Strap a motorway to your face. Thundering Turbo is the racer in Tomy’s Tomytronic 3-D series: peer into twin eyepieces and weave through traffic on a colour track that stretches into the distance.
Each eye looks at its own LCD screen, so cars and trackside markers sit at different depths. The box promises “an amazingly realistic 3-dimensional effect” and warns: “One slip and your car is destroyed.”
Interesting facts
Le Mans in Tokyo. In Japan, this racer was one of the first three 3-D titles and went on sale as Cosmo Le Mans. Canadian and French shoppers met it as Turbo Racer, while this box, from Tomy’s Californian office, calls it Thundering Turbo.
Tomy’s other Turbo. The same year Tomy put a whole cockpit on the toy shelf: the Turnin’ Turbo Dashboard, with a working steering wheel, gear lever, ignition key, speedometer and fuel gauge. It ran on four D cells – Thundering Turbo needs just three AAs.
Powered by daylight. Nothing inside lights the track. The two LCD screens are lit by outside light shining through the window on top, so the racing is only as bright as the room you play in. Point it towards a lamp or a window.