Racing games have grown to be a vibrant part of car culture, offering many enthusiasts the possibility of driving and experiencing their dream cars in the virtual world.
That’s why the National Motor Museum in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia will develop an exhibition dedicated to video games.
According to The Lead, the museum was awarded a $125,000 grant from the Australian government to create the theme named “REVolution: where pixels meet motors – an interactive history of video gaming and motor culture”.
“I thought ‘this is part of motoring history – how people interact with motoring culture through video games, there’s an exhibition in this. We are looking at the early days of racing in modern culture and the influence on video games from motorbikes to motorcars. At the same time, we’ve looked at the dashboards of modern day cars and we want to also explore how video gaming has informed the modern car and the modern driving experience”, said the museum’s director Paul Rees.
The exhibition will include early video games from the 1970s (like Atari’s Gran Trak 10 and Sega’s Monaco GP), as well as from the 80s and 90s. Rees says that even the Grant Theft Auto saga will be part of the show.
Moreover, by collaborating with tech company Novus Res, the museum will help visitors develop their own simple motor racing game, as Rees explained:
“The idea is to introduce people to basic computer programming by saying ‘you can whip up a game here in five minutes’ and then allowing them to take that game home somehow.”
The display is due to open in December 2017.