Driving simulators are boring

I CAN DRIVE For real. Plain old racing games let you go left or right, speed up or slow down. Just like the real thing. Yippy skippy... and you're usually going around a track, seeing the same crap over and over. They don't do it for me, and they never will.

But load a missile launcher on my virtual car, and I'm in like Flynn! It's the ultimate fantasy of every driver on earth. Dammit, why is that jerk in front of me going so slow? Was his right foot amputated in the past week, and he hasn't figured out how to depress the gas pedal with his left? I wish there were a big red button on my dashboard that would make this molasses-soaked turtle just disappear!

Good ol' Spy Hunter. I think they were the original geniuses who figured out how to tap into everyone's primal automotive urges. I'm looking forward to playing Spy Hunter: Nowhere To Run. But I hear they're taking the gameplay outside the Interceptor, and I'm afraid. There are plenty of third person adventures out there. It'll be hard to top KotOR or Neverwinter Nights.

It all depends on the plot they've cooked up for us, and how much time we get behind the wheel. I hope there will still be plenty of room for my road rage, but I guess I could handle a little Triple X style spy intrigue as well.

Did you hear Universal Pictures is making a Spy Hunter movie? That might be taking the third person action a little too far out of gamers' hands. Then again, tricked out cars have been working for Bond since the 1960s. µ