G'Day everyone……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Its a raining Saturday here right now…….…… Hope all you tuxers had a good week……. This week was very quiet……. Been a lot of rain around….. Did bugger all……. Worked…… Played games……. Watched some DVDs..... And not much else…….

[+..••] As for gaming this week in Emulationville I played [+..••]

Arcade

Double Dragon (1987 Technos) - Beat 'em up


Console

Gran Turismo 4 (2004 Sony) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)


PC

Grand Theft Auto III (2002 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2005 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2003 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) - Steam - Sports (Racing)


The Dick Trickles Racing Career: Part 15
NASCAR Dirt to Daytona: Part 15
Weekly Dirt Racing Series Season 2: Race 4

Intro music…... Hello and welcome to Left Turn Heaven..... Im Murray Eastlake and today im going to be bringing you all the action from the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 4 of 10 here at Anoka City Speedway.......

Anoka City Speedway is 0.250 miles long with 6 degrees of banking…… This very tight and technical flat track requires an excellent handling car…… The racing groove is barely two lanes wide and deep thick mud awaits anyone who sides off the racing line…...

Last week Dick Trickle decimated the field…… Leading all 63 laps and winning by a margin of 2 laps…… Its been a long long time since anyone has dominated a Weekly Dirt Series race like that……. Lets hope that current series champion Josh Ginter or the man currently second in the championship Ted Finger can step up and put Dick in his place…….



Anoka City Speedway…...



Dick Trickle at the track ready to race.…

I was having a walk around the paddock earlier today and I noticed some new looking body work on Dick Trickles car….. Dick did indeed got another upgrade for the car…….. “I used last weeks winnings to get the final upgrade for the car….. A nice new top of the range aero package…… This will give the car a lot more downforce while also reducing drag which will improve top speed and handling…… *Pats bonnet of car*….. This baby is fully upgraded now…… No one is going to stop me being champion this year…… NO ONE……”

Well there you have it folks……. Dick Trickle did indeed get another upgrade for the car……. And the Infogrames Flaming Dick machine looks set to be near unbeatable this season…….

Dont touch the sets...... Dont touch the dials...... You wont want to miss a single moment of the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series action....… Practice and qualifying are coming up right now…...



New Aero…...

With the new suspension and aero package since the last time we were here Dick had to throw out all his setup data and start from scratch…… Dick spent a long time working on the setup and was very happy with how the car was handling after practice……

Qualifying was up next and Dick Trickle set a lap of the gods…… As he easily took pole position with a time of 16.033…… .4 faster than second place Al Grimstead…….

Josh Ginter was seventh while Ted Finger could only manage tenth…...


Qualifying Results........

As the flag dropped for the 5 lap Heat 1 race…… Dick Trickle got a good start and lead into the first turn from Matthew Kato who had a slow start…… Dick stretched his lead down the back straight and was never headed…..

Sam Peterson worked his way through the field….. Starting fifth and finishing in second place….. With the slow starting Matthew Kato in third…..


Heat 1 Results....…



Dick Trickle lined up ready to start the A Main......

Dick Trickle lead the field to the green flag for the 56 lap A Main Final……. As the flag dropped this time Al Grimstead got the slight jump over Dick…… But Dick was not finished yet…… Sliding through on the entry to turn one……

This surprised Grimstead as he got a bit lose on the corner exit…… And he lost momentum down the back straight…… This allowed Dick to squirt off to a good lead by the end of the first lap…..

As Dick slid off into the distance…… The battle for second was heating up….. It was another terrific three horse race…… As Al Grimstead….. Matthew Kato and Ted Finger fought for over 40 laps for second place…… All three men trading places and trading paint at both ends of the track……

In the end it was Al Grimstead that out lasted them to claim second…… With both Matthew Kato and Ted Finger getting into a bit of trouble with lapped traffic in the last ten laps……… Ted Finger had third wrapped up till he collided with a lapped car on the final turn of the race to lose third to Matthew Kato…….

Sam Peterson who started third suffered an engine failure and dropped to thirteenth…… And was the only DNF of the race…..

