Always nice to see reviews of this game pop up so many years later. As one of the artists who worked on it (I made the Kyoto and Las Vegas tracks) it's one of my favorite games I was ever involved with. Glad you enjoyed it. :) Thanks for the great review!
I remember at the time being massively impressed with how this game looked. Watching this review, I hesitate to say it holds up perfectly... but it still looks great!
Top Gear Rally had similar graphics a few years earlier. I think this game is using a modified version of the same engine, likely as I think it's at least some of the same people who made both games.
@@syncmonism It was developed by the same team but WDC has far superior graphics compared to TGR. Car models and environments have much richer polygonal count (the programmer coded an improved microcode). Still TGR was a good looking first generation racing game for N64. I had a lot of fun with it.
I would say San Francisco Rush 2046 was the most impressive N64 racing title. The Dreamcast version wasn’t a huge upgrade, but didn’t look out of place. As far as realistic games go, I think the Video System’s take on F1 was pretty solid on N64.
Up to now, this is still my favorite racing game for N64.. The graphics are top notch in its class and the variety of cars are nostalgic ; reminds me of the good ol days when I was a kid watching the Le Mans and FIA GT on TV seeing the real life counterparts lol
One of my favorites from when I was a kid. I still vividly remember being 13, having a subscription to nintendo power magazine and reading an article before this game came out. The screenshots for the game blew my mind, to me at 13 those screen shots in the article looked like real life. I did extra chores, saved money and got this game the day it came out. World Driver Championship lived up to the preview shots and hype i had for the game. It was one of the best looking games to ever come out for the N64. Still have my N64 to this day (plugged in right next to my NES) and play WDC from time to time. This game holds up over the test of time and is still great fun to play. I am a lifelong fan of almost any type of racing, Nascar, MotoGP, Indycar, World Rally Championship, F1 and any GT/Prototype racing series. I even got a car and race at my local track. It all started with games like this and now I do it in real life.
what was so impressive about this game to me was the replay. I just remember it playing instantly. I was always wondering how they were able to do that with 0 loading.
Totally agree. WDC was hands down the best real racing experience on N64. I had a good time with this one back in the day. Would have been nice if the car had official brand licenses. Although they made it pretty obvious what each case was supposed to be (Viper, Corvette, Lotus Esprit, Ferrari F50 etc.), and that TVR Cerberus you have to race at the end is super dope!
I talked to a dev that made this game, he said World Driver runs without a Z buffer and this helped the game run better. this was like two years ago and I forgot all the other thing he said.
Makes sense, Z buffering involves up to 4x as many memory transfers than no z buffer. Turning off AA also improved performance, apparently enough that 512x240 no AA was faster than 320x240 AA.
And here it is. The unemulatable game. I wish I could find a cart of this game to experience it again. It was so much fun, but DAMN, those endurance races!
@@FukU2222 It works fine for me on emulation. I use ubuntu linux, retroarch and mupen64plus emulator core and the game loads and works fine. Retroarch is on windows too so you can try that and use mupen64plus core. Good luck
@@FukU2222 that is because boos games studios developed such avance techniques of Game programing for the n64 hardware which was very "special". the n64 proccesor need You as a programmer to give it the one instructions set which how Will to work, that instructions was named as microcode. the majority of games work whith the standar code thas was provided by nintendo, only the more advances developers was abble to Wright their own microcodes. that is why other advance graphics games are difficult of emulate too. Indiana Jones or rougue squadron for example.
I loved Top Gear Rally by Boss Game Studios. There was something special about it. When I heard Boss Games was working on a sequel of sorts, I was extremely excited. And I remember when the game came out, I purchased it right away and absolutely loved it. I was amazed at how good Boss Games was in getting a game to look so good.
Fascinating. The idea of having to work your way up, unable to just finish in 1st in every race you enter from the very beginning of your racing career is genius. It's much more realistic than the usual approach, but also less "fun" for the reward center in our simple human brains that just want to "win" with ease. This definitely feels like a simulation in that regard, where you're limited by factors like your team's car/ budget as well as your driving skills and don't always finish first because that's unrealistic. I love it!!!
@@ramxt44 i ended up buying a copy. It was pretty cool, but i didnt have any nostalgia attached to it so it was actually hard to be motivated to finish the game.
I was organizing my collection years back when it occurred to me that half of my collection of about 25 games or so were racing. I ended up being a professional driver in the real. I also loved Beetle adventure racing, f-zero x, and san franscisco rush.
@Shinra N64 had a lot of great racing games. Some not yet cited on the replies above are F-Zero X, Star Wars Episode I Racer, Wipeout 64, Excitebike 64, Top Gear Rally, Top Gear Overdrive, Wave Race 64, F1 World Grand Prix II, Diddy Kong Racing.
Your channel and this game in particular makes me wish I could re live the glory days of n64. This game completely flew under my radar as a kid I never knew it looked that good. I was a huge racing fan and even seen this game sitting on the rack at my local video game rental. For some reason I just never picked it up even to look at. Sometimes I found case art boring so id atribute that to the game. I sure missed out on some gems because of that mindset.
