling and then they go and spoil it all by implenting an arcade-like championship mode. Now that's bad game design. I want to be able to pick the worst car of them all, finish dead last in every race and cheer for the winner!
The bottom line is TOCA is a very immersive racing game due to the realistic handling, the HeadCam view and pack-racing. The real joy of TOCA Touring Car Championship lies in the driving itself. Too bad Codemasters almost ruins the mood with an annoying tournament structure."
Review By HOTUD
External links
How to play TOCA Championship Racing Windows
The game with patch v1.1a and dgVoodoo 2 has been tested on Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 10, it works fine. You may experience some small troubles when you play the game on modern systems, check our Guide and Notes for more details. Here's also a video guide by Dave's Tubetorials
Install & play guide:
- Mount the disc image with virtual drive utility, like WinCDEmu, UltraISO, Alcohol 52%/Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools Lite, etc.
- Open the disc and find setup.exe. Right-click on it -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Set "Run this app in compatibility mode with Windows 95 or 98/Me", otherwise the installer won't work. If the installer doesn't work, also set tourcars.exe to compatibility mode with Windows 95 or 98/Me
- Run setup.exe and install the game (you can skip the installation of DirectX 5 at the end). The game must be installed on the disk C:, for the correct work of CD Audio music! We recommend to install the game in default path
C:/Codemast/TourCar. - After you installed the game - install the patch v1.1a, simply run it and click "Patch", then close the window
- Now download dgVoodoo 2 utility, extract the archive and copy D3D8.dll, D3DImm.dll and DDraw.dll from
MS/x86folder, dgVoodooCpl.exe and dgVoodoo.conf to the folder with installed game. dgVoodoo 2 or DxWnd utilities are required for the correct work of the game. If you want to change dgVoodoo2 settings, run dgVoodoo Control Panel (dgVoodooCpl.exe) as administrator - Open the game folder and find setup.exe and tourcars.exe. Right-click on both exe-files -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Set "Run this app in compatibility mode with Windows 95 or 98/Me" and "Run as administrator"
- Launch the game from setup.exe and play. The disc image must be mounted in virtual drive all the time in order to hear CD Audio music!
Alternatively, you can run the game with DxWnd utility, the game works great with DxWnd too. If you don't know how to configure DxWnd, you can install repack by Magipack, that repack has simple installer and includes the game with DxWnd and working CD Audio music
Notes:
- Make sure to run the installer (setup.exe) in compatibility mode with Windows 95 or 98/Me!
- It is recommended to install all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable and NET Framework for the correct work of the game. Also it is recommended to install OpenAL for the correct work of CD Audio in game
- The game may work unstable on modern systems, so it is highly recommended to use utilities like dgVoodoo 2 or DxWnd. For the correct work of that utilities, make sure that you enabled DirectPlay: go to Control Panel, and select 'Programs'. Select 'Turn Windows features on and off', click on 'Legacy Components' and check the box 'DirectPlay'. Select OK, once the installation is done, restart your computer
- When you run the game with dgVoodoo 2, there could be few minor issues, like the intro videos not playing and showing only a black screen (simply press Enter to skip them), and the outlines of race tracks not visible in the menu. There should be no such issues when you run the game with DxWnd, but with dgVoodoo you can run the game with Antialiasing and Texture filtering (can be enabled it in dgVoodoo Control Panel), so choice yourself which variant is more comfortable for you. Also, a small advice: if you have troubles when you run the game with latest version of dgVoodoo 2, you can try to use the older versions of utility, like dgVoodoo 2.55.4, it may show better performance
- If you don't hear the car sounds in game - download fixed mss32.dll and put it into the folder with installed game, replace the original mss32.dll. The game was using Miles Sound System technology and looks like the version used by the game is too old and has issues with modern systems, so use the fix
- If Championship mode doesn't start - go to
TourCar/speech/pc/englishfolder and create empty filelen.dat file in there - The game doesn't support widescreen resolutions, but you can enable them in dgVoodoo Control Panel. Optionally, you can use Widescreen Fix by AuToMaNiAk005, but please note that it has some issues, make sure to check the Readme-file inside the archive; that fix should be compatible with dgVoodoo
- Sometimes the game may show errors at the launch, usually the error that one of the files cannot be loaded. If you see the error at the start - close the error window and try to start the game again. Unfortunately, there's no fix for that errors, here's more details of possible errors
- Don't forget to check PCGamingWiki if you have troubles!
Captures and Snapshots
Comments and reviews
admin 2025-08-28 0 point
We updated this page, added Polish version, plus some fixes and repack by Magipack
quack 2025-06-27 0 point
only getting linkup mode. not sure what else i can do to get single race or championship. I also installed the patch, but that didnt fix it.
DugiHowser 2025-04-16 1 point
Installed fine and patched. I had this boot to the main menu but crashed when selecting controls. And now I cant launch at all. Goes to black screen but then back to windows. Running Win11. Anyone get theirs working at all?
alvaritoteam 2025-01-12 0 point
Running into the same issues the previous guy said, but in Windows 10 instead of 11
Jay 2024-07-13 3 points
Does anyone know how to run this under Windows 11? There's no guide in the Internet.
