Atari's classic Hard Drivin' Arcade Machine - Awesome Driving Simulator from 1988! 

Played this game all the time in 1990. I have only just discovered the mame emulator and I’ve gone back in time to 1990. Fantastic.

I probably spent a $100 in quarters on that game from '88 to '92. It really was freakishly realistic for the time. :D

I played this game as a kid at a local arcade place called wonderland. Before that I had never played a game like it. The version they at wonderland had the full seat that slid in to play it. Also at the arcade I played at all games just took nickels to play.

I remember the steering wheel used to move on it's own during demo play.

I never driven straight in that first intersection.. playing the arcade machine. Never. There was deep urge to use the wheel and press brake in the first possible location, if you were lucky enough actually got to play this hugely popular game, that had always lines of kids waiting for their turn. This was 1000 times more impressive than older sprite based driving games. This was the future. Cheers from Finland; Have a pleasant day!

Every time I search for a random arcade game you guys always have a video for it!

Story time : I can't remember why me and my eldest sister were at KB Toy Store , but I'm sure it wasn't a trip for me at all this time. All my focus was to make sure we don't leave empty handed from this iconic store. I had to leave with something ! I'm 9,10 or 11yrs old . (Fast foward ) Seems like it's checkout time already and we're surprisingly making our way to the door. "it's operation panic wine 😭time" yup! we all been there. I begs my sister to get me a game not knowing what I wanted and there it was "Hard Drivin" on Sega Genisis . She falls for the Tom cruise act and asks the cashier if we could see the back of the game case cover to make sure if this was what I wanted.I'm "like hell yeah I just want a game".Hard Drivin was priced I believeeee at $70 or $90 bucks. She was devistated at the price total on the register for just a "video game" cartridge.She gets me the game eventually and I remember that very night 1st playing it I already knew at that moment this Game was beyond any racing game I've seen or played.

Yup..... Just got done playing it on my phone with mame. Was able to compare the graphics to your real arcade machine. Everything's accurate!

This game actually helped teach me how to drive stick shift!

The funniest part are the bezark physics when you crash

This was my game...I had all the records

This made me think of Slap Jack from 2 Fast 2 Furious as he jumped the bridge with Brian but blew both of his Supra's 2 front tires as he landed and couldn't control it and smashed right into the bushes beyond the Pepsi billboard. 😂 21:00

@ 6speedguy84 I've played the Ferrari F355 Challenge @ a bowling alley in Austin, Texas called "The Main Event"!

reminds me of "stunts"

Hi Joe, i own a Junk Removal business and we picked up this exact same game from a customer's house. Is in great condition and works perfectly, pretty much the exact same unit on your video. If I wanted to sell it what would be a fair price to ask for it ? Juan

I played this in my local arcade around 1989/1990... And I remember the steering wheel being very hard to turn, as if it was trying to mimic manual unpowered steering. But it just was work, and unfun, and killed the experience.

Is this for sale? i want to buy one of these

So cool! My local Alfy’s (pizza place) had this in the early 90s. I like like four or five. I thought the graphics were mind blowing. Also, them steering wheel moving on its own during the demo creeped me out. Haha

awesome video. I used to play this at the local arcade in 89-90. Almost 4 hours non-stop was my record in it's hardest mode (at the time, I knew of no cheats except cutting across the grass). I used to have a crowd behind me watching. Good times...

I’m 16 and I never grew up with this arcade game, but a local arcade has this game and I was blown away with the physics. At first I thought this was a modern vintage-inspired racing game. Absolutely amazing

I owned this game on the Amiga but to actually play the thing in the Arcade was £1 per crash. It was meciless. So far ahead of it's time that everyone thought it was mad.

I just bought a "compact" Race Drivin'. And now Im watching all the videos... of course ;) Great to see a this one in great shape and next to other BIG cabinets.

I was useless at this.

It should say. HARD DRIVING real car simulated driving simulator. The game.

Well done Joe!

great video. i was checking some old atari arcade hardware and back in 1984 they had been making prototypes(Atari System IV) for 3d games but I guess the tech wasn't ready until 1988. cool stuff

A movie theater near where I am had a three screen version until it closed in like 2002-2003 or something. I was just a kid, and I always watched the demo, and rarely ever actually played it because I was too picky with what little money I had. I regret that and wish I played it more. Even in the early 00s it stood out from the more modern driving games, the realism was still unmatched for arcade cabinets. The realism still appears to hold up pretty well even today all things considered.