I actually purchased this from eBay the other day!! So happy I got a completed copy that is clean and has no markings or stickers on the cartridge, box, or manual. I had no idea this game existed until I believe, this review or maybe another UA-cam video....WAIT! It was actually this video review that caused me to search eBay and Amazon to buy it.
I really enjoyed this game at the time even though it was a bit grindy, only thing it lacked was the option for steering wheel support. It's a shame that boss game studios went out of business before releasing anything on the next generation of systems as they were working on a game called Racer X for the original Xbox which looked promising for the time looking like the successor to world driver championship in everything but name.
I've played it over 40 hours, and never liked Gran Turismo. Boss Studios brought us a trully masterpiece, showing a knowledge of the N64 hardware sometimes even beyond Nintendo's knowledge. This game is a miracle, a look at Vegas or Tokyo courses shows us the true N64 polygon capacities, a polygon explosion indeed! The best racing game from that generation after Wave Race 64!
Really good review, just ordered a copy alongside Top Gear Rally and Overdrive. Really looking forward to sitting them with them all and playing some proper racing!
I remember when I first got this game my mom bought it for my birthday. And actually my copy came with a matching t shirt which I still have till this day. I remember clocking in so many hours into this game as a kid and it’s a shame I never got to beat it. I wonder who owns the rights to the IP since Midway went under because I would love too see a remaster of it.
Best racer on N64. I spent more than 100hrs on this game and still play it on and off through out the years. I wish this game is emulator friendly so I can play in glorious 4k without all the glitchy graphics.
This was my favorite game when I was a kid and one of my first N64 games ever. I loved it and it was an easy game too. It didn't need more customized settings beside the paint scheme honestly. The racing was solid and easy to figure out that turns meant slow tf down.
According to me this is one of the most accurate racing games done for console, the feeling when one get the car to slide through a 90 degree corner is closest to the real thing I know so far. The starting cars especielly and to me they are good, just taking some time to get used to their handling, when one ramm another car it really feels too which not many racing games get right. The game is stunning to look at, and the replay after the race is truly stunning, holds up even today. I didnt have a memory car for this game until 2012 so I´m well used to the starting cars and their handling :P
I am not a fan of simulation racing games in the slightest. I ended up getting this game in a random lot I bought off eBay one day (I bought it for the copies of Body Harvest and Mischief Makers it came with). It's definitely one of the most impressive racing games on N64. If I did end up wanting to play a simulation racer (for whatever reason), i'd probably play this. I'm not sure how much fun i'd have though...
World Driver Championship is one of my all-time favorite racers! Extremely under-rated. So glad to see someone else gets how amazing this game is.Definitely the best racer on the system. Awesome power slide physics! Challenging and additive. Great review!
I remember the Christmas when I got this game. I also remember waiting for my mum to go out and then sneaking into her bedroom, taking this game out of the box and playing it for about an hour before she got back. For an N64 game it really did look awesome at the time, even without the expansion pack. It didn't just look great but it was really fun to play aswell. I think I recall it being relatively challenging at first, compared to other racing games.
I remember enjoying World Driver much more than Gran Turismo because all the cars were fictitious. Makes them feel so much more special and it helps the game feel more like a video game than a simulation.
oh and also worthy of mention is that the soundtrack of World Driver is superb. To this day I still hum its songs along with Diddy Kong Racing and FZero X!
Thanks for another informative review glenn. You yet again showed me something i had not tried before on the n64, can't wait to see how it plays when i pick it up :))
Wow, this game looks gorgeous! I remember the lead up to this game's release, but I never checked it out. In these days, my console of choice for racing games was the Saturn. My parents were in a bowling league in Southern California at the time, and twice a year we'd go to Las Vegas for some tournament they took part in. So I'd be exposed to all those great Sega arcades, and that swayed me towards the Saturn. But also, that makes me think, that Las Vegas stage you showcased a bit early in this video is remarkably accurate to the city at the time. I wish I had given this a chance in its day, because it looks rather stellar. Maybe I'll find a copy online sometime and teleport back to those good old 90s days.
This is why I love this channel . I tried this back when it was new and got burnt out by the learning curve. I've tried a few times, having heard it was a great racer, but still couldn't get into. Now that you've explained it, I'll give it another go, and try to push past the grind. Thank you, I'd given up on this one.
Not sure how I missed this back in the day and I was a religious reader of N64 magazine! My favourite racing game was F1 World Grand Prix as I was a big F1 fan at the time and I thought it was an excellent simulation for the time (as well as the brilliant Challenge mode).
@@sander230e That's a misconception. The expansion pak only added more RAM to the console. Many games did end up with a lower framerate because the developer would use the RAM to increase the resolution. But many games also did not suffer from this issue.
I had this game back in the day but could never get over the “floaty” car physics when turning corners. Always sliding all over the place. I played the hell out of it though, it was addictive.
@@n64glennplant Now that i think about this game, Midway is owned by Nintendo right? If a N64 Mini becomes a real thing this game needs to be on the list!
