Trans Am Racing. Just couple of months ago, we were all crushed to find out
that Trans Am Racing was destined to be a stillborn title. 1999 looked
pretty bleak for sim-racers then.
How times change . . . and how quickly!
Now, fom out of nowhere it seems, RatBag Games has sprung onto the scene
with their upcoming Dirt Track Racing title. I am seriously pumped about
this game -- as a fan of oval track racing in general, this title will
present a wonderfully different alternative to the various NASCAR titles.
Which is great for me, because although I love ovals, I'm not necessarily a
NASCAR fan -- I like the open-wheelers, and I like dirt tracks. I'm a
fairly serious sim racer (i.e., I'm a nutcase for driving games), and I
wasn't even aware of RatBag's Powerslide game until about a month or so
ago -- I "discovered" it after hearing about the upcoming release of Dirt
Track Racing. Powerslide should have been a part of my sim racing library
from it's release date on -- it's FAR superior to the various arcade racers
like NFS, and I find it to be every bit as enjoyable as the serious sims
like Viper Racing and GPL (and SCGT even takes a back seat to Powerslide in
my book).
Given all this, I'm really e***d about Dirt Track Racing -- it really
sounds like THIS is going to be THE sim racer of 1999. I am completely
blown away by the screen shots that were recently posted. After playing
Powerslide, I know what RatBag can do from a graphics standpoint, and
judging by the screenshots, it's going to be even better than I expected. I
also know what they did with the physics modeling in Powerslide, and that
blew me away so thoroughly that I have no doubt that Dirt Track Racing's
physics model will be that much better.
I am really, really pumped. When's the release date, and can I advance
order the game?
Did I mention that I'm really, really pumped?
-- John Bodin
Publisher, The IRL Insider Magazine
http://www.racesimcentral.net/