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I play the games TEST DRIVE 5 and TEST DRIVE 6 *a lot*. For those who have never heard of these old games, that's 6 for the Sega Dreamcast in the screenshot above. Look at that toy-like rendering of that Subaru Impreza, lol.

I had them for the PS1, in addition to a Dreamcast copy of the latter, years and years ago, and have played them nonstop since. They're, at their best, solid arcade-style racers that I can't get enough of for some reason, even if there are superior racing game titles from the period. Like GRAN TURISMO and some of the NEED FOR SPEED games.

Those two games, along with TEST DRIVE 4, and three games with off-road racing (TEST DRIVE OFF-ROAD), were a reboot of a dormant series from publisher Accolade. (Also known for the BUBSY games, lol.) The original games were made from 1987 to 1990, and were more like simulators. More HARD DRIVIN' than RIDGE RACER. Accolade, with the help of developer Pitbull Syndicate, revitalized the series to compete w/ the likes of NEED FOR SPEED. TEST DRIVE 4, 5 and 6 were released back to back: 1997, 1998, and 1999. Each making their autumn release dates. Not only did these games pack licensed cars, but also licensed soundtracks and an assortment of tracks set all around the world... Well, mostly locations in the U.S. and UK.

For years, I had noticed that TEST DRIVE 6 ditched a lot of things from 4 & 5...

Stuff like the funky vehicles made up by the game developers, and not a single Chevrolet vehicle is in the game, despite Corvettes and Camaros being top choices in 4 & 5. But playing TEST DRIVE 6 last night... I've had this game since the year 2000, a little after it first came out in fall 1999... I noticed something else...

TEST DRIVE 6 is generally very, very light on classic muscle cars.

One of the big draws of both TEST DRIVE 4 & 5 was that they had both "beauties" (contemporary sports cars like the Dodge Viper and TVR Cerbera), but also "beasts" ('60s muscle cars like Corvettes, Camaros, and Cudas)... TEST DRIVE 6 favors more modern cars, and I suppose they might've lost a license or whatever to feature Chevy cars? Maybe they swapped Chevy for another make?

I decided to make a list, haha...

(I won't be counting the cars made up by the developers, since there are no such vehicles in TEST DRIVE 6. I also won't be counting the police cruiser versions of certain cars, which are repeats.)

TEST DRIVE 4's contemporary sports car to classic muscle car ratio:

7 Contemporary Cars (all cars 1998 except where noted): Dodge Viper GTS, TVR Cerbera, 1994 Jaguar XJ220, 1995 Nissan 300ZX, Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper GTS-R, TVR Project 7/12

7 Classic Cars: 1966 Shelby Cobra, 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle, 1969 Chevrolet Corvette, 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, 1967 Pontiac GTO (PC version only)

Nice even mix. I wonder why the Pontiac GTO is only in the PC version, much like the Munich, Germany race track... Disc space, maybe?

I'll mention the developer-made car, the Pitbull Special, or Pitbull Mini as its known in the PC version. It's literally an old-school Mini Cooper, but really suped up. Could be a mid-90s one for all I know. The Internet Game Car Database's community seems to think it's from around that period as well, so if we were to count it, it would tip the scales slightly in modern cars' favor... But again, it's more of a made-up Mini-esque car than an actual Mini Cooper.

TEST DRIVE 5:

16 Contemporary Cars (all cars 1998 except where noted): Dodge Viper GTS, 1997 Chevrolet Camaro, Saleen Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette, Nissan Skyline, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Jaguar XKR, TVR Cerbera, Aston Martin Project Vantage, Shelby Series 1, TVR Speed 12, Dodge Viper GTS-R, 1994 Jaguar XJ220, Caterham 21, Ford Mustang GT, Nissan R390 GT-1

12 Classic Cars: 1967 Pontiac GTO, 1969 Dodge Charger, 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle, 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda, 1966 Shelby Cobra, 1969 Chevrolet Corvette, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, 1968 Ford Mustang, Caterham Super 7*, 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Hot Rod, 1968 Ford Mustang Hot Rod

So there's a bit more new cars here, though there is the Caterham Super 7. Catherman 7s have existed since the early 1970s, a kit car based on a discontinued Lotus vehicle called the Seven. No year is given in-game, so this could be one from the '70s, or the early '90s. It's not quite clear-cut here.

Some of the contemporary cars are also concept cars that never really became production vehicles, or are prototypes. The former is the proposed road car version of the Nissan R390 GT-1 and the Project Vantage, the latter would apply to the TVR Speed 12, which has a lengthy history of various prototypes. Its first iteration, the Project 7/12, is in TEST DRIVE 4.

