Dirt Track Racing - Official Press Release

Drivers: Below is the official press release from GT Interactive/Wizard Works about Dirt Track Racing. Sim racing is certainly entering a new era of features and capability with Dirt Track Racing and Nascar3 being rich in features. What shocked me was the price for Dirt Track Racing at only $19.99. Don Wilshe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ Contact: Darci Nagorski 612/249-5180 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FIRST-EVER DIRT TRACK CAR RACING GAME COMES TO THE PC WITH GT INTERACTIVE'S 'DIRT TRACK RACING' FROM WIZARDWORKS AND RATBAG Extremely Realistic Dirt Track Physics Add to Complexity of the Race - Keep a Hold of the Wheel or You'll Be Left In The Dirt MINNEAPOLIS, September 24, 1999 - GT Interactive Software's (Nasdaq: GTIS) Leisure Publishing Division is bringing a new form of car racing to the PC with the upcoming release of Dirt Track Racing from WizardWorks. Designed by Australia-based developer Ratbag, designers of the action-packed off-road racing game Powerslide, Dirt Track Racing captures the driving experience with incredibly realistic car and track physics, tuning and upgrading of vehicles and the progression through various series from hobby stock to late model class. "With more than 700 dirt tracks in the United States, this form of racing is the most popular amongst its competitors and the most visible form of car racing throughout the country," said Paul Rinde, senior vice president of GT Interactive's Leisure Publishing Division. "Dirt Track Racing is a very unique car racing game because it incorporates extremely sophisticated gameplay physics. All cars in a single race use the same physics engine, making it a very tight and difficult race because the other vehicles are racing right along side the player, all vying for a lead position." "Adding to the complexity of the race are the ever-changing conditions of the track," Rinde said. "Over the course of a race the dirt track will pack down, becoming hard and slippery, making driving that much more difficult." -more- WIZARDWORKS-DIRT TRACK RACING/2 In Dirt Track Racing, players start with $1,000 in their pocket. With the money, players need to purchase their vehicle. They start in the lowest class of competition and will need to buy a hobby stock car for $500. Then by winning prize money and attracting sponsorships the player can purchase faster vehicles, racing parts to upgrade their vehicles and enter new classes of competition. Resource management and decision making are just as critical as driving skills if players want to escalate their careers, from amateur to professional. Dirt Track Racing also features 8 separate series of competitions (local, regional and national) of varying difficulty. Each competition has a full simulation of practice, qualifying, heats and main. Dirt Track Racing features 3 different play modes (in arcade or full simulation), including single-player racing only, career-mode and multiplayer (up to 10 players) over LAN and Internet. Other game features include: 30 Tracks in 12 different race series: * Length (1/8th to full mile) * Banking (flat to 33 degrees) * Clay or dirt * Oval, D-oval, tri-oval, egg-shaped, figure 8 (with collisions) Three Classes: * Hobby or Pure Stock (cheap, no modifications) * Production Stock (more advanced, stock body, some modifications to mechanics allowed) * Late Model Class (professional, highly modified, fiberglass bodies) 18 Vehicles across 3 classes: * Each vehicle has 5 paint schemes (a total of 90 paint schemes) * Players can choose the number they want on the car * When player's attract sponsorships the sponsor's logo will appear on the vehicle Resource Management (player's can spend their money for): * Purchasing new vehicles * Upgrades * Repairs * Entry fees * Tires and practice time on the track -more- WIZARDWORKS-DIRT TRACK RACING/3 Endorsed by the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA), Dirt Track Racing will be available at retail outlets nationwide in November for a suggested retail price of $19.99 or through secure online transactions at www.gtstore.com <[link lost in import] Just released screen shots of Dirt Track Racing gameplay can be viewed at www.wizworks.com/product_art <[link lost in import] Headquartered in New York, GT Interactive Software Corp. (Nasdaq:GTIS) is a leading global developer, publisher and distributor of interactive consumer software. The company maintains four divisions: Children's Publishing, Leisure Publishing, Frontline Publishing and Distribution. The company has publishing operations throughout the world with offices in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Holland and Australia. GT Interactive also has seven internal development studios: Humongous Entertainment, Cavedog Entertainment, SingleTrac, WizardWorks, Oddworld, Legend Entertainment and Reflections. GT Interactive's ecommerce system provides secure online transactions through each of the studios' Web sites and www.gtstore.com <[link lost in import] GT Interactive can be found on the Internet at www.gtinteractive.com <[link lost in import] WizardWorks can be found on the Internet at www.wizardworks.com <[link lost in import] Ratbag is a PC and console game developer based in Australia. Ratbag's last racing title, Powerslide, received many editor's choice awards and Racing Game of 1998 by IGN-PC and Sports *** Network. IGN-PC also voted Powerslide Runner-Up for Best Graphics (1998), second only to Unreal. Ratbag can be found on the Internet at www.ratbaggames.com <[link lost in import] # # #

