The European title of an american game called '
Stunts', '4D Sports Driving' was a clever
vector graphic driving game released by
Brøderbund in 1990 (
Mindscape in Europe), featuring advanced, solid-filled polygons. It is now something of
a minor classic. Rather like
Atari's '
Hard Drivin'', the gameplay combined a mixture of racing and stunt driving, as the tracks were dotted with
corkscrews,
loop-the-loops and other hazards. There was a level designer which was the nearest thing to a computerised version of
Scalextric. It ran on a
286 PC and came on a single 1.44"
HD floppy disc. It was also released for the
Commodore Amiga.
Whilst the racing was quite tense - against a set of computer opponents with names such as 'Helen Wheels' and 'Otto Partz' - much of the game's entertainment value came from an array of amusing bugs. Sometimes, hitting a ramp at a particular angle caused your car to shoot straight up into the air, whilst maxing-out the engine caused your car to enter super pursuit mode, leaping uncontrollably over lakes and mountains before inevitably crashing into a house.
There was a diverse range of cars - another of the game's selling points - including such exotica as a Lamborghini LM002 off-roader and an Audi quattro rally car. Most people drove the Indy car, however, as it was fastest. Of all the vehicles, the Honda NSX (known in the game, as in America, as the Acura NSX) is the only one to also appear in 'Gran Turismo'.
The player could drive against the clock, or against a series of computer opponent's whose faces were obviously photographs of the developers wearing sunglasses and leather jackets.
The memorable music consisted of a hilarious AdLib attempt at mid-80s hair metal rawk, complete with an atonal guitar solo. The game could be run in EGA and CGA as well as VGA.