- 997
I think quite alot of people know lots about TDU, but what I dont think so many people know is how it all began. So I thought that I would try to bring as much light to this subject as I can!
Test Drive 1- 1987
This video is Test Drive 1 on the Commodore 64!
The first ever Test Drive game was launced by Accolade in 1987. The aim of the game was simple. First choose a car out of the five in the game. You could choose from a Ferrari Testarossa, Lotus Turbo Esprit, Porsche 911 Turbo, Lamborghini Countach and a Chevrolet Corvete C4. You would then have to race up a cliffside highway within the given time limit. If the player did this while succesfully avoiding crashing into all tracfic, getting arrested by the police, and falling of the side of the road. This was made harder by the fact that there was no guardrail to stop this from happening. If you managed to get to the end succesfully, you got to keep the car for free! Test Drive was released in 1987 for DOS, the Atari ST and Commodore 64. The game was the first real racing game for DOS. In 1988 it was released for the Apple II and Amiga.
This screenshot is from the Atari ST version!
The Duel: Test Drive 2- 1989
This is The Duel: Test Drive 2 on Commodore 64!
In the sequel, you did'nt just have to run from the police, and get to the finish line within a time limit, you had to beat an opponent to the finish line aswell. Test Drive 1 only included one sceneray, Brown Rocky cliff, but Test Drive 2 had many types of scenery! It also includes more cars if you count the add-on's. Without the add-on's, you could only chose from the Ferrari F40, and the Porsche 959. The Muscle car add-on's included the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, 1968 Shelby GT500, 1967 Pontiac GTO, 1969 COPO 9560 ZL-1 Camaro and a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. The Supercar add-on's included the 1988 Lotus Turbo Esprit, Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche 911 RUF, 1988 Lamborghini Countach 5000S and a 1989 Corvette ZR1.
Test Drive 3- The Passion- 1990
This is a video of gameplay from Test Drive 3!
And this is a video of a glitch were a stationwagon gets stuck up the rear of a police car!
Unlike it's decendents, which were developed by distinctive softwre, Test Drive 3 was devolped completley by Accolade! The enviroment was more advanced. Now, the driver could drive anywhere of road, a concept that was unfountnley not used again in the series untill TDU. Only three cars were featured and they were the Chevrolet CERV III, Lamborghini Diablo, and the Pininfarina Mythos. You could only ever buy the Diablo in the real world, the other two were concept cars. There was a new feature however. The player had the control to be able to select different radio stations to listen to while driving, again a concept that was not repeated untill TDU. Game critics panned the game because it was notorious for being unrealistic and often uncontrollable. TD3 was only released on the PC; there were no other platform conversions. There was one add-on released, titled Road & Car. It added two cars: the Acura NSX and Dodge Stealth, and a New England course: Cape Cod to Niagara.
There you go. That is the history of the first 3 test drive games. I will add some others later. Hope you enjoyed reading!
Test Drive 1- 1987
This video is Test Drive 1 on the Commodore 64!
The first ever Test Drive game was launced by Accolade in 1987. The aim of the game was simple. First choose a car out of the five in the game. You could choose from a Ferrari Testarossa, Lotus Turbo Esprit, Porsche 911 Turbo, Lamborghini Countach and a Chevrolet Corvete C4. You would then have to race up a cliffside highway within the given time limit. If the player did this while succesfully avoiding crashing into all tracfic, getting arrested by the police, and falling of the side of the road. This was made harder by the fact that there was no guardrail to stop this from happening. If you managed to get to the end succesfully, you got to keep the car for free! Test Drive was released in 1987 for DOS, the Atari ST and Commodore 64. The game was the first real racing game for DOS. In 1988 it was released for the Apple II and Amiga.
This screenshot is from the Atari ST version!
The Duel: Test Drive 2- 1989
This is The Duel: Test Drive 2 on Commodore 64!
In the sequel, you did'nt just have to run from the police, and get to the finish line within a time limit, you had to beat an opponent to the finish line aswell. Test Drive 1 only included one sceneray, Brown Rocky cliff, but Test Drive 2 had many types of scenery! It also includes more cars if you count the add-on's. Without the add-on's, you could only chose from the Ferrari F40, and the Porsche 959. The Muscle car add-on's included the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, 1968 Shelby GT500, 1967 Pontiac GTO, 1969 COPO 9560 ZL-1 Camaro and a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. The Supercar add-on's included the 1988 Lotus Turbo Esprit, Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche 911 RUF, 1988 Lamborghini Countach 5000S and a 1989 Corvette ZR1.
Test Drive 3- The Passion- 1990
This is a video of gameplay from Test Drive 3!
And this is a video of a glitch were a stationwagon gets stuck up the rear of a police car!
Unlike it's decendents, which were developed by distinctive softwre, Test Drive 3 was devolped completley by Accolade! The enviroment was more advanced. Now, the driver could drive anywhere of road, a concept that was unfountnley not used again in the series untill TDU. Only three cars were featured and they were the Chevrolet CERV III, Lamborghini Diablo, and the Pininfarina Mythos. You could only ever buy the Diablo in the real world, the other two were concept cars. There was a new feature however. The player had the control to be able to select different radio stations to listen to while driving, again a concept that was not repeated untill TDU. Game critics panned the game because it was notorious for being unrealistic and often uncontrollable. TD3 was only released on the PC; there were no other platform conversions. There was one add-on released, titled Road & Car. It added two cars: the Acura NSX and Dodge Stealth, and a New England course: Cape Cod to Niagara.
There you go. That is the history of the first 3 test drive games. I will add some others later. Hope you enjoyed reading!
