I'm not a 80's kid (actually late 90's, haha) but i have a memory that i played this thing many times in my childhood. luckily i found this game today and i bought this instantly. without a single thought.

so game is great and it refershes my memory. but I hope some features can be added. manual transmission (speed level) and fullscreen mode (the game screen, with a small infos? speed and rpm... like 80s racing game).

finally, thank you for all developers, playing such a great game at a reasonable price.

Please make a VR version of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YDvU8Yk_w

If you're an 80s kid, or at least remember the toys from that era, My 1980's Dashboard is a blast from the past. I remember owning a toy like this at some point, lying down on the floor and racing on a tiny screen embedded in the dashboard.

The game is a perfect recreation of that experience, if you play in the dashboard mode. It also offers a fullscreen mode where you get just the driving part, which is recommended if you actually want to play the game and not squint all the time!

Dashboard has some good points and some bad points.
Good:
-It recreates the feel of a simple racing game almost perfectly
-Has some nice simple chiptunes as soundtrack, which are long enough that you won't notice a loop during a track. There are also multiple different ones which appear to play at random, so you won't get stuck hearing the same song over and over again if you get stuck on a track.
-The race tracks are a bit varied, even during a single track you can get some background or side changes, and on later levels there are even some rudimentary weather effects.


Bad:
-The mouse cursor is always visible. This is something that can very easily be fixed so it's baffling that it was left in.
-There is no controller support, and not even full keyboard support: you MUST click the mouse to start races.
-AI/NPC car behaviour, which I'll go into more detail below.


There is a really unfortunate design decision with AI car behaviour in this game: AI cars drive at different speeds and will overtake each other as well as the player.
This results in two issues:
1) If an AI car gets behind another one it will veer to the left or right without warning, usually causing a crash for the player. This is something that simply never happened in the 80s games this game is based on, where you can always be sure that a car will not suddenly jump in front of you!
2) You can run into walls of cars with no way to pass them. The speed differences between some car classes is slow enough that if a faster car overtakes two or more slower ones, they will end up filling three or even all four lanes. And with some of the tracks having objects blocking the sides at all times, this means you will have to either chose to slow down, losing the race because of time, or crash into one, losing the race again. Again, this is not something that ever happened in the games Dashboard is inspired by.

TLDR: While not perfect, Dashboard is a fun game that copies the look and feel of a toy racer very well. Easily worth its current asking price.

Sounds like a cruddy dev flip troll game but is actually a solid racer with a cute gimmick.

(Got this game for free courtesy of a dev's submission to Steady Giveaways. Thanks!)


Yes!!! THIS is what I needed on Steam! My 1980's DASHBOARD (Don't let the super generic title steer you away, this IS for the retro gamers) is aimed towards people like me (born in the late 80's). To remind me of my frustrating youth as I played Rad Racer and kept crashing while running out of time...thank you, Pippala Games!

If you never played Rad Racer (FOR SHAME, YOU MILLENIALS!!!!), it's an NES game that focused on fast retro racing. You dodged cars as you sped past them to go as far as you could go...and no, it's not a "typical racer" as you new-age children would assume. It's a game about going as far as you can go with your gas. Oh, and crashes take away from your gas limit.

If I had one suggestion to the developer, I'd say to add those familiar over-the-top crashes like from the old racer of yore. That and maybe an option to change the soundtracks and maybe that old "3D" mode. Other than that, this is a pretty solid trip down memory lane. Is it worth the $2? Maybe not, but I would say to wait for a sale. No matter if it's for full price or partial price, though, it's still worth your time if you're an 80's or early 90's kid looking for that sick trip...back when things were rad!

8/10 This racer is so radical, boss!

Exactly what it says on the tin; it's a charming throwback to classic 2.5D racers. My 1980's Dashboard is challenging, the controls are tight, the aesthetic is great, and it has suitable music & SFX. It's great fun to weave between traffic all the while managing your speed to negotiate tight turns. It's very simple to play and you can jump in immediately.

The later levels can get fairly challenging, as one can expect from a retro game, and you'll have to be on top of your game to keep from crashing into traffic or roadside obstructions.

I think the animated cabinet view and small screen add a lot to the experience, but I think there should be an option to turn on scanlines to further push the CRT aesthetic. Visuals are excellent; the rolling landscapes and scrolling background scenery are all nice to look at.

The music is relaxing and mostly appropriate, some of it is a little more down-tempo than I would expect from a fast-paced racer, while other tunes fit right in. There are mute buttons for both music and SFX, if you would prefer to play your own tunes. I think it's the perfect kind of chill game to play while listening to a podcast, if you want something faster paced than Euro Truck Simulator.

Overall it's absolutely worth the $2 the author is asking, and in the swamp of shovelware that is Steam these days, it's pretty much worth buying just to support a straight-shooter dev putting out a solid game. Hoping this gets more attention!

Had some performance issues. What you see in the trailer and screenshots is exactly what you get. If you are into this, performance aside: you will probably enjoy this game.

Fun little OutRun-style diversion packed with 80s nostalgia. Perfect for when you have a few minutes to kill and don't feel like opening up a game with more depth. Definitely worth the 99 cents I paid for it on sale.

Was expecting a cheesy rip off of old geezers who had these dashboards in their childhood combined with graphics from old pole position along with authentic/impossible gameplay. But was surprised to see it contains a real game with achievements in there. Nothing big or complex but just enough to try again when you fail.

Consider me entertained.

Imagine someone building a Raspberry Pi and using a Tomy Turbo Toy as a shell and also playing Outrun, This is basically it.