By:
MGI

Pick up Viper Racing's box at your local retailer. Look at the cover, the insert and then the back. Read about the features and glance over the screenshots and the artwork. For good measure, glance at the system requirements and the price tag. On the surface, Sierra Sport's Viper Racing looks like the dozens of other racers sitting alongside it on the shelf. Open the box, however, and take out the jewel case. Insert the CD into the tray and go through the installation process. Configure your controls and start the game and all of a sudden Viper Racing looks like none of those games you left behind on the shelf. That's because Sierra and MGI have spent an extraordinary amount of time under the hood of the game, and have implemented an astounding level of realism while keeping the game fun for non-hardcore drivers.

Where does experience for this high level of realism come from? Are the top brass at MGI all driving Dodge Vipers? Actually, yes, they are. MGI felt that their experiences behind the wheels of their 8.0 liter V-10s should be shared with gamers alike. And instead of flaunting about it in a wasted .plan file, they actually took the time to develop an accurately modeled physics engine which takes into account every intricate detail within each car, track and the environment as a whole.

The game, as the title implies, puts you behind the wheel of Dodge's GTS variant of their Viper. The GTS is the hardtop cousin of the original RT/10, a sports car Dodge is rather proud of. The Viper embodies the appeal of the mid-1900 large-block hotrods; all the power of an era gone by, with all the safety and emission features of today. Players will have to maneuver these beasts across the finish lines of a number of courses while racing a pack of equally able Vipers. Those who come out on top every time are not only crowned the champion, but are given the keys to a brand new Viper GTS-R, the flagship of the Viper line.