Game History
The Open Racing Car Simulator (TORCS for short) is an all 3D racing car simulator available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, FreeBSD and GNU/Linux. The game was created by Eric Espié and Christophe Guionneau however the project development has now been handed over to Bernhard Wymann. The game was written through in C++ and is licensed under GNU GPL and is designed to allow the user to race against AI controlled opponents. The player controls the car using a keyboard or mouse, the game also supports the use of a steering wheel (to add to the simulation experience).
The games development originally began in 1997 (4 years before its release) by Eric Espié and Christophe Guionnea u and was planned to be a 2D style racing game named "Racing Car Simulator". Eric and Christophe said that the game was based on RARS (Robotic Auto Racing Simulator). The game was going to stay in 2D format until the two creators got hold of a 3dfx graphics card and started working on an improved and more importantly 3D version of their simulator with OpenGL and renamed it ORCS so that it wouldn't be mistaken with the Revision Control System (a program that automates the storing etc of revisions).
The original and earlier versions of the game had cars which did not include engines meaning the game was played as a Soap Box style downhill racing simulation. Eric and Christophe decided that this was still not the direction they wanted the game to go so then added engines and the sounds to go with them and decided this was their game. They changed the name to make it more relevant and decided TORCS would be a better suited name, due to its similarity with the word torque (the movement of force in the vehicle). Before releasing the game to the public Christophe added more camera angles for the user to switch between during gameplay and made each of the cars look more unique by paying attention to the detail and fine tuning them until they were both certain he game was ready for the public.
Cars - Alphabetical Order (Name, Power [kW], Mass [kg], Driveline)
| · Acura NSX type S-Zero | 285 | 1200 | RWD |
| · Baja Bug | 82 | 600 | RWD |
| · Buggy | 190 | 650 | RWD |
| · car1-trb1 | 405 | 1150 | RWD |
| · car2-trb1 | 406 | 1150 | RWD |
| · car3-trb1 | 384 | 1150 | RWD |
| · car4-trb1 | 402 | 1150 | RWD |
| · car5-trb1 | 395 | 1150 | RWD |
| · car6-trb1 | 396 | 1150 | RWD |
| · car7-trb1 | 380 | 1150 | RWD |
| · Ford GT | 342 | 1170 | RWD |
| · Formula One | 677 | 650 | RWD |
| · McLaren F1 | 509 | 1060 | RWD |
| · NASCAR | 455 | 1150 | RWD |
| · Ford Focus WRC | 321 | 850 | 4WD |
| · Mitsubishi Lancer EVO V WRC | 321 | 900 | 4WD |
| · Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI WRC | 321 | 900 | 4WD |
| · Peugeot 206 WRC | 344 | 850 | 4WD |
| · Peugeot 306 Maxi | 246 | 950 | 4WD |
| · Subaru Impreza WRC | 329 | 900 | 4WD |
| · Toyota Corolla WRC | 329 | 950 | 4WD |
Tracks - The game features 41 tracks for the user to drive on. There are 3 different style of track; Road, Dirt and Oval. All tracks are different lengths and all cater to different types of drivers and play different on whatever car the player chooses. There are 24 Road tracks, 9 Dirt tracks and 9 Oval race tracks available to the player.
AI Competitions - The games Racing Board hosts competitions amongst players but seeing as the game doesn't run network multiplayer, users of the game can create AI style "robots" in which they set certain times on tracks and then upload them for other players to play against and try and beat.
System Requirements -
Robot Development:
Minimum: 400MHz CPU, 128MB RAM, OpenGL 1.2 compatible graphics card with 16 MB RAM.
Recommended: 600MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, OpenGL 1.3 compatible graphics card with 64 MB RAM.
Driving Yourself:
Minimum: 550MHz CPU, 128MB RAM, OpenGL 1.3 compatible graphics card with 32 MB RAM.
Recommended: 800MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, OpenGL 1.3 compatible graphics card with 64 MB RAM.
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