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Test Drive: My 14th Favourite Video Game

Released: 1987
Publisher: Accolade
Platform: Apple II, DOS, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and Amiga
Type: Driving Simulator
Graphics: Narly
Game Play: Narly
Originality: Narly
How many hours I’ve wasted: Blank Eyed Soulless Stare
The Nostalgia Factor: Narly

Almost everything I know about cars is almost entirely from Test Drive.

I've never really been the sort of guy that had any interest in sports or automobiles and naturally that disinterest extends to video games.* Test Drive however has proven for me to be an enduring exception to the rule.

When Test Drive came out, it was fresh, innovative and the graphics were damned impressive (it also had a pretty cool main intro theme). The main aim of the game was to complete each level in as short a time as possible before the allotted time ran out while avoiding being pulled over by traffic cops, colliding with other vehicles, or driving off or into terrain.  

You could choose from a selection of five vehicles:

  • Lamborghini Countach
  • Ferrari Testarossa
  • Lotus Esprit Turbo
  • Porche 911 Turbo
  • Chevrolet Corvette

To this day, other than the vehicles that I've personally driven, they’re the only car model names I’m more or less familiar with (the main exception of course being the DeLorean DMC-12 for obvious reasons.)

My favourite cars of choice were the Porsche 911 and the Ferrari Testarosa, being the most balanced in terms of speed, acceleration and general handling characteristics. 

While each level of the game was increasingly challenging in terms of time requirements, curves in the road and increased traffic, the levels themselves were essentially the same winding mountain road along the side of a cliff, and indeed, this lack of variety was in my view is the only real failing of the game. Otherwise, each level was increasingly intense, and my brother and I would compete regularly to get the highest average top speeds.

At least once a year I still pull out my old 486 and play a couple of levels of Test Drive… from the original 5 ¼ disc. 25 years on it’s still the only realistic racing simulator I have any interest in playing and I still find it as exciting and intense as the first time a played it. 

* While I do have a theoretical understanding of how the internal combustion engine works, sadly, I know far more about the fictional workings of the starship Enterprise than I do about any primitive wheeled Earth vehicle.

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