The gameplay is more enjoyable if the video is played at twice the speed! 80's chips were too weak for 3D processing!

wow, the seat looks it could make your butt go numb after 20 minutes of playing time LOL

I don't like it when people say that they can't drive a stick. It's easier than you think.

The best version I have seen on computer is the Atari ST/Amiga version. the c64 version is unplayable..:) I made that cab as a 3D model for 3DArcade U. just been adding stuff to it...:) it clever how they used a mirror, it make the cab more narrow, you could now properly use a LCD screen now, if you worked out how to connect it, tube screens (CRT) are now hard to come by,how big it the screen a 25 inch..? Is that harddrc1...? thats what I have called my model so it works with the MAME version, Hard Drivin' (compact, rev 1) Race Drivin uses the same cab don't it..? Want to make that next, I am making Luna City Arcade.. :) I have played the arcade version in 1989, it was £1 a go, sitdown version at Buttlins... :) same as the Outrun DX cabinet.

Wow man, so many hours on that game.

this was light years ahead at the time, FFB, clutch, 3D graphics. so much better than anything at the time. someone should do a remake for consoles

This game got a whole bunch of quarters from me as a kid.

i was playing the english version of this the other night in arcadeclub in Bury UK. I used to be really good at this game doing about 5 laps of the track and then always beating the stunt car...last night i wasn't so good. I never used the break i just came off the accelerator and sterred in to the slides. cool game

I remember playing a "full seat" version once, that even had reverse!

We had one of these in the main bar at Sheffield Hallam University Students' Union. It was there from at least September 1991 until June 1994. Very popular, but it developed a fault nobody reported - it was giving excess credits. I can remember getting around 13 for £1 typically - but on one occasion got 24! It was supposed to be 50p per credit or 3 for £1.

Funny that simulating race game enthusiast now have all of this at home: 3D Graphics with triple screens (or even VR now), Force Feedback wheel with loadcell pedals, manual shifter. It took at least a decade for the first commercial FFB wheel to appear and even longer before the other stuff became a thing.

Its one of the few arcade driving games that had great believable physics and collision modeling in honesty most games today absolutely pale in this department even if there graphics rendering technology is more advanced . still have a lot of respect for all who worked on its hardware and software modeling technology..

When I was 12, I put a small fortune into that game. Yeah, hard as hell.

the father of immersive driving games

Only about 100 panorama Race Drivin's were produced according to the Internet.

When you get the championship lap and race the ghost car, if you win, the next time you get the championship lap the ghost car is you from your last win. So you are racing yourself.

I wish our generation could have enjoyed arcades. I was born in 96 so I got a little taste of them before they were wiped out. 😒

That really brought back some memories. Pumped a lot of tokens in that game in the arcade at the local mall. Got fairly good at it. Your racing game videos inspired me to purchase a force feedback steering wheel so I can do some emulation. Hopefully the people that work on MAME enabled force feedback in Hard Driving. I haven't seen one of those cabinets since it was a new game and emulation is probably the only way I'll get the experience it again.

oh man did i ever stuff quarters into this game... the arcade at the mall had one of the sit-down ones... also got to play the chopper flight one that looked like this

Hard Drivin' had the panoramic view in the full sit down version. I used to drive at full speed through the grass to slow down without using the brake when you get the sudden drop off near the barn. There was also a hidden donut track near the beginning of the track. It consisted of driving around a pole.

Hey joe I remember this game years ago .I'm from Ireland I remember it in my local arcade . How would I get one of these today or are they rare ?

16:47 PUNT!!!!

I remember in the UK that the gear stick was always on the wrong side on the ones that I played.

I probably could make 2 laps on that game. The play in the pedal where nothing happens is called deadzone. My own pedals do the same thing.

Hard drivin and race Drivin both have identical controls. I've played games that have a panoramic setup. It's usually done with 3 monitors with software to synchronize the monitors when playing. Sega made a panoramic version of Ferrari F355 Challenge which I've played myself at my local Dave and busters.

