Top Fuel Drag Racing

#41

Can you please rerun Top Fuel Drag Racing. I was gone last weekend and missed the giveaway and I've been waiting for this game for a long time.

Reply | Comment by RedRobin – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#40

I am quite interested in this game. There are a lot of racing games now a day but all of them are for hardcore gamers. I am looking for a fun game only that wont waste much of my time. I am sure this game could answer when my boredom calls.

Reply | Comment by jolie styvers – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#39

I have to say, I love GAOTD, one issue I wish you could address;
are these compatible with Win 7 64 Bit?

Can you please add this in your information, on future applications?

Reply | Comment by Richard – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#38

Rufus/WhiteRabbit/others, a bit of fyi:

XP is currently slated to have it's support end on 2014/08/04. So don't go sounding the death knell quite so soon!

Also, a wide range of businesses IT professionals are currently lobbying MS to extend XP support past it's current date.

On the topic of today's game, it shows that the developer is somewhat sloppy, by leaving data files in the folders which refer to Blood, Alien Blood, Flamethrowers and a wide array of weapons.

This game layout has obviously been used for some alien combat game. It doesn't take much work to spend 30 seconds rescanning your folders and removing garbage files that do not relate to the program.

When users pay for a program, they would like to think the developer spent some time ensuring that it is correctly and properly laid out, not littered with extraneous data files.

...........................Moderator Comment.....................

4 years isn't very long. Anyway I'm not knocking XP and wasn’t in my comment above. It's still my favorite OS of choice, but I do have to use the later ones now to be able to play some of my games. Progress is inevitable and XP will die a death, but so to will Vista and Win 7 just as soon as new tech is created. Graphics are still coming on in leaps and bounds. XP will never cope with the latest graphics and trends are so fickle its already an outdated looking OS; but as I already said those innovations aren't needed by businesses (in the main anyway), so I'm sure XP will still be a happy medium for many businesses until it comes time for MS to dump it permanently.

My wife’s college is still using XP for educational needs, but are soon to change to Win 7

The great thing about the pro and ultimate editions of Win 7 is that you will still be able to run all those XP compliant programs thanks to the XP environment that’s included with the package. I was happy to buy Win 7 (compared to my reluctance to purchase Vista), but being a graphic whore I've been forced into purchasing them to experience the better graphics of DX10 and DX11 - there is definitely a big difference i quality between these two and the now antiquated DX9; but then I'm only talking from a gamers point of view.

btw thanks for the info about the extraneous files. I'll have to see which can be deleted.

:)

Rufus/WhiteRabbit/others, a bit of fyi:

XP is currently slated to have it's support end on 2014/08/04. So don't go sounding the death knell quite so soon!

Also, a wide range of businesses IT professionals are currently lobbying MS to extend XP support past it's current date.

On the topic of today's game, it shows that the developer is somewhat sloppy, by leaving data files in the folders which refer to Blood, Alien Blood, Flamethrowers and a wide array of weapons.

This game layout has obviously been used for some alien combat game. It doesn't take much work to spend 30 seconds rescanning your folders and removing garbage files that do not relate to the program.

When users pay for a program, they would like to think the developer spent some time ensuring that it is correctly and properly laid out, not littered with extraneous data files.

...........................Moderator Comment.....................

4 years isn't very long.  Anyway I'm not knocking XP and wasn’t in my comment above.  It's still my favorite OS of choice, but I do have to use the later ones now to be able to play some of my games.  Progress is inevitable and XP will die a death, but so to will Vista and Win 7 just as soon as new tech is created.  Graphics are still coming on in leaps and bounds.  XP will never cope with  the latest graphics  and trends are so fickle  its already an outdated looking OS; but as I already said those  innovations aren't needed  by businesses (in the main anyway), so I'm sure XP will still be a happy medium for many businesses  until it comes time for MS to dump it permanently.

My wife’s college is still using XP for  educational needs, but are soon to change to Win 7

The great thing about the pro and ultimate editions of Win 7  is that you will still be able to run all those XP compliant   programs thanks to the XP environment that’s included with the package. I was happy to buy Win 7  (compared to my reluctance to purchase Vista), but being a graphic whore I've been  forced into purchasing them to experience the better graphics of DX10 and DX11 - there is definitely a big difference i  quality between these two and the now  antiquated DX9; but then I'm only talking from a gamers point of view.

btw thanks for the info about the extraneous  files.  I'll have to see which can be deleted.