@@AxelDragani especially since they use copies of real cars and won't have to get licensing rights from the manufacturers, the tracks are also fictional too
yeah like beetle adventure racing and 007 the world is not enough, the only down side is that I wish it had at least 128 mb of data in the game cartrige for bigger and better games than 64 mb
I remember renting this game and enjoying the living hell out of it. Would’ve played this more but traded all my 64 stuff for the Dreamcast and later a ps2
I love your videos! It is great to get a closer view to the N64 games. This game does look awesome, certainly among the best of the console, I wish I had seen it back in the day
This was my favorite racing game on the n64. I played this game religeously . After I beat the game I went and brought a steering wheel just to play it and it worked fine with it. I think this game was better than playstations gran turismo(the ones on ps1). Only thing about this game that was"nt better was that you couldnt buy parts to your car.....
I had lots of fun with this game as a kid, especially when using cheat codes to unlock better vehicles. When it came to non-kart racers I liked this game the best followed by Ridge Racer 64 and Automobili Lamborghini.
I was lucky enough to find an NTSC version on the game in good condition with box and manual, right here in Europe, some 10 years ago. I remember reading about the fancy complete re-write of the microcode to push higher numbers of polygons etc, and wanting to own that game for the sheer technical complexity... and then hating it when I actually played it, specifically because of the learning curve. Then a few years later I gave it another chance, properly started learning the tracks and how to handle the shit cars you get in the beginning, and then really starting liking it a lot. I have yet to complete it but whenever the itch to play a retro racing game arises, this is one I gladly go back to. I think my favourite racing game on N64 remains Ridge Racer 64, for its accessibility and easier difficulty because I'm more a fan of arcade style racing than simulation style. Nevertheless, after some rough beginnings, I can safely say it's one of the best racing games on the system. And I truly am in awe of what the devs managed to achieve with this game, making me wonder what else could have been achieved with the same engine and custom microcode, in the hands of other devs. It's a real shame we will never know. There is just one problem I have with this game though, and I'm amazed it's not mentioned in the review: THAT SAVE FILE! It takes up AN ENTIRE controller pak!!! Yeah! Imagine if you were stuck with one official controller pak with precious saves on it and you bought this game, and it asked you to throw away everything you had saved, just so you could play it! That's unacceptable. I'm lucky enough that I bought a third party controller pak from the start that had dip switches on it so it was more like 4 controller paks in 1, so I could devote on memory bank to this game, while my other saves were on others, but I know at least one person who bought this game and never played it because of this.
damn the last paragraph lol it's really a WHOLE controller pak ! i have the game, but i didn't bought yet a new controller pak just to play it ! it's just crazy to think you need a whole new memory card just for one game hahahaha
FabioGnecco Well... the original Animal Crossing on Gamecube took an entire 59 blocks memory card or thereabouts. You couldn't save another game on the same card with the space left anyway. But that game came with a free memory card in the box. This N64 game didn't.
Had a lot of good memories with this one. When it came out in the US there was a lot of hype for this one. Was pretty tricky to master but once you got good at it felt very satisfying. Probably the cleanest I’ve ever seen this game look.
This and GT64 were my fav. GT64 was like this but more drifting. World Tour was better but just as fun. "Can you imagen a game which is better but also just as fun!?"
Oh wow, I didn't know this game existed. I'm such a car fan and I loved the Gran Turismo games. This game does look fantastic for a N64 game, which is surprising to me since the N64 really had some limitations. I have already ordered a copy on Amazon. :)
Love the reviews, I'd be really interested to see a general overview review too, maybe one which you say which games you'd keep and which you wouldn't, or best of genre type thing.
Great review! Was looking forward to this ;) Used to grind the sh*t out of this game as a kid because I always felt bad about leaving racing teams due to the confirmation screen with the sad faced team manager asking if you really wanted to leave/change team :P
This beautiful looking game was really hard for me, the butter wheels mechanics was to much. But look at those graphics 🤩 0:43 to 0:53 I don't remember other racer on that generation with all that detailed backgrounds. Superb!
This is always a nice game to shove in the face of those ridiculous PS1 fanboys that claim their beloved console was more powerful than the N64. A great example of what can be done with care and attention to the code (and microcode).
Another great review Glen :-) I like that you mentioned this looking like an early PS2 game. There were many games on the N64 that looked almost as good, or even better when the PS2 came out as I`m sure you know. Beetle Racing is still up there for me for a great racer, but this does look amazing.
For me at that time the cruel music of Zack Ohren unfortunately destroyed the whole game. And even today - 21 years later - that hasn't changed for me. Nothing against Zack Ohren personally, he certainly makes wonderful music these days, but I would have loved to hear Barry Leitch as the musician, who did a very good job for Top Gear Rally. Barry Leitch as the musician, Expansion Pak-Support for full screen high res graphics, licensed cars, weather effects and a nice Box-Art would have upgraded the game a lot...time for a Rom-Hack ;-)
Las Vegas track looks like an early PS2 game for sure. This game is a bit hard do handle at first. But as you mentioned it's really a question of time making progress in the game in order to be driving more 'safely'.