The stunt course is easier than the speed course. The trick is too cut across the grass at certain places. The first place to do it is to knock down the second speed sign.

A truly great find. It lives up to it's name, but when you get a grove for it, it feels amazing. Atari Games Corp was ahead of the curve. I love nearly everything they cranked out during this time.

Getting a Hard Racin in tomorrow! hopefully it doesnt need much. Im excited because i spent alot on this game and was horrible at it. Maybe get some redemption

i just played this at replay museum it's amazing for 1988 can't even believe it

Such an awesome game!

Those 3-D effects used a lot of processing power for the time (68010, ADSP-2100, 2xTMS34010, 68000, TMS32010). This is why console ports of this game and its sequel, Race Drivin had very low frame rates and graphic detail compared to the arcade.

Year I was born! One of the most real car simulator experience. Always played on the Sega Genesis platform, and now with pc online simulator. I cannot imagine how good it's played with real simulator!

Thank you for mentioning the cow. I was just about to ask you if there was a cow in this game when you mentioned it! The instant replays on this game always got laughs!

I learned how to drive a stick shift because of this game! Sadly I have a lead foot due to the count down... lol

WHY DON'T YOU TRY THE SKID PAD?

awesome, thanks for video ! The only way to really play this was manual ;)

If this is set on EASY, then I don't wanna know what HARD difficulty would be like! lol!

2 things I love from Atari is: Atari ST (Got an STe for £2) and Atari Jaguar.

Used to play on one of these at the grocery store when I was a kid while my parents were shopping. Looks like the same model too!

I lost my mind when I first saw this game it had a clutch!!! And the steering wheel actually fought you alil. Everything you said about the thoughts and feelings of this game was the exact way that I was feeling when I played this.

How tall is this one?

If you get to the championship lap and win it, it is recorded. So if you play again and get the championship lap again you will be racing yourself on your last championship lap. Good video.

I used to play this game back in early 90s. I've been searching for years as I couldn't remember the name. I'm so glad I tracked it down. Thank you so much. Amazing description too.

I spent a lot of money in this version of the cabinet and maintained my high score through my university career in Sheffield. And I can confirm that in England, Hard Drivin drives on the left, and the gear shift was on the left side of the steering wheel. I got round bends faster by using lift-off oversteer, long before I knew what it was called. When the clock got to zero on the speed track, could still coast over the finish line, but that meant only the stunt track was viable. There are my trade secrets. If you are lucky enough to be using one in a full size set up, I hope you have all the fun I did back in 1990. And if I can get a refurbished cabinet for less than £500, I am buying it.

legendary!

Bonjour de France. The best arcade simulator....and this weekend, i buy one, my dream.....

I play this game for so many hours after a holiday and playing on the full sized cabinet, then playing on the compact cabinet here in the UK, yes this game helped me with stick shift. From what I remember the large cabinets of Hard Drivin' did have a reverse gear as well. no on road experience, and I was shunting large vehicles around a yard with only a little help from a collegue. and without any real problems. but what I did find was if you done the speed course, and kept the car to around 80 mph then you could extend time by about 30 seconds per lap, so if you done it right you could be on the game for litterally hours from 1 credit. so what I used to do was 1 speed course, then 1 time on the stunt course, the stunt course was harder to complete in the time limit from the start, so easy to loose all the time available to complete another checkpoint. so yes brings back loads of memory's of nostalga, shame the sepctrum 48k version, and the pc version were so rubbish with using buttons instead of a controller like wheel and pedals.

oh yes!

I played the sit down game way back and it was seriously hard.

Your speaking my language here pal thanks for the quality upload!

i bought this game and my question is how do i change the belt on the force feedback motor? I have a new belt but I don't have a manual

Oh yeah I forgot the screen was on top until you showed it. As a kid I wondered why they did that 👍👍

now this is what I call a simcade

Very good racing game.

I played it back then, it slid a lot

This was my favorite game ever

Superbe borne d'arcade !

"I don't know why they did that, they did it so that you can get a deeper effect..." - Genius.

This was my favorite game in the arcade.not only did it teach me about driving a real car but the art of dumping the clutch in first gear.