Before Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo, there was Need for Speed. For those in need of a history lesson, the first Need for Speed game appeared in 1994 for the 3DO, with PC, Playstation and Sega Saturn games following up in the next couple of years. At the time is was one of the only attempts to create a realistic simulation, and a main part of the gameplay was being chased … [Read more...]
Blur TV advert
Split/Second TV advert
Is iRacing enough to buy racing?
“I’m Paul Page… from Papyrus… this is Indycar Racing 2!” – the immortal words uttered at the start of 1993 classic Indycar Racing 2, one of my favourite-ever games and the last one I owned to run in DOS – something which now seems frankly rather silly. Ten years and many games later, Papyrus developed the acclaimed Nascar Racing 2003, before the company folded. The Phoenixes (… … [Read more...]
Cars missing from racing games: #1 The Metro 6R4
Even as racing games have expanded to contain a pretty wide selection of cars to choose from, there are still some great examples of automobile icons missing. So we've had a quick poll of the OnlineRaceDriver team to list a few - add yours in the comments, and in the next couple of weeks we'll put together a vote for the most missed car in racing games. And then go and pester … [Read more...]
Where is the safety car?
Who led more laps of the 2006 Australian Grand Prix than everyone except winner Fernando Alonso? Who led for a third of the 2007 Grand Prix of Japan at Fuji despite not actually driving a Formula One car? Bernd Mayländer – that’s who. And yes, I did just steal those facts off Wikipedia. I’m lazy, ok? For many years, since the introduction of safety cars into top-level … [Read more...]
The ‘how to’ of hot lapping
The dichotomy of hot lapping is that it has both an addicting natural attraction, and repulsion, for everyone who does it. Evidence of its attraction is, everyone hot laps, or has hot lapped at some time or another. Evidence for its repulsion is that not everyone enjoys hot lapping on a regular basis for very long. This can often be attributed to the psychological state of mind … [Read more...]
It’s only a video game, right?
A fascinating phenomenon associated with modern gaming has manifested itself in recent years. The advent of on-line multiplayer games (and their social networking structure) has for the first time in human history, and for all practical purposes, blurred the once distinctive age barriers between generations. With the creation of the internet and its associated applications … [Read more...]
An introduction to online racing and the IFCA
When it comes to online racing, GTDon is well known and respected in the Forza Motorsport community. Not only is he a fast driver in his own right, but he's also helped countless others as part of organising the biggest and best unofficial Forza tournaments and leagues as founder of the IFCA: Hello and welcome to www.OnlineRaceDriver.com! My Xbox360 gamer tag is, “AAR GTDon” … [Read more...]
Review: Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360) 4/5
Forza Motorsport 3 is an essential purchase for any online racer with an Xbox 360, and is possibly the best reason for choosing Microsoft's console over the Playstation 3. And yet, it doesn't get 5/5 because of some serious flaws. The Forza series was built with online race in mind, coming after the launch of the Project Gotham Racing series, and building on the lessons … [Read more...]
Online Race Driver launches
OnlineRaceDriver.com is go! Welcome to a new site which hopes to become the hub of online motorsport, whether it's on two or four wheels, and on a console or a PC. There's a huge number of people competing every single day online, and we want to help you choose the right games, competitions, tuning and techniques to get the most from your online racing. Whether you're … [Read more...]