Most "free to play" video games today, be it on a phone/tablet, console or computer, have an economy and bonuses.
The economy portion is usually split into two types of currency, earnable and purchasable. Earnable is just that. By performing certain and/or required tasks within the game environment, players collect the common currency, labeled as Credits, Gil, Coins, Silver and so on, to acquire novice equipment and some necessary upgrades and improvements to start the progressive adventure.
The earnable currency in Real Racing 3 is known as R$.
The Purchasable type requires a real world influx of money (PayPal, Credit Card, etc), converted to a "Premium" currency, sometimes called Gold, Diamonds, Doubloons, etc, to be used from speeding up in game progression, acquiring a rare (and possibly powerful) item, or to vastly improve an existing object.
The purchasable currency in Real Racing 3 is known as Gold.
Some players forget that spending real money on Purchasable currency helps to keep funding developer software and hardware upgrades, game updates, along with regular maintenance on the servers for the game they are playing.
Real Racing 3 uses a Daily Login Bonus system, which comes in very handy to complete certain tasks.
This time around, I will only cover R$ Bonus (the Gold discussion will take place at a later time), which appears a few times a month. Sometimes, it's a flat sum up to R$100,000, other times is a modifier, based on the performance and end results of a race. Choosing the best race to participate in, to collect the maximum bonus possible, is the real trick.
Fortunately, I have a good example to show.
Quite sometime ago, I acquired both the Ferrari F40 and F50 and unlocked the Classic Ferrari Showdown series. Turns out the Ferrari F50 Showcase pays out pretty good, even better with a bonus activated....
50 years ago this month, a dramatic and dry police procedural movie, starring Steve McQueen, was released that would go on to have a very profound impact on popular culture and automotive action sequences for years to come.
The original plan was to create a video using the chase scene from Bullitt, my own way of celebrating the anniversary of this cinematic milestone. However, a surprise copyright claim was delivered to me, just as the finished product had completed the uploading process, let alone being published.
I guess Warner Bros didn't want my video to join the ranks of the hundreds already out there.
Despite the setback, I knew I had a way of putting a green Mustang of the same color and era into the San Francisco environment and capturing it. Although not nearly as long or exciting as the original chase from the movie, I still pay a bit of a tribute to a scene that has influenced how I look at car movies and games.
It took Horacio Pagani almost eight meticulous, nearly obsessive years to craft this modern masterpiece of automotive art and engineering, from an already "near perfect" car. Calling this Italo-Argentinean dreamer a perfectionist would be a bit of an understatement.
There was a very interesting and unique culmination of events that brought the first Pagani automobile, the Zonda C12, to the stage at the 1999 Geneva International Motor Show. From envisioning a world class supercar, then drafting designs and crafting models in his youth, building a mini-motorcycle in his mid-teens to fabricating a Formula Two racing car after he graduated from the University of Rosario with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
However, it was Horacio's time with Renault, gaining mechanical and engineering experience, then later Lamborghini, learning more about composite materials and expressing his vision for automotive design, that would bring him closer to realizing his dream.
Despite the limitations of the time, the lone 1987 composite-constructed Lamborghini Countach Evoluzione would start an automotive revolution.
After a falling out with Lamborghini over an autoclave (a curing system used in the creation of carbon fiber), Horacio Pagani would set up shop as Modena Design. Through his own endeavour and working on Formula One cars, consulting with clients such as
Ferrari, Renault and Lamborghini, lessons were learned, advice was heeded and experience was applied.
Five time Argentinian Formula 1 champion Juan Manuel Fangio had been a friend to Horacio Pagani since a fairly young age and mentored him in ways that couldn't have been learned in an academic environment. In fact, there were two times he would change Horacio's life. Firstly, with a letter of recommendation and reference, helped with Pagani getting the job a Lamborghini. Secondly, before his death in 1995, Fangio introduced Horacio to Dr. Dieter Zietsche, the head engineer at Mercedes-Benz at the time.
In fact, the Zonda was nearly called the Fangio F1.
Designed by a Italo-Argentinean, crafted in Modena, Italy and thanks to an agreement with Mercedes-Benz, powered by a exclusively tuned 6.0 litre V12 engine, Horacio Pagani's dream had finally come true in 1999.
However, the story only starts there.
There was the Zonda C12, then came a Zonda S, followed by a Zonda S 7.3, Zonda F with a Roadster and Clubsport Edtions....
At the 2007 Geneva International Motor Show, Horacio Pagani unveiled the Zonda R.
Built from countless hours of research, eye to detail and the high "perfectionist" standards laid down by Horacio Pagani, the Zonda R was crafted using carbotanium (a blend of carbon and titanium fibres) and powered by a 750 horsepower Mercedes-Benz AMG 6.0 litre V12 engine. Only fifteen of these rear wheel drive, race track exclusive models were to have been built and sold for more than $1.5 million USD when new.
