The gaming world is currently playing through the original Halo campaign again, this time in Campaign Evolved form, to see if Halo Studios’ latest remaster recaptures the magic of the 2001 shooter we all shirked our homework duties to complete on Legendary. Ever the contrarian, however, TopGear has been learning how to drift a Mongoose ATV through the Monaco street circuit and Spa in Halo Reach.
There’s a sizeable community of 12,000+ HT Formula M players who still gather and race in custom-made tracks in the 2010 release using the Halo Forge tool. The community’s Instagram page shows clips of these races, and watching a procession of Mongoose ATVs bouncing their way through a chicane with balletic synchronicity is really something to behold.
Do these custom tracks capture every bit of trackside detail like EA’s F1 games do? They do not. In fact, in sheer visual terms, the tracks look a bit like someone’s knocked over a giant domino run in the woods.
OTHER STORIES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:
‘Star Wars: Galactic Racer’ rethinks how progression in racing games works
Game review: ‘Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced’ streamlines the series’ best
But the track profiles themselves are eerily authentic, including the elevation changes at circuits like the infamously undulating Spa-Francorchamps, and the corner vectors everywhere from Monaco’s hairpin to Singapore’s onslaught of twisties.
Watch: HT Formula M racing in Imola
HT Formula M races from May to August in a 14-race championship, organized by community members via a dedicated Discord.
Given how difficult it’s proven for many modern racing sims—with licenses and real tracks, and post-2010 graphics—to find an audience and get them to stay, it’s seriously impressive that a bunch of fan-made creations built in a 16-year-old level editor tool is doing this well.
How’s the handling? You already know. It’s Halo. It’s that distinct floaty, “point and aim where you intend to go” control scheme that works perfectly for its intended purpose of tearing across wide grassland environments from one battle to the next, but which is hilariously unsuited to precise formula-style racing. Which is, of course, what makes it so fun.
It takes a lot of repetition and muscle memory to make it through a lap of Monaco in a Mongoose, then, let alone at the kind of pace this community’s racers take the corners at.
Plus, the racing rules and regs are surprisingly robust. As reported by Polygon, races use a custom game type that introduces slipstreaming, fuel use, track limits, and pit-lane speed limits for an experience much closer to F1 than you might expect of a gaggle of massive floaty sci-fi battle-jeeps.
If you want to get involved, make an account with Halo Tracks and join the HT Formula M Discord via the link in their Instagram bio.
NOTE: This story first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
