Dirt Track Racing: Sprint Cars (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.2 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Amer Ajami
• Reviewed on: 11/16/2000
• Updated on: 05/17/2006
• Released on: 10/19/2000
• Originally published on GameSpot: Dirt Track Racing: Sprint Cars (PC) Review

Dirt Track Racing was a straightforward driving game that used Ratbag's Powerslide 3D engine to simulate racing stock cars around short oval courses. It was published by WizardWorks earlier this year, and while its gameplay was somewhat mundane, it did a good job of accurately simulating the dynamic of driving around in circles for a number of laps. But there's a lot more to the new installment, Dirt Track Racing: Sprint Cars. This budget-priced stand-alone follow-up completely reinvigorates the original game by adding four new car types, 20 racetracks, and a host of updated graphics and gameplay mechanics.

The most obvious of these new enhancements is the addition of the incredibly odd-looking sprint cars. These off-road contraptions resemble typical dune buggies, save for their staggered wheel sizes and massive roof-mounted wings. You've probably seen them in ESPN bloopers as they tumble end over end into a hapless crowd of onlookers. Regardless, the game features 16 preset cars and licensed drivers for you to choose from and also gives you the option of creating and customizing your own car. You can choose from one of four models and a variety of different paint jobs: Green, Hubgarner, Ferkel, and Merril are the four vehicle classes, and each is more powerful than the next. In fact, the Merril class is capable of producing up to 820hp, which makes these cars significantly trickier to control than their stock car counterparts from Dirt Track Racing. However, despite the drastic change in the types of vehicles available in Sprint Cars, the game's premise remains unchanged from that of Dirt Track Racing: You race around oval-shaped dirt tracks as you progress from one racing event to the next in hopes of being crowned the champion. At its core, Sprint Cars is made up of little more than these extremely short and equally repetitive oval races. While each track is indeed different from the rest, there's little variance in the game's oval dirt courses.

There are a total of ten different race events, each of which comprises anywhere between two and five individual races. These races are also split up into practice, qualifying, heat, and race sessions. You'll get a small appearance prize for simply showing up at these circuits, although posting the fastest qualifying lap, placing first in the heats, and finishing in the top three slots during a race will yield you the most prize cash. You can enter all but two of the ten events from the outset of the game, but since the competition is tougher in the later events, you're better off going through each of them in the correct order. Additionally, you'll receive numerous sponsorship opportunities from a number of companies, depending on your performance in each of these ten events. You can choose to accept or reject these offers at will, but accepting them will naturally grant you more money, with which you can buy new cars or upgrade your existing ones with performance parts.

This ability to upgrade your car's performance is another of Sprint Cars' high points. You can do so either by buying new parts in between races or by tweaking certain values of your car's suspension, transmission, and exhaust. The sheer number of options available is quite impressive. You can tune the toe and camber of your wheels, the spacing between the drive wheels and the axle, tire pressure, brake strength, tire size, tire compound, steering lock, wheel travel, compression and rebound rate of the shocks, shock type, wing position... the list goes on and on. It might be tempting to fiddle around with all these figures, though doing so really does have a noticeable impact on your car's performance. Since the default setting is usually fine, you're better off leaving the details alone unless you're really into tinkering with cars. Otherwise, if you need additional power but can't afford a new car, you can buy parts such as cylinder heads and fuel injectors, which should keep your car competitive.

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