Video game of race

A video game of race is a Type of video game in which the player controls a vehicle, generally motorized, in a delimited environment (generally a circuit or a closed road). The goal is to progress as soon as possible of a point at a different point to gain on the others or time. This type of play puts forward the concept of competition and car its interest of the feelings speed and piloting which it gets. Very popular, the kind is enormously inspired by the mechanical sports and in particular by the Automobile race.

History

Origins in room arcade

The origin of video game of race goes back almost to the appearance of the commercial video game. The first play of the listed kind is Astro Race of Taito, appeared in 1973. It is about play of a futuristic, playable race to two simultaneously, in which the player directs a vessel for top, while having to avoid the Astéroïde S present on the course. Appeared in July 1974, Gran Trak 10 , developed by Atari Ranges, can be regarded as the first play of Automobile race. The circuit is posted in integrality with the screen, in air sight, and the player must connect the turns in Against-the-watch to obtain the maximum of points. Graphics, in black and white, are very minimalists and the handiness of the machine not very convincing. The terminal is equipped with a wheel and two pedals (the player plays upright however).

Night Driver (Atari Ranges), appeared in 1976, is undoubtedly one of the first plays of the kind to try out the back sight. With the ordering of sporting, the player is alone on the track and the challenge is summarized to roll longest and as soon as possible without leaving the road. In 1982, Pole Position of Namco confronts for the first time the player with virtual competitors. It is also the first title to be taken as a starting point the layouts of side circuits.

In 1986, Sega develops Out Run , a play of race to Checkpoint which is held in exotic decorations. The terminal of arcade is equipped with two processors Motorola 68000 and graphics quality makes a notorious jump. In 1987, Final Lap of Namco makes it possible to connect two terminals between them, thus proposing the first experiment multijouor by screen interposed of the kind. In 1988, Hunting H.Q. of Taito puts in scene the first track races in the car of the video game (the player incarnates a policier. The same year, Hard Drivin' of Atari Games is the first play of the kind to post graphics completely carried out in 3D polygonal. It is also the first to stress cascades (the tracks present 360°, springboards) and the first terminal equipped with a wheel at return of force.

From their mode of use, the majority of the plays of arcade are restricted to propose the most accessible possible jouability. The developers privilege the feelings speed and the visual seal with the detriment of the realism of piloting and the physical models. It is what is at the origin of differentiation between two types of Gameplay: arcade and simulation (cf to see further).

The development of the kind

The majority of the plays developed on Borne of arcade are adapted after a fashion on the systems 8 bits (the microcomputers Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and the consoles Master System and BORN), more limited technically. These limitations will lead the developers to imagine alternatives to the mode of representation most natural but also greediest in resources, the back sight.

The sets of races which propose an air sight or on side thus will multiply. Often stripped of feelings speed, the interest of this type of plays holds especially in a rather technical jouability (it is necessary to adapt the direction to the orientation of the vehicle compared to the axis of the camera) and in its potential multijouor (the overall picture makes it possible to distinguish several competitors with the screen).

Most known are Excitebike (1984, Nintendo), Super Sprint (1986, Atari Games) and Super Off Road (1989, The Leland Corporation). In this last, the circuit is visible in its entirety with the screen and the play is playable up to four.

The first simulations

As of the middle of the Eighties, the microcomputers 8 bits will accommodate the first simulators. Those then will develop on Amiga, Atari ST and PC, which has a more important computing power. The players microphone, older than their counterparts consoles, are more receptive with this type of software, which generally requires a rather hard training before being truly appreciated.

Talented programmer, Geoff Crammond is the most famous pioneer of the kind. In 1984, it develops REVS on Micro BBC. This simulation of Formula 3 present of the environments in 3D very stripped but proposes a contrario grinds innovations that one finds in substance in modern simulations (for example: subjective sight, of true exit ramps, a manual gear box…). In 1989, Crammond carries out Stunt Because Racer , published by Microprose. Playable to two per connection No modem , the play offers single feelings: the races proceed on narrow, escarpés and raised layouts, without no barrier of protection being able to secure against an exit ramp. In spite of its whimsical tonality, the title profits from a remarkable physical engine, in particular in the management of the jumps and the uneven ones. The same year, Indianapolis 500: The Simulation of Papyrus Design Group plunges the player in the middle of the mythical race éponyme. The play requires a very pointed piloting and makes it possible to carry out adjustments on the vehicle; it manages also the accidents in a realistic way and integrates a payment of race. In 1991, Vroom of Lankhor is dissociated by a precise and nervous jouability, a immersif environment (behavior of the competitors, management of the supplies…) and an important tape speed. In 1992, Geoff Crammond develops Formula One Grand Prix (Microprose). Entirely in 3D, the series becomes one of the most appreciated amateurs of simulation of F1.

The golden age of the 2D

The end of the era 16 bits is marked by a lack of renewal which forward the exit in arcade of Virtua Racing in 1992 puts. In advance over its time, the title of Sega proposes graphics in 3D polygonal not textured. But the play developed by Yu Suzuki poses especially the bases of the modern play of race (fluidity of animation, visual angle multiples, idles).

The generalization of the 3D

In the middle of the Nineties, the new generation of PC and consoles (Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Saturn) opens completely with the 3D. As for other kinds, this evolution offers one second birth to the plays of race. The representation in three dimensions of the environments of race reinforces considerably the immersion and the creativity of the developers is boostée by the new technical possibilities.

