Race drivin opinions?

endrien

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It looks like crap to me, just wondering peoples opinions on it and if it would actually be worth picking up given the chance.
 
It was neat and all back in the day, but I find it to be quite a miserable game these days.

However, if you can get it for cheap and it works, you can probably do quite well on flipping it.
 
i like the game. been looking for the upright version for a few months now.

I can get one locally for dirt cheap, owner thinks it has monitor isssues, he hasn't tested it. Too bad your not around here :p
 
Not sure but I think it may use a med res monitor. Depending on what the monitor issues are that could make it not that great a deal. I enjoyed the game BITD and still like it now but must admit that if I did not have memories from my youth it would not be so impressive.
 
The compact upright version uses a standard resolution monitor. The cockpit version uses the medium rez. I have the compact upright version and it is a blast to play. --Rich
 
The compact upright version uses a standard resolution monitor. The cockpit version uses the medium rez. I have the compact upright version and it is a blast to play. --Rich

Yeah the one he has is compact upright. I may get it depending on space and what other cabs he has. If I don't like it I'll just sell it and keep a better cab.
 
I had one for a little while... The attract mode is pretty cool, since the game steers itself. Other than that, I didn't really care for the game. Plus, it's a pretty heavy cab...
 
As a gamer from all the way back (Pong to now, essentially - I have played every arcade game I had the opportunity to play from there to here and owned Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 800 computer, Atari ST computer, Vectrex, NES, SNES, Genesis, 3DO, TG16, N64, Gamecube, PSX, PS2, Wii, Gameboy, GBA, NDS, and later on Magnavox and a few other odds and ends and having owned and restored about 50 arcade games and pinball machines and having built from scratch 3 MAME cabs ......)

Heck, I even hold high scores on my Hallmark ornament machines (ha, ha).

I can say among the bottom two car games I have ever played are Hard Drivin' and Race Drivin'.

Man, do I hold a passionate hatred for both those games. Around the same time those two games were hanging on by a thread in the arcades, the first iteration of Test Drive on the PC 286 PC came out and it blew the arcade games away in terms of driver freedom and customization. Those two Atari car driving games suck harder than an industrial vacuum cleaner.

To get a good idea of Hard Drivin' or Race Drivin' on the state of the art arcade version, play Flight Simulator 1 on an IBM PC running at 4.77 mHz.

This is a bad game. No joy comes from either HD or RD. And as much as I hate the dumbing down of racing arcade games that led to California Speed or Need for Speed in the arcade, more fun can be had from ANY version of Need for Speed than could ever be wrenched forcibly with any Satanic ritual helper from any Atari racing game. These games were abysmal. Hard driving makes you yearn for an appendectomy and Race Drivin makes you think you are riding a soap box derby car with tar as a wheel lube, and you still have to make a loop.

Need for Speed on Nintendo DS is better than Race Drivin' and Need for Speed on DS is what we'll all play in hell after we die. A terrible, terrible game. But better than Hard Drivin' or Race Drivin' in a pristine clean fully working arcade cockpit with mint force feedback.

There you go, no more beating around the bush. How anyone could ever want either of the Atari driving games from the early 80's boggles my mind. And I worship Atari games.

Here's an idea that goes against conventional wisdom but is inherently "good" in this context....buy the game, then MAME it or MULTI it.

Make a GOOD driving game of it.

Kill that Satanically bad 1 frame per second slideshow crap driving game.
 
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Unless it's a game you want, or you can be sure it's an easy flip for lots of profit (and I mean lots) skip it. Take note that a lot of the people on this forum buy ANYTHING that's cheap and in their area. Then they're stuck with clutter, no room for stuff they actually want, difficulty getting rid of stuff, or the realization that they're going to have to spent a lot of money just to get the thing nice enough to simply break even. Even then, you end up with parts and crap that are a hassle to move.

Also, since I doubt you're moving this stuff by yourself, it's a lot better to save your helper(s) and parents for stuff that you will actually use. If you have to ask permission or get them to move everything you have access too, they're probably going to get burned out pretty quickly.

It's almost painful to play unless you played it back in the day. It's glitchy, lacks graphics, no music/poor sound effects, etc. Nostalgia would be the only reason to get it.
 
Hmmm... I like it. I own it (Race Drivin'). I enjoy it.

It's not a twitchy arcade racer by any stretch. It's a car "simulation" with some of the coolest force feedback effects out there (especially taking in to account the era).
 
its one of the few games still working at my local arcade, and i agree. for the time period, it was astonishingly realistic. i still think its a fun game, but i know i wouldnt pay very much for it either.
 
Re:

I loved that game back in the day, but I think if you really enjoyed the game and want it bad enough and have the room, go for it. The cockpit weighs more than Rosie O'donnell.
 