:)

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Reply | Comment by Fred – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#37

#34 by the way I am using Vista Home Editor Window.
there are two different folders Program Files and Program Files (x64)

Reply | Comment by Jeff – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#36

there is no setting the screen size in option,first time the screen is way off , look like half screen showing . Not sure to fix the config file that I can see, what are the listing of screen size to fit the right size.

Reply | Comment by Jeff – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#35

It totally crashed my system 4 times before I could finally get it to finish loading. Each time it hit some rule in my software firewall that it needed to be allowed to do, problem was that by then it had taken over the whole system and I couldn't stop the process or switch out of it. Only solution was to do a power down and then allow it in the firewall rules. Then halfway through the second race it crashed with some BSOD error. At least this time it only took itself out and not the rest of the system. I hope that all I needed to do to uninstall it was delete the folder. :(

.....................Moderator Comment..................

Hi Bowdyn, yes that's all you need to do., Pity it didn't work for you. I got it to work on all my XP systems but not my Vista. There's got to be some instability because every time I tried to take a screenshot it crashed my system (still managed to capture the screen capture though) sorry you weren’t able to get it to work. Personally this has been the best giveaway for some time; judging by the fun my kids have had with it.

Lets hope hand made games will iron out the problems and I hope improve the graphics a little). they do seem to have made some effort over the past year re-releasing older titles with upgrades that seem to follow the complaints of this community.

Reply | Comment by Bawdyn – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#34

took me about 20 minutes to beat all 20 tracks.

@Hopper - the last track is all about Start reaction speed and shifting timing. I lost a lot of raced before I won one. Now I can't win any on track 20

Review - cool game. Unfortunately, no replay ability after Track 20. It would have been cool if there were a circuit you could play on with racing brackets or something similar.

I would give it at thumbs up if the site would register my click. :)

........................Moderator Comment......................

Wow that was quick....you must be a natural. :)

Reply | Comment by Will Shattuck – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#33

Very nice game! I have a problem though, it looks like it is not possible to win the last race, race 20. No matter how far i got ahead of the opponent, i always lose. Does anyone here won the race 20?

Reply | Comment by Hopper – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#32

@19 (Marvin) Yes, You're right, and I forgot to mention, that aprx.60% of the new computers are delivered with Win7 today. In my dreams, I could wish me back to the days when XP got SP2. Unfortunately there's no future in Win XP, even I'm well aware, that lots of people can't let go..........or they can't afford an upgrade at the time. At last, this was more like a little joke to moderator,'cause we haven't seen many game releases fitting Win7. No offence - I expressed myself too fast and excuse. Hope that'll be okay with you, even Ian (17) was the guy delivering some facts. Btw XP Pro have no future xD

Reply | Comment by Rufus – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#31

A very nice addictive fun game.
Tests your reflex times out!

See if you can keep your reflex times below .10 secs to get the best race results.
(though no reflex results are shown if you lose)
Getting the biggest engine at race 13 helped me get through that stage.

A trick to better start times is to have the left mouse button already pushed in, before the green light, and then push the mouse forward when the green light is on.
It saves you precious starting time by already having the button pressed.

Quick relexes and a smooth fast takeoff and changing of gears as quickly and as smoothly as possible is the key to success.
Don't get to 3rd gear too early, or too late.
It's a fine balance.

Great simple fun ,even though it could have a whole bunch of extras added to give it more scope.

..................Moderator Comment..................

Thanks for the tip

Reply | Comment by ozplasmic – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#30

I just can't get used to the blasted throttle slider. I either go to fast and crash or get no where near winning. :(

................Moderator Comment................

Hey HOSS just keep at it. There is a technique. Well worth the bother once you get it. My 9 year old daughter sussed it in only a few tries and I after several

Reply | Comment by HOSS – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#29

dosen't work with vista

Reply | Comment by dtwill – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#28

This looks like a nice game ;-)
I will play around with this game and may leave a review about it on my own website!

