The Little Cars in the Great Race

The Little Cars in the Great Race is a simple racing game based on the 2006 Brazilian animated film of the same name. Players select one of six anthropomorphic cars to compete in a five-lap race on a single track, with the ability to jump over obstacles. The game features pick-ups like speed boosts, slowdowns, and mysterious ‘bubble’ items, as well as a pink cube that halts cars on contact. Once the race is completed, the game displays a high score table and exits.

The Little Cars in the Great Race: A Forgotten Relic of the Mockbuster Era

Introduction: The Curious Case of a Forgotten Racer

In the vast, often unforgiving landscape of video game history, few titles are as perplexing—or as overlooked—as The Little Cars in the Great Race. Released in 2008, this obscure racing game is a digital artifact of the mockbuster era, a time when low-budget imitations of blockbuster films flooded the market. Based on the 2006 Brazilian animated film Os Carrinhos em: A Grande Corrida (a blatant Cars knockoff by the infamous Video Brinquedo studio), the game is a fascinating study in minimalism, ambition, and the sheer audacity of its creators.

At first glance, The Little Cars in the Great Race appears to be little more than a hastily assembled cash-in, a game designed to capitalize on the success of Pixar’s Cars without the polish, depth, or budget of its inspiration. Yet, beneath its rudimentary mechanics and barebones presentation lies a curious relic—a snapshot of a time when game development was accessible enough for a single designer to craft a licensed title in GameMaker, and when the boundaries between film and game adaptations were blurred by sheer opportunism.

This review seeks to dissect The Little Cars in the Great Race in exhaustive detail, exploring its development, gameplay, narrative (or lack thereof), and its place in the broader context of gaming history. Is it a forgotten gem, a cautionary tale, or simply a footnote in the annals of racing games? Let’s find out.

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Development History & Context: The Birth of a Mockbuster Game

The Studio Behind the Wheel: Sodevrom and Vlad Muia

The Little Cars in the Great Race was developed by Sodevrom, a Romanian studio based in Timișoara, known for producing a slew of casual and licensed games. The studio’s portfolio is a mix of educational titles, children’s games, and adaptations of obscure properties—none of which have left a significant mark on the industry. What makes The Little Cars in the Great Race particularly intriguing is its credits: the game was designed by a single individual, Vlad Muia, a name that appears nowhere else in the gaming industry’s recorded history.

This solitary development effort is both impressive and telling. Using GameMaker—a tool designed for indie developers and hobbyists—Muia crafted a licensed racing game in an era when such projects were typically handled by larger teams with dedicated resources. The choice of GameMaker suggests a tight budget, a quick turnaround, and a focus on accessibility over technical prowess.

The Mockbuster Phenomenon: Video Brinquedo and the Cars Ripoff

The game’s source material, Os Carrinhos em: A Grande Corrida (2006), is a product of Video Brinquedo, a Brazilian studio notorious for its mockbusters—low-budget animated films designed to mimic the plots and aesthetics of major Hollywood releases. Video Brinquedo’s films, including The Little Cars, Ratatoing (a Ratatouille knockoff), and Little Panda Fighter (a Kung Fu Panda imitation), were infamous for their wooden animation, stilted voice acting, and blatant plagiarism.

The Little Cars in the Great Race film is no exception. It follows Tony (Cruise in the English dub), a young car who dreams of racing glory, as he competes in the titular “Great Race” against the villainous Victor, a clear stand-in for Cars’ Chick Hicks. The film’s plot is a simplistic underdog story, complete with a love interest (Cris, a Sally Carrera expy) and a comic-relief sidekick (Kombo, a Tow Mater clone).

The game, then, is a double mockbuster: an adaptation of a film that itself is a knockoff. This layered imitation raises fascinating questions about authorship, originality, and the economics of licensed games. Why adapt a film that was already a ripoff? The answer likely lies in licensing costs—Video Brinquedo’s films were cheap to license compared to Disney/Pixar properties, making them attractive to budget-conscious developers like Sodevrom.

Technological Constraints: GameMaker in 2008

GameMaker, the engine used to develop The Little Cars in the Great Race, was in its early stages of mainstream adoption in 2008. While it had been around since 1999, it was primarily used by indie developers and hobbyists. The engine’s limitations are evident in the game’s simplistic 3D graphics, basic physics, and lack of depth.

