History VideoGame / TestDrive

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVHconFnPfA As one of the earliest Anti-Piracy methods]] [[SensoryAbuse involving ear rape]], if you play a pirated copy of ''Test Drive II'', [[EarAche kiss your eardrums goodbye!]] [[TrollingCreator Accolade]] might as well stake a claim of being the fathers of WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s.

--> "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis DO NOT. HIT. THE WALL!]]"
--> "THAT'S WHAT WE CAME HERE TO SEE!"

* WithThisHerring: You start the Career Mode with a Top, [[TheAllegedCar an unremarkable hatchback]] you inherit from your now-deceased grandmother.

* Original series (1987–2002), which in turn can be divided in:
** [[VideoGame/TestDriveOriginalTrilogy Original trilogy]] (1987–1990)
*** ''Test Drive'' (1987)
*** ''The Duel: Test Drive II'' (1989)
*** ''Test Drive III: The Passion'' (1990)
** Pitbull Syndicate/Infogrames era (1997–2002)
*** ''Test Drive 4'' (1997)
*** ''Test Drive 5'' (1998)
*** ''Test Drive 6'' (1999)
*** ''Test Drive 2001'' (2000): A MissionPackSequel to the UsefulNotes/GameBoy Color version of ''Test Drive 6''.
*** ''TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed'' / ''[[MarketBasedTitle Test Drive]]'' in North America (2002)

* ImprobablyCoolCar: The Nissan Skyline GTR R33 (in ''5'') and R34, along with the Subaru Impreza 22B are these in ''6'' and the 2002 reboot, considering that they weren't sold in America and Europe.

** ''Test Drive Cycles'' (2000)

* Original series (1987–2002)
** ''Test Drive'' (1987)
** ''The Duel: Test Drive II'' (1989)
** ''Test Drive III: The Passion'' (1990)
** ''Test Drive 4'' (1997)
** ''Test Drive 5'' (1998)
** ''Test Drive 6'' (1999)
** ''Test Drive 2001'' (2000): A MissionPackSequel to the UsefulNotes/GameBoy Color version of ''Test Drive 6''.
** ''TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed'' / ''[[MarketBasedTitle Test Drive]]'' in North America (2002)

!! Tropes in ''Test Drive'' (1987) and ''The Duel: Test Drive II'' (1989):
* BloodSport: While the first game has you simply navigating your car through the streets, ''The Duel'' adds in the option to battle the computer-controlled opponent, while also trying to evade police cars.
* CoolCar: ''Test Drive'' features the coolest sports cars of its time: the Chevrolet Corvette (C4), the Porsche 930 Turbo, the Ferrari Testarossa, the Lamborghini Countach, and the Lotus Esprit Turbo.
* CopyProtection: Multiple forms:
** The game used a wheel with car keys on it for answering a question.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVHconFnPfA As one of the earliest Anti-Piracy methods]] [[SensoryAbuse involving ear rape]], if you play a pirated copy of ''Test Drive II'', [[EarAche kiss your eardrums goodbye!]] [[TrollingCreator Accolade]] might as well stake a claim of being the fathers of WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Contact with vehicles, cars, or anything else instantly causes the car to crash - as does redlining the engine. Also, you actually have to stop at the gas stations at the end of each track, lest you run out of gas and lose a life. So there's no flying past the finish line like in all other racing games.
* DiegeticInterface: The game does not use a HUD; instead it uses the cockpits and dashboards of the car(s). Naturally, some InterfaceScrew can occur with the windshield.
* EnemyDetectingRadar: Used by cops to catch speeders. You can detect its use, but it can also mean there's an incoming truck.
* ExpansionPack:
** Most likely due to the base version of ''The Duel: Test Drive II'' only giving the option of choosing between two vehicles (a Ferrari F40 or a Porsche 959; the console version gives three by adding the Lamborghini Diablo), for non-console versions Accolade later released two data disks, which included more playable cars. These were released on many platforms:
*** The "Supercars" car disk included five cars similar to those in the original ''Test Drive'', most of them in newer and faster versions: a Lotus Esprit Turbo, a Ferrari Testarossa, a Ruf Twin Turbo, a Lamborghini Countach and a Chevrolet Corvette (C4) [=ZR1=].
*** The "Muscle Cars" car disk included five muscle cars from the 1960s: a 1963 Corvette Stingray, 1969 Camaro ZL-1 COPO, 1968 Mustang Shelby [=GT500=], 1967 Pontiac GTO and a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona.
** Later, two "scenery disks" were released for ''Test Drive II'', each containing an additional course:
*** "California Challenge", which included seven stages, each representing a section of a southbound crossing of the state of California.
*** "European Challenge", which allowed players to travel through six different European countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Spain.
* LevelGoal: The way to mark the end to the levels in the first two games is to stop at a gas station.
* NonStandardGameOver: If you tried to outrun the police, they would get ahead of you and block the road with their car to force you to stop. If you chose to ram their car, that was an automatic game over as the manual states doing this gets you arrested and imprisoned.
* SequelTheOriginalTitle: The sequel of ''Test Drive'' is titled ''The Duel: Test Drive II''. Subverted with the third entry, which would be titled ''Test Drive III: The Passion''.
* SpritePolygonMix: The track is made of vector graphics without textures, everything else from the interior of the player's car to all other cars on the road (non-scaling sprites at various fixed scales drawn from ahead and behind) to the non-race screens are pixel graphics.
* SuddenlyVoiced: The player character in the ''UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo'' version of ''The Duel: Test Drive II'' is voiced, in two specific circumstances: being chased by a police unit, or when evading one.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Despite being based on ordinary Malaise-era American sedans, notorious in real life for having woefully underpowered engines, the police cars will easily breeze by your sports car at speeds in excess of 130 miles per hour to pull you over.
* TimedMission: Timer is not displayed, and going too slow causes a loss at the next checkpoint. In fact, the clock is the only opponent you have in the first game. Actual races weren't possible before ''The Duel: Test Drive II''.
* WraparoundBackground: The setting is a cliffside, but aside from turns, it's rather monotonous. It's similar to making the background go in a loop for a side-scrolling 2D game.

