ISSUE 221

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106 Christmas 2008

A briefhistory ofdriving games

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Christmas 2008 107

Whether it’s a quick tyre-shredding blast or a lengthy and nerve-wracking sim enduro, the PC has always had it all, says Mike Channell

The racing game is one of the oldest and most enduring videogame genres, and since the concept of interactive entertainment was established, developers have attempted to

reproduce the thrill of automotive competition and the associated sensation of speed. The simplistic Pong was released to arcades in 1972, and a mere two years later Atari had developed its fi rst racing title, Gran Trax 10. The genre has shown no signs of diminishing in popularity either, and it’s telling that Sega’s arcade racer Daytona USA is ranked among the highest grossing coin-ops of all time.

There are very few gamers who haven’t gripped the sticky wheel and stamped on the pedals of an arcade racing title at some point or other. Of course, the fl exibility of the PC platform has made it the ideal place for wannabe Lewis Hamiltons to fl ex their right foot. Nowadays, across all platforms the genre is broadly divided into simulation and arcade racers, with a few titles bravely straddling the divide, and the PC has been a large part of that evolution.

While PC driving games have usually offered both hardcore and casual racing fans the opportunity to hit the track, the fi rst few releases leaned more toward the simulation side than anything else. Chase cameras and pure arcade handling, as found in the OutRun arcade

machine that was doing roaring trade in 1986, would take a little longer to arrive. With the PC’s reputation as a number crunching machine perfectly poised for fl ight simulation already established, the fi rst in the famous Test Drive series debuted in 1987 and brought with it the now ubiquitous use of real vehicles. Test Drive allowed you to slide into the cockpit of a Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, Chevy Corvette or Lamborghini and blast along a narrow cliff road. Interestingly, the game required that you master a manual gearbox to play – something that even the most uncompromising modern sims wouldn’t dream of doing.

A Formula One themed racer, Grand Prix Circuit, arrived the following year from the same dev team, with automatic gears, remarkably smooth EGA graphics, offi cial F1 teams and real circuits. At the same time, Atari’s Hard Drivin’ was making its debut in arcades, featuring a full car cockpit, polygonal vehicles and a genuine stab at real-world physics.

In 1989, PC gamers witnessed the debut of a company that would become extremely important in the history of racing simulation. Papyrus Design Group Inc was founded by David Kaemmer, who grew up a stone’s throw from Indianapolis and was fascinated by the concept of 3D simulations. When he decided to create an equivalent simulator for driving games, the end result was Indianapolis 500, a 3D racing simulation that’s technically comparable

A briefhistory ofdriving games

A brief history of driving games

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108 Christmas 2008

to, but pre-dates, the venerable Geoff Crammond’s fi rst Grand Prix game.

One of the major revolutions that Indianapolis 500 introduced was the idea of car setup – adjustments could be made to wing angles and suspension settings, which would have a noticeable effect on the vehicle’s handling. At the same time, arcade fans were semi-placated when a fairly atrocious DOS version of Sega’s OutRun made it to PCs, and an equally rudimentary version of Crammond’s Stunt Car Racer, inferior to the 16-bit Atari ST and Amiga versions, was released as well.

1990 saw a PC conversion of Hard Drivin’ go head to head with a game clearly inspired by it. Stunts, a bespoke PC racer from the same team behind Test Drive, was a faster, smoother and more detailed affair than its two-year-old arcade forerunner. It included real cars, à la Test Drive, and even options to create your own course of gravity-defying jumps and loops with a tile-based editor. It wasn’t as hardcore as Hard Drivin’ – you didn’t have to maintain a steady 60mph to make a jump – but it was huge fun and had some quick vehicles stuffed in its garage.

The next major milestone would come from the sim racing camp. In 1992 Geoff Crammond released the fi rst in his Grand Prix series, which featured complex vehicle dynamics, detailed 3D circuits with textured road surfaces and content either lifted from or inspired by the previous year’s Formula 1 season. The title was hugely impressive in its authenticity and fi rmly established Crammond as one of the godfathers of the sim racing genre. Rumour has it he had little interest in motor racing initially, but a keen interest in physics

and accurate simulation made him the darling of the growing sim racing crowd. REVS on the C64 had simply been a declaration of intent, whereas the Grand Prix series would, for many, go on to be the simulation high watermark for the next decade. Of course, on the other side of the pond, Papyrus would no doubt have something to say about that.

STEPPING UP A GEARIn 1993, the very next year, Kaemmer and his team at Papyrus released a totally revamped update to Indianapolis 500. Indycar Racing boasted an offi cial licence, a full complement of circuits

and further improved physics and tuning options. The cars and tracks even had texture mapped sponsors applied to their polygon models for added authenticity. The driving simulation genre was further taking shape, but it wouldn’t be until the following year that Papyrus made a truly indelible mark on the PC gaming landscape. Also released in 1993 was Lotus: The Ultimate Challenge. The series was a favourite on 16-bit home computers of the time, such as the Atari ST and Amiga, and was the fi rst time that a car manufacturer had licensed its brand to a videogame franchise. The game’s brand of ridiculously fast OutRun-style racing and a desirable, recognisable marque made it something of a classic among driving game fans.

