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There
is a spate of Toyfairs in the early part of the year where manufacturers
have a chance to show their new year intentions to the retailers
of the world. Well I got a chance to go representing GetSlotted
and have a look up close and personal on what's going to be on offer
in 2005.
Of the manufacturers Scalextric, SCX, Revell and Carrera were represented
so not exhaustive but more than enough to keep me occupied for a
whole day. OK on with the gory details.
Scalextric
Scalextric had already announced their 2005 line-up and on show
were some of the cars that we shall see in the next couple of months:
• Peugeot 307 WRC - the front sidewinder set-up is said to work
excellently and allows the car to drift effortlessly without the
rear end trying to overtake the front. From the sound of it I would
not be surprised to see all future Scalextric rally cars with this
set-up
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• Maserati MC12 - it is huge, rather tasty and goes very smooth
(a few of us cajoled Adrian Norman to let us have a quick race or
two)
•
Maserati Cambiocorsa
•
Lister Storm
Also
Scalextric were showing off their Ferrari licence with a poster
sure to get many a persons juices flowing (including mine)
The
stand had a Digital layout that had non-working prototypes of the
pitlane that could also be used as a 3rd lane in your digital layout.
They also had the drifting set - this includes two new 'tuner' cars
including a Nissan 350Z.
The
cars are able to spin thru 360 degree and will travel in either
direction no matter which way you put the car on the track - some
ingenious electronic gubbins in the car.
I
had great fun spinning and sliding the cars and I'm sure this set
and other tuner cars will open up new markets for Scalextric.
However their main feature was the much more developed version of
Sports World. They were having races on the system that is due for
release in Autumn. In the race the system simulated the cars behaviour
if you had a varying fuel load. At the start of the race with a
full fuel load your car did not have 100% power but as the race
progressed more and more power was fed to the car. That was until
you ran out of fuel and needed to make a pitstop - you filled up
and again with a full fuel load your power was limited. The actual
race was virtual represented on a screen so people could see how
it was going without having to cram round the track.
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This
virtual race also gives you the opportunity to race other people
over the internet. Each of you race on your own track (on a pre-agreed
same layout) and your car is represented virtual, as are all the
other competitors, so you can see how they are doing against you
in real time. This functionality will make competitions with users
form around the world possible.
Other functions Sport World offers is a Pacer Car - the system records
a cars (any cars) best lap and you can replay it and therefore race
against it. A natural but big step forward on the concepts of the
original Pacer and the Challenger system. Sport World has lots of
functionality and I'll be exploring it as Hornby release the information.
Carerra
Carerra concentrated on their existing digital products that included
a working pitlane. Their system incorporates a fuel weighting scenario
- the more you use the throttle the quicker you fuel goes and the
more of then you need to pit. Also racing on this system is great
for those nights when you are alone. Of the 4 cars you can run at
any one time up to 3 of them can run on their own so you can test
your overtaking skills. In terms of cars they intend to have a full
grid of F1 cars available (Ferrari x2, Sauber and a Williams/BMW),
complimented by a grid a American classic NASCARs
I was really taken by the quality of the DTM range especially the
Audi A4 and their Allesi silver Mercedes DTM really stood out.
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Revell
The E-Type which is due to be available this month looked fantastic
and will be a sure-fire winner.
I
was surprised not to see a Mustang 350 in final product stage but
their Kreepy Krawly March 83G was packaged and ready and waiting
to be shipped
Of the new models that they have already announced they had what
I presume are mock-ups of the BMW 320i - looked very impressive
as did what looked like a very near production model of the Cortina.
The Cortina will do well as they have a loyal following of 40-50
something's that drove this as one of their first cars.
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SCX
This Spanish manufacturer unfortunately did not have its 2005 range
on show and stayed pretty tight lipped preferring to make their
announcement at the Nuremberg fair. It could have also been due
to the fact the Spanish SCX representatives had their butts whooped
by quite a few of us on their own digital set-up!
The stand concentrated on their digital products and I did glean
that they were going to bring over from Spain some pretty snazzy
digital developments:
• Pit Lane
• Le Mans Start
• Double length straight and a corner lane changer
With these products you could recreate a 6 man classic Le Mans dash
(albeit with the current range of digital DTM cars) and have a working
pitlane. One of the spin-offs of the pitlane is that you can create
3 or more lanes now that will help overtaking, make more interesting
courses and allow cars to have a designated re-enter zone if they
crash thus minimising the impact on the other racers. SCX have also
introduced a purpose built track that is meant for this but I think
creating a 3 or more lane digital track would give you this function
but also allow a much more varied racing experience.
While they did not have the new models on show I did glean that
they (like Scalextric) have obtained a licence from Ferrari to produce
some cars. Included in their intended line-up is a Schumacher F1,
a few Modenas and a 550 Marenello. The 550, as well as an Audi A4
and Alfa Romeo 156 (from the Euro Touring Car series), are to be
produced as digital cars but I've no doubt they will also make them
available to us luddites!
Leave you with a Teaser
Finally the current line-up won't be all the cars Scalextric will
announce this year - I've been sworn to secrecy but there will be
many enthusiasts drooling uncontrollably later in the year when
Scalextric make their announcement. What a tease eh!
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