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....
Staying true to my goal of reaching the Porsche Road to Le Mans series in Real Racing 3, I have broke through the minimum threshold of progression.
A final race in the Ferrari 599 GTO was the key to unlock one more door....
....however, there is still a lengthy walk down the hallway to reach and draw the curtains to allow the light in.
One variation of the old saying goes, "It's the journey that counts, not the destination." I believe, like life, there are obstacles to overcome and attempts to learn from, just as events and challenges in video games can mirror the real world.
Now that I have unlocked the next series, I get presented with this. I am not sure if this a really good deal or not....
....but I think the opportunity to collect the Grand Sport Vitesse will come at a later time. Besides, I have been a long time "free to play" user and I already have something that I can to bring to the races.
Another vehicle from my past, memories triggered from events from more recent times.
Many, many years ago, I got the short lived bug to own a four wheel drive, full sized SUV. Low and behold, a friend just so happened to have a rather rough, but running 1984 Chevrolet Suburban available (traded a need-much-work 1970 Dodge Coronet 440 to him. Over ten years later, I am still kicking myself over that decision and he still has the car).
The picture above is a near perfect match to how it was painted, however there were some more noticeable differences between that image and my memory. Some were like the paint not being as shiny, sporting minor corrosion in the wheel wells and the factory slotted Rally rims were swapped out for aftermarket "White Spokes" wrapped in Kumho 33x12.5R15's. I do recall all of the exterior trim was there and thinking this was a bonus at the time.
As much as I wanted it to have rear "barn doors," this Suburban was equipped with an electric roll down window, mounted in a truck-like fold down tailgate (I will come back to this, later).
It was equipped with a 5.7 litre (350 cid for you old school folks) V8 that ran really good. It would have produced around 175 horsepower at it's peak, when it was still fueled by gasoline. Sometime during it's life, it was converted to run on straight propane (which was a real trend during the late 80's through mid 90's where I lived at the time), which robbed it of about 15 to 20% of it's remaining power output, yet still having to move almost 5,000 lbs (nearly 2,300 kgs for the rest of you) around....yeah.
The only part missing from the drive-train was the driveshaft that would have connected the front axle to the transfer case, so no four wheel drive for me. I do remember I was going to find and install one, just never got around to doing that set of tasks.
The interior was all there and in fantastic shape, no rips or tears in the seats and the carpet was like new (or somebody took the time to have it detailed not too long before I got it). Despite the fact that older propane systems were notorious for stealing away a lot of engine heat to function, I had hot air blowing from the vents when I needed it.
It could have been a keeper, but it just wasn't meant to be.
The first problem to rear it's head involved the powered tailgate I mentioned earlier. The rubber seal at the top of the tailgate, bottom of the rear power window, had been compromised and allowed a lot of water to pass through for years (best guess), rotting out the inside and burning out the electric when I tried to raise the window again. There was a "manual" way to get the window up, which required opening the tailgate and removing the interior panel. The window problem was fixed, but the shell of the tailgate was warped out of shape, thanks to it's internal corrosion issues.
The next disaster was associated with the after market White Spoke rims and wheel studs. One day, about a week after getting the Suburban, I was driving around and minding my own business when I felt the front end on the driver's side just drop. I managed to enter a parking lot just off the road I was driving down and took a look at what had happened. Much to my surprise, the rim was just barely hanging on to the rest of the vehicle (all the wheel studs except for one had snapped off at the same time).
Needless to say, I called the friend I made the deal with and told him what just took place. Lucky for me, he had a collection of parts and came to where I was, jacked up the front-end and went about replacing the broken parts in the parking lot. I was informed this was a common problem with these rims and I should re-torquing the wheels about once a week. I wasn't impressed with that development at all.
The final issue came along when it started to get cold outside. It was coming up to being late in the year, just before that first, but brief snow touched the ground, signalling a change of the season. Having lived in these conditions for years, I always plugged my vehicles in (if it had an equipped block heater), not taking any chances on being stranded at home with a non-starting mode of transportation.