Key constraints included:
– Limited 3D capabilities: GameMaker was (and still is) primarily a 2D engine, though 3D functionality was possible via workarounds. The game’s behind-the-car perspective and flat track design reflect these limitations.
– No advanced physics: The cars handle more like sliding blocks than realistic vehicles, with jumps and collisions feeling weightless.
– Minimal asset support: The game features only one track, six cars, and a handful of pickups, suggesting a development cycle measured in weeks, not months.

Despite these constraints, GameMaker’s accessibility allowed Muia to single-handedly create a playable, if rudimentary, racing game—a feat that would have been impossible with more complex engines of the time.

The Gaming Landscape of 2008: A Crowded Race Track

2008 was a golden year for racing games, with major releases like:
– Burnout Paradise (Criterion Games)
– Need for Speed: Undercover (EA Black Box)
– Race Driver: GRID (Codemasters)
– Pure (Disney Interactive)

In this context, The Little Cars in the Great Race was doomed to obscurity. It lacked the polish, innovation, or marketing to compete with AAA titles, and its mockbuster roots ensured it would be dismissed by critics and players alike. Yet, its existence is a testament to the democratization of game development—a sign that even the most niche, low-budget projects could find their way onto store shelves (or digital storefronts).

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Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: The Story That Isn’t There

The Plot: A Five-Lap Race to Nowhere

The Little Cars in the Great Race is, in many ways, a narrative void. The game’s description on MobyGames states:

“The player chooses one of the six anthropomorphic cars, and takes part in a five-lap race. There is only one track available in the game.”

That’s it. There is no story mode, no cutscenes, no character interactions. The game begins with a car selection screen, drops the player onto the track, and ends after five laps with a high score table. The only nod to the film’s narrative is the presence of the six cars from the movie, each with their distinct (if simplistic) designs.

This absence of narrative is striking, especially given the game’s licensed nature. Most movie tie-in games, even bad ones, attempt to recreate key scenes or follow the film’s plot. The Little Cars, however, ignores its source material entirely, reducing the Great Race to a single, endless loop.

Themes: What’s Left When the Story is Stripped Away

Without a traditional narrative, the game’s themes emerge from its mechanics and presentation:
1. Futility and Repetition: The game’s single track and five-lap structure create a sense of monotony. There is no progression, no unlockables, no end goal beyond finishing the race. The player is trapped in a Sisyphean loop, racing the same track over and over with no reward beyond a high score.
2. Mockery of Competition: The game’s pickups—speed boosts, slowdowns, and the mysterious “bubble”—feel arbitrary and unfair. The pink cube, which stops any car that hits it, introduces an element of chaos that undermines skill-based racing. This aligns with the mockbuster ethos: a cheap imitation of competition without the depth or fairness of real racing games.
3. Isolation: The game features no AI opponents—the player races alone, against no one. This loneliness is accentuated by the empty track and lack of spectators, reinforcing the idea that this is a race no one cares about.

Characters: Anthropomorphic Cars Without Personalities

The six cars are directly lifted from the film, but in the game, they are devoid of personality or distinction:
– Tony (Cruise): The protagonist, a red car with racing aspirations.
– Kombo: The comic-relief sidekick, a yellow tow truck.
– Cris: The love interest, a pink car.
– The Champ: The reigning champion, a blue racing car.
– Victor: The villain, a black car with a grudge.
– Wrangler: A secondary antagonist, a green off-road vehicle.

In the game, none of these traits matter. The cars are interchangeable, with no differences in speed, handling, or abilities. The player’s choice is purely aesthetic, further emphasizing the game’s hollow nature.

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Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: The Bare Minimum

Core Gameplay Loop: Race, Jump, Repeat

The Little Cars in the Great Race distills racing games to their most basic elements:
1. Select a car (no impact on gameplay).
2. Race five laps on the sole track.
3. Jump over obstacles (walls placed sporadically on the track).
4. Collect pickups (speed boosts, slowdowns, bubbles, pink cubes).
5. Finish the race, view the high score, and quit the game.

There is no menu, no options, no replayability. The game exits automatically after the race concludes, forcing the player to restart the executable to play again.

Controls and Handling: Slippery and Unresponsive

The game supports keyboard and mouse, with controls mapped as follows:
– Arrow keys: Steering and acceleration.
– Spacebar: Jump.