The game looks good.

................................Moderator Comment.........................

That's a nice idea - app giveaways.. :)

Reply | Comment by Mike James – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#27

I'd like to thank Stephen/WhiteRabbit-UK, or whomever it might have been, that suggested Track Mania Nations Forever. I have a Windows 7 machine, & it said it was for Vista, so thought I'd take a shot & see if it works for me. Tada, it did! lol I'd been looking for a good racing type game that was unique & different. Playing on your own is a blast, & also playing Online with others is pretty interesting, after you get the hang of it. I just wanted to say thanks for the name drop, I've now found me something to keep me entertained when the women in my house are driving me insane. LOL!

Take Care, Greg

.........................Moderator Comment............................

Trackmania Nations is probably the best freeware racing game available at this time, though there are also some newer generation racers that look better, but don't have the depth that Trackmania has. I bought the commercial version of Trackmania after trying the free version. Well worth buying, with a massive online community and track level editor that enables you to create your own tracks, which of course is also available in the free version. (yes it was me that suggested it)

Reply | Comment by Greg – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#26

Thx, gonna try this one.

Reply | Comment by oOfmanOo – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#25

Ran fine for me with Win 7 x64. I didn't even have to set compatibility mode or make any adjustments.

Reply | Comment by Campy – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#24

I have Vista...getting frozen during gameplay...How to uninstall?

......................Moderator Comment..............................

Just delete the folder and it'll be deleted. :)

Reply | Comment by Girish – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#23

Does not work on my PC. Installation okay, settings okay, but then it quits (no crash or error report) when I try to start a race. :(

Reply | Comment by Tarvon – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#22

I have Win 7 x64 (enterprise) and installed as administrator and it ran fine (as far as I can tell since I have only won one race so far) without any special setup.

Reply | Comment by DocSid – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#21

It installs quickly, however when I run it from the C:/games/DragRacer/Dragracer.exe, it makes the screen go black and then I get the standard error report with "DragRacing.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." with the send report/dont send report options. When I "Pin" the DragRacer to the start menu then run it from there, I get a small window with "Play Game", "Options", and "Exit". I can change the options, but the "Play Game" results in another crash. :-( Any ideas? Oh, and I already tried deleting and re-installing it.

Reply | Comment by Brian – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#20

Ok on Win 7 Ultimate x32 w/ just basic shortcut, no admin or compat.
In game just adjusted music level (for such short runs why music?).
Didn't check either of top 2 button options.
Took a few runs to get hang of first 2 runs. One nice thing is that after the first win, the second one will start w/o having to click the
Ok button then quickly center rather draggy mouse cursor to the red
circle button that adjusts speed.
On 2nd you start right on the red button. Helps with keeping the feel of the game. Timing the shift gear w/ speed range is key. Just ramp speed to top of green bar, shift, top of green, shift, green, shift to 3rd gear. Nice feeling to winning. Thanks guys.

Reply | Comment by beergas – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#19

@12 (RUFUS) As Ian said Just where did you get that figure??
Only in your dreams I guess.
Ian's feedback is more accurate.

Thanks for the game, A good little time waster.

Reply | Comment by Marvin – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#18

Doesn't work on my Win7 X64 .. Black screen, just sound.
Compatibility on xpSP3 or VistaSP2 won't work.
Run as admin doesn't either.
Screen res to 640X480 .. no better...
pity..

Reply | Comment by Der Fliw – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#17

"60% of users have Win7", thats wishful thinking I am afraid, where did you see that figure?

See here... http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/02/windows-7-eclipses-vista-on-steam-64-bit-dominating-32-bit.ars

XP 32 bit still has the biggest share of the market, over 40%.

Win7 32 bit has less than 20%, with 64bit Win7 less than 10%.

So even to this day and I suspect for many more yet, XP will be the most popular target for games developers.

I would obviously be more ideal if ALL platforms were tested properly though.

............................Moderator Comment...............................