''Test Drive'' was a commercial success, with sales having surpassed 250,000 copies by November 1989, and received generally positive reviews from video game critics, and as such it began to spawn several sequels and spin-offs. Distinctive developed its 1989 sequel, ''The Duel: Test Drive II'', using several software libraries. Most infamously, Distinctive (as Unlimited Software, Inc.) used the software libraries for an MS-DOS port of ''VideoGame/{{OutRun}}'', resulting in the ''Accolade v. Distinctive'' lawsuit; Distinctive Software won, so the rights to make the ''Test Drive'' games without the source code transferred to Accolade. Another sequel, ''Test Drive III: The Passion'', was developed and published by Accolade in 1990.

%%* LevelGoal: Checkpoints.

In 2006, Eden Games released ''VideoGame/TestDriveUnlimited'', a complete reboot of the entire series featuring an open world that set players loose on the island of [[UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} Oʻahu]]; its sequel ''Test Drive Unlimited 2'' was released in 2011 and includes both Oʻahu and the Spanish island of Ibiza. ''Ferrari Racing Legends'' on the other hand is a track-based racer developed by Slightly Mad Studios with collections of classic layouts of famous racing tracks and, as the name suggests, it only features Ferraris, in celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Italian sports car manufacturer.

A new ''Test Drive'' is currently in development by Kylotonn that will be published by Nacon (formerly Bigben Interactive), who acquired the ''Test Drive'' franchise from Atari SA in 2016. [[https://twitter.com/testdrive/status/1279051015002525696 After a teaser video clip]] was revealed on July 3, 2020, a teaser trailer revealed at Nacon Connect on July 7, 2020 announced that the next game will be called ''Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown''.

** ''Test Drive 2001'' (2000): A MissionPackSequel to the UsefulNotes/GameBoy Color version of ''Test Drive 6''.

** ''Test Drive 2001'' (2000)

The series began in 1987, when Accolade published ''Test Drive'' as a computer game worldwide, with the quality of the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and DOS ports differing from each other; the Amiga version featured detailed visuals and realistic audio, and the Commodore 64 and DOS ports were of similar quality to the Amiga version, while its Atari ST counterpart used simplified graphics and sound effects. Creator/ElectronicArts released the game in the United Kingdom (more on that later).

''Test Drive'' was a commercial success, with sales having surpassed 250,000 copies by November 1989, and received generally positive reviews from video game critics, and as such it began to spawn several sequels and spin-offs. Distinctive Software developed its 1989 sequel, ''The Duel: Test Drive II'', using several software libraries. Most infamously, Distinctive (as Unlimited Software, Inc.) used the software libraries for an MS-DOS port of ''VideoGame/{{OutRun}}'', resulting in the ''Accolade v. Distinctive'' lawsuit; Distinctive Software won, so the rights to make the ''Test Drive'' games without the source code transferred to Accolade. Another sequel, ''Test Drive III: The Passion'', was developed and published by Accolade in 1990.

