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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Computer players everywhere can now find out what makes real air racing pilots tempt fate, skirting pylons above the desert floor at 500 mph and 50 feet off the ground in Bob Hoover Presents: Xtreme Air Racing, a new PC game from Victory Simulations. Take just one lap in one of these 4000 horsepower, nitrous-burning monsters, flying so low that your prop scrapes the sagebrush and you'll realize why the game is called "Xtreme." Add gut-wrenching, six-G pylon turns along with 8 other aircraft flying a few feet from your wingtips and you'll have an idea why the air races are called the "Ultimate Sporting Event." Think of it as NASCAR in airplanes, only that you're racing three times as fast. Aviation Legend Bob Hoover is helping Victory to make this the most realistic simulation of air racing ever created. During a 'virtual' race, Hoover will be your co-pilot and coach you through the event, giving you various suggestions or warnings throughout the race. There is also a real-time announcer calling the action, reacting to the actual events and changes in position as the race progresses. Victory President Pat Hunt says, "We are thrilled at the opportunity to have Mr. Hoover with his great technical ability, extensive knowledge, and years of aviation experience on the Xtreme Air Racing team." Players can fly any of the 20 highly detailed aircraft, all with 3-D cockpits, in nose to nose action against the most famous planes in the world of air racing: Miss America, Rare Bear, Strega, Dago Red, Voodoo, Furias, Miss Merced and Critical Mass will all be making feature appearances in Xtreme Air Racing. With a painstaking attention to detail and realism, all of the aircraft and environments were made with MultiGen Creator, from MultiGen-Paradigm, a software toolset made to use highest-fidelity pilot training simulators worldwide. Added Victory President Pat Hunt, "To make the most realistic simulation possible, you need the tools professionals use for simulation authoring. MultiGen Creator is the only clear choice that can deliver this kind of visual quality in a flight simulation like Xtreme Air Racing. Without MultiGen-Paradigm's support, it would have been much harder to deliver the kind of quality we aspired for." Players can try a single race, or enter an entire season of racing in exotic locations around the world. From the jungles of Thailand - to the scenic coast of England - to the snowy fjords of Iceland - to the majesty of the Swiss Alps, all are also included for players to race in. When they're ready to play with the big boys, players can fly in the granddaddy of all air races at Reno. In between heats players can go into the pits where they can select from a number of aircraft and engine options to set up their plane for peak performance at any of the fifty different tracks. Flight sim addicts will love the high-fidelity simulation model with over 200 independent variables, while non-pilots can jump into the cockpit in the bronze class and be competitive right off the starting line. With the adaptive Artificial Intelligence (AI), the computer pilot opponents change to the players' skill level - no matter what skill level is selected, players will always face a challenge. Lyle Shelton, pilot and owner of Rare Bear, member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame, holder of the world's speed record for prop-driven aircraft and the winner of the Gold Unlimited Trophy at Reno six times, recently flew Xtreme Air Racing. "The flight characteristics are very good - roll and pitch response rates are similar to those in real aircraft. This is an exciting and well done air racing simulation, it can be a fine training aid as well as a fun, competitive game." Players can also take on the most deadly, cunning opponents of all - their best friends - in multi-player mode over the Victory Air Racing Network. The average guy sitting at his PC could find himself racing against the likes of Bill "Tiger" Destefani in Strega, Lyle Shelton in Rare Bear, Brent Hisey in Miss America, Tom Dwelle in Critical Mass, and other legends of air racing. The SoundMAX* audio in this game will also set a new standard for all air racing simulations with each plane engine runs in real-time and will react to variances in altitude, velocity, twists and turns. There's also the ability for players to record their own announcer tracks and even put their own names in the game. Virtual pilots can try their hand at various aerobatic stunts or test their survival skills by dog fighting in the air combat section. Speaking of survival - if you blow an engine, you don't coast back to the pits - you're lucky if you make a successful dead-stick landing and live. Xtreme Air Racing is one of the few racing games where engine management during a race is critical - you can't just keep the throttle pegged during the entire race. Just like in real life, push the blower settings too high or leave the nitrous on for too long and it's sa-yo-nara to your supercharged engine. Xtreme Air Racing is being marketed in association with World of Wings - the Very Best In Aviation Xtreme Air Racing will be officially released at the opening of the Reno National Championship Air Races in September 2001 and will be available for purchase at www.xtremeairracing.com.
Patrick Hunt Direct: 949-916-9144
We have a number of screenshots for exclusive use by media representatives available in a private folder on the web site. (email media@xtremeairracing.com) Members of the press are also invited to come fly Victory's P-51 simulator, located in our Torrance, California office. Bob Hoover is also available for interview by appointment. About Victory Simulations Here's what people are saying about Xtreme Air Racing:
About R.A. "BOB" HOOVER The accolades have piled up for R.A. "Bob" Hoover during more than six decades of unmatched performance in the cockpit. From self-taught air show master, to WWII army pilot, to test pilot on the X-1 project; his accomplishments have led to honors and awards - including: recognition in the National Aviation Hall of Fame; the Distinguished Flying Cross; twice-elected president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots; and three times named the most outstanding air show performer of the year. Chuck Yeager calls Hoover the "greatest pilot I ever saw" and "a magician in the cockpit." At 22, Hoover was a decorated World War II fighter pilot, already famous both for his aerobatic abilities -including looping under a bridge in Tunisia- and for surviving seventeen equipment-failure crash landings as a test pilot. Then the Germans knocked his Mark V Spitfire out of the sky. He made three attempts to escape en route to the infamous Stalag I prison camp, and after sixteen brutal months, finally escaped by stealing a German plane and flying it to Holland. After the war, Hoover tested the first jets at Wright Field, dog fighting with Chuck Yeager, the man who'd come to call him "Pard." In the quest to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, Hoover endured every step of the grueling G-force training along with Yeager. But soon after Yeager's historic flight, Hoover broke both his legs in a desperate bailout from a blazing F-84 Thunderjet-dashing his dreams of flying the X-1 himself. Hoover continued to face danger as a civilian test pilot testing all types of airplanes for each of the branches of service and actually demonstrating dive bombing over enemy territory in North Korea. He became an engineering advisor and rose through the corporate ranks to corporate vice president and a member of the board of directors. Bob Hoover has flown in more airshows in more different types of aircraft and in more countries worldwide and before more people than anyone in the history of aviation. Bob Hoover is one of the most recognized faces on the air show circuit today, flying his daring aerobatics routines in a corporate jet, wearing a business suit and straw hat instead of a pilot's "G suit." He has flown more than 300 types of aircraft, dazzled crowds at more than 2,000 air shows all over the world, and he is still flying today. Hoover has set both transcontinental and "time to climb" speed records, and known such great aviators as Orville Wright, Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, Jacqueline Cochran, Neil Armstrong, and Yuri Gagarin, who saved Hoover from the KGB at an international aerobatics competition in Moscow during the height of the Cold War. He is, indeed, a living legend.
Awards Presented to Bob Hoover:
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