What you say is true to an extent, but their are moves afoot to change this. The latest DX11 has been much improved over Vistas DX10 We've gone as far as we can with graphic improvements using the old DX9 graphics which is the limit of XP's range. Already we are seeing games being produced that completely exclude XP for example Shattered Horizons and the just released Just Cause 2. I happen to have both games and there is a big improvement in graphics so I see lots of Developers following suit in the near future. Don't get me wrong, all my computers still run XP. I love the platform, but it is getting a little dated as far as the gaming industry goes. Buisness users don't need the graphics so their really is no reason to go for the upgraded O.S. which is probably why there hasn't been a massive uptake in the buisness sector yet. XP saw big improvements for buisnesses which is probably why it became so popular so quickly. This is just my opinion though.

Reply | Comment by Ian Thompson – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#16

Crashing problem on reload seems to be with setting one of the extra graphics options. Game would be more fun if the throttle setting was less prone to crashing the dragster so very quickly at higher throttle settings, which makes the game tediously difficult!

Reply | Comment by Charles – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#15

This is the second game download where the screen is too far to the right and I only see 3/4 of the screenshot. I have a 21" monitor, is that the problem and if so how do I fix it? Thanks to whoever can help.

Reply | Comment by Roberta – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#14

For the game developer, would be much improved if Left Shift/ Left Ctrl adjusted the throttle. With the graphics, a more 3D view say 30 degrees up the screen would help, maybe Left to Right instead of R -L. Game crashes or shows black screen needing task manager to quit XP SP3 after exiting game to Windows and trying to reload ?????? Am trying reinstall - if this doesn't cure it and needs a reboot before it will load again, not helpful at all!

Reply | Comment by Charles – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#13

Not a bad game, but it crashes (no pun intended) quite often on my machine.
Also the cursor movement is very 'Jerky' But I seem to remember being told (by someone at IBM) this could be something to do with sound-card set up or the way some programs use sound (weirdly). I'm not techy enough to be able to remedy it anyway.
Using a Laptop with mouse pad is slightly tricky, but not impossible.

Thanks for the game GGOTD. Looking to see if you have one to download the 1st thing I do when I turn the computer on at the weekend.

Reply | Comment by mike studyform – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#12

Thanks to moderator for telling there will be no game tomorrow. If, the luck is in our favour, please tell the manufactors, that more than 60% have Win7 installed on their machines :))

Reply | Comment by Rufus – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#11

Vista ultimate:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: DragRacing.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4b8e8661
Fault Module Name: DragRacing.exe

Reply | Comment by gamer – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#10

fun little game. worked great on Windows 7 64bit, did have to use compatibility mode.
For those that dont know how here are instructions.
You do this by right clicking on the exe and then going to properties and when the box opens go to the compatibility tab and change it to vista sp2.
---------------------------------
Thank You Handmade Games for another fun game to be posted here. I played it for a good 30 minutes and won 3 tracks before I posted. Not sure if thats good, but its a tough little game, but thats what makes it so fun. Timing, gas, shifting gears, and buying parts and then relearning the car from the improvements make the game non linear,
===============================
!!!edit this as needed or delete if you want:
Hey rabbit delete this or edit as needed. I gonna make a post in the forums so questions can be asked about games, but I think if negative comment is posted then it should be deleted and with a directive or link to go the forums.Example: GOATD works a deal 9.99 for this game they offer Mount and Blade that all the time.
I've heard that a few times.

I like to see games here again and want to keep it that way. This is 2 weeks in a row and maybe if the programmers and developers see that we are protecting the the site from the bashers they will post here.

If these kids could only understand that everything is a blockbuster release.

.....................moderator Comment....................

I agree with what you say; however, unless the post is inflammatory I have to allow them through otherwise I wouldn't be moderating, instead I'd be taking into account my own personal feelings which do reflect what you say. Games are 10 a penny almost these days. you can get fantastic bargains virtually every day if you know where to look. for example Torchlight is on a weekend deal over at Steam for 75% off the usual price making it cheaper than the games you get from places like Big fish games, plus its a far better game. There are also several great indie games available either from Steam or direct 2 Drive. D2D also have some excellent bargains at the moment. That said, todays game is definitely worth keeping in your games library. My daughter who usually likes playing games like Dogz and Catz loves todays games. she now wants me to dig out Flatout 2 which has some similar games to todays drag racing but it much better (You can get the first Flatout from GOG for less than $6 but I recommend getting the second game from Direct 2 Drive a sits got better graphics, a lot more extra and better car control. Actually you can get Flatout 2 from Steam for only £5.99 - brilliant game. I wouldn't bother with the Ultimate version whih is basically a revamped version of Flatout 2. There's no extra races just slghtly improved graphics and instead of racing aainst 8 bots you race against 12. All have a multiplayer option).

