Speed Freak is a monochrome vector arcade game created by Vectorbeam in 1979. Along with Atari, Inc.'s Night Driver and Bally Midway's Datsun 280 ZZZAP–both from 1976–it is one of the earliest first-person driving games and the first such game known to use vector graphics.[2]
The game is a behind-the-wheel driving simulation where the driver speeds down a winding computer generated road past other cars, hitchhikers, trees, cows and cacti. Occasionally a plane will fly overhead towards the screen. One must avoid crashing into these objects and complete the race in the allotted time.[3] The player can crash as many times as he wants before the time runs out and players were treated to two different crash animations. The first was a simple cracked windshield effect, the second was a crash where the car explodes into car parts that fly through the air.[4]
