60 Second Preview of…

Motor City Online at E3 2001

The Specs

In this massively multiplayer racing and car trading game, drivers will create unique identities, buy and customize cars, join a club, and earn a weekly salary. The salary is determined by winning races, selling services, or by the club's success. Players can also bet Motor City "dollars" or even race for pink slips. Features include over 50 licensed cars from the 1930s to the 1970s, with more to come via downloads after the game is released. Players will be able to personalize and upgrade their cars and race in a variety of formats — private racing practices, club vs. club racing championships, turf wars, and social events. Players will also be able to trade cars and parts as well as sell and buy from other players through an in-game auction system. There are over 15 street, pro, and drag racing tracks Motor City Online.

The Speculation

Tom's Comments: Gran Tourismo on the Playstation finally brought home the fact that the most compelling racing games are RPGs. Our cars have character largely because they're ours. It's the sense of ownership -- that's my car -- that can serve as a powerful hook in racing games. Add in the equivalent of building up a character -- do you save up for a more powerful engine or splurge on fancy tires? -- and the comparison is a no-brainer. The best racing games are RPGs and Motor City Online is the first title to turn racing into an online massively multiplayer role-playing game. After spending some wheel time with an early build, it seems that the physics aren't dumbed down for a mainstream audience or sterilized for a networking environment. So far, Motor City Online feels as good as it looks.

Mark's Comments: This one surprised me. I thought that when it came to anything drag-related, I'd be more interested in a game about Rupaul as opposed to online drag racing — I'm so inept when it comes to cars that when I check my oil I'm likely to put the dipstick in the transmission fluid. Motor City Online looked sharp, though, and I like the concept of having to earn money through racing to buy better parts or better cars. You can also race in sponsored races where players are all given equal cars, so if you just want to race online with a level playing field, you can do so. The developers also promised us that Motor City Online's racing is detailed and realistic — it started out as a serious, single-player racing sim. Of course what this game really needs is to let us mount cannons and machine guns on our low riding El Dorados and then have some magic fairy transport us to Ultima Online, where we could run down and gun down every player we see saying, "thou" and "thee" and "prithee". Damn, I'd pay $20 a month for that, EA. Prithee please?

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May 22, 2001