I can't believe someone made a video about this :) Yes, indeed NFS 1 really was just "Test Drive 3d: EA Edition". Of course the team coming from DSI partly explains is, as well as technical limitations and I'd say also 3d software engineering hasn't quite advanced enough yet and this was just the easiest way to do this in the first place
The weirdest thing about this video is that it's so recent. Given that I have this thought since 1995, it's weird that nobody made a video about it until 2023. Also, regarding the technical limitations: the game looked "real" to me, especially coming from Test Drive and looking at it through an interlaced CRT TV (PlayStation).
A very fair argument! I would consider Porsche Unleashed/2000 to be the next and final time the NFS series mimicked classic Test Drive, considering its return to weightier handling and featuring primarily point-to-point courses
Porsche also did something I enjoyed and few driving games have done since: giving you the entire model range of cars, so you could start with a basic 1100 356 and slowly work up to a 1600 over a few races.
Definitely. The sound, as well! We've been spoilt in the years since it came out, but when Porsche was new it had some of the best engine sounds going - almost exactly like the real thing.
Yeah, I've always saw the first NFS as a spiritual successor to Test Drive 2 (TD3 wasn't made by DSI and was more open-world), especially in the head-to-head game mode where you raced one opponent while evading cops on those three segmented linear tracks (Coastal, City and Alpine IIRC).
Test Drive 2 was the only PC driving/racing game that i had played before i got NFS, so at the time i probably thought they were just supposed to be like that, it didn't cross my mind initially that they're of the same lineage. It did become fairly obvious to me later though. And of course eventually i read Mobygames and saw that it's the same developers effectively. The way the primary view is interior dashboard and you have all the working instruments, working rear view mirror, which is hardly ubiquitous even today, the way the game thoughtfully pops the box with a manual shifter on the screen every time there is a shift even if you chose AT mode, the police radar detector which is hardly normally standard equipment in any car, and of course best-effort attempt to represent real world vehicles and the differences between them. I thought in Test Drive, you can feel that the Porsche is substantially less wide and better fits on the centreline in between traffic, though i no longer know whether that's quite true.
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To me The Need for Speed is kinda the successor to both Test Drive and Road Rash, basically slap Test Drive in the Road Rash 32 bit engine and you got NFS
I completely agree with the 'plausible roads' thing. I loved going through Coastal and Alpine and feeling a sense of progression along the track. It's something that's lacking in racing games that have you driving in circles, or in 'open world' titles where every track sort of blends together with ill-defined features.
The first time I got to the third level of Alpine it blew my tiny young mind. Snow! I think they even reduced the amount of traction off the edges of the road, a great little bit of detail.
I fear they will have dated badly, but 1 and 2 were standout in their time. And a much later era, but the two Unlimiteds were pioneers in the "open world with real cars in a real place" genre that's now almost wholly owned by Forza Horizon
Test Drive was my favorite game on the Amiga 500, and The Need For Speed isn't far from my favorite game ever on the PC! Great video!
I can't believe someone made a video about this :) Yes, indeed NFS 1 really was just "Test Drive 3d: EA Edition". Of course the team coming from DSI partly explains is, as well as technical limitations and I'd say also 3d software engineering hasn't quite advanced enough yet and this was just the easiest way to do this in the first place
The weirdest thing about this video is that it's so recent. Given that I have this thought since 1995, it's weird that nobody made a video about it until 2023.
Also, regarding the technical limitations: the game looked "real" to me, especially coming from Test Drive and looking at it through an interlaced CRT TV (PlayStation).
A very fair argument! I would consider Porsche Unleashed/2000 to be the next and final time the NFS series mimicked classic Test Drive, considering its return to weightier handling and featuring primarily point-to-point courses
Porsche also did something I enjoyed and few driving games have done since: giving you the entire model range of cars, so you could start with a basic 1100 356 and slowly work up to a 1600 over a few races.
yep, they nailed the driving feel with the NFS 5
Definitely. The sound, as well! We've been spoilt in the years since it came out, but when Porsche was new it had some of the best engine sounds going - almost exactly like the real thing.
Yeah, I've always saw the first NFS as a spiritual successor to Test Drive 2 (TD3 wasn't made by DSI and was more open-world), especially in the head-to-head game mode where you raced one opponent while evading cops on those three segmented linear tracks (Coastal, City and Alpine IIRC).
I remember every Friday after computer class, playing NFS1, the city stage. Memories ❤
When I first played The Need for Speed on the 3DO, my first thoughts were that it was basically Test Drive with better graphics.
fun trip back in time, as always. Thanks!
Test Drive 2 was the only PC driving/racing game that i had played before i got NFS, so at the time i probably thought they were just supposed to be like that, it didn't cross my mind initially that they're of the same lineage. It did become fairly obvious to me later though. And of course eventually i read Mobygames and saw that it's the same developers effectively. The way the primary view is interior dashboard and you have all the working instruments, working rear view mirror, which is hardly ubiquitous even today, the way the game thoughtfully pops the box with a manual shifter on the screen every time there is a shift even if you chose AT mode, the police radar detector which is hardly normally standard equipment in any car, and of course best-effort attempt to represent real world vehicles and the differences between them. I thought in Test Drive, you can feel that the Porsche is substantially less wide and better fits on the centreline in between traffic, though i no longer know whether that's quite true.
To me The Need for Speed is kinda the successor to both Test Drive and Road Rash, basically slap Test Drive in the Road Rash 32 bit engine and you got NFS
I completely agree with the 'plausible roads' thing. I loved going through Coastal and Alpine and feeling a sense of progression along the track. It's something that's lacking in racing games that have you driving in circles, or in 'open world' titles where every track sort of blends together with ill-defined features.
The first time I got to the third level of Alpine it blew my tiny young mind. Snow! I think they even reduced the amount of traction off the edges of the road, a great little bit of detail.
@@TimberwolfK That's right! And there was also a wonderful sense of progression as you moved up the mountain.
You of course know I have also made this argument before, and fully endorse it.
Yes, it was slightly at the back of my mind once I realised it; "hang on, I'm sure Dudley mentioned exactly this same thing"
i'm trying to think if i played any test drive games.... maybe not, and i guess i should
I fear they will have dated badly, but 1 and 2 were standout in their time. And a much later era, but the two Unlimiteds were pioneers in the "open world with real cars in a real place" genre that's now almost wholly owned by Forza Horizon