Great review Glenn, WDC looks really great and is def one of the BEST racing games on the N64 besides Top Gear Overdrive, Lamborghini Automobili and Rush 2049!
Thanks to you Glenn i'm able to know this game's existence since i never knew that N64 had this game, its in the same level of quality of Gran turismo and Need for speed series i just need to get this, Overdrive and Rush 2049 to complete my collection of best racing games on n64!
There is the top five realistic racers and the top five futuristic racers which are: Rush 2049, WipeOut, F-Zero X, Hydro Thunder and Star wars racers. Lamborghini Automobili, Top Gear Overdrive, World Driver Championship, Cruis'n the World and Ridge Racer.
Always nice to see reviews of this game pop up so many years later. As one of the artists who worked on it (I made the Kyoto and Las Vegas tracks) it's one of my favorite games I was ever involved with. Glad you enjoyed it. :) Thanks for the great review!
It’s probably the best pure racing game on the system 👍
I remember at the time being massively impressed with how this game looked. Watching this review, I hesitate to say it holds up perfectly... but it still looks great!
thanks for working on it ! but, besides from this game, which racing game you enjoyed playing on the n64 ?
Wow. My favourite racing game on N64. I had so many hours of fun. Progressiveness in the game made me enjoy it and wish to find a sinilar to this.
@@SH-bl9wh I loved this game...I posted some of the fastest lap times in the old N64 magazine
May this be the best looking N64 racing game?
Oh I think so for sure, BAR looks great but it’s more of a fun style racer
Top Gear Rally had similar graphics a few years earlier. I think this game is using a modified version of the same engine, likely as I think it's at least some of the same people who made both games.
@@syncmonism It was developed by the same team but WDC has far superior graphics compared to TGR.
Car models and environments have much richer polygonal count (the programmer coded an improved microcode).
Still TGR was a good looking first generation racing game for N64.
I had a lot of fun with it.
-BAR?-
Beatle Adventure Racing, never mind!
I would say San Francisco Rush 2046 was the most impressive N64 racing title. The Dreamcast version wasn’t a huge upgrade, but didn’t look out of place.
As far as realistic games go, I think the Video System’s take on F1 was pretty solid on N64.
Up to now, this is still my favorite racing game for N64..
The graphics are top notch in its class and the variety of cars are nostalgic ; reminds me of the good ol days when I was a kid watching the Le Mans and FIA GT on TV seeing the real life counterparts lol
There's a real charm to this game that I've not found anywhere else to be honest. From the level/track design and the simplicity of it all
One of my favorites from when I was a kid. I still vividly remember being 13, having a subscription to nintendo power magazine and reading an article before this game came out. The screenshots for the game blew my mind, to me at 13 those screen shots in the article looked like real life. I did extra chores, saved money and got this game the day it came out. World Driver Championship lived up to the preview shots and hype i had for the game. It was one of the best looking games to ever come out for the N64. Still have my N64 to this day (plugged in right next to my NES) and play WDC from time to time. This game holds up over the test of time and is still great fun to play. I am a lifelong fan of almost any type of racing, Nascar, MotoGP, Indycar, World Rally Championship, F1 and any GT/Prototype racing series. I even got a car and race at my local track. It all started with games like this and now I do it in real life.
For an N64 game, the visuals are stupid impressive! It seriously does look like an early PS2 title
menoseloso119 gtfo
Ridge Racer 5 was a launch game and looks way better than this.
toppdogg2k17 frame rate and resolution wise, sure, but textures and lighting? "Way better" is a stretch.
yeah, never heard of this game until now, impressive
I'm not sure any PS2 game looks THIS bad...
what was so impressive about this game to me was the replay. I just remember it playing instantly. I was always wondering how they were able to do that with 0 loading.
The power and advantage of cassettes.
Cassettes? Lol
There's no tape inside N64 cartridges, I assure you.
Totally agree. WDC was hands down the best real racing experience on N64. I had a good time with this one back in the day. Would have been nice if the car had official brand licenses. Although they made it pretty obvious what each case was supposed to be (Viper, Corvette, Lotus Esprit, Ferrari F50 etc.), and that TVR Cerberus you have to race at the end is super dope!
I talked to a dev that made this game, he said World Driver runs without a Z buffer and this helped the game run better. this was like two years ago and I forgot all the other thing he said.
Makes sense, Z buffering involves up to 4x as many memory transfers than no z buffer. Turning off AA also improved performance, apparently enough that 512x240 no AA was faster than 320x240 AA.
And here it is. The unemulatable game.
I wish I could find a cart of this game to experience it again. It was so much fun, but DAMN, those endurance races!
I never knew this couldn’t be emulated! Cool fact
@@n64glennplant Yeah I'm not sure what the deal is but every time I've tried to boot it on any emu it's just no dice. Every ROM I've tried...
Ok good to know that I'm not the only one wishing to emulate but can't! Maybe by now someone can??
