With the popularity of motorsport, it’s no surprise to see it featured in non-racing, mainstream gaming titles. Here are three of the coolest examples.
Image credit: IO Interactive
It is often said that motor racing began as soon as the second car was invented, and thus racing and cars have become ingrained in our very culture. As a result, there are plenty of times in mainstream forms of media when the racing world collides.
Like for example, the MCU movie Iron Man 2 had Tony Stark driving around Monaco in a historic Grand Prix car. Subsequently, this extends to video games as well. Here are three examples of motorsport cropping up in video games that aren’t centred on driving and racing.
Hitman
In the 2018 game Hitman 2, there’s a mission called The Finish Line, in which Agent 47 attends the Global Innovation Race event in Miami. He is tasked with assassinating Robert Knox, the CEO of a corporation called Kronstadt Industries, and his daughter Sierra who is the CFO.
Kronstadt specialise in the programming of robots and artificial intelligence, but also deal next-generation military tech on the black market and sold weapons that are used in war crimes. Sierra Knox is competing in her Kronstadt RK Mark III, and is one of the favourites to contend for victory along with Kowoon Heavy Industries’ CEO Moses Lee.
There are many ways to achieve the aim of the mission but the most hands on way is to subdue a Kronstadt mechanic and steal their clothes, then head to the pit garage to be ready to serve a pit stop for Sierra Knox. 47 will screw a wheel on improperly, and it will come off as soon as she leaves the pit lane, resulting in a massive collision and the elimination of Sierra.
The development team does a great job at capturing the immersion of attending a high profile racing event. Plus, the cars that Moses Lee, Sierra Knox and all the other competitors drive are very striking Le Mans Prototype-inspired vehicles, so they look amazing. Just a shame that there’s no option to subdue one of the drivers and get in their car to take out Knox in a more direct manner.
Call of Duty
Not long ago, it initially seemed that the beta for the upcoming new Call of Duty game Modern Warfare 2 would feature a multiplayer map inspired by the Marina Bay Grand Prix paddock area. Since then, however, it would appear that Infinity Ward and Activision changed their minds, and didn’t include it in the beta.
Here’s hoping that they have merely delayed its debut for when the game releases on 28 October instead of cancelling it. This is a real possibility as it seems all references to it across all official COD social channels have been wiped. That would be a real kick in the teeth for all the racing fans who got hyped when the trailer was released.
Another time the F1 world collided with Call of Duty aside from Lando Norris winning a Warzone match on the same day he got his first Grand Prix podium, was when Lewis Hamilton made a cameo in one of the games. In Infinity Ward’s second most recent game before MW2, Hamilton appeared as engineer Carl Hamilton in the Infinite Warfare campaign.
On another note, Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo also appear in FIFA 21 as playable characters. But back to the MW2 Marina Bay Grand Prix map, all the hype for that multiplayer 6v6 map hopefully will not go unfulfilled. If it has been cancelled, that would be extremely disappointing.
Mafia
In Mafia, protagonist Tommy Angelo is nothing but a humble taxi driver in 1930s Illinois. He however has a chance run-in with the Italian Mafia that showcases a life of reward too big to ignore.
In the fifth campaign mission Fairplay, the narrative jumps forward two years and Angelo is asked to substitute for a driver whose arm was broken by a thug. He goes to the Lost Heaven Racing Circuit after having stolen a car from there previously, and competes in pre-war era Grand Prix cars.
The track itself is very reminiscent of racing venues of the era, with straw bails and brick walls on the side of the circuit. The layout resembles Laguna Seca quite loosely, but it also features very steep banked corners much like the Autódromo de Sitges-Terramar circuit in Spain.
Mafia does an immaculate job capturing the era appropriate environment. The race is only three laps but it was enough to be widely dubbed as “the most difficult mission” in the game by many players.
What are other examples of non-racing games that feature motorsport? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
