Description
Turbo Esprit puts you in control of a Lotus Esprit cop car, with the challenge of breaking up a drugs gang and protecting the innocent.

A map is built into the car, which can instantly show the positions of the baron's cars - this is crucial because you can't interrupt them before the initial deal is done, as this will simply make them leave and try again another time.

The game was very detailed and advanced for its time; the game's environment is large and varied, with traffic lights, junctions, car indicator lights and zebra crossings accurately implemented, and pedestrians to avoid. The roads are multi-laned, and at the end of each road you can turn across, which makes the game's perspective shift in a flick-screen manner. One unusual feature for the time is a saveable high-score table.

It may also feature the earliest example of a free-roaming city environment in a computer game. Turbo Esprit was the first free-roaming driving game, and has been cited as a major influence on the later Grand Theft Auto series.

Development
According to author Mike Richardson, Turbo Esprit took 10 months to develop, the longest time he ever spent on a single game. It was developed with the cooperation of Lotus Cars Ltd., who provided "technical assistance".

Amstrad
C64
Spectrum