Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Car and Driver Presents Grand Tour Racing ’98 delivers a straightforward yet varied racing experience. You’ll choose from five distinct car classes—4×4 Buggies, Dakar Rally machines, Sports cars, open-wheel Indy racers, and Rally beasts—each offering unique handling characteristics and power curves. The core of the game revolves around mastering 36 tracks spread across six exotic locations: Moscow, Easter Island, Scotland, Hong Kong, Egypt, and Switzerland. While each location features six layout variations, you’ll find that most differences stem from tweaks like reversed direction, added ramps, or altered weather conditions rather than entirely new road designs.

The team selection adds another layer of depth, as eight distinct squads each field five cars with subtly different behaviors. From aggressive drift-heavy setups to grippy, high-speed specialists, picking the right team can mean the difference between winning by seconds or finishing mid-pack. The AI opponents adapt to your driving style, sometimes pushing you into mistakes on tight hairpins or forcing you wide on off-road stretches, so you’ll need to learn braking points and throttle control for each surface—whether it’s mud in Egypt or ice in Switzerland.

Multiplayer is where Grand Tour Racing ’98 shines if you have friends over and a link cable or split-screen at the ready. Up to four players can duke it out in frantic side-by-side action, trading paint and jostling for position in real time. The split-screen mode remains functional, albeit with a slight slowdown when all four screens are rendered simultaneously, but it’s still a blast to challenge your buddies on the same physical track. While there’s no online play, the local multiplayer keeps the competition fierce and highly replayable.

Graphics

For a late-’90s title, Grand Tour Racing ’98 sports an appealing visual package that manages to capture the atmosphere of diverse locales. Vehicle models are reasonably detailed, showcasing spokes on rally wheels and realistic suspension articulation when you take a jump. The environments, though often reused in track variations, are rich with thematic props—sand dunes in Egypt, neon-lit skyscrapers in Hong Kong, and ice floes in Scotland—that help each course feel distinct at a glance.

Texture quality can appear blocky by today’s standards, but it was competitive for its era and retains a certain nostalgic charm. Weather effects, like drifting snow or swirling desert dust, add tactical considerations as well as visual flair. Lighting does a decent job of conveying time of day, from the pink skies over Easter Island to the golden twilight in Moscow. However, some track sections suffer from pop-in, especially when you veer off-road into densely forested areas or behind rocky outcrops.

Special attention was given to car damage and rollover animations. When you flip your vehicle, the game will automatically flip you back upright—an admittedly forgiving feature that keeps the action moving but occasionally looks unnatural. Unfortunately, drive into water or drop into lava and you’ll suffer an instant game-over, complete with a brief splash or explosion animation—tough love for off-course excursions. Despite these quirks, the graphics overall remain serviceable and support the high-speed thrills the game aims to deliver.

Story

As a racing title, Grand Tour Racing ’98 doesn’t weave a deep narrative, but it does frame its events as part of a globe-spanning Grand Tour sanctioned by Car and Driver magazine. The game’s opening sequence positions you as a recruit in a high-stakes racing circuit, challenging you to prove your skills across six unique environments. While the “story” is more of a loose premise than a character-driven plot, it does provide context for why you’re racing in Siberian blizzards one moment and scorching Sahara sands the next.

Between races, you’re treated to brief textual updates and team communications that hint at rivalries and performance goals. These snippets offer just enough flavor to make you feel connected to your chosen squad without bogging you down in lengthy cutscenes. The Car and Driver branding appears in menus and loading screens, reinforcing that you’re not just racing—you’re participating in a magazine-backed tour that honors automotive expertise and style.

Ultimately, the narrative framework serves as a functional backdrop rather than the main attraction. If you’re seeking a deep storyline with branching dialogue or cinematic interludes, you won’t find it here. Instead, the focus remains squarely on track mastery and vehicle performance, with the Car and Driver veneer lending an air of authenticity and journalistic flair to the proceedings.

Overall Experience

Grand Tour Racing ’98 strikes a balance between accessible arcade thrills and nuanced handling for enthusiasts. Its wealth of tracks and car classes ensures that you’ll never run out of challenges, and the subtle variations in each course keep repeated laps from feeling too stale. The forgiving rollover mechanic means you spend more time racing and less time flipping your car back upright, though the instant-death water and lava hazards can still catch you off-guard.

The 1990s rave soundtrack is undeniably of its era: high-energy beats that either get your pulse racing as you barrel down a straightaway or become grating after extended play sessions. Fortunately, you can adjust audio levels or switch off the music entirely if you prefer to listen to your own tunes while tackling an Indy track in Switzerland. Sound effects like gravel crunching under tires and roar of the engine are solid, if not groundbreaking.

Local multiplayer remains the game’s standout feature, offering hours of head-to-head action that capture the joy of couch competition. Whether you’re swapping taunts over a split-screen battle or trading high scores via link cable, the social aspect elevates an already robust package. If you’re looking for a nostalgic trip through late-’90s racing design—complete with exotic locales, varied car classes, and that unmistakable rave soundtrack—Car and Driver Presents Grand Tour Racing ’98 is a well-rounded pick that still holds up as a retro contender today.

Retro Replay Score

7.6/10