Time Extend

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.

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.