fun little game. worked great on Windows 7 64bit, did have to use compatibility mode. 
For those that dont know how here are instructions.
You do this by right clicking on the exe and then going to properties and when the box opens go to the compatibility tab and change it to vista sp2.
---------------------------------
Thank You Handmade Games for another fun game to be posted here. I played it for a good 30 minutes and won 3 tracks before I posted. Not sure if thats good, but its a tough little game, but thats what makes it so fun. Timing, gas, shifting gears,  and buying parts and then relearning the car from the improvements make the game non linear, 
===============================
!!!edit this as needed or delete if you want:
Hey rabbit delete this or edit as needed. I gonna make a post in the forums so questions can be asked about games, but I think if negative comment is posted then it should be deleted and with a directive or link to go the forums.Example: GOATD works a deal 9.99 for this game they offer Mount and Blade that all the time. 
I've heard that a few times.

I like to see games here again and want to keep it that way. This is 2 weeks in a row and maybe if the programmers and developers see that we are protecting the the site from the bashers they will post here.

If these kids could only understand that everything is a blockbuster release.

.....................moderator Comment....................

I agree with what you say;  however,  unless the post is inflammatory I  have to allow them through otherwise I wouldn't be moderating, instead I'd be  taking into account my own personal feelings  which do reflect what you say.   Games are 10 a penny almost these days. you can get fantastic bargains virtually every day if you know where to look.  for example Torchlight is  on a weekend deal over at Steam  for 75% off the usual price making it cheaper than the    games you get from places like Big fish games, plus its   a far better game.  There are also several great indie games  available either from Steam or direct 2 Drive.  D2D also have some excellent bargains at the moment.  That said, todays game is definitely worth keeping in your games library.  My daughter   who usually likes playing games like Dogz and Catz  loves todays games.  she now wants me to dig out Flatout 2 which has some similar   games to todays drag racing but it much better (You can get the first Flatout  from GOG for less than $6 but I recommend getting the second game from  Direct 2 Drive a sits got better graphics, a lot more   extra and better car control. Actually you can get Flatout 2 from Steam for only £5.99  - brilliant game.  I wouldn't bother with the Ultimate   version  whih is basically a revamped version of Flatout 2.  There's no extra races just  slghtly improved graphics and  instead of racing aainst 8 bots you race against 12.    All have a multiplayer option).

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Reply | Comment by txnnok – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#9

hope for better game tomorrow

............................Moderator comment...........................

There will be no game tomorrow (but do check just in case they do find one in time for tomorrow)

Reply | Comment by guitarzan – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#8

what? No download....

Reply | Comment by guitarzan – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#7

The screenshots look nice, although if I recall correctly, drag races are usually over in a few seconds. The main draw for the race gaming crowd would probably be the car customization instead of the race itself.

Reply | Comment by needforguns – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#6

would not run in win 7 X54. starts to load and
as soon as I choose a car it gives an error.
tried many times without success...too bad,looked
like it might be fun :(

Reply | Comment by GrizzlyMan – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#5

All I can say is- woo!!! Game Giveaway of the Day is back!

Reply | Comment by Sydney – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#4

My antivirus found in the DragRasing.zip virus - DropperAgent.Win32.10449

........................Moderator Comment.......................

The giveaway team throughly check all giveaways for malware. My own AV software (Kaspersky) said nothing was wrong with the zip file. What AV software did you use?

Reply | Comment by ooleetko – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#3

What a game - a nice substitute to NFS' Drift races. I just love it like anything.

