Alright, so I figured I’d share what I got up to recently. I decided to dive back into Ford Racing 1. Yeah, the original one! It’s been ages, and I was curious to see if it was how I remembered, or if I was just looking back with rose-tinted glasses, you know?
Getting Started and First Look
First off, just getting the darn thing to run was a bit of a mini-project. You know how these old games are with modern systems. But after a bit of fiddling, success! The menu popped up, and bam, instant throwback. Very early 2000s vibe, simple, straight to the point. No fluff.
The main attraction, of course, was the Fords. I spent a good few minutes just scrolling through the initial car list. They had a decent mix, even back then. I remember thinking, “Okay, let’s see what these things can do.” Some looked familiar, others were concepts I vaguely recalled seeing in old car magazines.
Hitting the Track
So, I jumped into my first race. Probably picked something sensible like a Focus, didn’t want to get too wild straight away. The handling… well, it was definitely arcadey. Don’t go in expecting some super realistic driving feel. It was more about pointing the car in the general direction and hitting the gas. The cars felt a bit light, almost like they were floating a bit, but it was easy enough to get the hang of.
I mostly stuck to the career mode, or whatever they called their main progression system. The loop was pretty standard for racing games of that era:
- Race against a bunch of AI.
- Try to finish in a decent position.
- Unlock new cars or tracks.
- Repeat!
Some of the tracks were pretty straightforward, others had some tricky corners that I kept messing up. The AI was, well, the AI. Sometimes they’d stick to their lines, other times they’d just barge you out of the way like you weren’t even there. Made for some frustrating moments, for sure, but also some laughs when they’d all pile up in a corner.
The Grind and The Good Bits
Unlocking new cars was the main driver, no pun intended. I remember really wanting to get my hands on the Mustangs and some of the more powerful models. It took a fair bit of racing, replaying events to get enough points or wins, or whatever the currency was. It wasn’t a super deep experience, but it was satisfying in a simple way to see that new car pop up in your garage.
There were a few different types of events, not just standard circuit races. I think there were some elimination things and maybe point-to-point challenges. Kept things a little more varied than just doing lap after lap on the same tracks.
Graphically, well, it’s an old game. It looks its age, no doubt about it. Blocky models, simple textures. But back then, it was perfectly acceptable. It wasn’t trying to be a visual masterpiece, just a game full of Fords you could thrash around.
Wrapping Up My Session
So, after spending a good few hours with Ford Racing 1 again, what’s the verdict on my little practice session? It was a fun trip down memory lane. It’s definitely a product of its time – simple mechanics, a clear focus on its license, and not a whole lot of bells and whistles. It’s not something I’d probably sink hundreds of hours into today, but for a casual bit of retro racing, it did the job. It was just a straightforward, no-nonsense driving game. Sometimes, that’s all you need, right?