1994 was undoubtedly the year of NASCAR for virtual racers. In arcades and bowling alleys everywhere, Daytona USA was wowing punters into blowing their cash on eight-player races. Meanwhile on the PC, Papyrus released NASCAR Racing, which would go on to shift a staggering one million copies worldwide. The combination of the team’s capable engine, a hugely popular licensed sport and the ability to race multiplayer via LAN or a dial-up online system (named Hawaii) redefi ned the simracing landscape once again. Oh, and let’s not forget the opportunity to cause enormous, 30-car pileups by driving backwards around the high-speed oval circuits. It’s in the wake of NASCAR Racing’s enormous success that various wheel and pedal sets began appearing

Above OutRun 2 has stayed true to the format laid down by the 1986 original

“The PC is the ideal platform for Lewis Hamilton wannabes”

A brief history of driving games

Indycar’s entire visual package was a considerable step forward over Grand Prix

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Christmas 2008 109

on the market, further establishing the PC as the place for realistic simulation.

With the gathered momentum from NASCAR Racing, Papyrus revisited the Indycar Racing series in 1995, applying much of the experience from its stock car outing to the open-wheeled championship. Sadly, with the real life division of the championship, interest in that area of motorsport was waning. Later in the year, Geoff Crammond would release Grand Prix 2 to universal acclaim – the game was a stunning texture-mapped tour de force, with a plausible handling model and all the cars and circuits from the 1994 Formula One season. Vastly more intelligent AI, fully rendered rear view mirrors and physics that allowed cars to become airborne during accidents were all major selling points for the simracing crowd. Of course, the infl uence of Sega’s impressive arcade racers was felt on our own beige boxes as well when Screamer appeared. Written especially for the PC, it offered impressive 3D graphics on a par with the recently released

PlayStation, swooping arcade-style tracks and vehicles that bore a close relation to real sports cars. Screamer demonstrated that the PC could do spectacular powerslides equally as capably as the new generation of CD based consoles, and is as close as the PC has ever been to having a fl agship arcade racing franchise. The game would spawn a sequel in 1996, Screamer 2.0, and a dirt track version, Screamer Rally, in 1997. There was also the release in 1995 of Fatal Racing by Gremlin Graphics, which featured enormous leaps and loops, but failed to capture gamers’ imaginations in the same way as Screamer’s accessible action.

THICK AND FASTBy 1996 the multiplatform releases of fast, visually impressive racers were coming thick and fast. From the PlayStation, EA’s Need for Speed SE offered licensed marques, realistic environments and slick presentation. From Sega’s Saturn came a console port of Daytona USA, considered to be disappointing in comparison to the arcade original. A Deluxe edition would be released a year later, but with graphics dictated by the spec of the relatively underpowered Saturn, it was a pale imitation of the still-impressive arcade machine. Also in 1997, a well-established series would be born as part of cross platform development with the PlayStation – TOCA Touring Car Championship was an authentic reproduction of the extremely

RALLY-O-RAMAWhile we’ve focused on circuit and road racing games here, the PC has plenty of interesting offroad titles as well. As on the consoles, that particular brand of automotive competition is dominated by by Colin McRae, a series which began in 1998, and the recent Colin McRae: DiRT saw it given a huge overhaul. As far as we’re aware, DiRT 2 is on the way, and with a boosted multiplayer mode it should be nigh-on unstoppable.

For simheads, the only rally game worth a mention is Richard Burns Rally, released in 2004, which has the most detailed physics of any offroad racer yet. This is another racing title that has been passionately embraced by the community, and patched and modded well beyond what the original developers could have imagined. The game is still held up as the benchmark of how to simulate a rally car careening across gravel and mud, though it needs a few tweaks to run optimally on modern hardware.

Honourable mentions go to Network Q RAC Rally Championship and Mobil 1 British Rally Championship, both by Magnetic Fields, which introduced the true 3D rally game before Colin burst onto the scene and refi ned it to the point where it accurately resembled real environments respectively. Mobil 1 was even realistic enough that the live route window was a real OS.

Last but not least, the Sega Rally series has always shown reasonably well on the PC, with a solid port of the original in 1997, an extremely shiny sequel in 1999, which took full advantage of the 3D hardware around at the time, and then the technologically impressive ground-deforming update of last year.

Above Grand Prix Circuit’s fast graphics mean it’s still just about playable today

Above Mobil 1 put you closer to the action than any PC rally game before it, but then came Colin…

A brief history of driving games

There have been some more quirky entries into the PC racing library over the years. Plenty of car games have included combat, such as the Doom-a-like Quarantine, which saw you piloting a taxi around a post apocalyptic city picking up punters and mowing down enemies. Another was the open-world, car combat game

Interstate ’76, with its 70s funk licks and purposefully rudimentary polygonal cutscenes.

