Sports Car GT

Sports Car GT
Cover art featuring a BMW M3 from the 1998 IMSA GT Championship
Developer(s)Point of View (PS)
Image Space Incorporated (PC)
Westwood Pacific/Burst Studios
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
EnginegMotor1 (PC)
Platform(s)PlayStation, Windows
ReleasePlayStation
  • NA: March 31, 1999[1]
  • EU: April 23, 1999
Windows
  • NA: April 30, 1999
Genre(s)Sim racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Sports Car GT is a 1999 racing sim video game published by Electronic Arts (EA). Based on real-life sports car racing, it is a simulator but with a slight arcade-style gameplay.[2] It was developed by Image Space Incorporated (ISI) for Microsoft Windows, and by Point of View for PlayStation, resulting in two distinct versions.[3]

Sports Car GT was initially a project of Virgin Interactive until Electronic Arts bought its North American division from Westwood Studios.[3][4] Development began in early 1997 starting as a licensed game based on the IMSA GT Championship, as part of a deal in which Virgin Interactive started sponsoring their Supreme GT Series.[5][6] The game underwent various titles[7] and was set to be released as Sports Car Supreme GT in October 1998[8] with licensed Professional SportsCar Racing (PSCR) branding shown on pre-release advertizing.[9][10][11] However amid Virgin Interactive's takeover, Electronic Arts decided to publish the game delayed to 1999 under the name Sports Car GT,[12] and it ended up without the official PSCR license.

The game features a range of licensed cars from manufacturers including BMW, McLaren, Porsche, Panoz, Vector, Mosler, Callaway, Lister and Saleen,[13] including their specific paintjobs from the 1998 and 1997 IMSA seasons,[14] as well as the roster of the championship's real tracks.[15] The PlayStation version of Sports Car GT received mixed or negative reviews, whereas the PC version received a favorable reception: it received a following and many mods have been developed for it.[16] It is a spiritual predecessor to rFactor and rFactor 2.[16]

  1. ^ "Electronic Arts Ships Sports Car GT for the PlayStation". Business Wire. March 31, 1999. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2022 – via The Free Library.
  2. ^ "GameOver - Sports Car GT (c) Electronic Arts". www.game-over.net. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference CNGPC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "GameOver - Sports Car GT (C) Electronic Arts".
  5. ^ Staff, I. G. N. (1997-05-06). "Virgin Enters Endurance Race". IGN. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  6. ^ "Virgin Becomes Speed Demon". GameSpot. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  7. ^ Jenovi (2019-03-21). "IMSA Sony PSX Supreme GT Alpha | Prototype 4 (Released)". RetroRGB. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  8. ^ "Game Track". Tips & Tricks. October 1998. p. 84.
  9. ^ "SPORTS CAR SUPREME GT (NTSC-U) - USA ADVERT PAGE 2". psxdatacenter.com. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  10. ^ "Electronics Boutique - September 1998". Next Generation. October 1998. p. 118.
  11. ^ Egm magazine (2022-12-23). Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 112 ( November 1998).
  12. ^ "PlayStation: EA Revs Up Sports Car GT". IGN (archived). 1998-11-19. Archived from the original on 2002-08-17. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference gspotpc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ "Sports Car". Next Generation. Vol. 4, no. 45. September 1998. p. 68.
  15. ^ "PlayStation: Sports Car GT preview". 3 April 1999. Archived from the original on 2002-02-22. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  16. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).