On consoles, the first plays to be distinguished are the adaptations of plays arcade like Ridge Racer or Daytona the USA in 1995. The same year, WipEout of Psygnosis, futuristic play of race, and Destruction Derby of Reflections, play of stock car, successfully inaugurate a wave of plays less conventional, in which the competition often takes more spectacular atours

From now on, the consoles of living room are enough powerful to propose alternatives to simulations PC. Left in 1997, TOCA Touring Because Championship of Codemasters and Gran Turismo of Polyphony DIGITAL are emblematic of this historical turning point. The play of Kazunori Yamauchi is posed in reference on consoles thanks to its exacerbated realism and the richness of its contents (for the first time a play proposes more than one hundred different models).

World PC however continues to accommodate the most thorough simulations of the market. Among the most noticed during this time, one finds the new episodes of the series Grand Prix (Microprose) and the productions of Papyrus Group Design: the series NASCAR Racing (1994) and Grand Prix Legends (1998). Beyond the realism of graphics and physical models, the most notable projections relate to the articicielle intelligence of the competitors and the first races multijouor in line.

Another play of race important on PC, directed arcade, and left in 1997, it is, of Ubi Soft.

If Formula 1 remains the competition most represented, the plays of rally, which takes as a starting point the WRC, gain in popularity. Renewed by Sega Rally (Sega, 1995), the kind develops with V-Rally (Eden Studios, 1997) and finds its reference in the series Colin McRae Rally (Codemasters), appeared in 1998. The discipline is in particular appreciated for its immersives qualities (lengths of the layouts, Co-piloting, damages mechanical…) like for the variety of the environments and the climatic conditions proposed.

The new generation

At the dawn of the years 2000, a new tendency sees the sets of races forsake the circuits and the main roads of campaigns for the streets of the great agglomerations. The city becomes the theater of more or less legal competitions, of police track races… to see simple walks with feeling, in the middle of a circulation which densified whereas the adventure playground increases. This phenomenon takes all its measurement with the sixth generation of consoles (Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube).

In 1999, Driver (Reflections) revolutionizes the play of race by proposing the motorized tribulations of a police officer infiltrated in the gangster mediums. In open urban environments, the player must connect various missions at the wheel of his vehicle (track races, ambushes, spinning mills). The play is dissociated by the liberty of action (the player is free to choose its routes), the realism of the physical models (road behavior, collisions) like by its cinematographic style. In Crazy Taxi (Sega, 1999), the player incarnates a driver of taxi of San Francisco ready with all the eccentricities to satisfy his customers.

Thereafter, of the series typically arcade take again on their account this tendency while bringing each one there its personal key: specificities of the adventure playground, system of boost, esthetisation of the accidents, control of night, modification of the performances or the appearance of the vehicles, references to certain currents of the culture tuning or to certain films like Fast and Furious , presence of girls teasers… Among most popular: Midtown Madness (1999), Midnight Club (2000), both realized by Angel Studios, BurnOut of Criterion Ranges (2001) or Need for Speed: Underground of Electronic Arts (2003).

In 2001, Grand Theft Auto III of DMA Design (2001) proposes a concept close to Driver , if it is not that the possibilities of play are multiplied by ten and that this time a shady there is incarnated. Although the play is articulated around phases of action to foot, its interest rests much on the possibility of constantly taking the control of a vehicle. Presenting missions of a large variety, the play offers - in substance - an exceptional liberty of action which will make series the largest business success of this generation, any confused kind. In a more realistic style, The Getaway (TEAM Soho, 2002) pushes the " culte" city until reproducing 16 km ² accurately districts of London.

It should be noted that even the directed plays of race simulation, with the image of Metropolis Street Racer (Bizarre Creations, 1999, continued by Project Gotham Racing ), of Gran Turismo 3 (2001) or of Forza Motorsport (Turn 10, 2005) propose from now on circuits located in the middle of large world cities.

With Stuntman (2002), Reflections Interactive proposes a new innovative concept: it is a question this time of incarnating a stuntman of cinema. With the orders of various types of vehicles, the player must carry out rather perilous preset operations, requiring a blow of sharp and precise wheel as well as an acute sense of the timing .

Live for Speed (NFS TEAM, 2005) and GTR: WP Racing (SimBin, 2005) TRUSTED incarnate as for them the new generation of simulations on PC. In September 2006, appeared Test Drive Unlimited which was also a new generation.

Characteristics

The Scénario in a play of race is developed generally little, contrary to graphics and of the Jouabilité.

Very often, the player can choose between several different visions. Two more common are the subjective Vision where the player sees what a pilot would see, and the Vision cinema where the player sees his vehicle of behind.

Certain plays as the Gran Turismo privilege the realistic Simulation, others as Trackmania propose the pleasure and the facility of control.

Mixing the play of race and the Play of combat, Rollcage , Twisted Metal and others, give the possibility to the player of using any weapon available to slow down its adversaries.

Even if the scenarios are often non-existent, of multiple environments are represented. Wipeout and F-Zero GX to quote only they, use floating vehicles, on imaginary futuristic circuits. On the contrary, of “childish” environments with “funny” characters were born on the Mario Kart for example.

The cars are the vehicles mainly represented, but also the motor bikes, the karts, formulas 1, the scooters and the bicycles.

Anecdotes

With more than 40 million specimens distributed in the world, Gran Turismo is one of the series of plays of the most sold race history. Run out with more than 14 million specimens, the third episode constitutes the largest business success of the series.
the series Test Drive holds the record of longevity. Nineteen years separate the first episode, Test Drive (Distinctive Software, 1987) of the last, Test Drive Unlimited (Eden Studios, 2006).