Ford Simulator

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Game Review

Ford Simulator is a driving simulator that is meant to advertise Ford vehicles and was developed by Beck-Tech and the SoftAd Group, and published by Ford Motor Company in 1987 for DOS.

It was a novel idea in its day and was distributed for free inside a magazine. The game utilizes a first-person perspective during game play.

The point of the game was to let players get a feel for how 16 cars in the 1988 Ford lineup would drive. It was created to mimic the physics of driving each of the cars. The game features 4 different events you can drive the cars in. The events are Touring, Drag Strip, Slalom, and Grand Prix. Touring allows you to just drive and get a feel for the car. Drag Strip is best 0-60 time on a straight course. Slalom is a curvy road, hazard avoiding track. And Grand Prix is a 5 lap race around a track. Each event is intended to show how different parts of the car handle in certain conditions. It also came with a buyer’s guide to build your ideal car and calculate pricing, and a feedback option.

For an advertisement, Ford Simulator was decently well done and got pretty good reviews once people got to playing it. It even went on to have about 3 sequels made. The game didn't age well, the graphics and sounds are poor, but it's an interesting piece of computer software history.

Review by: Tasha
Published: 12 July 2016 9:21 pm