Test Drive
- Test Drive (2002 on PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox)
Description official descriptions
This mix of racing simulation and arcade game consists of driving a choice of 5 sports cars on a mountain strip at the fastest speed possible without getting caught by the cops. To avoid them, use your radar detector -- or just try to outrun them if they spot you. Manual stickshift only, so make sure you don't redline or you'll blow your engine.
Spellings
- čÆéŖ驾驶 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
Groups +
Screenshots
Credits (DOS version)
11 People
Design and Programming | |
Art | |
Sound and Music |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 69% (based on 18 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 91 ratings with 8 reviews)
Poor controls and monotonous scenery didn't stop this one from becoming a classic.
The Good
Test Drive what what the PC gaming community needed in 1987--a racing game that was both "serious" enough to be passed off as a simulation (barely), and "fun" enough to breathe some life into computer racing games. Racing games up to that point had been arcade toys, and not seriously considered.
A smattering of things I liked about the game: You can choose from a selection of 5 cars, all equally capable of blowing the police away. The "cutscene" graphics have very nicely-drawn side profiles of each car. The music over the PC speaker is pretty good. The transitional "dissolve" effect from one screen to the next is really neat, considering it's CGA.
The Bad
The scenery is extremely monotonous and boring--you're climbing up the side of a cliff for the entire game. It looks great initially, but a change in scenery would've been nice; roadsigns are sparse, and there's no underpass or tunnels to go through.
Another small gripe is that Test Drive is single-player only. You can't race a friend, even if sitting at the same PC.
(For the record, they did improve the scenery and 2-player options in Test Drive 2.)
The only real gripe I have with Test Drive (and all Distinctive Software, Inc. racing titles) is the controls. They all use an eight-way directional control, much like an arcade game. It's not quite as bad as a gamepad--your hard-left and hard-right motions aren't directly interpreted, but rather are applied to the wheel's overall position. Even so, it's very hard to drive a simulated car when you have pseudo-arcade controls to work with. I found myself constantly under- or over-steering. As a keyboard control mechanism, this is expected; for an analog joystick, it's completely unacceptable.
The Bottom Line
Test Drive spawned a sequel that adds scenery changes and 2-player options. First play Test Drive for a couple of minutes, then find the sequel and play that instead.
DOS · by Trixter (8952) · 1999
The Best Commodore 64 Driving Game
The Good
I was amazed when I started loading this game and heard it playing music while loading. This was nothing compared the game itself. Sure you couldnāt upgrade your car, but this was the 80ās. You could pick your favorite car and out run the police, or at least try to.
This game set the racing sim benchmark for years to come.
The Bad
Nothing.
The Bottom Line
The first real racing sim.
Commodore 64 · by DreamArcades (3) · 2005
Not a very good game altogether.
The Good
Hmm -- well, the car selection is really, really cool, and I did play the game quite often on the 8088.
The Bad
The controls are sheer horror, the graphics are just crap (besides the car selection), the music/sfx (or lack thereof) doesn't add much to the general atmosphere either.
The Bottom Line
Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap. And a bit more crap. Stay the hell away from this one.
DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4538) · 1999
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
the father of the 90's racing gamesĀæ? | juan gabriel zelada vargas | Apr 5, 2023 |
Version 1.1 broken on DOSBox? | Daniel Saner (3503) | Oct 28, 2012 |
Weird screenshots on the cover art | 1xWertzui (1135) | Dec 1, 2011 |
Trivia
Commercial success
The game was awarded with an American Software Publishers Association's Gold Award for selling more than 100,000 units.
Awards
- ACE
- October 1988 (issue #13) - Included in the Top-100 list of 1987/1988 (editorial staff selection)
Analytics
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Related Sites +
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IGCD Internet Game Cars Database
Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Olivier Masse.
Amiga added by EboMike. Commodore 64 added by Quapil. Apple II added by Servo. PC-98 added by Unicorn Lynx. Atari ST added by Belboz.
Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Victor Vance, Jo ST.
Game added May 5, 1999. Last modified August 17, 2023.