Edinburgh photograph courtesy of the author—seen from the same perspective as the screenshot above.
'Project Gotham Racing 2' screenshot by the author. Edinburgh photograph courtesy of the author.
The Virgin was gone, thanks to its liquidation a few years prior, and in its place stood an Urban Outfitters. The bookshop was now a Nando's. The charmingly scummy student pub I visited for football games had become a hipster craft beer joint.It's an odd feeling to be in a city that's so familiar to you and yet so alien at the same time. We'd moved to Edinburgh, but this wasn't my Edinburgh.Recently I dug out my old Xbox because I had an odd urge to play Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (the best in the series—don't @ me), but instead I noticed my old copy of Project Gotham Racing 2.I set up my original Xbox and, ignoring how terrible it looked on my 4K telly, I was back in my Edinburgh again.
'Project Gotham Racing 2' screenshot by the author. Edinburgh photograph courtesy of the author.
'Metropolis Street Racer' screenshot captured by the author. Leicester Square photograph: Jul 2014 © 2017 Google.
'Metropolis Street Racer' screenshot captured by the author. Ripley's at Piccadilly Circus photograph: Jul 2016 © 2017 Google.
No longer are these games a passable way of seeing modern cities: they're now the best way to visit past ones.
'Yakuza 3' screenshot courtesy of Sega. Kabukicho Image capture: Jun 2013 © 2017 Google.
I'm willing to bet that nobody at Bizarre Creations back in the early 2000s was trying to do anything other than create the most accurate versions of each of their game's cities. The same goes with Team Soho working on The Getaway, and Sega on its Yakuza series.Technology of the time may have meant these studios fell slightly short of the perfect recreations they were aiming for, but in at least trying they unwittingly created something that would become far more important years down the line. No longer are these games a passable way of seeing modern cities: they're now the best way to visit past ones.For 99% of gamers it may be an unnecessary level of detail, but for that one percent who can relate to it on a personal level, going back can mean the world.Follow Chris on Twitter.Related, on Waypoint: 'The Getaway' Could Have Been More Revolutionary than 'Vice City'