4D Sports Driving Master Tracks I

[Shoegazing Leo]

Review #9 - Sleepy

Very short and maybe childish. It could be better with water all along. 0:58.85 with Lola.


2.5/5 stars

[Daniel3D]

Thanks for the reviews 
I added a name overview to the post with the track images. So it is easy to link the track to the review.

[Shoegazing Leo]

Review #10 - Sunday

I raced 2:36.25 with Lola. Some interesting sectors, but a lot of boring sectors too.

2.5/5 stars

[Shoegazing Leo]

My toughts:

The tracks are result of another zeitgeist. In this almost 34 years of Stunts the competition tracks evoluted to a another shape, with different resources as water closed tracks, use of scenery and more dense tracks instead of long straightways and sharp corners. I noticed that the designers didn't used any divided way, slalom, icy or dirty track. Very curious.

[Duplode]

Very nice reviews    By the way, Raven is a pretty nice track indeed! I tried it with Mercedes and GAR, though freer or pseudo OWOOT there could be interesting too.

[Daniel3D]

My toughts:

The tracks are result of another zeitgeist. In this almost 34 years of Stunts the competition tracks evoluted to a another shape, with different resources as water closed tracks, use of scenery and more dense tracks instead of long straightways and sharp corners. I noticed that the designers didn't used any divided way, slalom, icy or dirty track. Very curious.

Basically, it only has elements that were there early in production.

Could this be a bunch of test tracks from DSI production that were given to the Amiga team with the game when they were starting the port to Amiga?

It feels a bit like Vancouver..

[Duplode]

Basically, it only has elements that were there early in production.

Could this be a bunch of test tracks from DSI production that were given to the Amiga team with the game when they were starting the port to Amiga?

It feels a bit like Vancouver..

On the other hand, the Skid Marks tracks already had ice and dirt, while Vancouver had a custom terrain.

[Cas]

I've just raced "Bends" with the Jaguar. My impression now on the track, not just looking at it from above, is that it's not boring. It is mostly a changing track, except for two long straightways. Yet, virtually no scenery and it's not very "organic", that is, when a track element is placed, there's no thought of what you're coming from or where your going later. Very tight corners just after you've managed to finally gain some speed, too many corks u/d, etc. I liked the section of the track in which you have several chicanes and some jumps. I think it's the most entertaining part.

The track in general is a little too long for our standards today, but pretty normal in length for the early 90s.

[Cas]

Tring "Cheap" with the Porsche 962, I'd say this one lacks more. It's more reasonable in that it doesn't have so many sharp corners and doesn't use corks u/d, but it's not very interesting. The length is more like what we're used to today. Again, no scenery, same background (country, the default). Once more, something you can be forgiven for when playing with friends at home, but kind of not for an "expansion pack", ha, ha.

[Overdrijf]

I know I like small corners a bit less than average, but just looking at these tracks it feels like they could have done with a few more large corners and maybe some other options here and there.

The default terrains and to some degree the lack of scenery are what make this feel the least "DSI" to me. Even if these were leftovers from early in development repurposed by the Atari localization team I'd expect more thought put into those aspects.

The original game did kind of invite attempts like these though. How hard would it have been to just make a few more tracks to launch your racing game with?

[Spoonboy]

Great reviews - excited to try these with some favourite cars. These tracks are an interesting way to see how Stunts track construction has evolved.
I sometimes like to use more simple tracks like these to 'wind down' between competition tracks! 

[Spoonboy]

Having now driven the tracks (with Ryoma's Oxia), I'd say Ploy was my favourite. Fun jumps and a surprise squeeze from a l/r cork into that tunnel! 
The others were fairly so-so, with a lot of small and/or blind corners.
Enjoyed the raised s-bends in Dizzy, might try this in future tracks.