Retro "Need for Speed" pleasant pastime decades later

Retro racing games can be a harmless pastime

February 2017

            You can learn a lot from retro, cheap, and forgotten racing games. For me, I have learned they have cars, toys, and a fun time burning off some steam from an otherwise long month in the life of this blogger.

            I traded the cute but glitzy Need for Speed: Underground 2 for one of its predecessors, Need for Speed: High Stakes. The fourth road racing game from EA, my copy has the green “Greatest Hits” signification on the side; denoting one million or more sales.

            I found myself thinking of the game for months beforehand, even requesting it at my local retro game store.

            Since I have loaded into my PlayStation 2, I have found myself falling in love with those sports cars from the 1990s, which reads like a modern cast of “The Cannonball Run”: Porsche 911 Turbo, Lamborghini Diablo SV, McLaren F1 GTR, Ferrari F50, . . . the list goes on for a total of eighteen. That may be less than some other games, but it’s enough to get your gears going.

                                                           Pic credit: Wikimedia commons

            Starting the game up in test drive mode, the cars accurately reflect real-life features. Neither Diablo nor the F50 have traction, braking, or stability systems to keep them on the road (the other cars have such systems). The F50 zings and misbehaves a lot an old PS1 game; oversteering at will as if to anger the player.

            After watching some videos of the previous (but not immediate predecessor) Need for Speed II, I can say that this iteration portrayed itself as a fine balance of simulation and classic arcade game. The cars of the late 90s are all here, and while some of them handle pretty much identically, some of them oversteer strongly. The engines snarl, whine, growl, shriek, bark, and dance to redline; cars roll and crash in spectacular wrecks, other traffic cars honk at you, and the player can even see the driver's avatar move the steering wheel turn in accord with the player’s steering input. It’s these small details that make up a crescendo of a driving experience.

            At the end, I’m energized to go about the next day. Sliding this game into the disc tray and playing it is very much participating in a retro digitization of seeing people do the very things that young men dream of doing with beautiful sports cars. Those things are speed and dance through corners. 
            Thanks for the retro ride, High Stakes. It was nice meeting you again.

BMW is blowing hot air. Literally...

BMW has blown it. And not just in terms of turbos, but in terms of their cars. Subjectively, they are now the worst luxury brand to make a sports car--or a sporty car, if we’re going to be precise. The have performed an atrocity, a casualty, they have even killed off something. What have they done? Read on.

Starting in the 1980s, they started making a very good, if perfect sports car. They called it the M3-the M performance brand of the 3 Series car. Journalists loved it for many reasons. For much of its life, it had an inline six that made V8 power, and by the time they made a V8 for the car, it was also well controlled, for the most part smooth, and very much beyond a sports car, perhaps even a GT3 race car. That is quite a statement for a $50,000 version of what is basically an overall performance package on a 3 Series coupe, but there is more.

It had a sweet engine note, it steered oh so well, especially the early cars.  The icing on the cake came with the non-turbo (take note on that) 333 horsepower 2002-06 car, sans the goofy automatic transmission and unknown reliability, was balanced motoring for going to the store, a short trip, or even a lap around the circuit on the weekend--it could do it all, and never, ever with any turbo or supercharging. Every drive was a thrill, a quick let-off of the clutch, and class-leading tire grip, too. No pumps, no blowers, just a well-engineered engine and motoring car. Got it?

Fast forward to the efficiency-obsessed engineering department of today’s car world, its always on the lips of the sales people, marketing guys, etc. Now, BMW bailed on a long-rumored 3-turbo engine set up, that is a creative engine with not 1 or 2 but rather 3 turbochargers all pumping in air to the idea for the next M3’s motor. Now, it is here, and not only has the car’s price skyrocketed to more than $80,000 loaded, but they settled for a claimed “brand new” engine, a return to the inline six formula again, but with twin (2) turbos. Power has barely risen over the old car’s 414, and here is the bad part: it has been reviewed with bad steering. Remember, it was faultless before, and now it just sucks, apparently. “Vague steering, not much feel. Never really sure what its going to do under full throttle,” to paraphrase what Car and Driver said about it this summer. They have also overpowered it, because the turbos are actually too much for the poor car’s rear tires, and probably for many its prospective customers as well.

For years, the M division made well rounded cars, not ones with overboosted steering, and turbos, too--no different than any other BMW car or sport utility. The M3 always sounded unique in comparison to a regular 3. It it drove by, especially the aforementioned early 2000s car or the outgoing V8-powered car, sort of let out a shriek as it drove by. Like an automotive banshee, if you will. It was unique, not quite a Ferrari but obviously more than a Ford Focus. Now, we are left with poor steering, too much thrust, and an airy sounding, anonymous turbo exhaust sound. Doesn’t sound much different than the anonymous kid-rocket tuner car in the other lane at a stoplight.

They have killed off the old car’s normal engine (“turbo” is a cuss word to most old M3 owners), good steering, snap-crackle-pop exhaust sound, and a sense of organic sports car. Now, BMW buyers will have to weight if the M3’s many cons outweigh its pros, as it’s sales will have to do the talking.