I have two great passions: Racing and gaming. In 1965 I saw Jim Clark (deceased Formula One World Champion) blast flat out through Spa’s famed Eau Rouge, and I was hooked.  Although my taste in computer games is wider than the racing genre, I have never lost that passion for speed imbued by Clark’s deep green Lotus 33.

Whether the speed is real --ingested at the wheel of my Lola T-342-- or simulated matters not. However, what does matter is the direction the games that simulate speed are taking  --the future of racing simulations, so to speak. It’s a bright future, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good future. Let me explain.

The crystal ball is easily read. In the coming years we’ll see a never ending stream of simulations depicting two types of racing: NASCAR and the FIA Formula One World Championship. No doubt, the games will sell well. Americans buy the NASCAR simulations while the rest of the planet snap up the Formula One games. Yeah, we’ll see the occasional TOCA 2, Viper Racing, or Sports Car GT, but if you don’t like NASCAR or F1, you’ll often be out of luck.

Innovation? Not here. Developers will continue to wow editors with better graphics and drivers with supposedly more realistic physics models.  But the nature of the beast will remain the same. Hey, I like high-gloss, reflective-paint cars as well as the next guy (or gal), but does it really change the racing experience? And realistic? Puhlease don’t talk to me about realistic. Decreasing the surface traction coefficient and making the steering more sensitive does not qualify as realistic. Any coder can make a game impossible to drive.

Case in same-old-stuff point: Grand Prix 3 and Papyrus’s NASCAR Racing series. Grand Prix 3 is a solid game; Geoff Crammond has once again hit the game-engine sweet spot, making the Ferraris, Jordans, and McLarens a joy to pilot. The graphics, while not stunning, are at least pleasing. But that’s it, Grand Prix 3 feels like an updated version of Grand Prix II, nothing more. Nothing new.

By the same token, NASCAR 3 is little more than a prettier version of the original NASCAR Racing. I respect Dave Kaemmer; he is arguably the finest racing simulation coder/designer in the history of gaming, but Papyrus needs to give NASCAR a rest.

In essence, racing simulation’s bright future is the same old wine in a brand new bottle. The game boots, the gamer chooses practice, single race, or championship season, and the game plays. The cars are a bit more appealing than the game’s predecessor, but little else has changed.

So, the question that lingers is simple: Where should racing simulations go next?

Next, Mark Walker's Answer >