GTI Club, Konami's racing gem - Originally published on 1UP - April 14, 2009

When people think of great arcade racing experiences they can usually name a handful studios that have contributed the lions share of the memories. Sega, Namco, Atari and Midway are usually the studios at the top. Nobody would have thought to rank Konami with those guys. Not that Konami was a stranger to the arcade racer but their showings were few and far between. The only other game I've mentioned from them so far was the dizzying Chequered Flag. However my opinion of the publisher changed in 1996. Their first memorable polygon racer came out at the time when Sega Rally and Daytona USA were still hot in the arcades. GTI Club Rally Côte d’Azur broke everything we knew, or thought we knew about arcade racing. It was a rally game as the name suggests, set in the lovely Côte d’Azur, better known here as the French Riviera. It's the type of location most of us wouldn't mind moving to and spending our time lazying away by the coast. The rallying that goes on here features the compact yet still sporty GTI (gran turismo injection) class of cars. The figurehead being the ever-loving fiery little powerhouse Mini Cooper.

The courses were all set in the same town. Konami rendered a highly-detailed town, complete with tunnels, bridges, a coastline and hill rather than make a few tracks like rival Sega. The courses were more or less open so you could take the shortest possible route to the checkpoints if you wanted. It was my first exposure to sandbox racing and I was hooked! Up until then I had been taught by other arcade games to follow the other racers, look for an opening and pass them on a turn. This time around if you spotted a line through some narrow streets, that ended up knocking over a few tables, but managed to shave seconds off your time then go for it! The tracks and their respective shortcuts took players all over the little town, jumping like madmen in the tiny cars over hills and down sidewalks. There were even train tracks crossing one of the roads so making an attempt to cut off a speeding train in the middle of the rally to save time became very tempting! The game was frenetic and left little room for error. Given the size of the racers themselves that was saying a lot!

To help supplement the tracks the game also featured multiplayer modes like Bomb Tag (last person with the bomb explodes) and car soccer. Trust me, it was more fun than it sounded. I only played GTI Club a handful of times because the only arcade that had it was far from home. Those few times that I played it I learned a few things. The game was more fun with a friend and it certainly wasn't an arcade racer for everyone. The tight control and manic pace of the game would break any casual gamer. This game wasn't even meant for most arcade racers due to it's learning curve. It was meant for die-hard rally nuts and those looking for something new.

Konami delivered on both fronts and continues to do so as an exclusive download for the PS3. If you fancy yourself a good driver and enjoy a good multiplayer experience then check it out. It was an example of the unique contribution that Japan gave the racer. However in the early days of arcade driving Japan was, wait for it, way off course. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Next time we'll look at some of Japan's more unique and one lamentable Konami entry to in the arcade. 

Have you ever heard of this game? Are you a fan of quirky racing experiences? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!