Van-ishing Point
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Vanishing Point is a racing game for the Dreamcast and PS1. I purchased the Dreamcast version, a game console which enjoyed a large variety of racing games. The first thing to know about Vanishing Point is that it follows the grand tradition of having traffic cars as unlockable cars, so eventually you too can race a Mercury Sable Station Wagon, or a Ford Windstar Minivan, at hundreds of miles an hour along winding roads.
The physics model for this game is fairly advanced and is on the simulation side, and by that I mean you can understeer a car easily. The analog triggers on the Dreamcast controller are a must since one has to feather brake and accelleration to avoid crashing into walls. As you progress through the game you can unlock settings to tweak on the car's suspension.
GAME MODES
There's an Arcade mode, each car has it's OWN CAMPAIGN. that means that you have to complete 3 sets of races, consisting of 2-3 tracks, for each car. This game also follows the grand tradition of having mirror and reverse variants of tracks to stretch out how many tracks there are. You'll be racing them over and over again.
So what's arcade mode like? You race against the clock, having to complete a set number of laps under a time limit while dodging traffic and other racers. This is pretty unforgiving since racers can hit traffic and cause and unavoidable crash. If you fall behind there's no real way to recover. And you can't restart a race until you get first, you'll have to restart the whole series. ALSO: you must finish in the top 3 to continue. Over and Over and Over again.
Track design also follows the Grand Arcade racing tradition of being mostly 3rd and 4th gear sweeping turns, with some really weird scenery poking over and around the walls. The road is wide. There's usually no runoff.
There's also the standard Time Attack mode, a CWG Rally mode that must be unlocked (this is just doing one lap of each track but without traffic), and a Stunt Mode, which includes bizarre challenges like doing a barrel roll in a Ford Focus, or popping balloons by launching a Toyota Supra into the air. You do these for points, you need a certain amount of points in aggregate to unlock the next challenge. it's...alright. its weird. It's like the license challenges from Gran Turismo but weird.
CONTROLS
I mean there's a level of finesse needed with this game unlike any other racing game. It's easy to make a car snap-oversteer, understeer, or crash into walls. Once you get a feel for the cars, you can actually go pretty fast and it feels almost like a sim racer. I found that the car's Automatic transmission settings was lacking, and I, for once, set it to Manual so I could set my own fuckin gears, for christsake. Making the car hold a gear while going uphill or staying in the powerband through turns is crucial for getting good laptimes. I also had to set the view to be first person, rather than third, the third person camera doesn't keep up well with the car's model and it's just easier. I don't play any other racing game quite like this.
GRAPHICS
Boy howdy, any 3d game that runs at 60FPS pretty much aged well. This included. Cars have a reasonable fidelity to them. Tracks are kind of dull because there's very little to look at and they're mostly tunnels.
MUSIC
This game follows the Grand Racing Game Traditon of having Terrible Fuckin EDM in it. There's one track with an absolutely terrible squelching 303, and I'm immediately transported to an awful rave. A rave where you got dragged to by people you know but they're just kinda 'meh' and it's too early to ask them to go home and it's before shit like uber, and you can't really get a cab yet, and you didn't drive, so you're just waiting for this shit to be over with and this track hits and you're like "god damn acid house sucks, when is this DJ going to play some Jeff Mills"
OVERVIEW
pros: Near realistic handling. Very weird cars, 60fps, stunt mode is weird and fun
cons: Arcade mode is real hard. Tracks are boring, music kinda sucks, everything is locked and you unlock everything one by one by doing lots of races.
This is a good racing game for Racing Game fans because it's so weird, or people who own a Dreamcast and want to jump a Lincoln Town Car.