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While stuck for a good while, you might be aching to get behind your steering wheel and mash that pedal. We urge you to hold in the urge, hold it in for as long as the country needs you to. In the meantime, we have made a list of racing games that might well be able to satiate your driving craves. Have fun playing all these titles, acquire fantastic cars, and set unbeatable high scores. Stay indoors, wash your hands, stay safe... These troubling days shall be over soon.

Real Racing 3

Real Racing 3 is a racing simulator game, developed by Firemonkeys Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It is one of the best racing sim games to date. The quality of the gameplay is awesome, and the graphics are solid. It’s just the heavy use of in-app purchases that interfere with our enjoyment of the game. Real Racing 3 is not a small game; it is a heavy download that requires Wi-Fi. What you get for that download is a stable of 45 highly-detailed cars from manufacturers like Porsche, BMW, Audi, Nissan, and Ford. Car buffs will be pleased. It is available on both Android and iOS.

Asphalt 9: Legends

Asphalt 9: Legends is a racing video game developed by Gameloft Barcelona and published by Gameloft. Released on 25 July 2018, it is the ninth main installment in the Asphalt series. The graphics on this iteration is a genuine stunner, boasting next-level particle effects, lighting, and realistic weather. The game doesn’t have licensed cars but in its best moments, you can expect the same gleeful sense of speed and violent carnage as the earlier Burnouts, albeit with a much-reduced sense of danger. Available on both Android and iOS.

CSR Racing 2

If you love straight-line speeds that tear up the quarter- or half-mile tarmac, then CSR Racing 2 is the game for you. Like its predecessor, CSR 2 is a drag racing game that is visually stunning and offers enough gameplay improvements to easily hook everyone who enjoyed its predecessor, plus a bunch of new fans. While games like Real Racing 3 and the Asphalt series aimed to bring the full racing experience to mobile phones and tablets, Natural Motion’s CSR Racing has focused on delivering tiny moments of greatness. Every race is a straight shot, steering is never a concern. It’s about coming off the starting line just right and shifting at the perfect moment. If all goes well, 10 to 15 seconds later the player’s got a bit more cash and a bit more rep. Available on both Android and iOS.

NFS Heat

Any racing game list would be incomplete without a Need For Speed title. NFS Heat is a racing video game developed by Ghost Games and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the twenty-fourth installment in the series and commemorates the 25th anniversary. The Need For Speed franchise had lost its way but this iteration feels like the series is back on a solid track. The game is set in an open-world environment called Palm City, a fictionalized version of the city of Miami, Florida, and its surrounding area. The in-game map features diverse geography, including mountainous areas and open fields. There are 127 cars from 33 manufacturers, with Ferrari returning to the game after being absent in Payback over licensing issues.

Project CARS 2

Project CARS 2 is a motorsport racing simulator video game developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published and distributed by the Bandai Namco Entertainment group for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Project CARS 2 offers 140 track layouts in 60 different locations and 189 cars to choose from. The game now features off-road driving, including rally-cross tracks and cars. There are new manufacturers in the game, including Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Jaguar, Honda, Acura, and Nissan. In addition, Project CARS 2 supports virtual reality (VR), up to 12K resolution, and triple screen. This is truly a game for the inner car nut.

Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4 is a 2018 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios. It is set in an open world environment based in a fictionalized Great Britain, with regions that include condensed representations of Edinburgh, the Lake District (including Derwentwater), and the Cotswolds (including Broadway), among others, and features over 670 licensed cars. The game even turns our weather into something beautiful. As the season changes, so does the climate and the nature of the light, along with the driving conditions. Only available for Xbox and PC, the Forza Horizon 4 is one of the best, if not the best racing games, made to date. 

Amidst the COVID-19 tragedy, the entire world economy is prepping itself for a dearth future. Difficult times are inevitable and like many industries, the world auto industry is also plummeting. According to reports, the auto industry faces both a supply side and a demand side pressure due to the spread of the coronavirus.

