Finished what I think was my second play-through of Interstate '76, this time patched up to Gold Edition. Had to disable audio hardware playback acceleration to get it working, well, mostly working - it's still slightly crash prone and has some graphical glitches, and I couldn't get the resolution to increase to something sharper.
I had no idea I could fly a helicopter in the final stage! I just clicked on it in the background of the "choose your vehicle" screen thinking "Yeah, right", and then I find myself in a UH-1 armed with a 7.62mm gun and Dr. Radar missiles. I couldn't handle it very well though. It felt a bit like controlling a helo in a Bohemia Interactive military sim, only more difficult. Targeting is also quite hard.
Still, the T.R.I.P, despite its shortness, has some fantastic voice acting, likeable characters, and the cutscenes are very well done despite their simplicity of detail and animation. I'd almost forgotten how much I liked the way this game is presented. Even the manual is presented in the style of a car manual, IIRC.
As much as I think that the idea of automobile combat is just plain ridiculous, I still think this game is rather good, and probably even more fun in multiplayer. Next I'll dig out the Nitro Riders expansion pack.
I never played Interstate '82; I heard it wasn't great. But now I'm interested in having a look at it, if I can find a demo and get it working.