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Personally, I love it. I have a cockpit Hard Drivin with Race Drivin boards in it. Great game - force feedback is what makes this game fun to drive, plus the crazy crashes. I guess what most people hate about this game is the fact that it is realistic - it drives like a real car, instead of the crap that lets you just floor it through the whole race.

Even in the upright form it is one heavy mother, plus this one is a tough game to flip, so just be sure before you pick it up, unless you get it for seriously cheap.

My recommendation is to get it - everybody that comes over to my house loves it. I personally don't get the hatred that some have expressed for this game.
 
As a gamer from all the way back (Pong to now, essentially - I have played every arcade game I had the opportunity to play from there to here and owned Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 800 computer, Atari ST computer, Vectrex, NES, SNES, Genesis, 3DO, TG16, N64, Gamecube, PSX, PS2, Wii, Gameboy, GBA, NDS, and later on Magnavox and a few other odds and ends and having owned and restored about 50 arcade games and pinball machines and having built from scratch 3 MAME cabs ......)

Heck, I even hold high scores on my Hallmark ornament machines (ha, ha).

I can say among the bottom two car games I have ever played are Hard Drivin' and Race Drivin'.

Man, do I hold a passionate hatred for both those games. Around the same time those two games were hanging on by a thread in the arcades, the first iteration of Test Drive on the PC 286 PC came out and it blew the arcade games away in terms of driver freedom and customization. Those two Atari car driving games suck harder than an industrial vacuum cleaner.

To get a good idea of Hard Drivin' or Race Drivin' on the state of the art arcade version, play Flight Simulator 1 on an IBM PC running at 4.77 mHz.

This is a bad game. No joy comes from either HD or RD. And as much as I hate the dumbing down of racing arcade games that led to California Speed or Need for Speed in the arcade, more fun can be had from ANY version of Need for Speed than could ever be wrenched forcibly with any Satanic ritual helper from any Atari racing game. These games were abysmal. Hard driving makes you yearn for an appendectomy and Race Drivin makes you think you are riding a soap box derby car with tar as a wheel lube, and you still have to make a loop.

Need for Speed on Nintendo DS is better than Race Drivin' and Need for Speed on DS is what we'll all play in hell after we die. A terrible, terrible game. But better than Hard Drivin' or Race Drivin' in a pristine clean fully working arcade cockpit with mint force feedback.

There you go, no more beating around the bush. How anyone could ever want either of the Atari driving games from the early 80's boggles my mind. And I worship Atari games.

Here's an idea that goes against conventional wisdom but is inherently "good" in this context....buy the game, then MAME it or MULTI it.

Make a GOOD driving game of it.

Kill that Satanically bad 1 frame per second slideshow crap driving game.

That is a bit to much, especially when you start talking about Need for Speed, and California Speed. Both are terrible racing games. Not to mention not even in the same class of racing game (simulator vs. arcade racer).

The Drivin' games are fun. If you really like racing games you'll appreciate and enjoy them. Hard Drivin' was the first racing game to use a force feedback steering wheel which means the wheel is driven with a belt and a motor so you feel the weight and momentum of the car fighting just like a real car. Think of it as if Ferrari 355 Challenge came out in 1989.
 
i wish i could find a compact upright around here. Its really the last of the games that i loved in my youth that i don't have. I always thought the stunt track was just the coolest thing, and for its time it was the most realistic out there. Nothing else came close, imho.
 
I own the Race Drivin' compact. I like it, and it gets plenty of play when we have guests over. I'd say Race Drivin' and Golden Tee 2005 are my two most popular among guests.
 
I have a hard drivn compact along with a race drivin board. I also have airborne. I think all 3 are great.

I guess if you grew up after hard drivin, you might not appreciate it. But its more fun than playing a garbage game like crusin. You can't beat the force feedback steering.

need for speed is a joke.. If you would have have said Initial d, maximum tune, or f355 challenge, then you might have a point. But need for speed, I would rather play outrun..
 
That is a bit to much, especially when you start talking about Need for Speed, and California Speed. Both are terrible racing games. Not to mention not even in the same class of racing game (simulator vs. arcade racer).

The Drivin' games are fun. If you really like racing games you'll appreciate and enjoy them. Hard Drivin' was the first racing game to use a force feedback steering wheel which means the wheel is driven with a belt and a motor so you feel the weight and momentum of the car fighting just like a real car. Think of it as if Ferrari 355 Challenge came out in 1989.

Well, I agree about the "Speed" games, which is why I included them in the comparison.

There have been some terrible arcade racers out there over the years.

The problem with the Atari games (incidentally, I like Roadblasters - which isn't a race game as much as a vertical shooter - why I didn't include it in the comparison) is that by the time they came out with the Drivin' games, you were starting to see similar performance (albeit not nearly as sharp or with as many colors) from home computers.

Anyhow, I was over the top on my original post but I understand how some might have fond memories of the games. I would not recommend anyone buy one if they didn't have nostalgia for it and a lot of extra space.

The OP here has neither unless I am mistaken.
 
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