Hello again dear readers!
As I sat at my keyboard in silent contemplation of the topic for this column (my family called this "sleeping" by the way), and having decided that the
Pipe Jammer lacked the creditable 6-Degrees-of-Separation from the Lotus 7 that I had wanted, my thoughts wandered into the realm of What-If.
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Like, What-If they made the cars and sets I REALLY wanted!  You know you've done it too.  The Ultimate 5 car Muscle Car set.  The coolest Classics set.  Or even the cars that SHOULD be made.  I could go on and on about the cars that SHOULD have made it into the Race Team Series.  And the lack of Import Super Street cars in the line-up (except for maybe the new black paint scheme MR2).  And the unfathomable lack of foresight in securing licenses to some of the hottest cars your children (or perhaps even you) are driving RIGHT NOW.
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That's right, a lot of you have kids that probably drive better than you
do…sometimes.   As a matter of fact, my 9 year old son and 6 year old
daughter have outrun the police successfully on more than one occasion.  And I'm mighty proud of them!
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In case you aren't getting the gist, I'm talking about video games!  And at
the risk of receiving some flak about this, I must say that the only game
platform that delivers realistic driving excitement as of this writing (not
counting Personal Computer games) is the Sony Playstation.
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And if anyone from Mattel reads these pages (and I think a few do - and you know who you are!) they should know they are missing the boat on some great game licenses.  Here's why:
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The Game:  DRIVER
The Premise:  You play an undercover cop posing as a mob getaway car driver.  You go on a series of missions, trying to evade police, while not injuring civilians (you ARE an undercover cop!) while keeping your cover to deeper infiltrate the mob.  Better yet, it's all set in the early '70s muscle car era!
The Gameplay:  The physics engine (what makes the cars "act" real) is top notch, giving a realistic sensation of driving.  The missions are varied, and you can damage your car to the point of failure.
The License: Would it make a good 5 Car Pack?  Well, I took the 5 Car Police Squad pack, replaced the Hydroplane with the new Chevelle, and PRESTO!  Instant "DRIVER, The Video Game" 5 Car Pack.  My son about flipped out ripping the pack open and recreating chase scenes with Sis.  I think it would sell "bin-of-death-loads" because of the crossover collector value.  That, and it's freakin' cool.
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The Game:  GRAN TURISMO
The Premise: Driving simulation that starts you at grass roots (read
inexpensive) sedan racing, on closed circuits, earning money by winning and licenses by passing driving tests, you eventually race incredibly exotic custom racing machines.  One of the big kickers is all the cars really exist, from the Honda Del Sol through the TVR Cerbera and Corvette GS.   With over 150 cars to choose from, you could very well race the car you own (like my wife's Grey '93 Civic 4-door sedan, that I only WISH I could afford to trick out like the one on the game!)
The Gameplay:  The best physics engine ever.  The best graphics on the Playstation.  The most innovative tracks to race on.   The greatest full race replays.  The only drawback?  No collision damage.  You can fling you vehicle headlong into anything and come away with nary a scratch.
The License:  Gran Turismo 2 is slated for a September release, adding
Mercedes, Austin, Jaguar, and a few others to the choice of cars.  Excuse me, but I would drool over a set dedicated to the "Special Edition" cars that can be had on the game.  You would, too.
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The Game:  NEED FOR SPEED III (and later editions)
The Premise:  Much like GT, you race to win to get ahead.  Except you're racing on country roads and city streets.  Hmmmm, don't try this at home kiddies!  Except with Hot Wheels!  Just about every exotic marquee known to man has been represented in the series.
The Gameplay:  I'm not the biggest fan of NFS, but it is a good game.  I
think the only reason I didn't devote more time to it is that GT came along and fulfilled my speed urge.  And unfortunately no car damage again.
The License:  A no brainer.  Mattel already owns the rights to produce 99% of the cars in this game.  Hey, If they can pay for candy bar licenses and board game royalties, why not automobile-related video game rights?  Arv says do it now!
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The Game: TEST DRIVE 4 (and later editions)
The Premise:  Okay, so maybe auto racing games are just "more of the same" to some, but I love them!  This is a great beat-the-clock with modern exotics vs muscle cars on every imaginable roadway.
The Gameplay:  I found TD4 to be more fun than TD5.  The cars were livelier.  The driving is more arcade-like, with wild high flying jumps and crashes.  And no damage to their precious licensed vehicles.
The License:  Again, Mattel owns the rights to the cars, so why not the game name???
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The Game:  TOCA TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
The Premise:  This is based on the real life TC race series in England.
These real-men thrash each other more in one lap than them NASCAR sissy-boys do in a whole race.  And the game gleefully promotes this kind of behavior, encouraging you to use your fellow racers as guardrails and brake-assists.
The Gameplay:  Touchy in the corners, the car really handles like a
front-drive-car at the limits.  Crash-em-up gameplay and a host of nifty
cheats (like "go-kart view" which is my favorite) really make this a fun game to bang around in.
The License:  Ahhhh, Mattel owns Matchbox, which has at least 3 cars that match the description of modern European touring car.  How hard would it be to expand and modify these to fit the parameters of the game license?  Any day now…
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The Game:  MICRO MACHINES V3
The Premise:  You and up to 7 of your friends can drive around such exotic scenery as classroom tables, pool tables, and dinner tables, in elimination style racing.  It's all done very tongue-in-cheek, though even with the all the funny stuff, the competition can get quite fierce.
The Gameplay:  If you never got the hang of steering a remote control car, you may have problems with this one.  The racing is viewed from a sort of floating overhead camera, which is VERY mobile, and leaves you having to drive the little cars as you would an RC car.  Sometimes left is right and right is left.  Or it's right is right when left is…you know what I mean.
The License:  Whoops!  GALOOB owns this one!!!!  And Surprise!!!  They sell the cars that you race on the game, too!!!  What a novel idea!
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Is that enough for now?  Except for the desire to turn an Ice Cream Truck
into "Sweet Tooth" from the TWISTED METAL series, I guess that's it.  There are several other good games out there, but I'm running long on this as it is.  I personally wouldn't even have read this far!   And you thought I was going to talk about the best cars for the best sets…that's for another late deadline.  Until next time, play with your Hot Wheels, go see some races, and if you have kids, get them into something with an internal combustion engine.  It makes all the difference in the world.  Ta-Ta!