Drive America Beta Turns the Commodore 64 Into a Coast-to-Coast Racing Adventure

Developer Technician Ted has released a playable beta of Drive America, an ambitious Commodore 64 racing game inspired by the branching-road structure of classic arcade racers.

Developer Technician Ted has released a playable beta of Drive America, an ambitious Commodore 64 racing game inspired by the branching-road structure of classic arcade racers. The adventure begins in New York and challenges players to travel west across the United States, eventually reaching California. Unlike a conventional circuit racer, the game presents a sequence of point-to-point stages with alternative routes at state boundaries. The developer describes fifteen states and sixty-four possible routes, with scenery, weather and music changing throughout the journey. Players can choose between four vehicles with different handling characteristics, while ten computer-controlled rivals compete for position. Additional hazards include traffic, wildlife, weather changes and damage that must be repaired between stages. The game uses a raster-based road presentation intended to create the impression of bends, hills and roadside scenery on the C64's limited graphics hardware. Each state has its own SID soundtrack. Drive America is currently a beta rather than a completed commercial release, and the developer acknowledges that graphics and sprite improvements remain planned. The downloadable disk image is intended for PAL systems, with NTSC compatibility not currently established. Loading times may also be substantial on original 1541 drives. Nevertheless, the project is an interesting attempt to create a comparatively large racing adventure on 8-bit hardware. The Commodore 64 was never famous for effortless cross-country driving. Apparently it has now decided to attempt an American road trip anyway, complete with bad weather, unreliable traffic and the occasional extremely inconvenient moose.