After ''Test Drive III'', the franchise fell in dormancy a few years, during which old partner Electronic Arts got bitten by the bug of racing games threw their hat in the ring with their ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' series, [[VideoGame/TheNeedForSpeed the first game of which]] was clearly made in the style of the first three ''Test Drive'' games. This led Accolade to reinvent the franchise in 1997 with brand new titles, the first of which was ''Test Drive: Off-Road'', an off-road truck racing spinoff, and ''Test Drive 4'', the first video game developed by Pitbull Syndicate. In 1998, Pitbull Syndicate developed two further ''Test Drive'' titles, ''Test Drive 4X4'' (also known as ''Test Drive Off-Road 2''), a sequel to the ''Test Drive: Off-Road'' spinoff, and ''Test Drive 5''.

* CoolCar: ''Test Drive'' features the coolest sports cars of its time[[note]]Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 930 Turbo, Ferrari Testarossa, Lamborghini Countach[[/note]] [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and the Lotus Esprit Turbo]].

* ArtificialStupidity: Much like Overdrive (see below), the 5th-generation era is pretty notorious for having inept AI that tends to run into obstacles or traffic, sometimes giving the player a chance to lead.

A new ''Test Drive'' is currently in development by Kylotonn that will be published by Nacon (formerly Bigben Interactive), who acquired the ''Test Drive'' franchise from Atari SA in 2016. [[https://twitter.com/testdrive/status/1279051015002525696 After a teaser video clip]] was revealed on July 3, 2020, showing the formation of a crown-shaped logo with the letters "SC" in it, a teaser trailer revealed at Nacon Connect on July 7, 2020 announced that the next game will be called ''VideoGame/TestDriveUnlimited Solar Crown''.

In May 2002, Infogrames released a ContinuityReboot of the series titled ''TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed'' (released as simply ''Test Drive'' [[MarketBasedTitle in North America]]) and was the last entry in the series to be developed by Pitbull Syndicate. It was also the first entry in the series to feature a storyline, which has the protagonist Dennis Black competing against opponents in order to reveal the kingpin behind the local street racing scene. The next game in the series, ''Test Drive: Eve of Destruction'', was developed by Monster Games in 2003, and was released in 2004. The game was released in Europe under the name of ''Driven to Destruction''.

In 2006, Eden Games released ''VideoGame/TestDriveUnlimited'', a ContinuityReboot of the entire series featuring an open world that set players loose on the island of [[UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} Oʻahu]]; its sequel ''Test Drive Unlimited 2'' was released in 2011 and includes both Oʻahu and the Spanish island of Ibiza. ''Ferrari Racing Legends'' on the other hand is a track-based racer developed by Slightly Mad Studios with collections of classic layouts of famous racing tracks and, as the name suggests, it only features Ferraris, in celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Italian sports car manufacturer.

''Test Drive'' is a DrivingGame series that has seen races across the globe, in almost anything with wheels. It's a [[VideoGameLongRunners Long Runner]], as the series has been around since 1987, beginning under Creator/{{Accolade}} and continuing under Infogrames and Creator/{{Atari}} SA and has since been followed by several sequels and spin-offs, the last of which was released in 2012.

In 2006, Eden Games released ''VideoGame/TestDriveUnlimited'', a ContinuityReboot featuring an open world that set players loose on the island of [[UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} Oʻahu]]; its sequel ''Test Drive Unlimited 2'' was released in 2011 and includes both Oʻahu and the Spanish island of Ibiza. ''Ferrari Racing Legends'' on the other hand is a track-based racer developed by Slightly Mad Studios with collections of classic layouts of famous racing tracks and, as the name suggests, it only features Ferraris, in celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Italian sports car manufacturer.

In May 2002, Infogrames released a reboot of the series titled ''TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed'' (released as simply ''Test Drive'' [[MarketBasedTitle in North America]]) and was the last entry in the series to be developed by Pitbull Syndicate. It was also the first entry in the series to feature a storyline, which has the protagonist Dennis Black competing against opponents in order to reveal the kingpin behind the local street racing scene. The next game in the series, ''Test Drive: Eve of Destruction'', was developed by Monster Games in 2003, and was released in 2004. The game was released in Europe under the name of ''Driven to Destruction''.

In 2006, Eden Games released ''VideoGame/TestDriveUnlimited'', a spin-off feauring an open world that set players loose on the island of [[UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} Oʻahu]]; its sequel ''Test Drive Unlimited 2'' was released in 2011 and includes both Oʻahu and the Spanish island of Ibiza. ''Ferrari Racing Legends'' on the other hand is a track-based racer developed by Slightly Mad Studios with collections of classic layouts of famous racing tracks and, as the name suggests, it only features Ferraris, in celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Italian sports car manufacturer.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The TVR Cerbera Speed 12 in the 2002 reboot is the most powerful car in the game next to the 2000 Viper Concept, but it handles like a greased pig.

* BloodSport: ''The Duel'' began this trope in the franchise, if not the racing game genre.

