Huge playlist archive with Racing games:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxOanVBhqd3vkkE35mCw6x63QFBnU9Xsi INTRODUCTION: Chequered flag is a fast moving motor racing simulation in which you have to negotiate some of the worlds famous racing circuits. From behind the wheel of your formula 1 racing car, you have a dinamic view of the outside world flashing past and of continuously changing instuments on your dashboard display. Watch the various landmarsk appear over the horizon and snake towards you - trees, milestones, rocks and warning arrows, a lake etc.. There are even hills to climb and descend. Keep and eye on your instruments to achieve maximum performance and avoid skidding or overheating. Your car has been carefully programmed to model accurately the dinamics of a real racing car and you even have a choice of cars. Peak power will be delivered at the appropriate revs, and drag and road traction are all evaluated. In order to achieve maximum performance you will need to change up and down the gears to keep the revs at the optimum level, and if you take the corners too fast you will start to slip sideways. But don't worry, to make things easier you can opt for a car with an automatic gearbox - at the cost of a little power of course. Your dashboard display features full analogue speedometer, rev counter, fuel and temperature gauges along with a gear selection indicator - plus lap timer and lap counter. The steering wheel is also visible and turns in response to your commands. Driving a racing car is a very skilled business, and apart from keeping on the road and trying to establish new lap or race records, you will have to avoid various hazards and look after your car. REVIEW: This was the first driving game for the ZX Spectrum and the first car simulator game for a home computer. Loading this game into your Spectrum in 1983 must have been really awesome, because it is a first person view racing game, and it is definitely not bad. I plays surprisingly fast for a 1983 game, and the controls are fast and responsive. If you race a single lap you have to watch out for this: OIL/WATER - driving over oil and water on the road will dramatically reduce your grip and induce a skid if you try to turn. OFF THE ROAD - if you put a tire off the road your ride will get rather bumpy and the car's performance will be impaired. Don't go too far off the road or you'll crash! GLASS - running over glass on the road will cause a tyre to burst, inducing a dramatic wobble and serious loss of performance. You must limp round to the pits to have a new tire fitted. If you race several laps you also have to watch out for this: OVERHEATING - Constantly over-revving will cause you temperature to rise, resulting in a blown up engine if you dont take it easy. A visit to the pits will cool you down quickly. Take care that you don't change down a gear at high revs because this is also likely to cause sever overheating. FUEL - If you undertake a very long race, you will have to watch the fuel gauge. Stopping at the pits will refuel the car. PITSTOP - Just pull over to the side of the road by the pits and come to a halt. A full service will be performed, including new tires, fuel and some engine cooling. There is no opponents in this game, it is all about setting the best lap time, and being on the road, if you get too far off the road you will crash! You can choose to race on 10 circuits: Brands Hatch, Monaco, Psion Park, Cambridge Ring, Silverstone, Paul Ricard, Microdrive, Saturn sands, Osterreichring, Monza. You can choose between three cars, where there is one with automatic gears and two with manual gears. I guess you could no expect to have opponents in the very first first person driving game, but besides that it is really impressive, there is even a pitstop. The only negative is the controls, you can not redefine the keys and they are really awkward. They are opposite to the Q, A, O, P you normally use: Accelerator: key "0" Brake: key "I" Gear change up: key "M" or any key right of M Gear change down: key "N" or any key left of N Steering fast left: key "A" Slow left: key "S" Slow right: key "D" Fast right: key "F" There is no need to use the slow left/right turn, the fast works fine all the time, which leaves you with “O” and “I” for gas and brake, and “A” with two keys between “F” for turning left and right. This is awkward but it is possible to play with for the car with automatic gears, but if you want to drive a car with manual gears you have to use your tumb to change on “M” and “N” – Extremely awkward! A shame about the controls because besides that it was a really fine game for the time being, it plays fast and smooth and it even got hills. The game was published by Sinclair Research Ltd / Psion in 1983. Rating = 92% Download here:
