Most of us cut our teeth at the dragstrip as a young welp crewing or helping a buddy with his drag car. This experience - the tire smoke, VHT, the noise and crackle of engines has been replaced for some by the roar of computer speakers and the slamming of space bars more than gas pedals.
Welcome to the new world of drag racing where games like Nitto 1320 Legends and Street Challenge 3D win the hearts of online street racers.
With 299,779 registered racers as of our posting date,
Nitto 1320 Legends is the largest online drag racing game in the world. It was created as a collaboration between CIE Studios and Nitto Tire company, and it's a free game that allows you to live in a virtual drag racing/street racing world. Although it's free to play, a premium player can get extra points leading to new vehicles and vehicle upgrades by paying a fee for points.
Nitto 1320 Legends is really the second version of the game, replacing the original Nitto 1320. This game has incorporated the best of the breed of features from popular road racing games on Xbox and Playstation like Gran Turismo and incorporated them into an online drag racing environment.
The screen shot (from the original Nitto 1320) above shows you some of the customizations that you can make to a vehicle in the game. Basics like paint and body are just the beginning - you can add a load of aftermarket parts, tune and dyno your vehicle, perform maintenance, and this is all before the street challenges or bracket racing starts. Nitto 1320 Legends is an even more powerful game.
Here is a sample screen shot of what Nitto 1320 Legends can actually look and feel like when you are racing someone. Notice how the racing environment has a social or community feel to it.
One thing you'll notice right away - online drag racing is targeted to a younger audience than "real" drag racing - we're talking 15-20 year old enthusiasts as the target audience. Just the same, isn't this age bracket the same age as you probably were when you got hooked on drag racing?
The question is - does online drag racing appeal to the actual domestic drag racing fan or enthusiast?
Recently on several domestic message forums we started hearing about a new game called
Street Challenge 3D so we decided to check it out. This game seems a little more directed toward the domestic crowd than the Nitto 1320 Legends game because it features Top Fuel Dragsters, Funny Cars, Pro Stocks, as well as your typical street cars.
Whereas the Nitto graphics are super slick, the Street Challenge graphics aren't really nearly as nice, but they are 3D. You can also add different vehicles, paint, and some level of modifications to your vehicle.
The screen shot above shows your vehicle in the paint shot getting customized. Just like in "real life" you will start by going to a dealership and purchasing your first vehicle. You won't have much money (points) to add any modifications, but you can go to the dragstrip to earn some dollars.
Start by going to the "Race Track" on the game and running yourself over and over, and making sure you're running as well as you can, which is near your dial in time, and a good reaction time. The points should rack up fairly quickly.
Once you have these points it's time to buy some parts to really add that extra horsepower or traction to your car. By going to the "parts store" on the game, you can find the parts you wish.
After you get your racing skill up by running at the race track, it's time to send out challenges, join teams and run in tournaments! A lot of hours can just be lost in running Speed tournaments, as they are pretty addicting. You can go from not qualifying to winning tournaments, earning award points and increasing your rank... fighting to get to #1 on that top users list.
Here's a screen shot of a nasty burnout. Notice that dragstrip has a full christmas tree, a traction meter, and a nice tach. This is in bracket racing mode, and our dial in for this particular pass is 13.2 seconds.
If you need help with Nitto 1320 or Street Challenge, you'll find both have nice guides. Check out the game guide from Street Challenge
here.
So if you're bored and looking to kill some time, check out these games and let us know what your thoughts are?
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