C64 Game Memories - Revisited 30+ Years later : Pitstop 2

Pitstop 2 was possibly the greatest motor racing game I played until F1 hit the Atari ST in the mid 1990's. Almost revolutionary, this was the very first game I ever remember with a split screen which meant that 2 players could play a racing game on the C64 at the same time.

Released by Epyx, Pitstop 2 was obviously a sequel to a game I never played and which seems to be a more basic version its successor.

Most racing games were utter dross at the time, but aside from the 2 player function what made this game was that you had to think tactically and judge your pitstops at the right time and also how much fuel to carry. The fact you actually had to guide your pitcrew around and do it yourself all added to the immersion as you had to learn to do this fast to get anywhere in the game.

Not only that whenever you hit other cars, your tire took damage and started to change colour when it was close to bursting causing you to spin out and fall out of the race. This was another added element to timing your pitstop correctly. I still remember all the races where you entered the last few laps with a couple of tires close to bursting knowing that one more hit would take you out of the race as you should have had a pitstop 5 laps earlier!

Today, Pitstop 2 looks nothing special graphically compared to all the releases since on various formats but I can't say that I ever enjoyed any motor racing game as much as this.