QOTD: The Games People Play?
There was a minor flap on the internet (Twitter — where else?) the other day in which a few racing drivers were slagging online racing for some reason or another. It is true that there have been several examples of someone making the jump from PlayStation to an actual car … but it is also true that one does not feel the heat, G forces, and barrage of noise like one would in a real race.
This debate will not be solved any time soon, and will likely still be raging after the coronavirus consumes us all. Our question of the day is simply this: what title was your first experience with a racing game?
As a pre-teen gearhead in the 1980’s, living in a tiny rural community where there were no interesting cars and even fewer computers, my brain just about melted when I saw the Test Drive computer game, introduced in 1987.
It mattered not that the scenery was limited to an endless cliffside road with a treadmill-like rock wall on one side and a sheer drop on the other, nor did it bother me that the DOS graphics only bore the slightest resemblance to the cars they meant to portray. To my seven year-old brain, it was real, man. The first-person driving position helped, too (that’s the view I prefer to this day, strangely).
Since then, of course, many new titles have captured my attention — Gran Turismo and the Forza series to name a few. But, as with most addictions, it had to start somewhere. What was yours?
[Image: classicreload.com]
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That's a tough question. I don't recall my first electronic race game. I do recall "pong". When I was a kid my best friend's dad and uncle owned a business servicing pool tables, pin ball etc. They had the first "pong" to hit the town sitting in their garage. It is hard to believe that we thought that was cool.
The Ford Simulator Games :( https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/06/revisiting-lake-wakatonka-looking-back-fords-driving-simulation-software/
Not sure which came first, but I played NFS Porsches Unleashed and Papyrus NASCAR on PC. I remember endlessly tweaking car setups on NASCAR game, looking for a magic formula. A little later I got into NASCAR Dirt to Daytona, a great PS2 game. Then came Gran Turismo, then Live 4 Speed, then I aged out of it all. An iRacing setup would be fun in the home office though.
Top 3 from my youth... 3. RC Pro Am- cartoonish Nintendo graphics, but a classic 2. Pole Position- Especially in the full enclosure arcade version 1. HARD DRIVIN'- No doubt here.. That game was revolutionary! True Story- when I was 15 and had bought a 5 speed Nissan Sentra, my dad took me out to learn to drive a stick. To his surprise, I already could. When he asked how, I proudly said "Hard Drivin'!!"