PC Driving Games Page 7

PC Racing Games:

Last updated - 12 July 2004

An Introduction to PC Driving Games:

Select a Link from the table below:

Previews
Tips & Cheats
Optimising your PC for Games
Games Hardware

Simulations
Arcade
Links

Select a Link from the table below:
Previews Tips & Cheats Optimising your PC for Games Games Hardware	Simulations Arcade Links

My particular interest in computer related stuff, goes all the way back to a little rubber keyed Sinclair ZX Spectrum. My first computer racing game was called Chequered Flag, and looking back on it now, it was crap! But from then on I was hooked. From those pioneering days in home computing came classics such as Revs, Stunt Car Racer and in more recent times, Formula One Grand Prix Two & Three. (Yes, I am a Geoff Crammond Fan!)

Pole Position: One of the early CLASSIC Racing Games....

Recently, the standard of computer based racing games and simulations (sims) has risen. This, in my opinion is mainly due to one key area, the incredible advance in technology. We now have the computing power to simulate the motor racing World in much more detail, and to a far greater degree of accuracy. The real potential of computer simulations has been realised in the form of releases such as Grand Prix Legends (GPL) and the imminent release of World Sports Cars (WSC). GPL has raised the standard far above the level it was previously at. Better graphics, sound, track detail and scenery, and a far better physical driving model has proved very popular with sim racing fans. History may show this was the first sim that actually felt like a real car!

Previews & Games to look out for:

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Select a Link to see the Preview:

Driver 2
Rally Racing Simulator
Midnight GT
World Sports Cars

Paris Dakar Rally
Historic Rally Trophy
Grand Prix 4
Schlesser's All Terrain Rally
F1 World GP

Leadfoot
Pro Rally 2001
Grand Theft Auto 3D
Other Releases

Select a Link to see the Preview:
Driver 2 Rally Racing Simulator Midnight GT World Sports Cars	Paris Dakar Rally Historic Rally Trophy Grand Prix 4 Schlesser's All Terrain Rally F1 World GP	Leadfoot Pro Rally 2001 Grand Theft Auto 3D Other Releases

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Paris Dakar Rally - Produced by Acclaim & developoed by Broadsword. Due for release in the second half of 2001. This one has all the authentic rally cars, bikes, buggies, quads, etc, all individually modelled. The Environmental detail appears to be rather good, featuring all the ruts and dips and bumps and sand dunes that you might expect in a title such as this. Tactics will play a part too, as time to carry out vital repairs will need to be allowed for. The screenshots look stunning.

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Leadfoot - Produced by Ratbag, this one is due for late 2001 release, and is a stadium based off road racing game. It features three classes of vehicles including pick up trucks, and off road buggies. It will feature outdoor curcuits as well as the stadium based ones. There is a career mode too. Supports LAN and Internet play. Get more info from

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Historic Rally Trophy - Produced by Bugbear this one is due to be a historic rally simulator (claimed to be the first?) Its initial release date is scheduled for the end of 2001, and the title will include 14 cars, no details of which ones yet though? It will also include realtime weather and photorealistic graphics.

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Schlesser's All Terrain Rally - Produced by Bright Star Games, has just been announced on their website. Get more info from

This will be an endurance racing game based on Jean Louis Schlesser (two time winner of the Paris Dakar Rally).

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Grand Theft Auto 3D - Produced by DMA. No release date yet, But this rather new version of the now dated game format is to be presented in a 3D perspective, (Ala Driver & Midtown Madness). You can turn on the top down view (just like the older versions of GTA) if you wish to, apparently. There will be real day/night cycles and variable weather too. One to watch out for....Get more info from

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Grand Prix 4 - Produced by Haspro & Geoff Crammond. The next version of the definitive F1 simulator. Lets hope its better than the rather disappointing GP3, which is still better than most other sims, but it was not the great leap forward many of us were hoping for. No release date yet? Get more info from

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Driver 2 - Produced by Infogrames, this is the sequel to the popular arcade racer, Driver. Multi platform so don't expect miracles, but it should be great fun. If you liked the first offering, you will like this one too as its bound to have more of the same. No release date yet?

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Pro Rally 2001: - Published by Ubi Soft. Yes, its another rally game, boasting around 15 cars, and 24 stages in around 12 countries, (with over 800km of race track) it has photo realistic scenery, and all the usual 3D effects. Multiplayer options will be available too. The last release date of November 2000 has already been passed, no sign of it yet? For more info checkout the website

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F1 World GP: - Published by Eidos, this is thier second attempt at an F1 title, (after the rather average Official F1 Racing from a while back). Its based on the 1999 season and is an officially licenced FIA game (for what thats worth nowadays?). No real details yet, its expected to be released sometime during 2000. Visit

For more details.

