ABSTRACT
One of the first racing games to reach the arcades, Atari’s Gran Trak 10 of 1974, opens its advertising flyer with the following paragraph:
You can see it here […] but you’ve gotta HEAR it! Gran Trak 10 is the breakthrough for 1974. Gran Prix racing action, complete with the roar of a supercharged engine, squealing of tires around curves and heart-stopping crash effects.
(Flyerfever 2014, emphasis in original) Although it would be about ten years before racing games would have ongoing, ‘wall to wall’ background music, Gran Trak 10’s selling point was reflective of a particular desire to emphasize the use of sound in creating an exciting, immersive gaming experience in racing games.