Reply | Comment by Shyam – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#2

Eagerly awaiting your verdict, Wabbit! :-)

Reply | Comment by freebird31 – 14 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#1

Today’s drag racing game, given to us by Hand Made Games is a 44.1Mb download expanding to 119Mb when installed. The majority of this is due to the meshes and textures folders, which account for 105.9Mb of the overall game and which go to make up the graphics of the game.. The game tried to install to last weeks game giveaway on one of my computers and to C:\Games on another, so do check the installation path before you allow the game to install onto your computer.

There is no desktop or Start menu shortcuts installed, so you need to make a not of where you install the game so that you can create the shortcuts. The game file is easy to spot when you open up the games installed folder. It’s a chequered flag. Desktop shortcuts are simple to create; but if you want a start menu shortcut and aren’t too sure how to create one, check out the short tutorial which can be found in the Game discussion forums:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2594

The game works okay on XP, but I kept getting a black screen when trying to play it via Vista (even when playing it with admin rights). I've just got Win 7 but not installed it yet, so I'll be able to say whether it works on all three of the last Windows O.S's. :)

The Game:

The opening menu screen allows access to a simple options menu where you can toggle on or off anisotropic filtering and motion blur, plus the usual Music and sound slider ajusters. There’s a simple help menu that tells you how to play the game and gives you some simple tips for success:

• Wait for the Green Light

• Accelerate by dragging button

• Switch Gears with the up and down arrow keys

• Accelerating too quickly may lead to crashes

• Earn money to improve your drag racer

• You can select new pain jobs for your racer every fifth race.

On starting the game you have to create a game account. The name you choose is limited to 7 characters. The next page takes you to the race list which shows 20 different races; all but the first are locked. Once a race is unlocked you can replay it when you want. To unlock the next race you must win the race. As you earn cash through winning races you can upgrade various parts of your drag racer for example the chassis, engine, wheels, wings and fuel tank can be upgraded as well as select from four un-lockable pain jobs. You can turn the image of the drag racer to get a better look at it by clicking on the red forwards or backwards arrows. You start the game with a basic drag racer and no money, so the next page can be skipped .

To accelerate the Drag racer you have to click and hold then drag the red button with a yellow exterior to the bottom right of the screen. If you try to drag the button before the green light you will be disqualified. The controls are very sensitive and it will take some practice, but I think its quite a decent drag racing game. (My 9 year old daughter won her first race after only 3 or 4 tries). Once you start to accelerate you’ll need to use the gears. There is a r.p.m. gauge that’s very useful for deciding when to change gear (usually just as it goes into the red). You will need to watch fuel consumption as well; otherwise you may find yourself piped to the post. Winning the first race bags you $750 but not enough to upgrade any of your dragster parts. The second race will enable you to upgrade one item; each upgrade costs $1000 for the first upgrade for each item. The second upgrade will cost you more ($1500) and I presume the third upgrade for each item will be even more expensive, but I’ve not got that far yet.

When you’ve won a race do not click on the restart button otherwise you’ll lose you win. You must click on the End button Nice one Hand Made Games. I’ve been after a decent drag racing game for quite some time. You seem to have hit the spot.

You can set up multiple accounts.

Conclusion:

It’s pretty basic graphically, but I’ve had a lot of fun playing the game so far. It’ll be quite challenging for those not familiar with racing games. The combination of Mouse and keyboard controls may put some off. However you will need to use the gear changes to win any race.

7 out of 10 from me. The fun factor far outweighs the slightly tacky graphics. My children really loved this game so I reckon it’ll make a great family game. The only annoyance is the help window pops up at the beginning of the first race. There’s no way to turn it off

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Useful Info

Alternatives:

You can find loads of racing games in the Wheeled Games

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2574#post-20418

and the free games synopsis

I highly recommend games like Trackmania (the free version), or the online post apocalyptic Darkwind. You’ll also find several reasonable racing games over at Gametop (www.gametop.com), that are usually sold as commercial quality games 9though I wouldn’t buy most of them)

Music:

You’ll find 5 MP3 which can be exchanged for music you like if you find the default music annoying. You may have to change the names of the MP3’s you use. You’ll find the files by finding where you installed the game to and opening up the data and music folders respectively.