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Rally Racing Simulator: - Published by Ubi Soft Entertainment (of F1RS and MGPR2 fame). Expected release date is late 2000. Following on from Magnetic Fields/Actualize's recent release of Rally Championship, this program from Ubi Soft is another rally simulator, this time concentrating on the full South of France rally (all 360km of it!) Early screenshots look good (as is expected as the norm nowadays?) Apparently the cars in this program do not just dent, they actually fold up, split and fall apart as a real car would, given enough tree bashing, wall hitting grief! The amount of damage caused by a shunt, will also affect the cars handling in an appropriate manner (about time too). So suffer a minor front end crash, and the rad will leak causing the car to overheat, suffer a major off at high speed, say into a tree, and you will total the car, or if you are lucky, you might be able to limp to the next checkpoint. 30 cars are on offer, all with differing characteristics, and full car set-up options are to be included to keep the tech heads happy. For more info checkout the website

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Midnight GT: - Published by Rage (who are also developing Off Road, another racing title to look out for). 10 Courses, 8 Cars, and some serious arcade action is promised here driving around in GT cars. Some of the cars have been designed by proffessional car design house Pininfarina. Graphics should look awesome, and it has some serious lighting effects, dust, headlamps, etc. Was due to be released around June/July 2000 but no sign of it yet?

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World Sports Cars (WCS): - Published by Empire and produced by West Racing. A lot of good things are being spouted about this one? World Sports Car racing is just as glamorous as F1, and you get to race some very exotic cars too! Even the in-car drivers have been motion captured, so expect detail levels to be high. WSC features 20 different cars, although final details have not yet been released, expect to see the MaClaren F1, Lotus V8 GT1, Porsche GT1, Panoz, and the odd Ferrari too. Apparently you can even drive off road, out from the pits, and in the nearby trackside car parks, and even drive the cars on or off the transporters!

The graphics are awesome (checkout the screenshots) sound should be very accurate, and the cars physics are said to be spot on (but they all say that don't they?) It has been reported that Alison Hine (of GPL fame) has been hired to help out with on-line/network racing, so this area of the game should be pretty good too. The final tracks have not yet been announced, but there are eight of them, expect to see Monza, Spa and Daytona included. The expected release date is not yet known, but don't expect to see it before the end of the summer 2001.

For more information on WSC's, check out: Or try

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Other future releases to watch out for include: - 4 Wheel Thunder from Kalisto (arcade racer); Watch out for a PC (mission based) driving game version of "The Italian Job" by Viacom & SCI, fancy throwing some Mini's about? Also watch out for "The World's Scariest Police Chases" (I kid you not!) which is produced by Fox Interactive, where you can choose to either be the cops or the crooks....more details to come...

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Optimising your PC for Games:

To get the best performance from your PC when running games (any games) whether on-line or off-line, ideally, it should be the only program running. Turn off all you other programs before starting the game. To check what programs are running in the background on your PC, (especially if using Win95/98/ME) press Ctrl and Alt and Delete together to get the "Close program" box on your screen. This will tell you what programs are still running. Ideally you only need systray and explorer to be running (but this will depend on how you pc has been set-up?) Turning off virus checkers, and programs such as MS FastFind or ICQ will help to improve the games performance on your pc, as these programs use up valueable cpu resources if left running in the background.

Ensure you have all the latest drivers for your graphics card, sound card, modem, CD drive, etc, and ensure they have been installed correctly. Delete any programs you do not use, and get rid of as many temporary files as possible to clear the clutter from your hard drive. Run Scan disk, and then run Defrag on your hard drive to improve its performance. Make sure Win 95/98/ME has enough free hard disk space for its swap file. Take control of your virtual memory settings in Win 95/98/ME. Allow approximately 150 to 200Mb for virtual memory, this should be enough for almost all modern games.

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When Installing the game, often a full install is better than a partial or network only install. A full install usually installs all the necessary files from the CD onto your hard drive. When the game runs it can get the data much faster from your hard drive than from the CD drive. The only problem with this method is that it takes up more hard disk space! After you have installed the game, check PC games magazines or the makers website for upgrades or patches which can enhance the game on your pc.

Finally, if you are really determined to eek out that last bit of performance from your PC, you could try overclocking. (Not for the faint hearted!) For more details see also my Hardware Overclocking Page: Overclocking is basically adjusting the hardware in your PC (Graphics card, Motherboard or CPU) to enable them to run faster than they are originally designed to run. This increases the performance of your PC and the programs it runs. (But there are some risks associated with this practice worth noting on my overclocking page).

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Some Internet Links to PC Driving Game Websites:
The Ultimate Sim Racing Directory:
Official Grand Prix Three (GP3) Website:
Eagle Woman's Website:
The *NEW* Wireplay On-Line Gaming Website:
Driving Games - Tips & Cheats:
Driving Games - Simulations:
Driving Games - Arcade:
GP3 Page:
PC Driving Games Hardware:
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