* [[OneManArmy One Driver Army]]

* ImprobablyCoolCar: The Nissan Skyline GTR R33 (in 5) and R34, along with the Subaru Impreza 22B are these in 6 and the 2002 reboot, considering that they weren't sold in America and Europe.
* RubberBandAI: Especially flagrant in the 2002 game. If you stay in first place long enough, the opponents will either get a super speed boost or teleport to right behind you.
* RuleOfThree: Circuit races in 6 have three laps. Overdrive also counts.
* ShownTheirWork: Unlike the 5th generation console games, Overdrive features somehow accurate car models, and features correct police liveries on some of the tracks (albeit not their sirens).
* StockFootage: Used in the introduction movies of the fifth and sixth games as well as the ''Off-Road'' series.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The fifth generation console games, mainly 4 and 5 border between this and ArtificialStupidity, often being ahead of the player.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVHconFnPfA As one of the earliest Anti-Piracy methods]] [[SensoryAbuse involving ear rape]], if you play a pirated copy of ''Test Drive 2'', [[EarAche kiss your eardrums goodbye!]] Or you could survive the ear rape, but you'll end up having tinnitus, though. [[TrollingCreator Oh, Accolade!]] Have you been watching too much loud WebAnimation/{{YouTube Poop}}s?
* CriticalExistenceFailure: contact with vehicles, cars, or anything else instantly causes the car to crash - as does redlining the engine. Also, you actually have to stop at the gas stations at the end of each track, lest you run out of gas and lose a life. So there's no flying past the finish line like in all other racing games.

* LevelGoal: Checkpoints.

* CliffHanger: Ends on an unresolved one only in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 version, and it's unknown what happened to Dennis Black.

* MissionControl: Donald.

* TheGambler: Hamada.
* SequentialBoss: Vasily[[spoiler:, as well as Donald,]] races Dennis in [[DuelBoss a series of one-on-one races]] throughout four different cities.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Dennis and Resse. Dennis and Donald.
* WhatTheHellHero: Some opponents are jealous of Dennis' victory.

''Test Drive'' was a commercial success, with sales having surpassed 250,000 copies by November 1989, and received generally positive reviews from video game critics, and as such it began to spawn several sequels and spin-offs. Distinctive Software developed its 1989 sequel, ''The Duel: Test Drive II'', using several software libraries. Most infamously, Distinctive (as Unlimited Software, Inc.) used the software libraries for an MS-DOS port of ''VideoGame/{{Outrun}}'', resulting in the ''Accolade v. Distinctive'' lawsuit; Distinctive Software won, so the rights to make the ''Test Drive'' games without the source code transferred to Accolade. Another sequel, ''Test Drive III: The Passion'', was developed and published by Accolade in 1990.

* EnemyDetectingRadar, used by cops to catch speeders. You can detect its use, but it can also mean there's an incoming truck.

* TimedMission: Timer is not displayed, and going too slow causes a loss at the next checkpoint. In fact, the clock is the only opponent you have in the first game. Actual races weren't possible before ''Test Drive 2: The Duel''.

!! ''Ferrari Racing Legends'' (2012):

* ProductPlacement: Being liicensed by Ferrari, the entire roster is full of their cars.

A DrivingGame series, ''Test Drive'' has seen races across the globe, in almost anything with wheels. 2002's ''TD Overdrive: Brotherhood of Speed'' (or just ''Test Drive'' [[MarketBasedTitle in North America]]) has the protagonist Dennis Black competing against opponents in order to reveal the kingpin behind the street racing scenes. ''VideoGame/TestDriveUnlimited'' set players loose on the island of [[UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} Oʻahu]], ''Unlimited 2'' adds the Spanish island of Ibiza. ''Ferrari Racing Legends'' on the other hand is a track based racer with collections of classic layouts of famous racing tracks and only features, as the name suggests, Ferraris. It's a [[VideoGameLongRunners Long Runner]], as the series has been around since 1987, beginning under Creator/{{Accolade}} and continuing under Infogrames and Creator/{{Atari}} SA. It also has the ''Off-Road'' series which consist of four games (that span from 1997-2001).

* [[EveryoneOwnsAFord Everyone Owns a Ferrari]]: Being liicensed by Ferrari, the entire roster is full of their cars.

* GenreShift: Breaks the tradition of the series test driving happening on public roads. Also it is much less arcade and more simulation.

* ThatOneLevel: As the three campaigns each are strictly sequential, necessary to unlock cars and tracks and each mission varying widely in difficulty, players who flew through a campaign can suddenly hit a (metaphorical) wall and have to [[NintendoHard retry again and again]].

* StockFootage: Used in the introduction movies of '5'', ''6'' and the ''Off-Road'' series.

* HummerDinger: The trope namer appears in the Off-Road spinoffs as one of the playable cars (AND as the cover car in the trilogy).