Of the made-up cars, the Pitbull Special came back, along with Chris's Beast (a hatchback-looking vehicle), the Fear Factory Wagon (a station wagon with band Fear Factory's logo on it), Behold the Mighty Maul! (which looks like a McLaren F1), and the Hot Dog (a bizarre jeep-like vehicle that breaks my brain). All of them are or seem fairly modern.

Now we get to TEST DRIVE 6:

29 Contemporary Cars (all cars 1999 except where noted): Lotus Elise, Audi TT, Marcos Mantaray, Ford F-150 Lightning, Jaguar XKR, Plymouth Prowler, Venturi Atlantique, 2000 Panoz Esperante, TVR Griffith, Lotus Esprit V8, Dodge Concept**, 1997 Ford Mustang Super Stallion, Shelby Series 1, Nissan Skyline GTR, Subaru Impreza, Dodge Viper GTS, TVR Cerbera, Aston Martin DB7 Vantage, Saleen Mustang, Jaguar XK-180, Venturi 400GT, Dodge Viper GTS-R, 1994 Jaguar XJ220, Aston Martin Project Vantage, TVR Speed 12, Nissan R390 GT-1, Lotus GT1, Toyota GT-ONE, BMW V12 LMR (PAL version only)

8 Classic Cars: 1982 Lotus Esprit Turbo, 1972 Plymouth Hemi Cuda, 1969 Dodge Charger, 1990 Ford Mustang, 1968 Ford Mustang, Caterham 7, 1966 Shelby Cobra, 1968 Ford GT-40

That's... Quite a steep difference there!

And interestingly, most of those old cars are confined to Class 1 out of the 4 classes in the game, so slower than most of the modern day cars. In TEST DRIVE 5, they had something like the '68 Mustang at 192mph, more than - say - the Viper and V8 Vantage. In this it's 140mph. Maybe they felt that they overpowered the muscle cars and didn't think the top speeds were accurate? I have no idea. And again, the Caterham 7 is down here because it could be from any year really.

A chunk of the contemporary cars are also prototypes and concept cars, you also have two vehicles - the Toyota GT-One and the BMW V12 LMR - that are based on Le Mans supercars, that kinda pass them off as road cars. A single road car version of the Lotus GT1 exists, the rest were all for racing.

So, I think that's ultimately what really sets TEST DRIVE 6 apart from the previous two games, if the lack of Chevy cars and no made-up cars weren't a big departure... Not too many "beasts"! This was modern supercars all the way, and even the soundtrack kinda got away from what TEST DRIVE 5 had to offer.

TEST DRIVE 4's soundtrack was rather odd: You had at least one stock/production music track in it ('Frenzy' by David Rogers and Paul Shaw, which was also used in a Gatorade commercial back in the day), original minimalist electronica tracks apparently composed by a man named Pete Hewitson, and some techno/light electric tracks from groups like Orbital and The Younger Younger 28's.

TEST DRIVE 5 brought in Fear Factory, KMFDM, Pitchshifter, Gravity Kills, and Junkie XL. A lot of these were in the industrial rock/metal wheelhouse, with some flirting with techno.

It's very 1997-98, that's for sure.

And then TEST DRIVE 6's soundtrack, barring a Fear Factory cover of Gary Numan's 'Cars' w/ Numan himself involved, has stuff like... Q-Burns Abstract Message, Cirrus, Empirion, Gearwhore, Lunatic Calm, and Kottonmouth Kings. LARGELY techno/electronic, some of it harder to find than usual, too. I remember for *years* trying to find some of the Empirion tracks from the game that seemed to only be in the game and nowhere else (not on an album or single or anything), for example.

But yeah, there's barely any rock/metal here. Only the 'Cars' cover, really. And there's even some rap in the form of a Kottonmouth Kings track.

Either way, it's all bangers.

#test drive 5 #test drive 4 #playstation #ps1 #psone #90s #old racing games #Youtube

Test Drive 4 | PS1 | Gameplay Walkthrough Longplay FULL GAME [4K60ᶠᵖˢ UHD🔴]

#Test drive 4 #Youtube

🎮 Test Drive 4 (Playstation)

Complete Gameplay: https://youtu.be/oikSFIx4biI

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Cinematech Presents RCT - Test Drive 4 (PS1/PC)

Don’t slow down for anything.

#Cinematech (blog)#retro commercial time #gaming #Test Drive 4