Ford Simulator

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

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

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 vehicles. The game features four different events you can move the cars in. The events are Touring, Drag Strip, Slalom, and Grand Prix. Touring allows you to drive and get a feel for the vehicle. Drag Strip is best 0-60 times on a straight course. Slalom is a curvy road, hazard-avoiding track. And Grand Prix is a five-lap race around a track. Each event is intended to show how different parts of the car handle certain conditions. It also came with a buyer's guide to build your ideal vehicle and calculate pricing and a feedback option.

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