Gran Trak 10
1974 · Racing · Arcade
Overview
Gran Trak 10 (1974) was Atari's first driving game: an overhead race track with steering wheel, gear shift and pedals, and the first arcade game to store its program in ROM.
Deep Dive
Gran Trak 10 put the player behind a steering wheel, four-speed gear shift, accelerator and brake, racing against the clock around a track seen from above. Designed by Ron Milner and Owen Rubin, it was the first arcade game to hold its program data on a ROM chip, and its overhead view became the standard perspective for racing games for the next decade. It sold well, although Atari reportedly lost money on early units after underestimating what the cabinets cost to build.
Developer Story
Gran Trak 10 was Atari's first driving game, released in 1974. It was designed by engineers Ron Milner and Owen Rubin and was notable for being the first arcade game to use a ROM chip for game data storage, the first to use a steering wheel with gear shift, and the first to display a racetrack from an overhead perspective. The game was commercially successful despite Atari reportedly losing money on each unit due to manufacturing miscalculations.
Did You Know?
- Gran Trak 10 was the first arcade game to use a ROM (Read-Only Memory) chip to store game program data.
- Atari lost approximately $100 on every unit sold due to a manufacturing cost miscalculation — they priced it before fully accounting for the bill of materials.
- The steering wheel, gear shift, accelerator and brake pedals made it one of the first driving simulator-style arcade games.
- The overhead track view became the standard perspective for racing games for the next decade.
Sources & further reading
- Gran Trak 10 — Wikipedia