@@FukU2222 It works fine for me on emulation. I use ubuntu linux, retroarch and mupen64plus emulator core and the game loads and works fine. Retroarch is on windows too so you can try that and use mupen64plus core. Good luck
@@FukU2222 that is because boos games studios developed such avance techniques of Game programing for the n64 hardware which was very "special". the n64 proccesor need You as a programmer to give it the one instructions set which how Will to work, that instructions was named as microcode. the majority of games work whith the standar code thas was provided by nintendo, only the more advances developers was abble to Wright their own microcodes. that is why other advance graphics games are difficult of emulate too. Indiana Jones or rougue squadron for example.
Glad your still making these reviews!
I’ll get to 100% one day 😬
Hopefully
Loved this game back in the day, very rewarding to work up to the top rank. Thanks for bringing back the memories!
Yeah the ranking system makes this really addictive
I had to have put at least 300 hours into this game as a kid.
You must have enjoyed it then!
I loved Top Gear Rally by Boss Game Studios. There was something special about it. When I heard Boss Games was working on a sequel of sorts, I was extremely excited. And I remember when the game came out, I purchased it right away and absolutely loved it. I was amazed at how good Boss Games was in getting a game to look so good.
wow this sounds like a real hidden gem. i would have barely given this game a chance from teh name and cover art
Fascinating. The idea of having to work your way up, unable to just finish in 1st in every race you enter from the very beginning of your racing career is genius. It's much more realistic than the usual approach, but also less "fun" for the reward center in our simple human brains that just want to "win" with ease. This definitely feels like a simulation in that regard, where you're limited by factors like your team's car/ budget as well as your driving skills and don't always finish first because that's unrealistic. I love it!!!
Can't believe I've never even heard of this game before!
Oh this game is a must!
@@ramxt44 i ended up buying a copy. It was pretty cool, but i didnt have any nostalgia attached to it so it was actually hard to be motivated to finish the game.
I loved this game. Especially when I earned the car on the cover.
The Excalibur, inspired by the TVR speed 12.
I'm honestly kind of shocked how many racing games the N64 had.
Yeah it’s a great console for race fans like myself
Chris Chen there are, like, ten.
@@gabrieleriva651 N64 had over 50 racing games and that's a console with less than 400 games.
I was organizing my collection years back when it occurred to me that half of my collection of about 25 games or so were racing. I ended up being a professional driver in the real. I also loved Beetle adventure racing, f-zero x, and san franscisco rush.
Still have this cartridge, Lost a lot and a lot of hours/days/weeks on this game. Top game, One of The best racing games on N64.
Glad you agree with me Hugo!
its best racing game of nintendo 64
I tend to agree, hard to say its not really :)
Yes, this and Rush 2 are the best racing games on N64.
Bettle adventure racing is better. So is maro kart 64. I like crusin world better as well
Rush 2049 is a great one too if you can get your hands on it, it takes the best of the series and polishes it up.
@Shinra N64 had a lot of great racing games.
Some not yet cited on the replies above are F-Zero X, Star Wars Episode I Racer, Wipeout 64, Excitebike 64, Top Gear Rally, Top Gear Overdrive, Wave Race 64, F1 World Grand Prix II, Diddy Kong Racing.
I remember waiting so long for this come out and was one of the few games I bought on release day. Never ever completed it though :(
Your channel and this game in particular makes me wish I could re live the glory days of n64. This game completely flew under my radar as a kid I never knew it looked that good. I was a huge racing fan and even seen this game sitting on the rack at my local video game rental. For some reason I just never picked it up even to look at. Sometimes I found case art boring so id atribute that to the game. I sure missed out on some gems because of that mindset.
Thank you and happy new year
I actually purchased this from eBay the other day!! So happy I got a completed copy that is clean and has no markings or stickers on the cartridge, box, or manual.
I had no idea this game existed until I believe, this review or maybe another UA-cam video....WAIT! It was actually this video review that caused me to search eBay and Amazon to buy it.
I really enjoyed this game at the time even though it was a bit grindy, only thing it lacked was the option for steering wheel support. It's a shame that boss game studios went out of business before releasing anything on the next generation of systems as they were working on a game called Racer X for the original Xbox which looked promising for the time looking like the successor to world driver championship in everything but name.
I've played it over 40 hours, and never liked Gran Turismo. Boss Studios brought us a trully masterpiece, showing a knowledge of the N64 hardware sometimes even beyond Nintendo's knowledge. This game is a miracle, a look at Vegas or Tokyo courses shows us the true N64 polygon capacities, a polygon explosion indeed! The best racing game from that generation after Wave Race 64!
Pizza and 1 new upload from my all-time favorite youtuber, what more could I ask for?
I’m on pizza too tonight 🍕
Really good review, just ordered a copy alongside Top Gear Rally and Overdrive. Really looking forward to sitting them with them all and playing some proper racing!
I remember when I first got this game my mom bought it for my birthday. And actually my copy came with a matching t shirt which I still have till this day. I remember clocking in so many hours into this game as a kid and it’s a shame I never got to beat it. I wonder who owns the rights to the IP since Midway went under because I would love too see a remaster of it.
If anything like MACE: The Dark Age, quite literally, nobody.
