As a direct ancestor of iRacing, the ‘Grand Prix Legends engine’ had multiple stock car racing false starts, before eventually releasing as NASCAR Racing 4. The original NASCAR 3, cancelled and replaced by one that used NASCAR 2’s engine, is barely remembered.
Shortly after the release of Grand Prix Legends the sim racing community looked forward to another title that promised to offer a similar insight into historic racing. Trans-Am Racing ’68-’72 ultimately never released, a victim of a publishers shady dealings, but as a part of my research I uncovered a VHS of a never-released trailer for the game. Watch the trailer and read about what sim racing missed out on.
They had a rough start with this franchise, but I am optimistic about this sequel. After taking over Bigmoon Entertainment in 2019, Saber Interactive (developer of the SnowRunner and MudRunner games) have been working on Dakar 21 and posted a first screenshot just before Christmas. But what peaked my interest is more recent screenshots that clearly show the SnowRunner engine. Dakar 21 will feature the 2021 course in Saudi Arabia and is likely to release relatively soon (although no official announcement has been made – but it would be sad to miss 2021 on a game with the year in the title).
If you’ve played either of those mentioned “Runner” titles, you will absolutely recognize the engine and ground physics (deformable surfaces) in these first screenshots of Dakar 21:
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