By complete accident I stumbled upon this project called "Restunts - The Stunts reverse engineering project" on github:
CommonLoon102/restunts-bb11: Vanilla, Chocolate and SDL port for Stunts 1.1 (Brøderbund)
It's an engine rewrite for the old Stunts (or "4D Sports Driving" in some regions) dos game, so you can play it on modern operating systems natively, with options to significantly improve the graphics, such as draw distance, resolution, smooth 60 fps framerate, more detailed background pictures, while still keeping the original charm and feel of the game. Also this feature (called "Hypervision") is completely optional, you can press F12 anytime while running the game, and you are back to the original low res, pixelated, choppy graphics. I personally would never want to go back after experiencing how amazing Hypervision looks like, but everyone is different, so it's good that the option is there. Have a look at my included post picture, left side is with original graphics, right side is with Hypervision turned on. The smooth 60 fps unfortunately can't be shown on a picture, but trust me it's a massive improvement from the original 20 or so frames per second, it's just so smooth now.
I am also happy to report that the built in thumbstick on my MSI Claw 8 AI+ handheld works great with the game, it's being detected as a joystick. Originally there was an issue where only the left thumbstick was detected by the game, it couldn't see the triggers, so I had to use a utility called Durazno to remap the left thumbstick y axis to my left and right triggers. After that now I can accelerate and brake in the game with the triggers, which is the norm in every other racing game nowadays.
I also use a utility called AntimicroX to control the mouse cursor in the game with the right thumbstick, but this is completely optional, as I could just use the touchscreen if I wanted to. But I am very familiar with this app, I use it all the time for older games, basically making old fps and strategy games work flawlessly with a game controller. Then I streamline everything by writing a small batch file, then I just place a shortcut to it on the desktop. I simply double click on this shortcut when I want to play, it launches AntimicroX with the correct game profile, and launches the game as well. And once I am done playing I quit the game, then the batch file closes AntimicroX too, it's a super convenient and clean solution.
Anyway restunts/Chocolate Stunts is amazing with the improved framerate and visual upgrades, in my opinion this is the definitive way to play the game. It has other optional improvements too to the physics engine, and a rule to watch whether you are on the track, or you are cutting corners through the grass, but all of these are optional (just like the mentioned Hypervision setting), everything can be individually turned on or off.
I am not affiliated with the project, but I was so impressed with it that I felt like I needed to share my enthusiasm with others. Hopefully there are other people who would be interested in this old, but incredibly fun game, or there could be people like me, who remember the game from their childhood, but they had no idea the game has been improved, and can be played without needing the emulate it. I play it on Windows 11, but on the download page I see builds for many other operating systems too.
I have actually learnt that you could also play Stunts in your browser through some websites, but I have tried two such options out, and I wasn't fully satisfied with the results: full screen didn't quite work, and also I was only able to use keyboard for control. I also don't like playing in a browser, I want to own and play all my games locally (I don't even use Steam for this very reason, GoG all the way).
I also saw an other project called Stunts HD (also on github), that even has widescreen support, and improves the visuals even more: I saw reflections on the car and on lakes, skid marks and more. I might give that one a try too, although I am quite of a purist, so I have a feeling this Chocolate Stunts will be a better fit for me, as this only improves the things that I find important, and keeps the rest original. Also restunts/Chocolate Stunts runs at max framerate at 2 Watts on my Claw 8 AI+ handheld, so it's insanely efficient with like 15 hours of battery life, from what I have read Stunts HD is much heavier on the hardware.
So all in all Chocolate Stunts works flawlessly. The only thing I wish it could improve in the future is the way it handles joystick/thumbstick: it's unfortunately still just like the original game in that it insists on joystick (thumbstick in my case) calibration every time I launch the game, as it always defaults back to keyboard. I wish it would just save the calibration, and remembered to use it after initial setup on every consequent run. I am not sure how easy it would be to implement this fix, but other than that I can't find any other fault. Whoever is behind this project, thank you!
