(Not 100% guaranteed to be free of genAI or twerking)

Image credit: Boxy.Poly

I'm not your guy for computerised automobile magic picture shows, or "car videogames" as they are popularly known – for that, we turn fearfully to Mark Warren, whose every word during Gchat meetings is screamed against a backdrop of throbbing motors. Still, once in a blue moon a car game hooks my interest. Take Shifu: Traffic Masters, which we can approximately translate as Driver and/or Midtown Madness (those are explicit inspirations), but set in northern China during the 1990s. It's got a demo on Steam. Cars emit steam, don't they? How poetic of them. Here's a trailer.

Watch on YouTube

In Traffic Masters, you've got a selection of vehicular pursuits to choose from. You can haul cargo with real physics, chase down crims in a cop car, run a taxi service (don't jostle the passenger too much), drive a city bus with a timetable, and participate in full-blown arcade street racing. All the traditional car game foods.…