Today’s drag racing game, given to us by Hand Made Games   is a 44.1Mb download expanding to  119Mb when installed. The majority of this is due to the meshes and textures folders, which account for  105.9Mb of the overall game and which go to make up the graphics of the game..  The game tried to install to last weeks game giveaway on one of my computers and  to C:\Games on another, so do check the installation path before you allow the game to  install onto your computer.

There is no desktop or Start menu shortcuts  installed, so you need to  make a not of where you install the game so that you can create  the shortcuts.  The game file is easy to spot when you open up the games installed folder.  It’s a chequered flag.  Desktop shortcuts are simple to create; but if you want a start menu shortcut and   aren’t too sure how to create one, check out the  short tutorial which can be found in the Game discussion forums:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2594

The game works okay on XP, but I kept getting   a black screen when trying to play it via Vista (even when  playing it with admin rights).  I've just  got Win 7 but not installed it yet, so   I'll be able to say whether it works  on all  three of the last Windows O.S's.  :)

The Game:

The opening menu screen  allows access to a simple options menu where you can toggle on or off  anisotropic filtering and motion blur, plus the usual Music and sound slider ajusters.  There’s a simple help menu that tells you how to play the game and gives you some simple tips for success:

•	Wait for the Green Light

•	Accelerate by dragging  button

•	Switch Gears with the up and down arrow keys

•	Accelerating too quickly  may lead to crashes

•	Earn money to improve your drag racer

•	You can select new pain jobs for your racer every fifth race.

On starting the game you have to create a game account.  The name you choose is limited to 7 characters.  The next page takes you to the race list which shows 20 different races; all but the first are locked.  Once a race is unlocked you can replay it when you want.  To unlock the next race you must win the race.   As you earn cash through winning races you can upgrade  various parts of your drag racer for example  the chassis, engine, wheels, wings and fuel tank can be upgraded as well as  select from four un-lockable  pain jobs.  You can  turn the image of the drag racer to get a better look at it by  clicking on the red  forwards or backwards arrows. You start the game with a basic drag racer and no money, so the  next  page can be skipped .

To accelerate the Drag racer you have to  click and hold  then drag the red button with a yellow exterior to the bottom right of the screen. If you  try to drag the button before the green light you will be disqualified.  The controls are very sensitive and it will take some practice, but  I think its  quite a decent drag racing game. (My 9 year old daughter won  her first race after only 3 or 4 tries). Once you start to accelerate you’ll need to use the gears.   There is a r.p.m. gauge that’s very useful for   deciding when to change gear (usually just as it goes into the red).  You will need to watch fuel consumption as well; otherwise you may find yourself piped to the post. Winning the first race bags you $750  but not enough to upgrade any of your dragster parts.  The second race will enable you to upgrade one item; each upgrade costs $1000 for the first  upgrade for each item.  The second upgrade will cost you more ($1500) and I presume the third upgrade for each item will be even more expensive, but I’ve not got that far yet.

When you’ve won a race do not click on the restart button otherwise you’ll lose you win.  You must click on the End button  Nice one Hand Made Games.  I’ve been after a decent drag racing game for quite some time.  You seem to have hit the spot.

You can set up multiple  accounts.

Conclusion:

It’s  pretty basic graphically, but I’ve had a lot of fun playing the game so far.  It’ll be quite challenging for those not familiar with   racing games.   The combination of Mouse and keyboard  controls may put some off.  However you will need to use the gear changes to win any race.

7 out of 10 from me.  The fun factor far outweighs the slightly tacky graphics.  My children really loved this game so I reckon it’ll make a great family   game.   The only annoyance is the  help  window pops up at the beginning of the first race.  There’s no way to turn it off

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Useful Info

Alternatives:

You can find loads of racing games in the Wheeled Games

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2574#post-20418

and the free games synopsis

I highly recommend games like Trackmania (the free version), or the online post apocalyptic Darkwind.  You’ll also find several  reasonable racing games over at Gametop (www.gametop.com), that are usually sold as commercial  quality games 9though I wouldn’t buy most of them)

Music:

You’ll find 5 MP3 which can be exchanged for music you like if you find the  default music annoying.  You may have to change the names of the  MP3’s you use.  You’ll find the  files  by finding where you installed the  game to and  opening up the data and music folders respectively.

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