Josh Ginter could only manage to get sixth place today…… A very disappointing day for him…… His dream of defending his championship all but over…… For context last year when he won the championship he only finished outside the top five once the entire season……. This season we are only four races in and hes already been outside of the top five twice…….. The championship hangover is very real for Josh Ginter……..

But all the talk was about Dick Trickle after the race…… Setting a new record…... Winning by an unprecedented THREE LAPS……. That is the largest winning margin ever in the Weekly Dirt Racing Series…….

After the race Dick told me….. “The car was so well hooked up Murray…….. It took a long time to get to that point in practice….. I had to throw out all the setup data I had on this track thanks to the upgrades……. But man…. Was it worth the hassle???…… BLOODY OATH……. That car was awesome today…… And the big Dick behind the wheel wasnt bad either….. Its not everyday you set a new record……. Its time for a celebration…….. Now who wants to get sprayed by Dick???”

Dick then went on to spray everyone in the paddock and most of the grandstand…….. With champagne…..

Next week the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series heads to Baxter Fairgrounds Speedway….. Dick Trickle is on cloud nine…… Will he stay there???……. Or can someone…… Anyone…… Get in his way and bring him crashing back down to earth???…..

Dick Trickle has a 123 point lead in the championship…… So it does not seem likely….. But as you know…… Anything can happen in motorsports……

Tune in next week for the answers to all these questions and more….. Exclusively here on Left Turn Heaven……..

This is Murray Eastlake reporting for Left Turn Heaven..... And until next time its goodbye from me....


A Main Results..…



Winnings.…



NASCAR Heat Weekly.…



2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series Championship Standings after round 4 of 10.…







First lap A Main action....


Double Dragon



Double Dragon……. Is a game of its time……..

The graphics are quite nice……. With really nice pixel art and sprite work for the 1987…… The use of colour here is really nice….. With a muted colour pallet that makes it look more realistic and gritty compared to other games around at this time……..

Controls are a bit stiff…. 1 button punches, 1 button kicks and 1 button jumps…… But its not really all that smooth…… And can get frustrating at times…...

The storyline is so simple…… April O’Neil has been kidnapped and its up to the Ninja Tur……… Wait…. Wrong game…… *shuffles papers*…….. Mike Haggars daughter Jessica has been kidnapped and its up to Mi……. Wait….. Thats the wrong game too…… *shuffles papers…… AGAIN…...* Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries…… Marian has been kidnapped……. And its up to Bimmy and Jimmy to rescue her….. And perhaps you can solve the mystery of why his name is Bimmy?

The gameplay is also nothing special……. Walk to the right and beat the crap out of anything that moves…… And since this is an arcade game…… There are lots of cheapness….. Its very easy to get stunlocked…… Well thats one way to suck more quarters out of you……

Theres also a lot of slowdown in this game…… It really does take a lot away from the experience……

Overall Double Dragon is very “meh”…… It is a product of its time……. It was really good when it released but has aged very poorly…… Much like Boring Beast and Snoozing Axe…….

I really wouldnt recommend playing it unless you want to for history sake…….



Double Dragon


Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

I played more of the original Vice City...... I got the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – Definitive Edition patch working….. Its a collection of user made mods and patches pre configured in a single zip file that makes it a simple drag and drop installation……

And oh boy does this make a huge difference to the game…… Improved controls…… Improved camera…… Greatly improved textures……. The higher polygon/textured Xbox vehicles…… Greatly improved draw distance……. Numerous bug fixes…. This really is a great way to play the 2003 Vice City game in 2023…….

If you do play it on steam…… Be sure to add….
 
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3d8=n,b" %command%
In the launch options…...












Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – Definitive Edition patch

Next week…… I will be able to walk Natasha for the first time around town….. And I hope to get some work done in the garden…… Really need to mow the lawns…….

As for gaming there will be more hardcore Dick Trickle racing action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. More Vice City……. And I will continue my stupid quest of making a setup for every car at every track in NASCAR Heat 5……

Current setup checklist…...
Cup: 26 of 30
Xfinity: 26 of 30
Truck: 27 of 31
Dirt: 9 of 9

Well thats it from me…… Hope all you tuxers have a good week……

Now for my bad joke of the week……
Q: Why do people ride horses???
A: because they are to heavy to carry.......
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*