RPS Feature Driving sims and somatisation...
What was I expecting when I set out on this driving-sim adventure? I’m not sure, but it wasn’t this. If the logistical complexities of doing driving sims properly caught me out a little, the initial experience is completely off the map. But I’m finally up and running thanks to the arrival of a Playseat seatpod thingie and I’ve had something akin to my own Matrix moment… Read the rest of this entry »
RPS Feature Could the road to Damascus be digital?
I like games. I like driving. But driving games? Not so much. Not since I could actually drive, at least. But in the name of natural science and fortnightly deadlines, I’m having another crack at it. As is my remit, I’m going heavy with the hardware. With the Laird Gaming Dungeon™ now operational, a top-notch driving-sim setup should provide for empirical exposition. Before that, however, please allow me to bother you with a broader theory of games that explains why driving sims have failed to fire my pleasure neurons in adulthood…
Is there life on Mars? Well, my theory of a billion fully evolved micro-universes under each Martian rock may have yet to be proved, but one can always form brand new theories by downloading Naut and driving around the sandy plateaus of the planet in a brightly and randomly coloured ’50s convertible.
RPS Feature Learn to count with 1N2AN3
I don’t drive. I get scared just pondering what arcane knowledge is required for a gear change (seriously: how?). I’m unable to appreciate the basics of realistic car physics, and I can only turn in a serious racing game when the side of the track is pushing me in that direction, scraping off adversing slogans in a slow, spark-filled cornering manoeuvre I like to call “The Pearson Gambit”. I need something unsubtle and exaggerated. So I’ve spent a few hours with Insane 2, the car basher that surprisingly appeared on Steam this morning. I have some thoughts!
Any drivers willing to put their hands in their pockets as well as pedals to the metal can now get hold of the rFactor 2 beta. It’s been out for a few days, so you can check the forums to see how series fans think it’s shaking out and if it’s worth taking an early punt on.
But how advanced a simulation can you expect? Sexy rubber-on-road action follows…
News of Test Drive Unlimited 2 has caught me by surprise, despite its having been announced in March. I’m so good at my job. The original, released on PC in 2007, was an unfairly overlooked driving game set on the Hawaiian island Oʻahu, with 1,000 miles of roads to race about on. What made it so interesting was the population of this island: other players. It was so casual about being an MMO – not shouting and screaming about it, but rather just letting you take part in the many races available, and then on a whim see another car coming toward you, flash your lights at it, and then begin a frenzied race with them for glory. And for money. So much money. Below is the first-look trailer of the sequel, along with Game Trailers’ interview with senior producer, Nour Polloni.
Here’s one of the best free games we’ve seen in a long while.
Launched yesterday, Drift City is a game from the madly named ijji (which is an awful lot of fun to say out loud, and also free). It’s a driving MMO-alike, very much like Test Drive Unlimited, except with cel-shaded graphics, and it runs via your browser.
It comes from the homeland of the free MMO, South Korea, with a mostly decent English translation, and lets you lark around in a really bright, cheerful city, driving nicely balanced arcade cars. To get started, you’ll need to visit the game’s site and click the Play Live button. This will get you to create an account (that asks for some completely unnecessary personal information, including, oddly, your race, but can all be bluffed through with made up info, other than your email address), which once verified, will let you log into the site. Hit the Play Now button again, and it will ask you to download a small app that modifies your browser (and it worked perfectly in Firefox, so no need to dig around and find your dusty copy of IE). Relaunch the browser and… guess what? Press the Play Now button once more, and it boots the programme up into a full-screen window, limited to a pretty low resolution. And then you need only create a “license” and you’re in, with a quick and practical tutorial showing you the ropes.
More details after the checkpoint.