This sounds too good to be true,and for $19.99 I wonder if the quoted price was a mistake. Joel Willstein

Wizard Works has marketing agreements with places like Wal-Mart, and those type of retail outlets are all about value, not "hot new titles." Wal-Mart might carry titles like SCGT, NFS:HS, and Viper Racing when they first hit the streets, and they do sell these titles for the usual $39 - $49 asking price, but I have it on good authority that Wal-Mart's #1 selling piece of software is "Deer Hunter" -- which is also a title published by Wizard Works. Okay, stop snickering already. Given how popular NASCAR is, and how popular dirt-track racing is in gneral, a racing game titled "Dirt Track Racing" will undoubtedly be very appealing to all those Wal-Mart patrons who purchased a computer to get hooked up to the Internet then purchased Deer Hunter as their first computer *** experience, and are now looking for more equally-accessible games to play. If you take the family to the local dirt track on the weekends during the part of the year when it's not deer season, then you're probably going to want Dirt Track Racing on your computer alongside your Deer Hunter game. Excellent marketing strategy, methinks. Given Ratbag's success with Powerslide's amazing physics model, I am 100% confident that they will deliver us a title in Dirt Track Racing that will be scalable enough to please the arcade fans who only have a keyboard to drive with, as well as all of us top-end sim racing fanatics with our pricey driving wheels and pedals. They've got the ability to do so, anyway -- as long as they don't dumb it down too much in favor of the Wal-Mart patrons. I have a feeling that's not going to happen, though. We'll find out soon enough. -- JB >>Drivers: >>Below is the official press release from GT Interactive/Wizard Works about >>Dirt Track Racing. Sim racing is certainly entering a new era of features >>and >>capability with Dirt Track Racing and Nascar3 being rich in features. What

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>>shocked me was the price for Dirt Track Racing at only $19.99. >>Don Wilshe > This sounds too good to be true,and for $19.99 I wonder if the quoted >price was a mistake. >Joel Willstein

On Sat, 25 Sep 1999 11:30:34 -0500, "John Bodin" <SNIP SOME DRIBBLE ABOUT WAL-MART> So, how far up in your ass do you have to be to make statements like that Joel? - James Wohlever Techware Motorsports http://techware.4mg.com/

Huh? I think you were responding to MY post that was laden with Wal-Mart drivel -- and I was responding to Joel's post asking if perhaps the $19 pricetag was a mistake. I was attempting to point out that WIzard Works deals with budget software titles for discount distributors like Wal-Mart, so DTR probably WILL be priced at $19. FWIW, I don't think either Joel or I had anything up our asses, but I can only speak for myself. -- JB

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>On Sat, 25 Sep 1999 11:30:34 -0500, "John Bodin" ><SNIP SOME DRIBBLE ABOUT WAL-MART> >So, how far up in your ass do you have to be to make statements like >that Joel? >- James Wohlever >Techware Motorsports >http://techware.4mg.com/