Best racer on N64. I spent more than 100hrs on this game and still play it on and off through out the years. I wish this game is emulator friendly so I can play in glorious 4k without all the glitchy graphics.
Try beetle adventure racing too
N64 Glenn Plant I have BAR. It's okay, don't really like the arcadey gameplay and not really a fan of Beetles.
I managed to run it on Shield with Mupen. Few glitches but finished it recently no problem.
This was my favorite game when I was a kid and one of my first N64 games ever. I loved it and it was an easy game too. It didn't need more customized settings beside the paint scheme honestly. The racing was solid and easy to figure out that turns meant slow tf down.
Yeah I like how this actually requires braking unlike so many other racers on n64
I remember back in the day seeing this game on magazines and I was so hyped to get it... unfortunately I didn't... but i managed years later
N64 magazine gave it a 9.1 if my memory serves me well
Great video and a great game! Was blown away by this when I was a kid. Wiped the floor visually compared to the others at the time!
I think so too, when you compare it to early n64 releases its amazing
Great game, really satisfying to complete. Plus it has a better campaign mode than even modern racing games.
According to me this is one of the most accurate racing games done for console, the feeling when one get the car to slide through a 90 degree corner is closest to the real thing I know so far. The starting cars especielly and to me they are good, just taking some time to get used to their handling, when one ramm another car it really feels too which not many racing games get right. The game is stunning to look at, and the replay after the race is truly stunning, holds up even today.
I didnt have a memory car for this game until 2012 so I´m well used to the starting cars and their handling :P
I never knew about this game, but man it sure looks awesome!
Let me know how you find it if you decide to play it
I am not a fan of simulation racing games in the slightest. I ended up getting this game in a random lot I bought off eBay one day (I bought it for the copies of Body Harvest and Mischief Makers it came with). It's definitely one of the most impressive racing games on N64. If I did end up wanting to play a simulation racer (for whatever reason), i'd probably play this. I'm not sure how much fun i'd have though...
I like both styles but in terms of more serious racers on N64 this is hard to beat
That sounds like an awesome bundle sale. Mischief Makers needs a review here too.
I had completely forgotten about this game! Loved it when I had it
Still very cool even to this day!
So many late night as a teenager trying to complete the different cups in this game, it was great.
Been waiting for this review for ages!!!!
Glad I could finally make it for you!
Great video man!
Thanks fella! Good to see you 👍
Wow, the game looks stunning. Might pick it up for my collection!
Definetly one to own
I wish nintendo would find a developer who can make a racing sim game exclusively for their platform
Your play footage reminded me of some of the beautiful scenes in a game I really loved at the time. Think I'll dig out for another blast
Glad I could bring back some good memories!
definitely one of my fav ever racing games.
Maybe not of all time for me but for N64 it was awesome
World Driver Championship is one of my all-time favorite racers! Extremely under-rated. So glad to see someone else gets how amazing this game is.Definitely the best racer on the system. Awesome power slide physics! Challenging and additive. Great review!
I think its under rated and often forgotten outside of the n64 fan community too
I remember the Christmas when I got this game. I also remember waiting for my mum to go out and then sneaking into her bedroom, taking this game out of the box and playing it for about an hour before she got back.
For an N64 game it really did look awesome at the time, even without the expansion pack. It didn't just look great but it was really fun to play aswell. I think I recall it being relatively challenging at first, compared to other racing games.
THIS GAME IS LIFE! MY FAVORITE EVER!
I remember enjoying World Driver much more than Gran Turismo because all the cars were fictitious. Makes them feel so much more special and it helps the game feel more like a video game than a simulation.
Licensed cars are sometimes nice but I don’t feel it has a big impact on my experience or impressions
oh and also worthy of mention is that the soundtrack of World Driver is superb. To this day I still hum its songs along with Diddy Kong Racing and FZero X!
Thanks for another informative review glenn. You yet again showed me something i had not tried before on the n64, can't wait to see how it plays when i pick it up :))
Hope you enjoy it!
Wow, this game looks gorgeous! I remember the lead up to this game's release, but I never checked it out. In these days, my console of choice for racing games was the Saturn.
My parents were in a bowling league in Southern California at the time, and twice a year we'd go to Las Vegas for some tournament they took part in. So I'd be exposed to all those great Sega arcades, and that swayed me towards the Saturn. But also, that makes me think, that Las Vegas stage you showcased a bit early in this video is remarkably accurate to the city at the time.
I wish I had given this a chance in its day, because it looks rather stellar. Maybe I'll find a copy online sometime and teleport back to those good old 90s days.
I just downloaded 9 games for android emulator and am using an xbox one controller. So great
This is why I love this channel . I tried this back when it was new and got burnt out by the learning curve. I've tried a few times, having heard it was a great racer, but still couldn't get into. Now that you've explained it, I'll give it another go, and try to push past the grind. Thank you, I'd given up on this one.
Yeah it’s one which becomes better as it progresses for sure
Not sure how I missed this back in the day and I was a religious reader of N64 magazine! My favourite racing game was F1 World Grand Prix as I was a big F1 fan at the time and I thought it was an excellent simulation for the time (as well as the brilliant Challenge mode).