There's a guide at PcGamingWiki in which you're directed to turn the Windows 98\Me (or 95) compatibility mode on, applying this to setup.exe file. This will work under Windows 10, but 11?
I did so under Win10: I applied Win98\Me mode to setup.exe (before install) and files were copied flawlessly. I applied the same mode for setup.exe and tourcars.exe (on the hard drive). The intro loaded up and the sound worked in the race.
But I'm trying to do the same under Windows 11: the files copy themselves properly, I apply Win98\Me mode to setup.exe and tourcars.exe, but the intro doesn't load! Sometimes the game crashes into the desktop, but if it doesn't crash, I get black screen with no intro. I pressed [space] and got to the main menu, but there's no sound! Race is also soundless.
As I wrote earlier, there's no guide for Windows 11.
Deranfan 2024-02-15 0 point
If you want to play single race or championship mode, you need to mount the iso and run the setup file in win 98 compatibility mode. After installing the game, you need to keep the iso mounted because the game reads most of its files form the cd. Also, dgvoodoo is necessary to run the game without crashing.
Flyboy 2023-10-09 0 point
Loved this on the PlayStation 1 real drivers names you could pick your favorite after watching it on.Sunday tv i played Honda Accord - James Thompson and Gabriele Tarquini The game also features former racing driver Tiff Needell as the commentator.
dientxpro46 2021-01-18 1 point
update you can use virtualbox to play this game just install windows 98 on virtualbox and you can select cd rom put the iso and bam its done
dientxpro46 2020-12-02 1 point
run windows compatibility to do so you have to right click on the toca logo then go to compatibility then press windows me or 98 or 2000
Daxarworld 2020-11-04 0 point
I need help, the game cause errors, it says the file (file name, but change everytime like, renault, volvo, etc,
R n R 2020-10-03 -2 points
Burn the game files onto a CD.
Install the game from that CD.
Skip the Patch 1.1a, and you will see all modes: Single Race, Championship, LinkUp.
The CD must be in the CD-ROM drive when playing the game.
Nosdrähcir 2020-06-24 0 point
I can't start a new career. Only the option "linkup mode" is available
Loko 2020-04-26 -2 points
I can install it with success! But my problem is when i try to begin playing! The only mode available is the LinkUp Mode, I don't have the Single Race nor the Championship available! Anyone suffers from the same? I really really really want this game!
Anonymous Bastard 2020-02-26 2 points
Hello Dientxpro46,
I personaly burnt a CD-Rw (rewritable) with the .BIN file. After that, I did a right click on the "setup.exe" file and chose "Check for windows compatibilies" (or something like that) and chose "Windows 98 / Windows Me". Then the game installed successfully... ;)
Dr. Schnellinger 2019-12-04 0 point
It won't run.
I'm trying to run it under a Pentium4 3.0GHz, 2GB RAM and a FX5200 AGP (128M)
Windows XP Professional 32-bit
Gerhalt 2019-11-13 -2 points
This gem's definitely 1 of the best racing titles from 1997. I totally love it & recommend to anyone interested in a well ballanced game that takes from both hardcore sims and straightforward arcade road blasters. The produced mixture's truly stunning: it contains 8 licensed cars (and 2 special ones) that behave unlike each other, so that a player should choose his ride wisely depending on the forthcoming circuit. As far as I recall there are a total of 10 tracks available in the game, however one'll have to win several seasons before those become unlocked. And of course there's the "reverse" mode for every track in case anyone wants to race in the opposite direction.
Personally I used to tackle the time attack mode, where once you cross the finish line the game creates a ghost of your performance that completely mimics every subtle move of your previous attempt. This way one can compete against himself while trying to beat his best result thus far: what an experience I daresay! Total concentration, complete knowledge of pros&cons of a chosen vehicle, utter memorizing of every slight turn within particular circuit, switching to cockpit view and of course using MT in order to cut those precious seconds off the former try. It's just you against the asphalt - such an awesome feeling!
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Download TOCA Championship Racing
We may have multiple downloads for few games when different versions are available. Also, we try to upload manuals and extra documentation when possible. If you have additional files to contribute or have the game in another language, please contact us!
Windows Version
547 MB
DownloadRepack by MagiPackIncludes DxWnd and CD Audio music
313 MB
DownloadRip of multiligunal version (no music) 35 MB
DownloadPolish version 
546 MB
Manual 3 MB
Game Extras
Various files to help you run TOCA Championship Racing, apply patches, fixes, maps or miscellaneous utilities.
429 KB
PatchPatch v1.1a for English, French & German languages 431 KB
PatchPatch v1.1a for Italian & Spanish languages 
429 KB
FixMiles Sound System fixFixed mss32.dll file, put in game folder if you doesn't hear the car sounds
142 KB
FixWidescreen Fix by AuToMaNiAk005Has some issues, check Readme inside the archive
4 MB
Demo 22 MB
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