Driving; it’s a fundamental part of our human development. When traversing the pitfalls of the teenage years our lives are structured towards three simple goals; finishing school, having intercourse and learning to drive. In console terms the driving genre has a similar amount of structure. Games normally fall into one of three camps; simulation (Forza/Gran Turismo), overtly unrealistic (Mario Kart/Diddy Kong Racing) and somewhere in between (Need for Speed/Grid). Focusing on that final division I would like to talk about a few in particular; a series of games that broke new ground and weren’t afraid to mix style with substance. A number of titles that Microsoft deemed good enough to spearhead the launches of its two home platforms. As anyone who’s passed their test will tell you driving is brilliant…and so is Project Gotham Racing.

Cast your minds back to 1999; Will Smith is rocking out to the sounds of ‘Willenium’, doomsayers are weaving conspiracies about something called the ‘Y2K bug’ and Sega doesn’t have a quality racing game to shout about on their new console. Sure Crazy taxi was crazy fun and F355 Challenge was legitimately realistic but with GT and Ridge Racer still doing the rounds on Sony’s two generations-old console and the N64 boasting some of the most fun racing games to date, the Dreamcast looked hopelessly outgunned. However this wouldn’t last for long. Nestled away somewhere in Liverpool, England a team of talented folk at Bizarre Creations were working their magic on a new IP; a driving game that wouldn’t be bound by typical genre rules- one that would not only ask you to finish first but to do it in the most sexy manner possible. Mixing real world locations with an impressive line-up of cars, Bizarre lifted the lid on their finished product on November 3^rd 2000, the title of which being the chic Metropolis Street Racer. Sounding like something Superman would play on his weekend off, MSR was an ensemble of cool ideas; Photographic London/Tokyo/San Francisco locals, unique soundtracks and an ingenious day/night cycle, it sounded like Bizarre had found the template for the genre, burned it and then redesigned it in their own image. Reading a preview in the official magazine I had never found myself wanting a game revolving around cars more. Not even Sega Rally had made me salivate to that extent. With the stars seemingly aligning I threw caution to the wind and asked my Dad to pick up a copy (forgoing the wait for the review to be printed). I was not wrong.

Metropolis Street Racer was beautifully designed; tight mechanics, somewhere around 260 courses and eye-pleasing graphics for the time- it was a multifaceted piece of software. At its beating heart lay the ‘Kudos’ system- a risk and reward scheme that acted as the game’s experience as well as its currency. During a race power slides, overtakes and high-placed finishes would yield the earning of Kudos whilst hitting walls or smashing into opponents would result in the opposite. You gambled every time you pressed the start button and wouldn’t know the outcome until the race was over (save for a sign popping up every time you did something cool). That kind of inventiveness had seldom been seen before in games let alone the sometimes neglected racing genre. It was liked MSR looked to give you everything you had got from every other racing game and then a little bit extra on top. Speeding around a faithfully recreated London made for a thrilling experience, as did the inevitable humming of the affable tunes which ranged from catchy to downright groovy (some were even better than the songs on the radio at the time- ‘Spice Girls’ anyone? And you had authentic adverts- Tango adverts!). Throw in a two-player split-screen and you had an enticing package that made preaching to the choir very easy indeed.

So all’s well that ends well then? Well, not fully. Sitting there through the changeover of 2001/2002 I found myself becoming increasingly anxious; when was the sequel going to make an appearance? When would Sega pony up the cash and fund what all we MSR fans were crying out for? It had to happen at some point surely? And then the unthinkable; the untimely death of the Dreamcast. Crap. No follow up…no happy ending.

Then a miracle; the original Xbox was released and Microsoft had brokered a deal with Bizarre’ to allow that long sort-after sequel a release on its new platform. But there was a stipulation; with the rights to its name now separated from the rights to its universe, this new game couldn’t bear the title Metropolis Street Racer. No, this iteration would be a spiritual successor; a ‘Soul Calibur’ to MSR’s ‘Soul Blade’. What moniker would be chosen? Keeping with the Detective Comics inspired theme (that’s what I think anyway) the game was eventually released under the title Project Gotham Racing (slick indeed).

‘Gotham felt like a direct continuation of the Dreamcast original; same cities, same type of challenges, same Kudos system. Whilst not as creative as its forerunner, the game was more refined; better handling, more cars and the ability to actually see how much ‘respect’ you were racking up mid-play. It was tightly made, easy to get into and sat beautifully next to Halo and Dead or Alive 3 in Microsoft’s initial line up. As always though things were not perfect; whilst I was delighted that the developers had included a split-screen four player mode (a lost art in today’s market) the game chugged under the strain of replicating four separate images (the frame rate feeling like it dropped to 5 FPS). From that point on things got better and better. Project Gotham’ 2 was even better presented (a bit like the way Gran Turismo 2 eclipsed the original) ‘Gotham 3 was looked gorgeous upon release and by the time we arrived at PGR 4, Bizarre Creations had seemingly refined the development of the series into an art form. It was with a heavy heart then that I came to the news of the team’s dissolution. Another English developer feeling the piercing of the nail through its coffin during a time when the next generation of consoles could have very well be the industry’s last.

There was good news however. With Blur being the company’s swansong the team gave the gaming public a multiplayer experience for the ages; a steroid-injected Mario Kart which was as competitive as it was fun. And with some of its members joining the crew who have recently produced the acclaimed Forza Horizon series, the legacy of the Liverpudlian developer lives on. As does that of MSR; a game which any Dreamcast owner and any racing fan can recall, recount and recollect fondly and with the greatest of power sliding ease.