The upside was the Suburban had a block heater, the downside was it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I used an anti-freeze tester and the fluid was of adequate strength, so it was that. The block heater, from the angle I could see it, was either really clean or relatively new (the brassy outside where the electrical cord plugged in looked new and shiny), so my final conclusion was the propane system suffered from something serious.
All of the Suburban's aliments were enough for me to become very motivated to just get rid of it and found a buyer in short order. One day, I visited a muffler shop I had been to before, to have the exhaust on another vehicle I had at the time fixed. I don't remember how the conversation got onto the topic of my Suburban, but by the end of that business day, the owner/operator of the shop had a new toy and I had some extra money in my pockets.
How does this all tie into The Crew and a Cadillac Escalade?
Well, both are big, four door SUV's built by General Motors and can be off-road capable....yeah, that's about all I got.
Say the word Bugatti to someone and one of two things might happen. One, they will have no idea what or who you are talking about. Two, visions of a Veyron, Chiron and/or the hyped Divo could enter their heads (unless you are talking to a true connoisseur, then brace yourself for words like Type 46/50, Type 57SC Atlantic and such).
However, you also might hear about the EB110.
I can't rightly recall the first time I saw a 110, be it on TV or in a magazine (I know for sure I have yet to see one with my own two eyes), but the shape, the sound and the very mystique of the car has been burned into my mind for the remainder of my life. Even today, almost thirty years later, the very thought of it quickens my heart and brings about a sweat producing response.
Powered by a 3.5-liter V12 engine with four turbochargers, the EB110 put out anywhere from 550 to 603 hp horsepower through an all-wheel-drive system, something quite a few modern cars take for granted. The EB110 was the right car at the right time to take on other "Supercars" of the day, such as the Lamborghini Diablo, Dodge Viper, Ferrari Testarossa, Jaguar XJ220, McLaren F1 and Acura NSX to name a few.
Sadly, production ended in 1995, after four short years. However, because of this and low production numbers, with only 139 built, they have become very valuable, with a low mileage black 1993 Bugatti EB110 GT being sold by RM Sotheby's - ARIZONA 2018 for $967,500 USD.
Not that long ago, I had the chance to see this marvel from long ago on the small screen. A show called The Grand Tour, starring former presenters of Top Gear, got their hands on an EB110 and took it for a burn around their test track. Needless to say, I was disappointed with the times, compared to other cars on the board.
Thanks to racing games, namely Forza Motorsport 6, I have the opportunity to drive this dream car from the 90's that will never happen outside the virtual world....
In Real Racing 3, I have acquired the final car in an attempt to complete a certain series.
Last time I talked about the game, I came to a decision that I wanted to proceed towards a goal, The Road To Le Mans Porsche Series.
Up until now, I was a little short in Credits department and a few races shy of unlocking the final car needed to advance further down the line.
I already had the Ferrari 458 Spider from a while back and just a short while ago and recently collected a 599 GTO.
However, the Enzo remained behind a progress lock, which I put off until I could raise enough credits to purchase it.
Which meant taking a few side routes to tie up loose ends and cash in on those rewards.
I have always though it's better to have too much left over than just enough to buy the car, especially with how "factory fresh" vehicles generally under-perform versus players who have challenged the track before and set much higher times to beat with the more upgraded cars.
Yeah, I still came up a little short for upgrades, so off to finish another series and collect those rewards as well.
Without diving too deep in how the economy of Real Racing 3 works, I will try to sum it up as briefly as I can. I have opted to take the "free to play" approach, meaning that I haven't spent any real world money. The downside is progress is rather slow (almost five years of playing and I have about half the cars in a half completed game) and I miss out on a lot of opportunities to get cars (sometimes with Credit and Gold bonuses to sweeten the deal) that might come in handy down the road.
There are a few upsides, such as getting more value out of the game time I do put in and "fixing" some of my old standings in races I have completed a long time ago. Along the way, I receive Credits for re-running races, Gold for completing an abandoned Series and even collect another vehicle for a few hours of effort.
Real Racing 3 also has a feature built in where a player can watch a few videos and get Credits, Gold or even speed up the delivery of a car or accelerate the progress of an upgrade. In the case pictured above, I watched about five commercials for apps and games to finish off a brakes upgrade before my first race in the Ferrari Enzo.
