I bought this on sale while seeking out something related to Freespace and Freespace 2. I fired this up and became engrossed in the mechanics of play and found several hours later that I should have been asleep for a while. Subsequent plays have only encouraged more play and more time spent with this game.
It just works. I run this at full 720p resolution on my AMD E350 laptop and there is no slowdown or lag or anything except my own inability to drive the various cars. I understand that others may have differing experiences with this game but my own is one of trouble free happy crashing and burning (the cars that is not the game). I find there are always more strategies to use and quite a few shortcuts that one must seek out as these let you cheat legally. I enjoy the extra ways of cashing in on a poor or outclassed vehicle by smashing into everything and crashing into the other cars. I also enjoy this game as simple stress relief. Definitely NOT a 'serious' racing game but the physics do seem to be quite consistent. Fun little thing lets you run a race in 5 minutes or less and doesn't take forever to boot. The game should run on almost anything, I suspect with a tweak or two maybe even a Raspberry PI. Seriously though any CPU in the past dozen years and any and I mean any graphics chip that will run Dx9. BGTW this goes on sale regularly for about $US 1 so go ahead waste a buck. You just might like it.
Few games reach this level. A simple to grasp game with much play involved. Can run on a half potato. Seriously, this was a low bar game when it came out in 1999. It will just run. Hours of time can be spent fiddling with this and that and you still want to go back and just that one more minute thing kicks in and you are now another 6 hours past the time you were going to quit. Saves are easy and quick. You can go back and retry yet another hair brained idea different than the one you just tried. The lovely graphics need nothing. The animations are exactly what is needed, no more, no less. A stress free no pressure environment without explosions and shooting. Try it for a change of pace if nothing else. Chris Sawyer's ne plus ultra magnum opus.
I was very much hoping to find this here at GOG when I first surfed on in some 3 years ago. The magic day has finally arrived and the news is very very good. The default settings Just Work and on Windows 7 64 bit, too! I have returned to gaming glory. My most favorite game that I have been unable to play for almost a decade due to the original disk somehow managing to be scratched.(He looks darkly at his significant other and a look of deep dark menace appears). All the killing, all the cartoonish violence, all the fun. A true stress relieverthis 'un. Get it. Get it now. Then wait for the relaunch of this in Q1 2013. To paraphrase the Duke, "hail to the King, baby" of driving and doing bad things.
I first was exposed to PCs and computer gaming through this addictive and endless little title. I would rent for hours down at the local internet cafe and get called to the phone for the 'too late for supper' speech from my wife. Dollars wasted until I bought my first machine, easily the biggest drain on my wallet since Pacman, (though not since). This city builder/sandbox game has no overall structure as in no defined end point, only a series of starting points. What happens is up to you. I have since discovered and owned the precursor to this,SimCity, the enhanced version on CD with the video inserts. I know this is worth your time and money. I would encourage all to play this classic from the beginnings of Windows gaming. The graphics may seem kind of dated but as you build and then watch as the cracks develop and the crumbling starts to get faster than you can fix it, you will begin to understand the Evil Genius of Will Wright as you can no longer resist tinkering for 'just a few more minutes' and realize dawn has turned into tomorrow.
i have a seriously low end AMD E350 laptop with 1066 DDR3 RAM. The game runs smooth and trouble free even under the integrated graphics used in this laptop. I have run it as well on an AMD Athlon II X4 640 and a motherboard with HD 3000 integrated graphics and enjoyed a similar smooth experience. I quite imagine almost any thing as old as 2009 should run this game quite well. As to the game, well, the lack of brand name vehicles rankles some but due to the variety of what is present the game has variety and flexibility as to your choice of vehicle. As an under 1GB download that is self contained and needs no further patching or addons to give one a pleasant and crash filled happy racing experience, well the low price makes this a very easy choice. The racing itself has a series of interesting elements, such as destroying nearly all track side elements like signs, fencing, flimsy structures such as tents and viewing stands. Several tracks have short cuts which once learned gives an advantage to a slower or under powered car. The AI is generally quite good and doesn't seem to cheat. The game is very worthwhile for all ages and due to its ow low hardware requirements will be a good choice ofr the younger ones just getting into PC gaming.