On July 2010, the Pagani Zonda R created it's own legend when it set the
record on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring, also known as the "Green Hell." 6
minutes and 47 seconds for the 20.83 kilometer run and the record still stands today.
So in essence, the Zonda R is an F1 race car, clothed in a skin that resembles the Enterprise-D from Start Trek: The Next Generation and is completely unattainable in reality.
In February 2017, I was lucky enough to login and collect an anniversary gift, a Pagani Zonda R of my own (wasn't that nice of those Real Racing 3 developers?). Good timing on my part, since I would have needed the car nearly two years later to advance through the Zenith Series....
However, when the Zonda R isn't available in gaming titles, there could be the option for the road going version called the Cinque....
If there was anything I learned from driving the Bugatti EB 110 during this six race event in Forza Motorsport6, it's hold on to the reigns very tightly while riding this "cheval sauvage."
Despite having a four wheel drive system, my dream car from 1990-1995 put up a real fight when trying to be controlled during certain circumstances. Perhaps the game modeled in the tire technology of the time, which compared to today's standards, was still in the dark ages (not nearly as bad as the bias ply era of the 60's and 70's). It could be that I had a hard time finding that steering "sweet spot." Maybe the engine was just too powerful....
Whatever the issue was (me or the car, perhaps even a little of both), the white knuckle experience was an "fantaisie exaltante" come true from the start, if only in the virtual sense of it all.
In case you haven't heard, Forza Horizon 4 is now available for Xbox One and PC.
Unlike most of the current popular titles in the racing genre (like Gran Turismo and all the Forza Motorsport numbered series), a player isn't restricted to just linear racing on a track with Horizon.
Granted, there have been quite a few "open world" racing games over the years (looking back at some of the Need for Speed entries, the Driver series, Midnight Club and more), however there had been ingame boundaries on just how far "off the beaten path" one could go.
My first taste of a truly open world driving experience came with Test Drive Unlimited on my Playstation 2. Despite the technological limitations of the time (looking in retrospective) the game developers re-envisioned the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu, added in some "creative corrections," gave it online capabilities and voila, Atari unleashed a masterpiece onto the gaming world.
A player could follow the progressive storyline, race against real (and not so real) online opponents....
....or just go off and do their own, unrestricted thing.
To this very day, Test Drive Unlimited is still talked about (case in point right here) and continues to be used as a benchmark versus other titles that claim to be "Open World." Not bad for a game first released in 2006.
I never did get around to playing the sequel, Unlimited 2, mostly due to the overheating issues my Playstation 2 suffered from while attempting to play the first title (even went out and bought a laptop cooling pad, which only put off the troubles by a few extra minutes).
Ubisoft's The Crew would be the closest, most acceptable heir to the Unlimited throne, in my opinion.
Instead of Oʻahu, The Crew uses a time and distance compressed version of continental United States as the playground for on-road and off-road adventures, with only coastlines and international boundaries to restrict a player's travels.
Very much the concept of "if you can get there, go there," I have spent a great many hours just driving around and checking out the sights. Unlimited and The Crew share so many features and options (such as buying/winning cars, building a large automotive collection, a safe-house/garage, income generation process and so forth) for the players, it's merely the tone of the games that really separate them. Where Unlimited could be called "The Reckless Tourist," The Crew is more like "Road Thug Ascension."
I had very high hopes for The Crew 2, but was disappointed when the hype didn't live up to my expectations.
The car racing gameplay itself was very enjoyable, but it's the inclusion of speed boats and aircraft that turned me off. I can understand and even appreciate the addition of variety, but I wanted other changes instead. Besides, all of it takes place in the very same environment as the first Crew, with some minor graphical changes and touch-ups (still not happy about they changed my "house" in Saint Mary, modeled after the real life, unincorporated community of St. Mary, Montana).
Now, I haven't played any of the previous title in the Horizon series, so will talk about what I experienced with the demo.
First off, the graphics are mind blowing.
One of the biggest draws and appeal for me to these "Open World" game is literally the world itself. Once a player takes of the blinders needed to perform the actions in the game and has a look at the environment that has been constructed....no....crafted, just wow. For me, this isn't just restricted to the racing genre....
....take this old screenshot from Armored Warfare. One of the very reasons for me to play it was just to spend time in this world (and blow up other armored vehicles too).
Harkening back to my Unlimited days, I drove around and took snapshots of examples of just how good the game looks. Is this a European house and shop? Why yes, can't you tell by the obligatory Mercedes Benz parked out front!
This scene could have been so easily modeled on the location I live in for real.
The colors and textures, I almost wanted to jump into the screen and breath in the air.
The setting for the full game of Forza Horizon 4 is this part of Great Britain, which will take many hours to explore (outside of the linear storyline). The demo only allowed a player to experience a small slice of the environment and trust me, I checked a lot of things out.
Nevertheless, Horizon 4 is a racing game, so perhaps I should showcase some of that action....
