A game I had played more than ten years ago was a budget title called "Grand Tour Racing '98." The full title is "Car and Driver Presents: Grand Tour Racing '98." It is called "Total Drivin'" in Europe. What makes this game unique is that you pick a team and race as many as five different kinds of cars. Here is a look at the game's box (picture from: Amazon):
^ from: amazon.com - "Car and Driver Presents: Grand Tour Racing '98" box cover.
--- Grand Tour Racing '98 Overview ---
While in no way a Gran Turismo clone, "Grand Tour Racing '98" allows for as many as eight cars to a track. Each of the eight cars represent eight different teams. Racing takes place in six different locales.Tracks.
The racing action takes place on venues with varying weather conditions and variations. Get ready to race at places like these:• Moscow, Russia - Race around on the streets of the capital city of the Russian capital of Moscow.
• Hong Kong - Race the streets of Hong Kong.
• Scotland - Get ready for rally racing in Scotland.
• Easter Island - Get ready for some great racing on the sandy beaches of Easter Island!
• Egypt - racing action in the desert!
• Switzerland - rally-type racing is ready in beautiful Switzerland.
Cars and Teams
You can choose from eight different teams. Each team has each of these five kinds of racing machines: sports cars, rally cars, buggies, Dakar cars, and Indy cars. The kind of car you race for each venue depends on whatever the venue is. So it's unlikely you'll race on the sands of Easter Island in an Indy car.• The sports car machines allow you to enjoy competitive road racing in fast sports cars.
• Rally cars are compact and allows for aggressive racing with sick powerslides.
• Buggies are fun to race and are very nimble in off-road racing on rugged terrain.
• The Dakar machines are fairly heavy, so handling them efficiently can be a challenge.
• The fastest-possible cars in the game are the Indy cars. Enjoy speeds well over 200 mph with these nimble, yet fragile racing machines.
No matter what kind of racing you're into, you'll find something to love with these cars in this game. Here are the eight teams (nationality and colors are specified):
• Roberts (England; blue and yellow cars)
• Baptiste (Jamaica; red and white)
• Morgen (USA; blue and white)
• Lumiere (France; white and blue)
• Ahmed (Egypt; red and black)
• Rossi (Italy; green and yellow)
• Ivanov (Russia; white, green, red)
• Xu (China; yellow and black)
As for the racing action itself, there is no visual or mechanical damage. You can actually roll over your car in this game. And unlike in most racing games where you can not be able to fly your car off the road, if you drown your car in water or fly off of a cliff, the game will end. The AI is a bit like rubber band AI. I think if you really want to prosper in this game, you stay with one team and try to win all 30 or 36 races in the game. I say "I think" because it's been so long since playing this game. A lot of things I may have forgotten entirely.
It has been a long while since I recall ANYTHING about playing this game. So the only thing I can recommend is this- if you want to progress through the game properly, go with one team and stick with it. So if you race with (for example) the Roberts team, you'll need to clear all of the races with that specific team. Going to another team means you'll have to unlock everything with that team. The obvious major accomplishment would be to win every race with every team.
This game is actually very nice looking and not all that boring. It is actually a very good title. Maybe it doesn't have the flash and character of Ridge Racer or Gran Turismo games. However, this is actually not a bad game. Trust me. It's an interesting experience you should try out.
Want to try this game out for yourself? Buy from Amazon:
This game isn't a classic, but it's anything but terrible. Have a good time racing!
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