Slot Car Illustrated, The Online Magazine for Slot Cars! - Misc. Products

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Published: April 7, 2003

There have been several PC Based slot car games, several are online and are fun to play. Those online based games offer only the overhead view of the track, and a limited amount of possible track plans. Searching the Net it is possible to find several sites that offer in-car cameras eye views of cars going around the track, and with the recent release of FLY's Camera Truck, it's evident that many long to know what it would be like to sit in the driver's seat of their favorite slot cars.
	Omikron has released a downloadable PC Game that allows you to ride along in your slot car, racing against a friend or with the computer. You can pick your track, choose how many laps (zero can be chosen for practice), choose your car, and you're ready to race. The keyboard controls offer only a throttle, and view controls, as well as a screen capture button. There is no need to steer these cars, they are slot cars of course.

You have your choice of ten cars, that all seem very much like Hot Wheels cars. I would like to see a car editor, or the ability to download more cars, but maybe this is coming in the future. But for now, we are stuck with a couple rag-top Camaro's, two Ferrari "Race Bait 908's", a Ford GT-90, a Panoz, a Hot Wheels Thunderstreak, a Lamborghini, and a (Hot Wheels) Tech Tones Series Buick Wildcat. Whatever the reason is that they used Hot Wheels cars as models, there are a lot of Hot Wheels that would have been more

"slot car" like choices, and again, I hope they make more available for download.

	The actual modeling of the cars is done about as well as you can expect. Without making this program 5 times the size, they've captured these cars fairly well. The real test would be how well this program simulates slot racing, and most importantly, is it fun? You first choose the two cars, both for the computer or player 1 first, then the human or player two second. Then it's off to the track.

The program loads the track fairly fast, with only a few seconds of wait on an average computer. You are then greeted by a split screen, driver one (or the computer) on top, driver two on the bottom. A three second countdown and the race is on.

Here lies one of my biggest complaints. It would be nice to be able to set your screen settings before the race starts. As it is, you have to wait for the race to get underway before you can switch to the "in car" views, or full screen.

In my opinion, it's most fun riding along with the car. Driving the cars are pretty straight forward, press the Shift key and you're off. Comparing this to real slot car racing, it's basically magnetless racing with no brakes. There is a lot of sliding on the corners, and driving in to aggressively gives the expected results; you go spinning off the track. The computer restarts you at the point of departure, and you're off again. Don't worry, the Computer does enough of it's own deslotting as well.

I would like some way of changing the characteristics of the cars, either by changing the "magnetism" or tires or something. As it is, all the cars handle the same (no magnets or brakes), and they seem pretty slippery even for non-magnet cars.

It is fun to ride along in the car (or on the car actually) and take in the sights. There are many tracks with varying degrees of scenery. The tracks range from short and easy, to insanely difficult. Some have very long straights, some have no straights at all! There are over twenty five tracks to choose from, but if that isn't enough, there is the optional track editor.

The track editor allows you to design your own tracks and scenery. Track sections available are basic, and consist of 45 and 90 degree turns, and a straight.

Though you probably won't be able to exactly duplicate your own layout with the TrackEdit feature, you can come up with some interesting layouts. You can add such scenic items as trees, mountains, towers, houses, and rocks. About the only thing missing from the scenery list is grandstands. Again, the ability to download more scenery items would be a nice feature. It's important to note that the track must meet at it's ends perfectly or it won't load into the race program. The ability to "join ends" or to edit the length of a specific track piece would be a nice feature to have.

So was it fun? Well, addictive is more like it. Yes, I did have fun with this program, and probably the best part is that it only costs $9.95, or $14.95 with the track editor. There is a lot of fun here for that price, and though it does have some flaws, it is well worth the price. It's easy to sit back and nitpick a computer program to death. I've spent more money on programs I liked less. This program is easy to use, fast loading, and fairly customizable. I'd like to see some downloadable add-ons like cars and scenery, tracks and such, but at least I have the ability to create tracks and race on them. I'd say you don't have a lot to lose. If nothing else, download the demo and give it a free try!

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