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World Tour Racing

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World Tour Racing
Developer(s)Teque London
Publisher(s)Telegames
Programmer(s)Lee Briggs
Composer(s)Stephen Morgan
Platform(s)Atari Jaguar CD
Release
  • NA: June 4, 1997
  • EU: June 1997
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

World Tour Racing is a 1997 racing video game developed by Teque London and published by Telegames for the Atari Jaguar CD. In the game, the player controls a Formula One car competing against computer-controlled opponents in races across multiple locations. Gameplay consists of three modes and the player can customize the vehicle's characteristics.

World Tour Racing was programmed by Lee Briggs, who worked on several Zeppelin Games releases. The developers aimed to imitate Virtua Racing for the Jaguar, but the polygonal look became outdated as it progressed and were pressured to include texture mapping. The music was scored by Stephen Morgan, who also composed Val d'Isère Skiing and Snowboarding. In 1996, Atari merged with JTS and ceased production of the Jaguar, resulting in the game not being released despite being finished. Telegames became involved after sub-licensing it from Atari and Briggs helped resolve technical issues so the game could be published. A PC version was planned but never released.

World Tour Racing received average reception from critics and retrospective commentators; the music, multiplayer, and AI were praised, but others expressed mixed opinions regarding the controls, while some criticized the visuals, frame rate, and lack of Memory Track support.

Gameplay

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Gameplay screenshot showcasing the United States track

World Tour Racing is a three-dimensional Formula One racing game, similar to Checkered Flag (1994) on the Atari Jaguar, where the main goal is to finish a race ahead of other racers controlled by the computer.[1][2][3][4] During gameplay, the player can alternate between multiple camera views.[4][5][6] The player can choose or adjust various gameplay options before starting a race, such as lap count, gear transmission, button mapping, and difficulty.[2][5][7] Excessive crashes and tire wear will impair the vehicle's handling and performance on the track, forcing players to pit and repair damaged components.[3][4][5][7]

There are three different modes of play to choose from at the menu screen: Single Race, Championship and Arcade.[1][2][5][7] Single Race is a race mode where players compete against computer-controlled opponents on any track and complete a number of laps.[1][5][6][7] Championship is a season mode where players compete against ten opponents to qualify and advance across sixteen tracks.[2][3][5][7] Arcade mode is similar to Championship mode, except that players accumulate points and must finish in a high position for the next round.[1][5][6][7] In both Championship and Arcade modes, players can access a workshop where they can customize the vehicle's tires, airfoil setting, gearbox and brakes.[1][2][3][5][6]

The game is compatible with the ProController, but does not support the Memory Track cartridge for saving; however, a password is provided to players to resume progress.[1][2][3][5] Additionally, the game has a split screen multiplayer option for Single Race and Arcade modes.[1][5][7]

Development and release

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World Tour Racing was developed over the course of two years by Teque London, which previously worked on Brutal Sports Football.[8][9][10] It was programmed by Lee Briggs, who worked on several Zeppelin Games releases as well as F1-Racer for the Amiga.[11][12][13][14] The game was initially conceived as "Virtua Racing on the Atari Jaguar", but the polygonal look became outdated as it progressed and the team was pressured to include texture mapping.[2][10] Sprite-scaling and bitmaps tricks were used with the Jaguar's GPU for extra landscape detail, while the game runs at a variable display resolution due to a technique used by Briggs to maintain the frame rate.[2][10] Twelve of the game's sixteen tracks were based on real F1 circuits, while the rest were fictional ones created by the staff.[10] Originally, only six cars appeared in each race but this was increased to ten during the tuning process, while the AI was built on another platform before the project began but was tested and refined over time.[2][10] The music was scored by Stephen Morgan, who also composed Val d'Isère Skiing and Snowboarding.[5][10][11]

The game was first shown at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, announced for release in February 1995 under the name Teque's F1.[8][15][16] It made another appearance at the 1995 ECTS Spring event as Formula One,[17][18] but was delayed until October 1995 and renamed F1 Racer.[19][20][21] It was also shown at Atari Corporation during "Fun 'n' Games Day", an event to showcase upcoming Jaguar titles to journalists.[22] In 1996, Atari merged with JTS Corporation, ceasing production of the Jaguar and games that were in development for it.[10][23][24] This resulted in the game not being published despite being finished, but Atari agreed to continue supporting the Jaguar as part of the merger.[10][24]

