Anyone who lived through the golden age of arcades and saw how arcade booths evolved to show old-fashioned 3D models will remember with nostalgia when dozens of children crowded into a car racing machine that impressed from minute one. We talk, of course, about virtual racing and how he managed to surprise us with his proposal.
Many years have passed since that happened, specifically thirty-one years, but now we have the chance to relive those same sensations —with more sweetener— thanks to Formula Retro Racing World Tour for computers, the “continuation” of a title that came out in 2020 and from which you drink practically everything.
The 90s return to your living room
Formula Retro Racing World Tour is currently located at early access, reason for this advance. However, it already has some extra features and game modes that were not in its first iteration, such as an option to play with virtual reality glasses or new content in the form of clues, among others.
The video game presents us with tracks and vehicles with aesthetic designs lowpoly —few polygons— very flirtatious and colorful that collect circuits from all over the world and the most diverse vehicles, among which those of the Formula type and Supercars stand out. The premise is as expected, participate in single races and competitions to earn points with which to unlock new scenarios. There aren’t many, but there are enough for a game that tries to replicate products of the time. That is to say, the variety is not his forte but comparing it with Virtua Racing or similar from the 90sthere are more than enough.
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Driving is arcade-style and obviates the physics that are present in real-life motorized vehicles. However, there are in a certain way and some are more pleasant than others. We are talking about Formula 1 type cars and their substitutes, which have much smoother and more logical control than those in the Supercar category. The latter embrace the gameplay of the former ridge racer and they take it to the extreme by making the cars skid just by slightly moving the steering wheel, which in automotive jargon is called drift. They take a lot more practice to master, and they become more unrealistic to drive—even more so in an arcade game—than before. If you add that choosing one class of car or another is optional, many times we will select the Formula type to enjoy the game.
There is three difficulty modes available and beyond an improvement in the AI of the adversaries, there is also a lower resistance to impacts, which can incur in being out of the game if our vehicle ends up seriously damaged. Or what is the same, crashing into opponents or walls raises the level of damage of our car. At the easiest level it is very difficult for us to end up disqualified but as we increase the difficulty the drivers become more aggressive and our car will be much more fragile.
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There are different game modes, including Grand Prix and another survival-style game called Elimination. In the first you are adding points between races to unlock new circuits while in the second you must maintain a high position on the podium so as not to be defeated. The latter is a new addition to Formula Retro Racing World Tour that joins the possibility of playing it in Virtual Reality modeby the way.
lower gear
On a visual level, as we have commented, it stands out a lot. Nostalgia invades your body as soon as you enter the game menu, very similar to how we saw Virtua Racing in 32X or similar. Everything is designed to remind us of that glorious time in the world of arcades, although on this occasion the sensations are more powerful than in its first title. The reason is that the previous title had more graphic fanfare such as more realistic shadows, better modeling, physics, and textures. In World Tour it is everything flattermore raw, more like the first forays of the genre into the 3D world.
In terms of sound, we have verified good melodies of different styles that accompany very well in menus, although somewhat repetitive at times. The sound effects fit perfectly with the reason for the proposal and manages to accentuate the sensations that we described in the previous paragraph. The negative part is that the soundtrack also sounds during the race and the truth is that it does not match what is happening on the screen at all, rather everything otherwise.
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We have also noticed that different elements of the interface overlap each other, especially icons above the text and we do not know if it is intentional or something temporary that will be corrected later, although we point to the Spanish translation as the focus of the problem. Of course, the interface in general is much nicer and better located than in the previous video game.
Retro Formula Racing World Tour is expected to be ready in a few months and among the additions that the final version will bring is an online competitive mode, another with player versus player features, new locations and improvements in vehicle control. It is currently playable with up to four players simultaneously in local mode and is, in general terms, a pleasant return to the past, with very nice circuits like Las Vegas. It’s worth keeping an eye on—or buying in early access—since it’s also verified for play on one device Steam Deck.
Although we have been able to test an early version of the video game on PC, it is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox platforms. We assume that the console versions will be updated with the content that reaches the computer version.
