Pyongyang Racer

Pyongyang Racer
Developer(s)	Nosotek
Publisher(s)	Koryo Tours
Platform(s)	Adobe Flash
Release	c. December 18, 2012
Genre(s)	Racing, simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player

Pyongyang Racer is a 2012 racing video game created by Kim Chaek University of Technology students and Nosotek and published by Koryo Tours, a travel company specializing in arranging visits to North Korea.

The gameplay of Pyongyang Racer focuses largely on driving a North Korean car Hwiparam II through the streets of Pyongyang. Specifically, certain rules and regulations must be followed, such as the need to continually hit barrels of gasoline to maintain a depleting fuel meter. In addition, certain obstacles and objects must be avoided, or will result in points deducted. Other cars are present on the road but do not actually move.

There are no people to be seen in the city with the exception of the North Korean traffic ladies who appear occasionally.

Pyongyang Racer was developed in 2012 by a few Kim Chaek University of Technology students working with Nosotek, a North Korean venture capital company focusing on information technology. Nosotek was commissioned to create the game by Koryo Tours, a British-owned travel company specializing in arranging visits to North Korea, to promote tourism of the country to Western audiences.

The game's graphics are not contemporary of its timeframe; one reviewer equated them to the Sega Saturn's and another to the 32-bit era in general. This quirk was not unintentional; Koryo stated that Pyongyang Racer was "not intended to be a high-end technological wonder hit game of the 21st century" but rather a retro arcade-style game. Unlike in most racing games, Nosotek and Koryo did not include AI or a multiplayer mode of any kind.

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