Telegames became involved after sub-licensing it from Atari and Briggs helped resolve technical issues so the game could be published.[10][24][25][26] By this time, Telegames was one of the last remaining third-party publishers for the Jaguar and Briggs thanked them for releasing it to the public.[10][27][28] The game was released under its final title, World Tour Racing, in North America on June 4, 1997, followed by a European release the same month.[29][30][31] Being a late release for the Atari Jaguar CD, it was only available through direct order from Telegames and Electronics Boutique.[32][33] In France, the game was distributed by La Terre du Milieu.[2] A PC version was planned but never released.[8]

Reception

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World Tour Racing received average reviews.[1][3][5][7][34] Jaguar Explorer Online's Clay Halliwell commended the full-motion video cutscenes, upbeat music, controls, and multiplayer, but he found the game barely better than Checkered Flag (1994), criticizing its dismal visuals, low frame rate, unhelpful computer steering assistance, limited sound effects and lack of Memory Track support.[5] The Atari Times appreciated the graphics and AI, but felt the choppy frame rate affected the gameplay and disapproved of the limited musical variety.[1] ST Magazine's Pascal Berrocal highlighted its numerous options, cinematics, soundscapes, and gameplay, but faulted the drab visuals and jerky frame rate.[2]

ST-Computer's Helge Bollinger considered it better than Checkered Flag and Club Drive, giving favorable remarks about its controls, AI, music and multiplayer, but found the graphics inferior to those of PlayStation titles and sound effects poor. He also criticized the lack of Memory Track support.[7] Atari Gaming Headquarters' Keita Iida noted its replay value and vehicle customization but panned the abrupt controls, poor frame rate, and rampant slowdown.[3] Brett Daly of Jaguar Front Page News (a part of the GameSpy network) praised its audiovisual presentation and gameplay but noted the inconsistent frame rate.[35] Author Andy Slaven regarded it as a mediocre racing game due to the choppy frame rate and poor controls.[36] neXGam said that "World Tour Racing is once again a prime example of the suffering of many Jaguar games. A lot of potential, with many good approaches, but which were destroyed through many smaller and larger mistakes".[37]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Taz; George, Gregory D. (September 1997). "Review: World Tour Racing — Getting The Green!". The Atari Times. No. 11. Gregory George. (Transcription Archived 2006-08-18 at the Wayback Machine).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Berrocal, Pascal (September 1997). "Cahier Loisirs / Test: World Tour Racing CD". ST Magazine [fr] (in French). No. 119. La Terre du Milieu. p. 77.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Iida, Keita (2001). "AGH Jaguar CD Review: WORLD TOUR RACING". Atari Gaming Headquarters. Archived from the original on 2001-03-03. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  4. ^ a b c Hoogland, Mark (1998). "World Tour Racing - Overview". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Halliwell, Clay (July 1, 1997). "Review: World Tour Racing — Never Say Checkered Flag Again". Jaguar Explorer Online. Vol. 1, no. 2. White Space Publishers. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2024-03-12. (Transcription by AtariArchives.org. Archived 2003-07-09 at the Wayback Machine).
  6. ^ a b c d World Tour Racing (Game Manual) (International ed.). Telegames. 1997.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bollinger, Helge (October 1997). "Jaguar: World Tour Racing". ST-Computer [de] (in German). No. 131. Falkemedia [de]. p. 55. (Transcription by Computer-Magazin-Archiv. Archived 2016-08-19 at the Wayback Machine).
  8. ^ a b c "Games Watch: Teque's F1". Games World. No. 7. Paragon Publishing. January 1995. pp. 80–81.
  9. ^ Vendel, Curt (August 26, 1995). "Payment Schedule for Jaguar games to Developers" (PDF). atarimuseum.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-04-14. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Flash! World Tour Racing Programmer Speaks!". The Atari Times. No. 8. Gregory George. January–February 1997. pp. 3–4.
