Pole Position

Pretty dull formula one racing. In 30 seconds of gameplay you need to reach the farthest you can, and you do this mainly by dodging opposing racers as well as making the curves closest to the bend. My main issue with the game is how little control you have. You can only break and move the car sideways. The game does the curves for you, you just adjust your position to the curve. Its really basic and makes this game boring after a very short amount of time.

If you want to get an authentic feeling of Pole Position while playing, set up MAME so you can control the analog steering with a mouse. Another alternative is to play it from Namco Museum on the Gamecube.

I'd say it's a fun game with some tight controls(might be even more sensible with the actual arcade machine), and is a welcome gene link to the wider racing games genre. I also like how your racing car just explodes when it hits something, no holds barred. That escalated quickly!

The Atari 5200 port is also surprisingly fair, as long as you use the trackball controller.

Can I add that the American arcade flyer is making me feel very uncomfortable?