Richard Petty's Talladega is an arcade

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

-style racing

Racing game

A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...

 computer game featuring Richard Petty

Richard Petty

Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...

 and Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, United States. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base just outside the small city of Lincoln. It was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in...

 that was released in 1985 to the North American and European markets.

General information

This video game loosely emulates the NASCAR Cup Series racing atmosphere of the early 1980s.

During this era, speed and horsepower were more important than parity and safety. The game was translated to German as Richard Petty's Rennzirkus (Richard Petty's Racing Course). 3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 were also used in both the North American and the German versions of the game. At the time, it was highly unusual for a game to have three-dimensional graphics. Richard Petty (the namesake of this game) already had 200 NASCAR Grand National wins under his belt.

Graphical errors

There are some graphical errors on the game's cover art; causing gamers to ponder that the designers were not completely familiar with neither NASCAR or American passenger vehicles during that era. Talladega Superspeedway has never installed lights on their property so races can only be held during daytime hours. The two cars (with one being a Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen Beetle

The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...

, despite Volkswagen only ever participating in the 1953 NASCAR Grand National season

1953 in NASCAR

The 1953 NASCAR Grand National Season began on February 1 and ended on November 1. Herb Thomas, driving his own #92 Hudson Hornet, won the championship and became the first repeat champion of the Grand National Series.- 1953-01 :...

, and the other being an European Mark 2 Ford Escort

Ford Escort

Ford Escort may refer to:* Ford Escort , a vehicle manufactured by Ford Motor Company's European division from 1968 through 2003* Ford Escort , a compact car that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company for the North American market...

) racing each other look more different from each other than even in the 1980s; all vehicles in the NASCAR Cup Series look identical to each other (except for their make and model). On the cover art, the driver's racing numbers are shown on the top and the side, as in demolition derby

Demolition derby

Demolition derby is a motorsport usually presented at county fairs and festivals. While rules vary from event to event, the typical demolition derby event consists of five or more drivers competing by deliberately ramming their vehicles into one another...

. Talladega is shown on the box art to be a dirt track while it was already a paved oval track by the 1985 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Finally, in the cover art, the cars are right-hand drive (the same as UK/Irish/Cyprus passenger vehicles), while in real life NASCAR competition, they are left-hand drive vehicles (the same as American/Canadian/German passenger vehicles). #3 in real life would be Dale Earnhardt (who never drove a Volkswagen Beetle for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series) while #51 would be driven by four different drivers during the 1985 season (Greg Sacks

Greg Sacks

Greg Sacks is a NASCAR driver. He is married to his wife Vicky and lives in Ormond Beach, Florida. Together they had three children: Paul, Brian, and Rachel. He and his sons are partners in Grand Touring Vodka.Sacks has spent most of his career as a Research & Development driver for many NASCAR...

, Cecil Gordon

Cecil Gordon

Cecil Gordon was a NASCAR driver. He is not related to Sprint Cup driver Jeff Gordon although the two drivers drove in car number 24....

, Slick Johnson

Slick Johnson

Julius "Slick" Johnson was a NASCAR race car driver from Florence, South Carolina. He was killed due to a skull fracture suffered during a crash at the Automobile Racing Club of America race at Daytona International Speedway in 1990...

, and Doug Heveron

Doug Heveron

Doug Heveron is an American race car driver from Liverpool, New York. He has driven supermodifieds, modifieds, Indy cars, NASCAR Winston Cup cars, NASCAR Busch Grand National cars, sprint cars, late models and midgets....

) and never using the STP sponsor. On the #51 vehicle, the word "Cosmi" appears where the car manufacturer would appear in real life.

Gameplay

The player races against "The King" and eighteen other professional drivers. The player must maintain his automobile through strategic pit stops after qualifying. Vehicles in the game have the capability of going 250 miles per hour (402.3 kilometres per hour) without turbo boost and 294 miles per hour (473.2 kilometres per hour) with a turbo boost.

Players that do not qualify are not entitled to race in that particular race. However, they can receive the results of that race, and are given a chance to qualify for the next race. The race automatically ends when the player crashes his vehicle, runs out of gasoline

Gasoline

Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...

, blows a tire or completes the race. None of the other drivers from the 1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Series

1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Series

The 1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Season began on Sunday February 10 and ended on Sunday November 17. Darrell Waltrip, driving for Junior Johnson, was crowned champion at the end of the season...

 season made it into this game, including veterans Darrell Waltrip

Darrell Waltrip

Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...

 and Dale Earnhardt

Dale Earnhardt

Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was an American race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR...

.