    "Jaguar Tackboard: World Tour Racing Author Speaks?". Jaguar Explorer Online. Vol. 1, no. 1. White Space Publishers. March 27, 1997. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2024-03-11. (Transcription by The Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG Historical Archive. Archived 2006-05-16 at the Wayback Machine).
  11. ^ a b Teque London (June 4, 1997). World Tour Racing (Atari Jaguar CD). Telegames. Level/area: Credits (Team).
  12. ^ Horgan, Tony (January 1994). "Public Domain - PD Scene: F1 Racer V2.0 (Game)". CU Amiga. No. 47. EMAP. p. 150.
  13. ^ "Lee Briggs – Artist Information". Hall Of Light. HOL Team. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  14. ^ "ИСТОРИЯ ИНДУСТРИИ: Zeppelin Games/Eutechnyx". Legends Of Bytes (in Russian). No. 7. G Demidenko. March 2020. pp. 36–56.
  15. ^ Winter CES: Atari. Interactive Entertainment (CD-ROM). United States: Interactive Publishing, Inc. February 1995. Event occurs at 2m31s. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  16. ^ "Preview: Winter-CES '94". Video Games [de] (in German). No. 40. Magna Media. March 1995. pp. 6–20.
  17. ^ "Reportage: Le Coup De Griffe Atari". CD Consoles (in French). No. 7. Pressimage. May 1995. p. 41. Archived from the original on 2011-11-11. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  18. ^ "Special ECTS Show: ECTS Spring '95 - Atari". Mega Fun [de] (in German). No. 32. Computec. May 1995. p. 8. Archived from the original on 2018-09-07. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  19. ^ "Feature: XT Generation Report - Atari Jaguar". MAN!AC [de] (in German). No. 20. Cybermedia. June 1995. p. 40.
  20. ^ "Trailers - Jaguar: F1... Will this be the Jag racer to beat?". Ultimate Future Games. No. 7. Future Publishing. June 1995. p. 28.
  21. ^ "Atari CD-ROM: Multimedia games system". Edge (supplement). No. 22. Future Publishing. July 1995. pp. 12–14.
  22. ^ Urbano, Adam (January 1, 1996). "Fun 'N Games Deux". Atari Explorer Online. Vol. 4, no. 9. Subspace Publishers. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2024-04-16. (Transcription by The Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG Historical Archive. Archived 2006-05-16 at the Wayback Machine).
  23. ^ "ProNews: Adios, Atari". GamePro. No. 82. IDG. May 1996. p. 20.
  24. ^ a b c Hawken, Kieren (June 19, 2014). "Oceans Apart: A Telegames Retrospective". Retro Gamer. No. 130. Imagine Publishing. pp. 70–75.
  25. ^ "News Briefs - 1997 ARCHIVE". Atari Gaming Headquarters. 1997. Archived from the original on 1999-02-03. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
  26. ^ Hawken, Kieren (August 15, 2013). "Jaguar: 20 Years On". Retro Gamer. No. 119. Imagine Publishing. pp. 76–81.
  27. ^ "Jaguar Gets New Life; Telegames Announces New Titles". Jaguar Front Page News. Telegames. October 18, 1996. Archived from the original on 2006-10-27. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  28. ^ "Press Start: Tidbits..." Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 94. Ziff Davis. May 1997. p. 24.
  29. ^ "Jaguar Online STR InfoFile - Online Users Growl & Purr!". Silicon Times Report. No. 1323. STR Electronic Publishing Inc. June 6, 1997.
  30. ^ "GI News: Data File". Game Informer. No. 50. Sunrise Publications. June 1997. p. 27.
  31. ^ de Maupeou, Godefroy (July–August 1997). "Cahier Loisirs / Test: Loisirs — World Tour Racing". ST Magazine [fr] (in French). No. 118. Pressimage. p. 74.
  32. ^ "ProNews: News Bits". GamePro. No. 105. IDG. June 1997. p. 20.
  33. ^ "Recent Sightings of an Endangered Species". GameFan. Vol. 5, no. 10. Metropolis Media. October 1997. p. 36.
  34. ^ "Test: World Tour Racing". ReVival (in French). No. 15. ABCD Dire. November 16, 2001.
  35. ^ Daly, Brett (2001). "Jaguar Reviews: World Tour Racing (CD) - Review 2". Jaguar Front Page News. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2002-11-04. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  36. ^ Slaven, Andy; Barnes, Lucus (2002). "JAG CD - Atari Jaguar CD". Video Game Bible, 1985-2002. Vol. 1. Trafford Publishing. pp. 54–57. ISBN 9781553697312.
  37. ^ Nils (November 6, 2020). "World Tour Racing (CD) im Test". neXGam (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-03-11. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
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