Classic Sport Driving is the brainchild of Sylvain Debaudringhien of Pixel Wrappers. His love for games such as the Jaguar XJ220 and his Lotus Turbo Challenge inspired his Amiga racing with a desire to create a modern equivalent.
The game went through a complex development period, with the first demo samples in October 2021, and after a full 20 months, the full version is finally out, featuring random track generators, competitive online leaderboards, and more. boasts innovative features.
But with so many retro-inspired racing games on the market, does Classic Sports Driving have enough features to stand out from the rest? And will it play like a reboot of the Amiga classic that inspired it?
back to basics
The similarities between classic sports driving and games like the Jaguar XJ220 and Lotus Turbo Challenge are obvious from the start. Cars are placed at the bottom of the screen, while the horizon and skybox take center stage at the top.
This gives you better forward visibility, but it still feels like it comes out of nowhere in some corners, especially at the top. Luckily, the vehicle’s handling stacks up nicely and the vehicle tends to understeer. Don’t expect outlandish outrun-style drifting here. However, it has a good grip and responds quickly to gamepad input (I tried keyboarding the old-fashioned way at first, saying I felt it was much better with a gamepad. There is no mistake).
Here, the game’s two modes of operation are in focus, with arcade mode offering a simpler and more direct experience. Meanwhile, the pros are asking players to apply the brakes generously to maintain momentum.
The action of Classic Sport Driving moves at breakneck speed, and you are asked to race point-to-point as quickly as possible to earn up to 3-star ratings. The action never slows down as you must avoid countless hostile AI cars as you progress through each stage.
Oddly enough, there are no position indicators or traffic coming from the opposite direction, so the AI cars are all the same, just acting as moving chicanes.
environmental hygiene
There are 7 environments to work on, and you can handle a variety of weather and road conditions, day or night. The 16-race campaign mode offers a solid but relatively short challenge. The real difficulty is getting a 3-star rating on every level, which realistically requires a fair amount of practice.
Each campaign stage is about 13 miles long, so only the most dedicated players will have the time and patience to memorize each layout (after all, 16 different Nürburgring Nordschleifes to learn. It’s like you’re going crazy). However, most tracks are simple enough to allow players to progress from the beginning.
After all, I played more of the arcade mode handling type, but the pro level added more skill to the progression, making the car feel more alive when braking. However, the increased difficulty will likely keep the majority of players in the arcade.
drive to survive
The gameplay is naturally retro-inspired, requiring players to reach the next checkpoint before the timer runs out. However, when the counter reaches zero, the car slows down, but doesn’t stop immediately, giving you precious seconds to improve your grade.
Nitro icons are also scattered around each stage, giving a slight speed boost when hit, but the pesky AI cars always seem to turn blindly in front of you at key moments. I can see it. Par.
You don’t need friends once you’ve won the leaderboards
Another major selling point of Classic Sport Driving is the online leaderboards. These provide additional incentives for players to shave off the last few minutes of stage time and face off against the best players in the world.
Online leaderboards somewhat make up for the lack of a local or online multiplayer mode, but these still feel like significant omissions. So even the Jagaur XJ220 featured a local splitscreen mode that allowed players to join the main part of the game. campaign together.
Daily Challenges are available at launch – I somehow got pole position in today’s race (13th June) – Creates an incentive to revisit the game every day to maintain your status as a top performer.
traces of my tears
Classic Sport Driving has a decent range of vanilla tracks, but Pixel Wrappers also adds a track generator.
Entering a track name will create a bespoke stage with random environment values and lengths. Players can share this with their friends and compete for the top spot on the leaderboard (all vanilla and generated tracks have their own online leaderboard).
It’s a novel feature that has its roots in 90’s racing games, and both the Lotus Turbo Challenge 3 and the Jaguar XJ220 have their own track creation tools (as you can see in last year’s retrospective, the Jaguar XJ220 is particularly powerful).
We created our own track and posted it online for anyone to try and beat their time. Believe me, it won’t take long…
Simply enter “#Traxion” as the track name. Good luck!
missed opportunity
There’s a lot to love about Classic Sport Driving, but the soundtrack is great, the graphics are colorful and crisp, and the controls are the fun side of arcade. I feel like this game could do with more content.
For example, there’s no way to upgrade, paint, or modify cars, so there’s no customization at all. that’s right. You will continue to drive the same car throughout the game. It’s a superficial point, but it’s important nonetheless. The lack of real-time online multiplayer or local splitscreen also seems like a missed opportunity.
For fans of the genre, however, Classic Sport Driving is worth considering. It offers a nostalgic look at racing games from a bygone era, but with added visual horsepower. Classic Sport Driving is easy to play and feels great on mobile consoles (although it’s not rated for Steam Decks at this time, and I see no reason why it wouldn’t work perfectly).
This isn’t for everyone, and the price tag may put some casual racing gamers off, but even if it’s a bit lacking in variety, it’s still a great way to relive the glory days of 2D arcade racers. It’s a short and gentle reflection. content.
Classic Sport Driving is available now for PC from the Steam store for $14.99/£12.99/€14,99. During the first week of the game’s release, players can enjoy a discounted price of $13.49/£11.69/13,49 euros.
| developer | pixel wrapper |
| release date | June 12, 2023 |
| Available platforms | PC (Steam) |
| tested version | PC (Steam) |
| Great for playing together | game pad |
Full Disclosure: This game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. Our review policy is as follows:
