World Driver Championship (N64)

This video was captured using the actual game on an actual Nintendo 64. I had to re-upload this video due to the sound being slightly out of sync for some reason after it was uploaded to You Tube and still for some reason the slight audio delay exists even after re-uploading. It's very slight, just know that the sound is spot on in this game. Developed by Boss Game Studios, the same people who made Top Gear Rally, and published by Midway, this is World Driver Championship. A simulation racing game released under the very very large shadow of Gran Turismo which had by this time set the new standard for console racing simulator games by having not just more realistic physics, but also look more realistic. World Driver Championship featured absolutely no licensed vehicles or real world tracks which was considered a no no at this point. So can a racing sim be any good without looking the part? Without a doubt yes. Considering that there are no real vehicles in this game, the fake models look nice and believable much like the Burnout series. The sound is hit or miss. Some cars sound descent and some of them remind me of the submarine sound from the NES game Silent Service. The music obviously was sampled very poorly. The music is all muddy and distorted sounding, so I recommend keep it low or even off. I usually keep it off but kept in on for the sake of reference in this video. Another plus is if you turn the music off, you get extra sound effects not heard when the music is on. It's a win win. The sound as you can hear is a little crackly from time to time, but nothing game breaking. I am huge on sound and music quality, and this game basically fails in both of those areas, so this game has to have a really good redeeming quality about it for me to like it, and it does. The game play. Back when the game was released, some viewed the physics to be totally unrealistic and unresponsive. Unlike the very accessible Gran Turismo that was very easy to pick up and play, World Driver Championship in comparison had a steep learning curve. I don't think that it was realized at the time that World Driver Championship had much more realistic physics than Gran Turismo. This game actually has physics good enough to rival even some modern racing games. Unlike Gran Turismo, the cars have a more accurate feeling of weight and inertia. What GT only claims to do, WDC actually accurately simulates weight transfer under braking and acceleration. More like a real car, in WDC you cannot simply slam on the brakes and downshift at the last second before making a sharp turn and hammer the gas on your way out. You will under steer badly and then spin out after you hit the gas. You cannot slam into or side swipe without the consequences of the collision throwing not just the car you hit out of control, but yours as well again unlike GT where bumping your opponents many times actually assist you. Unlike GT where over steering is the result of only extremely poor driving skill, over steering in WDC can occur much easier and is very useful when controlled properly just like in a real car. I could go on and on, but you get the point. The graphics are also very good for the N64 having sharp textures, lighting, and excellent draw distance. It even features a high res mode without the use of the RAM pack add on needed by other games that support high res. To make this possible the game runs in cinematic widescreen which IMO makes the screen way too small, even when I zoom it on my widescreen TV. In addition to the tiny view, the game tends to wanna drop frames in the middle of turns making game play jerky. The game already looks great and runs perfectly in normal res anyway so there is no need for the high res mode IMO. Lastly what I found very impressive is that the replays are right on par with Gran Turismo with fantastic camera angles and excellent draw distance so I left the replay in the capture so you can see it. In short World Driver Championship is a very competent racing sim for the N64 and is highly underrated. After you get passed the fact that cars and tracks are all fake, you will discover a racing game with terrific real world physics along with excellent track design. GT is a great franchise and I own every one on the PS1 and PS2. However what World Driver Championship lacked in looks and presentation compared to GT, it more than made up for that in game play. The game sports quite a hefty championship mode and very challenging arcade mode. Any serious racing fan needs to have this game.