The name of the GO box presented today is “VR46 Ultimate Racing” and the front face has in big letters “46 THE DOCTOR”, but what is it? I asked myself this question and I had to use the internet to find the answer.
VR46 Racing is the name of a motorcycle team created in 2014 by the Italian rider, multiple world champion, Valentino Rossi. VR for Valentino Rossi and nothing to do with virtual reality.
The 46 is for the number that was dear to him and that he never changed despite being world champion and which gave him the right to wear the number 1.
The doctor is not because Valentino was a doctor but simply because it was his nickname
Here is a box that changes from the original design, it is rather colorful.
The cars
Despite searching on the internet, I have not found the real models of these two vehicles included in the box set. This is very surprising because I found in the new GO models this year another model driven by Valentino Rossi, a BMW M4 GT3 (ref 64246) for which I found no trace of racing and for which the decoration is identical. It is very surprising that Carrera did not include it in this box set.
However, it is included in the 62563 box set according to the catalog, as well as on the non-catalog reference 62585: Super Racers Wireless.
But here it is, in our box set we have 2 identical vehicles of unknown make and model. Both have the same number (46) and the inscription “The Doctor” on the hood and rear spoiler. One of them is basically blue and the other black. Young lines underline the curves of each vehicle with a slight variation between the two.
On the track these cars have a small problem. They are too wide. If in a straight line everything is fine, everything gets complicated in the curves. As you can see in the photo above, the blue car, on the outside of the curve is slower than the black one on the inside of the bend. Well, it is impossible for the black one to overtake the blue one. It hits the blue one which overflows into its lane. The collision between the two vehicles can then cause one of the two vehicles, or even both, to come out of its slot. It will therefore be necessary to take this parameter into account to overtake your opponent.
Apart from that, the flashy yellow makes it easy to follow the cars on the black track.
The track
We are in the presence of a classic track among the boxes offered by Carrera, with its loop. The presence of the loop is always controversial because it does not exist on real racing circuits. But children love it even if it is not easy for the youngest to dose well without leaving the track. I like it when the loop is preceded and followed by several straight track elements, so a good straight line. In the boxes it is always a little fair.
The narrowing, I like this track element it allows to add a little difficulty with the possibility of pushing the opponent of the track.
Top view of the circuit, which has for the occasion, decorated with fir around the track and an imitation grass carpet.
Cars at the entrance to the loop.
An important element of the track, the safety rail or barrier, allows the vehicle not to leave the track. Either the vehicle leans and slides along the barrier and avoids the exit of the track, or you have really driven too fast and the exit of the track in the sense of the exit of the slot, and the barrier will prevent the car from going far from the track and falling if your circuit is on high.
As soon as I took the barriers out of the box, I immediately saw that they were not as usual, there was something different. The installation confirmed my first impression, especially since I have in mind the main defect of these barriers. They are too close to the track and this poses a problem for the widest vehicles.
Carrera has slightly modified the system for fixing the barrier to the track by offsetting it from the barrier and thus allowing it to be 5mm further away.
Was it the generous width of the vehicles in the box that motivated Carrera to make this modification? Or did Carrera notice this problem for a long time and decide to correct it this year? In any case, it is good news.
spare braids
Carrera is not just a box to play for a few hours, it is a box so that players have fun over time. We do not save money with the players’ pleasure. Thus Carrera offers 4 replacement braids, enough to change the 2 braids of each vehicle but also 2 guides.
The great absentee
In this box, there is a big absence, the lap counter. Even mechanically, a lap counter is essential in my opinion. We turn, we turn, who counts the laps? No one can play while counting the laps. If in addition there are exits from the track, it is not easy to know who is in the lead. The lap counter remains the indisputable arbiter. If you have a lap counter from another box, it will be useful to you, or you can treat yourself with the electronic counter reference 20071598 for around 60 euros
Bilan
Let’s talk a little about the price, this box which is a new 2024 is announced at the indicative price by Carrera of 55 euros while another new one with a strictly identical layout with Spiderman vehicles is at 80 euros. It is therefore a good price for a circuit with a license. We just regret the absence of the rev counter
Reference: 20062576
Indicative price: 55€