Lotus Extreme Challenge is a racing game featuring a variety of Lotus cars from different eras. The game includes multiple gameplay modes:
Story Mode: Players start with a basic car and compete in races to earn money, build a racing team, and participate in championships. Over time, they unlock better cars and gain movie contracts for stunt driving challenges.
Championship Mode: Racers compete across 17 tracks, unlocking and racing different Lotus models, with older cars competing against their era counterparts.
Movie Stunt Driving Mode: Players perform stunt challenges for film productions, earning money and cinematic replays of their performances.
Driving Challenges: Unique scenarios such as rushing passengers to a hospital through heavy traffic or evading speeding cameras on city streets.
Damage System: Cars visually degrade and handle differently based on damage, adding realism to races.
The game promises realistic driving physics, authentic Lotus car models, and multiplayer split-screen racing.[1]
Development
Virgin Interactive first announced the game for the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows in August 2000 for an early-2001 release.[2] The game was renamed Lotus Extreme Challenge in November 2000[1] with a North American release planned to be published by Interplay Entertainment,[1] although this never came to circulation. The game would eventually see its release under its former name. The PlayStation 2 version was later ported to Japan and published by MTO on 26 December 2002.[3]
In March 2002, Virgin Interactive announced they would release the game on the Xbox under the name of Lotus Arcade[4] before reverting to its former name, with the announcement that the Xbox version would feature major improvements over the PS2 version. The game was due for a release in Europe by Virgin in September[5] but this never happened. In November 2002, Xicat Interactive announced they would release the game in North America instead as an Xbox exclusive,[6] with a GameCube port also announced.[7] In December 2002, Xicat secured a licensing deal with Motor Trend to rename the title as Motor Trend Presents Lotus Challenge,[8] with the Xbox version originally scheduled for release in late January 2003,[9] before it was somewhat delayed to the end of April. The GameCube version was due for a release in August[10] but was pulled for unknown reasons.
In May 2004, Ignition Entertainment's website listed a title named Lotus Extreme for the GameCube.[11] However, the game was renamed again back to its original title a few weeks later when it was officially announced by Ignition,[12] and was released shortly after.[13]
^Bischoff, Jens (5 May 2003). "Test: Lotus Challenge (Xbox)". 4Players (in German). 4Players GmbH. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^Romendil (21 October 2003). "Test: Lotus Challenge (Xbox)". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Webedia. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
