Racing games of the late 90s

Many of the racing games we know today were introduced or influenced by games of the late 90s. Part of the reason is due to the release of the PlayStation 1. It used CDs instead of cartridges which allowed developers to create more sophisticated games compared to the cartridge. CD's held more data and were cheaper to produce which lead to a change of game medium. Games such as Twisted metal, Gran Turismo, and Driver were introduced.

Twisted Metal is one game I remember playing on the PlayStation 1 as a kid. It was developed by 989 studios and singleTrac in 1995.  It was a game like no other it took two different types of games and mashed them together, which was racing and shooting. It allowed you to choose a car which had its own persona such as the ice cream truck.  The concept behind the game was basically a demolition derby but with weapons. In order to win or advanced you had to destroy all the vehicles on the level. You are given three lives in the game and the length of each is dependent on how much damage you take. Throughout the map there are health power ups and weapons including missiles, land mines, tire spikes and oil slicks. By default everyone had machine guns which would overheat if used for to long forcing you to wait until they cooled off.

Gameplay- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wys3Aj__Un4 



Gran Turismo is a game we all know today as  a hardcore racing game was released in 1997 and was developed by Polyphony Digital, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Arsys Software. It was a very revolutionary game as it contained 140 cars and focused heavily on creating a simulation experience as its tagline suggest " The real driving simulator". The cars were modeled after actual cars unlike other video games so it made it more realistic. It had racing events that you had to qualify for by earning drivers licenses. In order to enter into certain races you had to have a certain licence. In order to obtain a licence you had to go through test involving cornering and braking which were timed. Depending on what time you achieve you got a bronze silver or gold trophy. Another revolutionary thing that this game had was the ability to modify your car from the exhaust to tires to the engine. No other game at the time gave you the flexibility to modify a cars performance. Also as you won races you were awarded cash prizes which you could use to buy others cars to put in your garage. You could have a huge inventory of cars and choose what car was the best for what track you were going to race on. It was a revolutionary game since it introduced things such as the modifications and actual cars from manufacturers.


Gameplay- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJIVU8teu64
License Test- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOnc0vj3GF8
Dealership- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z240bve_QJE
Modification- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWQ00BLd03o