The handling is floaty and imprecise, with cars sliding unpredictably around corners. The jump mechanic is particularly problematic—cars launch into the air with no regard for physics, often landing off-track or stuck on obstacles.

Pickups: Chaos Over Strategy

The game features four pickups, each with varying degrees of usefulness:
1. Green Package (Speed Boost): Temporarily increases speed.
2. Red Package (Slowdown): Undesirable, as it reduces speed.
3. Bubble: Its function is unclear—it may be a shield or a trap, but its effect is never explained.
4. Pink Cube: Stops any car that hits it, acting as a hazard rather than a power-up.

The randomness of these pickups undermines any sense of skill or strategy. The player is at the mercy of luck, not ability.

Obstacles: A Test of Patience

The track is littered with walls that the player must jump over. Failure to jump results in getting stuck, requiring the player to reverse and try again. The timing is inconsistent, and the hitboxes are unforgiving, leading to frustration rather than challenge.

UI and Feedback: Minimalist to a Fault

The game’s UI is nearly nonexistent:
– No lap counter (the player must count manually).
– No speedometer.
– No mini-map.
– No opponent indicators (because there are no opponents).

The only feedback comes from the high score table at the end, which feels perfunctory given the lack of competition.

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World-Building, Art & Sound: A Hollow Facade

The Track: A Lonely, Repetitive Loop

The game’s single track is a generic racing circuit with:
– A few turns.
– Some walls to jump over.
– A handful of pickups.
– No scenery, no spectators, no landmarks.

The art style is low-poly 3D, with flat textures and basic shading. The cars are colorful but stiff, with no animations beyond wheel rotation.

Sound Design: Silence and a Single Tune

The game’s audio is equally sparse:
– No engine sounds.
– No tire screeches.
– No crowd noise.
– A single, looping background track (described as a “combination of rock and country” by GamePressure).

The lack of sound effects makes the game feel eerily quiet, reinforcing its isolated, empty atmosphere.

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Reception & Legacy: The Game No One Remembered

Critical Reception: A Resounding Silence

The Little Cars in the Great Race received no professional reviews upon release. On MobyGames, it holds an average player score of 1.0/5 (based on two ratings), with no written reviews. Metacritic has no critic reviews listed, and PCGamingWiki labels it a “stub,” indicating its obscurity.

The only recorded player feedback comes from a 2025 comment on MyAbandonware, where a user named Leo wrote:

“The car kept jumping by itself.”

This single complaint encapsulates the game’s broken mechanics and lack of polish.

Commercial Performance: A Non-Entity

The game was published by Wydawnictwo Bauer Spółka z o.o., Sp.k., a Polish publisher known for budget software and licensed titles. It was never widely distributed, appearing only in Poland and on digital abandonware sites.

Its commercial impact was negligible, and it vanished from store shelves almost immediately.

Legacy: A Footnote in Mockbuster History

The Little Cars in the Great Race is not influential, nor is it remembered fondly. Its legacy lies in its existence as a curiosity—a single-developer, GameMaker-made, mockbuster tie-in that somehow made it to market.

It serves as a reminder of the early 2000s indie scene, where anyone with a license and a dream could release a game, no matter how flawed.

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Conclusion: The Great Race That Wasn’t

The Little Cars in the Great Race is not a good game. It is barely a game at all. It is a broken, repetitive, empty shell of a racing experience, devoid of depth, polish, or purpose.

Yet, in its utter failure, it becomes fascinating. It is a time capsule of:
– The mockbuster era of film and games.
– The early days of accessible game development (GameMaker, solo devs).
– The licensing frenzy of the late 2000s, where any IP could be adapted, no matter how obscure.

It is a game that should not exist, yet it does—and in that existence, it tells a story far more interesting than its own.

Final Verdict: 0.5/5 – A Historical Curiosity, Nothing More

The Little Cars in the Great Race is not worth playing unless you are a historian of bad games or a completionist of racing titles. It is a relic of a bygone era, a testament to the audacity of its creators, and a warning to future developers of what happens when ambition outstrips resources.

In the great race of video game history, The Little Cars in the Great Race did not finish the lap. But in its failure, it has earned a strange, reluctant immortality—as a footnote, a joke, and a lesson.

And sometimes, that’s more interesting than winning.