Vette!
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Vette! is a 1989 racing video game for DOS, Macintosh and PC-98 where the object is racing a Chevrolet Corvette through the streets of San Francisco. The game was notable for its (at the time) detailed flat-shaded polygon rendering of San Francisco streets. It was released on three floppy disks with different builds available for graphics hardware of the day (CGA, VGA, Hercules...) It was also released with a large instruction manual that gave detailed specs about the cars and details about various areas in the city. As is typical with games at the time, Vette! came with a crude form of Copy Protection where players have to answer a question from a manual to verify that they own a legitimate copy; failure to answer the question will result in the game crashing after playing for a limited time with the message "You have been caught driving a stolen Vette!"
The game featured a completely 3D rendered San Francisco, with many famous landmarks visible in the game including the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay Bridge, and you can even drive down Lombard Street, known as the "Crookedest Street In The U.S." by locals. The game gave players freedom that was not seen in games before, and for many years after, Vette!'s release. There were also many features that were unheard of in 1989, including:
- Car damage that affected the car's engine and handling.
- Full control over the game's camera views, including interior cam with full working dashboard.
- The presence and interaction of law enforcement, in which you get pulled over and must give an excuse as to your erratic driving.
- The ability to drive anywhere within the accurately modeled city, including highways, tunnels, and bridges.
- Pulling over at the various gas stations was the only way to repair your car.
- The ability to run over pedestrians a la Grand Theft Auto.
- Cool Car: The titular Corvette. There are also a number of rival sports cars the player can come up against.
- Copy Protection: As mentioned above. Manual and feelie-based copy protection was quite common at the time before the days of CD keys and DRM.
- Licensed Game: As the name implies, the game was clearly made to promote the Chevrolet Corvette.
- Tech Demo Game: Besides serving as a showcase for the Corvette, the game also has a then-impressive recreation of San Francisco in full polygonal 3D.
- Wide Open Sandbox: Predating the likes of GTA by almost a decade, to the point of even allowing players to run over pedestrians.