Of course, it was nowhere near as popular as the ludicrously violent Carmageddon series which, while it didn’t include mounted guns, had some of the most gory pedestrian death animations around. The game had some impressive track designs, but the best way to win was to remove the competition destruction-derby style.

If the contemporary four-wheels is a little dull, there have also been a series of futuristic racers. PlayStation hover-racing favourites Wipeout and Wipeout 2097 appeared as console ports and there was even an abortive attempt to shoehorn a hover racing game into the Magic Carpet engine with title, Hi Octane.

But if it’s loops and stunts you want Trackmania is easily the best option. As much a puzzle game as it is a racer, the handling is pure arcade and tuned perfectly for the keyboard, and the visuals have a Micro Machines-style miniature feel to them.

ODDBALL

Above Trackmania is as much a puzzle game as a racer

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110 Christmas 2008

popular British touring car series, including all of the 1997 season’s manufacturer backed drivers and cars, plus all the circuits on which they staged their Sunday afternoon battles. The cars weren’t overpowered, it was unforgivingly ‘sim’ and the doorhandle bashing racing allowed for the odd bit of dubious nudging – an ideal formula for an accessible racer.

Aside from a sequel to NASCAR Racing, all had been quiet on the simulation front for some time, but there were rumblings that Papyrus was working on something big. That something arrived in 1998, in the shape of the mercilessly diffi cult Grand Prix Legends. It’s diffi cult to overstate the importance GPL had on the simracing community, but one of its major contributions was the opportunity to be unapologetically realistic. Without GPL it’s doubtful Simbin would have had the confi dence to release a sim that’s as unforgiving as GTR. Coercing these ’60s rockets, which had power far in excess of their handling capabilities, around treacherous circuits such as the full Nurburgring and the original, far longer Spa-Francorchamps is the most challenging driving experience you’ll fi nd on the PC. GPL dominated the racing

scene in 1998, but two games worth a nod are the oft-forgotten Ultim@te Race Pro, which was the fi rst driving game to require a 3D graphics card, and the stylised futuristic title Motorhead.

NOBODY DOES IT BETTERThe next few years would see a run of sequels in popular franchises such as TOCA, which evolved into the Race Driver series, NASCAR Racing, culminating in Season 2003, which was Papyrus’ popular fi nal game, and two more Crammond Grand Prix titles. Both NASCAR 2003 and Grand Prix 4 are still played online and GP4 in particular is supported by a dedicated mod community that keeps it up to date with modern Formula One seasons.

In 2005, after the ground work laid by GPL, a small ex-mod team by the name of Simbin launched GTR. It wasn’t without its fl aws, but the simulation of physics was above and beyond anything that had been released before. GTR2, which made its debut late the next year, was a refi nement of that excellent foundation and had a new, revamped graphics engine behind it as well. Arcade racing fans have also had their fi ll of fast, dynamic racing in the shape of a perfect port of OutRun 2 and a reboot of the Race Driver franchise. This year’s Race Driver: GRID is quick and Hollywood gorgeous, thanks to Codemasters’ impressive EGO engine.

With GRID 2 in the pipeline, Simbin continuing work on its popular Race series and reviving the GTR name and ex-Papyrus staffers working on the fascinating iracing.com project, there’s plenty to look forward to as well. So despite much fuss often made over console exclusive racing titles, you can rest easy in the knowledge that the PC not only has a rich history of some of the greatest driving games ever produced, but it’s also the place to be for a diverse racing future. ¤

TORQUE SHOWShaun Southern and Andrew Morris produced some of the best loved racing games of the ’90s, including Lotus Turbo

Challenge, Super Cars and Network Q Rally Championship.

PCFormat: How did the Lotus Turbo Challenge games originally come about? Shaun: Once we fi nished Super Cars 1, we were stuck for something to do, so we decided to do a pole-position type racer. Originally it had Porsches in it. We showed it to Gremlin and the rest is history.

PCF: The rally games marked a shift toward realistic racing. Was the plan to create a sim or something that was authentic but entertaining? Andrew: The brief from Europress was to do a very technical rally simulation – not a game. We largely ignored this. Our priority was to produce something that everyone would fi nd fun and accessible, not to bog it down with too much of the technical aspects of rallying. We still managed to get a lot of that in, though.

PCF: Were the courses in Mobil 1 Rally real and if so how extensive was the survey for the game? Shaun: We videoed all the tracks, then used our own editor to create the road splines, and added bits on. Some of those tracks were terrifyingly thin to drive, and for the fi rst time we had almost real physics, so it didn’t take much to send the car tumbling. I was never totally happy with the control though, as it fell somewhere between real control and arcade style control, without really hitting either.

For the full interview, visit www.pcformat.co.uk/blog

Above Lotus Turbo Challenge was a huge hit

A brief history of driving games

Above No doubt plenty of gamers failed to perfect Test Drive’s manual gearbox and ended up redlining the engine until it exploded

Race Driver: GRID mixes authenticity and arcade thrills masterfully

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