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It's not uncommon to see computer games based on all sorts of non-computer gamey things.
Movies, TV shows,
steaming piles of feces.
But how many games can you think of that are based on a magazine?
Well, look no further than Car and Driver,
published by Electronic Arts in 1992
for MS-DOS PCs.
Of course, a more well-known game with magazine ties
is Road & Track Presents The Need for Speed,
also published by EA, but that game was developed
by several ex-Test Drive team members
who used to be at Distinctive Software
and Car and Driver was developed at Lerner Research.
If that name doesn't sound familiar, you might know Lerner better
from when they merged with Blue Sky Productions
and started going by Looking Glass Studios.
If that still doesn't ring a bell,
then go play Thief and System Shock and thank me later.
So yes, Car and Driver not only attempts to emulate the style of the magazine itself,
as evidenced by the cover art that closely mimicks
the contemporary style and layout of said periodical,
but it also provides you with the opportunity
to participate in the one of the magazine's famous Ten Best tests.
Albeit with far more sporty rides than the usual parade of Honda Accord
and BMW 3 Series cars.
MDMA On Wheels!
"You've read the reviews. Now it's time to test drive ten of the best sports cars in the world,"
"as rated by Car and Driver."
Oh, yeah! Everything from an Eagle Talon to the Ferrari F40 and beyond!
Intriguingly, it also says to keep an eye out for upcoming data disks
featuring more cars and tracks, just like Test Drive did with its own expansion disks.
But I can't seem to find any evidence of these ever existing,
so if anyone knows if anything ever came of this,
please let me know, because I'm a geek like that.
Car and Driver starts off with a menu that,
like the box art, imitates Car and Driver magazine.
In this case, the table of contents and article layouts.
Selecting a car and track will not only make you feel like your choices actually matter,
but it will provide you with a detailed review on the selection in question.
The downside of these menus is that,
while they duplicate the feel of the magazine quite well,
they aren't exactly the most awesome-looking menus
and user-friendly game interface things that I've ever used.
It feels a little bit more like navigating one of those old CD-ROM encyclopedias.
I feel like I should be back in school, taking notes for homework or something.
You do get a nice options menu, though,
full of stuff to adjust, like visual tweaks,
car color, handling and strength options,
the ability to play against AI or human opponents over a modem or network,
individual sound effect toggling,
and which radio station you want playing while you race.
You can even adjust the aspect ratio,
which is a fantastic touch,
and surprisingly prescient, considering more modern displays.
One thing that isn't in this options menu
is the ability to change your maximum graphical detail levels,
which is done in an external setup program.
Now what this does is examines your CPU, hard drive speed and expanded memory
and then automatically chooses whatever settings
it determines that you can run smoothly.
I'm running this on a 100 MHz Pentium
with 32 MB of RAM here, so it's more than fast enough.
Although it'll run on something as low as a 386/16,
just will minimal graphics and some pretty hefty choppiness.
Once everything is in order, it's time to don your driving gloves,
eat some mahi-mahi,
and start the race, and not necessarily in that order,
depending on how much you like seafood.
If you've played Vette!, Stunts,
or the early Test Drive or Need for Speed games,
then you know almost exactly what to expect here.
You are a driver. Of cars.
And it's your job to drive. Your car.
Over the road and track, with a trending motor, during Auto Week,
or some such magazine reference.
The graphics are quite nice compared to its peers,
seeing as it was one of, if not the very first,
PC racing games with high-resolution graphics
and the occasional texture-mapped 3D object.
Most other racers were still using 2D sprites,
or filled polygonal 3D graphics at lower resolutions,
but nope! Not C&D.
Well, at least if your PC was powerful enough,
as you'd be stuck without texture-mapped scenery objects,
and higher resolution if your PC was too slow.
Something else that's lacking, no matter what computer you have,
is the sound.
The radio stations are cool in theory,
but unlike similar games, such as Test Drive III,
you can't change radio stations during the race.
And like Test Drive III, there is only one song per station,
and it gets old fast.
Not to mention the sound effects are pretty bad.
Every car engine sounds exactly the same,
and I find the sounds used to be really underwhelming.
And AdLib was capable of making some pretty decent noises,
just compare it to Stunts, for instance.
[high-pitched engine revving]
[low engine revving]
[tires screeching]
Otherwise, it's a pretty impressive game for the time.
The way the cars feel as you wind them around corners
and smash them into obstacles
is quite satisfying.
And it's technically an open world.
You can actually drive off-road without much hassle at all.
Although it's not as open a world as something like Vette! or even Test Drive III.
And you don't have any animals or nuns to run over,
or any overreactive cops chasing you.
As far as controls, well, you can control it with a keyboard,
but I'd highly recommend playing with a joystick,
racing wheel or even a mouse, which is what I'm using here.
To make up for it being digital,
the keyboard controls are meant to mimic a steering wheel,
so you have different separate keys to press
in order for different degrees of turning.
And when flying through a mountainside roadway at 200 MPH,
more precise analog controls are a godsend.
But what's the actual point of the game, you may ask?
Well, not much.
More often than not, opponents are nowhere to be found,
so the typical situation is you against the cold, calculated reality of the timer.
Just race through the checkpoints to the end of the track
and try not to crash spectacularly.
Unless that's your goal, then go ahead.
Because crashing is quite fun,
especially when viewed from the myriad camera angles
either in the instant replay mode or during the race itself.
Though really, cameras other than the dashboard and bumper cam
are freaking useless while racing seriously.
There are some other things that also seem quite unusual,
like the parking lot track.
Yes, it's just a parking lot. That's it.
While I must admit, it's a cool idea,
and I have had some fun with it,
it doesn't really serve much purpose here,
unlike in games like Driver where a parking lot served as a training mission.
Still, I suppose it's fun to smash up random people's parked cars
because I like property damage.
Another interesting thing is the drag strip,
which has nothing to do with dudes taking off the women's clothing they're wearing,
and everything to do with driving in a straight line.
You also get an auto cross track,
which is great to see how many cones you can crash into,
although I don't think that was its intended purpose.
Speaking of crashing, one major downer is the physics model itself.
Sometimes it feels pretty realistic,
for 1992, at least.
Other times, the physics model just gives up,
has a seizure, punches a baby and takes a whiz on your sofa
while singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
So, taking the simulation too seriously
is likely to end up in heartache and confusion,
like watching the recent remake of Total Recall.
And that's really about it for Car and Driver.
This is yet another one of those classic racing games
where you have to make your own fun.
There aren't really any goals, nothing I found to unlock,
not really any AI cars to race against unless you make ghosts...
You know, really, calling it a racing game at all seems like a misnomer.
It's a driving simulation, with cars...
Car...and Driver... Yes, it all makes sense now.
It's a relaxing simulation more than anything
where you can simply chill out with some legendary vehicles,
and roam around trying to break the physics and maybe set some lap times.
I like it,
although I wouldn't consider it a favorite from the time period or anything.
Games like Stunts are far better in the fun department,
but I think this has its place, too.
You just have to do some looking for that place until you find it.
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