Yeah I think N64 magazine gave this a 9.1 score
Damn IMAGINE if it did support the expansion pak!
We can only dream
It would drop the framerate... Just like most other supported games.
@@sander230e That's a misconception. The expansion pak only added more RAM to the console. Many games did end up with a lower framerate because the developer would use the RAM to increase the resolution. But many games also did not suffer from this issue.
bought it, finally
I'm sorry glenn I almost forgot you existed but glad to see you back!
Thanks wade, took a few weeks off for holidays etc
I remember this on the 64 best driver on the console.
Didn't expect this review. Great game
Expect the unexpected!
Great game. I still got my cardridge here and play it sometimes. ☺
I can imagine its a hard game to just dip into, much easier to play it in longer stretches
incredible looking game, seems as though it shouldn't be possible
I had this game back in the day but could never get over the “floaty” car physics when turning corners. Always sliding all over the place. I played the hell out of it though, it was addictive.
Yeah very similar to TGR!
This game feels like something between Gran Turismo 2 and Ridge Racer Type 4 🤔
That’s actually a great way to see it
@@n64glennplant Now that i think about this game, Midway is owned by Nintendo right? If a N64 Mini becomes a real thing this game needs to be on the list!
@@AxelDragani especially since they use copies of real cars and won't have to get licensing rights from the manufacturers, the tracks are also fictional too
The N64 was a beast! Look at this game, absolutely loved it back in the day, great racer. Nice review bud and excellent footage.
I agree! Some of the best-looking N64 games are flat amazing to me, even now..
yeah like beetle adventure racing and 007 the world is not enough, the only down side is that I wish it had at least 128 mb of data in the game cartrige for bigger and better games than 64 mb
I remember renting this game and enjoying the living hell out of it. Would’ve played this more but traded all my 64 stuff for the Dreamcast and later a ps2
I love your videos! It is great to get a closer view to the N64 games. This game does look awesome, certainly among the best of the console, I wish I had seen it back in the day
My favorite n64 racer here. Worth working your way through to the advanced cars.
Yeah they get seriously good!
It wasn’t my style of game but I rented it just to see the amazing graphics.
My all-time favourite
First time I've heard of it. Looks amazing
Hope you try it!
used to have this game when it first came out. then after a while i sold it, and now i'm looking into getting it again. twas a good game.
Very very accurate review.
Especially the part about how frustrating it is in the beginning. I had to really push myself to keep trying to advance.
Glad you persevered 😀
This game was flippig awesome!!! Talk about memory lane! Great Vid sir!!!
thanks Mecca!
@@n64glennplant this needs an HD remaster for the Switch!
This was my favorite racing game on the n64. I played this game religeously . After I beat the game I went and brought a steering wheel just to play it and it worked fine with it. I think this game was better than playstations gran turismo(the ones on ps1). Only thing about this game that was"nt better was that you couldnt buy parts to your car.....
N64 4 Life !
Bill Pippin 💯
Waiting for the classic mini 64
I drool over this game still
I had lots of fun with this game as a kid, especially when using cheat codes to unlock better vehicles. When it came to non-kart racers I liked this game the best followed by Ridge Racer 64 and Automobili Lamborghini.
Never knew there were cheat codes for this!
Found them in an issue of Nintendo Power.
I have been waiting for you to do this game.
Finally got around to doing it!
I was lucky enough to find an NTSC version on the game in good condition with box and manual, right here in Europe, some 10 years ago. I remember reading about the fancy complete re-write of the microcode to push higher numbers of polygons etc, and wanting to own that game for the sheer technical complexity... and then hating it when I actually played it, specifically because of the learning curve.
Then a few years later I gave it another chance, properly started learning the tracks and how to handle the shit cars you get in the beginning, and then really starting liking it a lot. I have yet to complete it but whenever the itch to play a retro racing game arises, this is one I gladly go back to. I think my favourite racing game on N64 remains Ridge Racer 64, for its accessibility and easier difficulty because I'm more a fan of arcade style racing than simulation style. Nevertheless, after some rough beginnings, I can safely say it's one of the best racing games on the system. And I truly am in awe of what the devs managed to achieve with this game, making me wonder what else could have been achieved with the same engine and custom microcode, in the hands of other devs. It's a real shame we will never know.
There is just one problem I have with this game though, and I'm amazed it's not mentioned in the review: THAT SAVE FILE! It takes up AN ENTIRE controller pak!!! Yeah! Imagine if you were stuck with one official controller pak with precious saves on it and you bought this game, and it asked you to throw away everything you had saved, just so you could play it! That's unacceptable. I'm lucky enough that I bought a third party controller pak from the start that had dip switches on it so it was more like 4 controller paks in 1, so I could devote on memory bank to this game, while my other saves were on others, but I know at least one person who bought this game and never played it because of this.
damn the last paragraph lol it's really a WHOLE controller pak !
i have the game, but i didn't bought yet a new controller pak just to play it ! it's just crazy to think you need a whole new memory card just for one game hahahaha
FabioGnecco Well... the original Animal Crossing on Gamecube took an entire 59 blocks memory card or thereabouts. You couldn't save another game on the same card with the space left anyway. But that game came with a free memory card in the box. This N64 game didn't.
