Feel free to share anything about Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (1990) here!

I agree with "Amiga500". I wonder if you ever played this game with a friend? Really fun and addictive. And btw., you don't have to WIN every race for the game to continue. You just have to make it to the first 10. And that's really fun with a friend I even liked the second part though it had no gasoline-factor. The other ones I've never tried (sorry

This holds up well compared with the sequels in my opinion. Lotus III is pretty bad: a classic example of thoughtlessly adding unnecessary features.

As far as this kind of thing goes, it's up there with my favourites. One of the few things I boot up my ST emulator for these days.

I never played one of the sequels (maybe part 3 once many years ago, but my memories of it are very fuzzy), but I can imagine that adding anything besides different cars could ruin the simple fun this game has to offer.


To be honest: While testing the game for the review, I almost felt a bit sorry that I had not played it back in the days of old, because it could have been just my cup of tea. That is if there ever was a decent DOS port.

As I tried to hint at in my introduction, the third part really has major issues. I'd say the game's speed is Lotus' main asset. Well, guess what: Some graphical sets used in part 3 make the graphics unbelievably jerky, and in consequence the car uncontrollable. Huge disappointment.

The Ultimate Challenge, as Lotus III was called on PC, doesn't suffer from any frame rate or technical issues, but it's still not very good!

Then you have not played it on an Amiga 500 In the mountain scenery, the framerate is so low that it looks like you're driving backwards!

And, well, those three cars all feel exactly the same, the course generator is a bad joke etc.

I'm sure the decent speed achieved in this game is at least partly down to the half-screen display in single-player. But give me decent speed and I can put up with a barely-animated shot of some mechanics - I'd rather that than have the frame rate struggling to keep up with the action.

But yes, Lotus III (or Ultimate Challenge) has bigger problems than just its many technical issues!

I never played the second one, or managed to get it working on my ST emulator - I'm curious to try it one day.

Hmmm… I am not that sure about that one, because it still runs smoothly in the two player mode, with a full screen to animate. My guess would be that they just were lazy and it's easier to put a picture on the second half of the screen instead of writing a full screen mode.

I played the PC version of it. What can i say.. i did actually enjoy it, BUT.. it feels as if the game is slightly imcomplete. I dunno.. maybe a wider selection of cars wouldn't hurt... more colours at least. Oh yeah, and what's definitely missing is a little addon to physics of the game. C'mon, the car should at least jump sometimes on slopes and mounds... here it seems to be stuck dead to the ground as if there's some unbelievable magnet below.. these kind of things destroy the pleasure a great deal. Also, here the cars never crash and collisions are not just non-realistic, but annoying as hell. I ran into someone from behind and awaaaaay he goes... pfff..