‘Vette!’ Brings Miles of Smiles

You wouldn’t expect two people who spend three hours a day commuting to and from work to get a kick out of playing at racing through city traffic. But that’s just what Spectrum HoloByte’s “Vette!” is all about. And there’s something downright appealing about it.

Maybe it’s the chance to trade the real-life Tempo in for a gas-guzzling, insurance rate-busting muscle car. Or maybe it’s just the overall righteousness of major miles-per-hour on the streets of San Francisco.

Whatever, this unpretentious little game fulfills a standard urban fantasy with relative simplicity, pretty good graphics and considerable technical sophistication.

You drive one of four Corvettes on a street race through The City. You compete against the computer driving one of four other high-performance cars along courses that very closely duplicate the actual street layout of San Francisco. That’s it. You win or lose based on your driving, nerve and ability to follow a map.

And this no-brainer game is as much fun--if not more--if you forget about the race and just try your hand at maneuvering the city. For even if you are not especially into racing, you have to be taken by “Vette’s” electronic mapping, which really sets this driving simulation apart from some similar games now hitting the game market.

The attempt to replicate the street grid of San Francisco is impressive. Not perfect and not so advanced as to photographically reproduce every block of town, but few other games show so well both the reality and the potential of computer entertainment technology.

Vette Rating *** IBM PC or compatible; 512K RAM; mouse/joystick optional. List: $49.95 Computer games are rated on a five-star system, from one star for poor to five for excellent.