Motor City Online press release

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., February 20, 2001 – Get ready to turn the clocks back and experience a nostalgic and exciting piece of Americana through Motor City Online, a new online racing simulation PC title under the EA GAMES™ brand. Motor City Online is the first game of its kind to feature a massive online racing and community-building experience, all inspired by the "Golden Age" of American car culture. Players will be able to rev up their engines, slick back their hair and take to the tracks when the game drives up to the starting line in Summer/Fall 2001.

Motor City Online flashes back to feature classic American hot rods – classics, stocks and muscle cars – licensed from the Big Three manufacturers of Ford™, Chevrolet™ and Chrysler™, spanning from the 1930s through the early 1970s. Race over 50 licensed classics like the ’49 Mercury™ Coupe, ’57 Chevrolet Bel Air™, ’64 Ford Mustang™, and the ’69 Pontiac™ GTO™. In addition, players will learn more about these classics as they build up their stable of cars, trying out stock and high performance parts to give them the extra edge they need to grab the checkered flag.

Each player will enter Motor City with a customized persona, take up residency and a "starter" car to begin his or her career within a real-time economy. From here, the player can join a club—an allegiance of racers with similar goals and interests—or begin competing with other racers in an effort to advance in level, reputation and car class. Successful racers can use their winnings to customize their cars, or save up to buy a cherry set of wheels from one of the eight local car dealers. With more than a thousand real-life car parts from the likes of Edelbrock™, Holley™, and Hurst™, car enthusiasts will be able to customize and modify almost everything on the car, both cosmetic enhancements (paint jobs, hub caps, license plates and fuzzy dice) to actual performance parts (bigger engine blocks, blowers, and even spoilers).

The game offers two central gaming environments: Sim World and Arcade Action. In Sim World, players can buy, sell, trade and customize cars. They can race their own hot rods on a variety of tracks, including city streets, country roads, pro tracks and drag strips. Pro races offer prize money, while serious street racers can wager cash… or even pink slips. Players can use their weekly salaries and race earnings to buy hotter cars or to upgrade their favorite ride with new parts, ranging from high performance engine blocks to showy wheel rims.      

Arcade Action features easy entry gameplay—pick a track, pick a car and race—without the added complexities of economy and car construction. New players are directed to the EZ Street tracks where they can learn the ropes with other newbies, without having to deal with more advanced players. Arcade Action offers a full range of street, pro and drag tracks, plus a Stunt Racing mode crammed full of jumps and obstacles. All cars and tracks are tuned to deliver an arcade-style driving experience. Sim World and Arcade Action both track weekly competitions for Clubs and individual players; the names of the reigning champions are prominently displayed in each track lobby.

Currently under development by EA Seattle, the team behind the popular Need For Speed™: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: High Stakes games for the PC, Motor City Online is powered by a brand new car physics engine, a new online community support structure, an enhanced version of the Need For Speed: High Stakes graphics engine and a robust game economy and game-play system. The game will feature a revolutionary new car physics engine that will enable vehicles within Motor City to handle and perform like their real-life counterparts through state-of-the-art four-point physics, supported by an array of audio enhancements including actual engine sounds, muffler growls and tire screeches.

The official Motor City Online product website (www.motorcityonline.com) is now live and available for visitors to take a sneak peek into the world of Motor City. The site will serve as the information and community hub for players to learn more about the game, check leaderboards, and as a place to track down the coolest racing clubs on the block. Following the game’s release, the site will continue to report on the latest in-game news and upcoming events as well as notify players of free bonus patches for additional downloadable cars and parts for use within Motor City.