Adam Ismail

They call it ‘The Split’. In 1996, the burgeoning pinnacle of American open wheel racing, Indy Car, fractured into two rival series: the Indy Racing League; and CART, which stood for Championship Auto Racing Teams.

“More like a support race instead of the main event.” That was GTPlanet’s verdict on GRID upon its release a few short weeks ago. While the reboot of Codemasters’ beloved circuit racer retains the visceral on-track thrills you expect from the franchise, it lacks the substance to match its style.

It’s hard to imagine we’ve gone more than five years without a new GRID. Once among the elite racing franchises out there, many fans expected Codemasters’ circuit-based series to continue to flourish on this most recent generation of consoles — but it didn’t.

My, how time flies. A little over two years ago, the GTPlanet editorial staff and extended family pooled their heads together and ranked their favorite games in the series.

The summer months are perfect for kicking back, imbibing in a cold, refreshing drink of your choosing, and simply enjoying the company and conversation of your friends and family. At Time Extend, we figure it was time we do the same.

Ranking entries in a beloved series that means so many things to so many people is inevitably going to ruffle some feathers. There’s no way to avoid it. Egos will be bruised. Friendships will be tested. Awful takes that can never be retracted will be uttered. (And the internet never forgets a bad take.)

Any discussion of the golden era of ’90s early-polygonal racing games is incomplete without Wipeout. Between its trendy electronic soundtrack, savvy visual direction courtesy of legendary U.K. studio The Designers Republic, and of course its revolutionary floaty-yet-technical gameplay, Wipeout not only defined the early days of the PlayStation — it defined cool for the entire medium.

With Assetto Corsa Competizione finally out, and GTPlanet’s verdict now live, there’s no better time to highlight the latest episode of Time Extend. Last week, Brendan Rorrison and I dove head-first into Kunos’ new Blancpain GT-licensed sim.

Time Extend enjoys all kinds of racing games. If you’ve listened before, you likely know by this point we love our old-school arcade coin guzzlers, but we have a soft spot for brutal rally simulators, semi-realistic circuit experiences, and, of course, the humble kart racer. Which brings us to today’s show.

This week’s Time Extend kicks off with a chat about a game Brendan and I are very excited for — the Switch release of Sega’s arcade classic Virtua Racing. It’s without question the finest port yet of one of the most influential racers ever made, and we’ve definitely been bitten by the hot-lapping bug in the quest to improve our fastest times (especially around that tricky Bay Bridge circuit).

Late last year, it was reported that Driveclub was the most-played PlayStation 4 racer, sitting pretty at 10.5 million players. For comparison’s sake, GT Sport topped 6.6 million players at that time.

Welcome to Mirror Mode, GTPlanet’s series that shines a spotlight on retro racing games. With rally season in full swing, we’re revisiting the first installment of PlayStation’s fan-favorite, fully-licensed WRC series. 

Later this year, Gran Turismo 2 will mark its 20th anniversary. And with it comes another reason to reflect, because it was Gran Turismo 2 that inspired the very site you’re reading this post on right now.

Here on Time Extend, we like giving long overlooked and forgotten racers their due. And few have captured our attention quite like a little title from the turn of the millennium, based on the grandaddy of all endurance races.

Sure, we all love our growly and occasionally whiny engine noises. But what good is a long drive without the right tunes? To that end, this week Time Extend welcomes Andrew Elmore, musician and artist behind Real Racing Roots 2019 — a collection of songs inspired by cult-classic PlayStation racer R4: Ridge Racer Type 4.

Hello there! My name is Adam, and you may have seen some of my ramblings on GTPlanet before. Well, myself and fellow GTP alum Brendan Rorrison run a little podcast called Time Extend — our feisty, mildly irreverent corner of the internet where we honor racing games of all kinds, of the past, present and future. (But more often than not, the past.)

Last year, Eden Games brought its mobile racer, Gear.Club Unlimited, to the Switch at a time when Nintendo’s platform desperately needed some racing representation.

It’s hard to believe it’s already been just over one year since Eden Games ported its popular mobile racer, Gear.Club, to the Switch. With its release, Nintendo’s hybrid console received its first semi-realistic racer — if “semi-realistic” can be defined by an absence of hovercrafts and cartoon mischief.

Welcome to Mirror Mode, GTPlanet’s series that shines a spotlight on retro racing games. To commemorate the release of Forza Horizon 4, we’re revisiting another popular racer from Xbox’s past. 

Every so often, a startup comes along and declares it’s cracked some challenge of modern car design. Everyone makes a big fuss, and then a couple of years later you wonder where they’ve gone, only to find out they quietly went belly up.