Is Hard Drivin' on Steam?

No. Hard Drivin' is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.

What platforms is Hard Drivin' on?

Hard Drivin' is available on Arcade, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, Atari Lynx, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Atari ST/STE, DOS, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Genesis / Mega Drive, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS.

When did Hard Drivin' release?

Hard Drivin' was first released on December 31, 1989.

Hard Drivin'

Dec 31, 1989RacingSimulatorArcadeArcadeCommodore C64/128/MAXZX SpectrumAtari Lynx Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Hard Drivin' — frequently asked questions

Is Hard Drivin' on Steam?: No. Hard Drivin' is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
What platforms is Hard Drivin' on?: Hard Drivin' is available on Arcade, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, Atari Lynx, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Atari ST/STE, DOS, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Genesis / Mega Drive, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS.
When did Hard Drivin' release?: Hard Drivin' was first released on December 31, 1989.

About Hard Drivin'

Hard Drivin' is a 3D arcade hit from Atari Games. You are in control of a high-performance sports car. Your objective is to race around the course as fast as possible and hit as many checkpoints as possible. If you hit a checkpoint you gain extra time to go farther. You will see traffic on the road both in your direction and coming down the opposite direction, so be careful when you pass... The course has two sections: speed track, and stunt track. Speed track is longer, but you can usually achieve higher speeds. Stunt track requires you to perform several stunts such as jumping bridges, driving through a loop, and so on. Crashing the car has no serious consequences and indeed shows a replay of your crash from a cinematic angle. Admire your crash head-on into the cement truck, or clipping the minivan, or flying off the bridge in the wrong angle... You lose several seconds as your car is "reset" and you get up to speed again. The home conversions retain most of the then-advanced 3D graphics but lack the force-feedback that was in the arcade version.

Summary via IGDB.

Hard Drivin' on Wikipedia

Hard Drivin' is a sim racing arcade video game developed by Atari Games in 1989. The player test drives a sports car on courses that emphasize stunts and speed. It features one of the first 3D polygon driving environments via a simulator cabinet with a haptic vibrating steering wheel and a custom rendering architecture.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Game details

Platforms: Arcade, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, Atari Lynx, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Atari ST/STE, DOS, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Genesis / Mega Drive, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS
Developer: Atari Corporation
Publisher: Atari Corporation
Game modes: Single player, Multiplayer
Themes: Action

Details via IGDB.

Reception

IGDB rating

63/100

from 9 ratings

Every version compared

Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release

Platform	Year	Loose	Complete	Sealed
Atari Lynx	1991	$18	$73	$88

Also released on: Arcade · Commodore C64/128/MAX · ZX Spectrum · Sega Mega Drive/Genesis · Atari ST/STE · DOS · Amiga · Amstrad CPC · Genesis / Mega Drive · Atari ST · Commodore 64 · MS-DOS. We haven’t priced or authenticated those versions yet.

Collector value & authenticity

Atari Lynx · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-08-07

Loose

$18

Complete

$73

Sealed

$88

Region: NA+EU
Released: 1991
Authenticity: Low

Never re-released — the original cartridge is the only way to playLow counterfeit risk

Atari Lynx prices, all games & how to spot a fake

An ambitious polygon driving sim on a handheld, and another title where four-fifths of a complete copy's value is the packaging.

NuFX brought Atari's filled-polygon arcade cabinet to the Lynx in 1991, which was a genuinely absurd thing to attempt in 1991 and mostly works. The framerate is what you would expect, but the Lynx is doing real 3D here, and the loop-the-loop still lands.

Loose it is one of the cheapest games on the platform. Complete in box it costs four times that. There is no better single example of the Lynx's value living in the cardboard.

How it was made

Converted by NuFX Inc. and John Sanderson, who went on to make the Lynx Steel Talons using the same polygon-fill technique — a game VideoGames & Computer Entertainment read as Sanderson correcting this one's faults.

What the press said at the time

“Once again, Atari's shrunk down one of its coin-op hits for the Lynx's tiny confines without sacrificing graphics quality or features. Hard Drivin' looks and sounds just like the original, but true to its name, it's hard to drive... It's more driving simulator than arcade racing game, and the laws of physics are strictly enforced. Driving intelligently is more important than quick reflexes.”
— GamePro #28, November 1991

“I've always looked down on Hard Drivin' as one of the least enjoyable Lynx titles ever released. Arcade license notwithstanding, this first-person, stunt-driving game was sandbagged with the most sluggish controls I've felt in a long time.”
— VideoGames & Computer Entertainment #44, September 1992

Cartridge & preservation record

Cartridge ROM capacity 1 megabit (128 KB), measured from the preserved cartridge image.

Catalogue part number PA2044

Cartridge data from the No-Intro preservation database (metadata only — names, sizes and checksums, no game data).

How the Atari Lynx version differs

EGM #29 called it 'a very good translation of the coin-op'. It was one of the Atari Games coin-op licences Atari acquired specifically for the Lynx (EGM #6).

Also on other platforms

Arcade · Genesis / Mega Drive · Amiga · Atari ST · Commodore 64 · MS-DOS

Arcade. Atari Games' 1989 coin-op. EGM #6 reported that Atari 'acquired the rights to produce Lynx versions of several Atari Games coin-op blockbusters like Hard Drivin', Stun Runner, and Cyberball' — the licensing deal behind a large part of the Lynx library.

Worth knowing

The Blue Phantom is not solid. You race to qualify against the Blue Phantom, the computer's champion — but GamePro's 1991 ProTip gives the trick away: "the Blue Phantom is exactly that, a phantom. You can easily pass through him or cut him off without fear of hitting him." Stray off either the Speed Track or the Stunt Track and you have ten seconds to return before the car explodes.
A crash replay camera. GamePro called it the game's most fun feature: a camera mode that "replays a third-person view of your car in the few moments before you cross the finish line — or crash. It's a morbid kick to watch yourself careen off an embankment and burst into a ball of flames."

Before you buy

Buy loose to play — it costs almost nothing. Buy complete only after inspecting print quality and insert completeness, because that is where the entire price difference sits.