It was great, difficult, frustrating especially when the McLaren F1 GTR team boss never offered you the car cuz you drove the Viper. Good Memories.
Had a lot of good memories with this one. When it came out in the US there was a lot of hype for this one. Was pretty tricky to master but once you got good at it felt very satisfying. Probably the cleanest I’ve ever seen this game look.
I haven’t seen many other ultra hdmi videos for this, think it might be the first on UA-cam
N64 Glenn Plant eve back then it looked blurry. Your probably right on that one. Want get my 64 hdmi moded but it’s quite pricey.
Yeah the supply levels are too low for how much demand there is for it
This and GT64 were my fav.
GT64 was like this but more drifting.
World Tour was better but just as fun.
"Can you imagen a game which is better but also just as fun!?"
I literally spent days and nights playing this game
Oh wow, I didn't know this game existed. I'm such a car fan and I loved the Gran Turismo games. This game does look fantastic for a N64 game, which is surprising to me since the N64 really had some limitations. I have already ordered a copy on Amazon. :)
Hope you like it! Give it time because it’s a slow starter but gets better
That game was incredible, though from what I remember also really, really hard.
Love the reviews, I'd be really interested to see a general overview review too, maybe one which you say which games you'd keep and which you wouldn't, or best of genre type thing.
Forgot all about this one, I have played it but it must have been a weekend rental or something. Definitely the best looking racegame on the system!
Melhor jogo da minha infância
Passei muitas horas e dias jogando
Sem parar, esse foi o melhor jogo da minha vida q saudade
Great review! Was looking forward to this ;) Used to grind the sh*t out of this game as a kid because I always felt bad about leaving racing teams due to the confirmation screen with the sad faced team manager asking if you really wanted to leave/change team :P
always nice to see such a long time sub here as ever :)
i missed your reviews, yehawwwwww
And I missed being here
a n i m e
n
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Hell yeah! Glenn is back.
I’m always here in spirit 😂
Pretty cool game I like playing it I own it just havent played it enough I like racing games hope to own all the N64 racing game in the future
This reminds me of Setas canned racing game Rev Limit for the n64 launch? It appeared in the launch promo vid.
Yeah I’ve seen that many times, maybe one day a beta cart will show up
N64 Glenn Plant l hope so eventually one day.
This beautiful looking game was really hard for me, the butter wheels mechanics was to much.
But look at those graphics 🤩
0:43 to 0:53 I don't remember other racer on that generation with all that detailed backgrounds.
Superb!
This is always a nice game to shove in the face of those ridiculous PS1 fanboys that claim their beloved console was more powerful than the N64.
A great example of what can be done with care and attention to the code (and microcode).
Yeah a great late release title
Definitely the best racing game doesn't feel like n64 very impressive
Another great review Glen :-) I like that you mentioned this looking like an early PS2 game. There were many games on the N64 that looked almost as good, or even better when the PS2 came out as I`m sure you know. Beetle Racing is still up there for me for a great racer, but this does look amazing.
Yeah especially some of the later N64 titles
The n64 was no where what the ps2 can do, later in n64 life cycle, my god you people are either blind or crazy.🙄
Loved this game 😍😍
Me 2 👍
For me at that time the cruel music of Zack Ohren unfortunately destroyed the whole game. And even today - 21 years later - that hasn't changed for me.
Nothing against Zack Ohren personally, he certainly makes wonderful music these days, but I would have loved to hear Barry Leitch as the musician, who did a very good job for Top Gear Rally.
Barry Leitch as the musician, Expansion Pak-Support for full screen high res graphics, licensed cars, weather effects and a nice Box-Art would have upgraded the game a lot...time for a Rom-Hack ;-)
Las Vegas track looks like an early PS2 game for sure. This game is a bit hard do handle at first. But as you mentioned it's really a question of time making progress in the game in order to be driving more 'safely'.
Great review Glenn, WDC looks really great and is def one of the BEST racing games on the N64 besides Top Gear Overdrive, Lamborghini Automobili and Rush 2049!
I liked overdrive 😬 amazing soundtrack in that
Thanks to you Glenn i'm able to know this game's existence since i never knew that N64 had this game, its in the same level of quality of Gran turismo and Need for speed series i just need to get this, Overdrive and Rush 2049 to complete my collection of best racing games on n64!
ZenIceHero - What do you consider to be the top five Nintendo 64 racing games?
There is the top five realistic racers and the top five futuristic racers which are: Rush 2049, WipeOut, F-Zero X, Hydro Thunder and Star wars racers. Lamborghini Automobili, Top Gear Overdrive, World Driver Championship, Cruis'n the World and Ridge Racer.
Grew up on the n64 and sega saturn. Loving these reviews would love to see some psx or sega saturn gems
Maybe one day but for now I want to get the 100% N64 titles polished off