Test Drive 3 is Awesome

A few things for the sake of context.

Ross's Game Dungeon Followup #1, Test Drive 3 Map Data Extracted

Now, looking at the comments for the followup, there is supposedly a patch to improve steering/handling so that you can drive in a game all about driving. This is good. Fine sure the resolution is a postage stamp going off modern resolutions and you can count the number of triangles on the screen at any one time, but I genuinely think this is an amazing game. I don't think this because of captivating gameplay, physics, or the like. Hell no, by modern standards all of that is sorely lacking.

For me? The real meat of this is just how complex and, for the day especially, huge the maps are. Wanna see how huge?

Interactive flythrough of all the game's map and object data.

There you go. The controls to fly through feels a bit weird; and you only have the hard polygon data without the objects such as bridges, trees, or buildings. However this showcases just how much space one has to play with.

We have the map data. We have a list of cars. Heck a chunk of the game is speant showcasing the stats for each car as posted in game. So, why can't 'we' as a gaming community go and make a for funsies driving simulator using these maps?

To paraphrase Ross himself. There are no good reasons. Only legal ones.

With geomatry this simple we could impliment better physics while keeping it on the simple side for the sake of 'look at all this awesomeness.'

Heck, doesn't have to be a recreation of test drive or a racing sim. I just want to see these maps in an explorable format that isn't a web thing.

These maps give me lots of ideas not just for road and vehicle games, but like. Build an open world town or something. Heck, right now I'm in a battletech rabbit hole. Make these games as arenas with destructable buildings and other objects you can stomp through with mechs. Or a horror survival game.

Or... lotso f thigns. We have the data. The geomatry is exceedingly simple.

Because the developers for this game did an amazing job of making something that is worth exploring in depth.

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