As a country that depends completely on imports, Nepal’s auto industry is also set to bear the brunt of the effects of COVID-19. And, the nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus has further deepened the woes of automobile dealers in Nepal. The auto sector which was already reeling under the pressure of slowing demand and a myriad of challenges, is now struggling with the COVID-19 lockdown and this unprecedented lockdown has understandably led to questions about how auto dealers are responding to this crisis.

We had the opportunity to discuss the matters and the actions being taken by some of the leading automotive distributors in the country during these difficult times. Excerpts below.

Karan Chaudhary, 

Executive Director, Chaudhary Group

Our primary objective is to ensure the safety of everyone associated with the company and their families. We are staying in constant contact with all of our associates to stay updated about their wellbeing. Regarding the business, everything has currently come to stand still, but we have tried to remain in contact with our customers through digital medium and by helping them with any queries that they have.

Customer interest needs to be taken care off as well, for which we have initiated several aftersales initiatives. We have also put maintenance support on standby to provide services where and when possible. For instance, we will be running a 7-day check-up camp as soon as the government puts an end to the ongoing lockdown.

The fact that many of the companies in our industry have come together to do something or the other, even in these times, is applaud able. We are consolidating our position and drawing plans on how to land on our feet once things normalise.

Biraj Shrestha, 

Deputy Manager- Marketing, Volkswagen Nepal

The entire world is struggling to cope with this outbreak and all sectors face some form of disruption. The automobile industry is not an exception. We hope we will be able to overcome this barrier as soon as possible. While the impact of these times will bring changes in the socio economic behaviour and thinking of the masses, it will also bring along a rise in the use of the digital platform and digital payment system.

Auto dealers should be active in the digital platform and maintain a strong digital footprint. This can be done by training their members to be digitally active and smart. The use of virtual medium, like 3d videos, can be used to give realistic experiences and we should focus on paperless transaction.

At our end, we will be constantly divulging the necessary information to our customers (current and prospective), through the digital media so that they can make an informed judgement if and when they decide to buy again. We can provide customers with test drives/bookings and delivery at their convenience, be it at their home or office with a simple click.

As people might feel reluctant to visit showrooms, we will help ease the mind by making sure proper safety precautions are adopted to keep the safety of our customers and employees in top priority. For service, we are working on free disinfecting of cars, touch less pick and drop facilities, touch less key drop facilities etc. We will be providing special offers for frontline staffs like Doctors and Nurses. Although things are still uncertain, we hope that we will overcome it very soon and come up with futuristic and advance channels to connect with customers.

Anish Lamichhane, 

Assistant General Manager, KIA Motors Nepal

This lockdown though anticipated came very suddenly, so we were not able to prepare ourselves as well as we would have liked. We have left what we were doing and went into the lockdown. We do understand and support the government’s decision to lockdown the whole country. However, after all this is over, we need to go back to our respective jobs. So we can use this time to develop relations with our customers and work on our capacity development as professional auto traders.

Once things normalize, our main focus will be our staff and their safety. Our sales and service team will be ready to facilitate all the customers who are facing problems after the long term storage of the vehicle. We will try to deliver all the pending vehicles promptly, and Kia Motor group has extended the warranty period of all of our eligible vehicles.

The impending competition in the auto-industry is inevitable after the lockdown is over as all the auto importers will want to offload their stock as quickly as possible. However, we will have to see how things go as the slow market has affected the industry even before the lockdown. As the largest tax paying industry for the government we really hope the government will come up with a strategy to revive the auto industry in Nepal.

Gyanendra Chand 

AGM, Pioneer Motocorp (Datsun and Nissan)

The Nepalese auto industry was already facing a very time tough time even before the COVID - 19 lock down due to unfavourable market situation specially due to the negative prospective of the government towards the industry. It is certain that the near future is more challenging after the lockdown. It will be most necessary that the government take this pandemic very seriously and must change its perspective to the highest revenue generating industry. The government must at least launch some consumer friendly policy for auto buyers like low equity of consumers, best possible interest rates etc. to revive the industry.

Mahesh Kumar M, 

General Manager, United Traders Syndicate (Toyota)

It is very difficult to analyze the market since most countries are severely affected with the COVID-19 pandemic. Nepal is especially vulnerable being a land locked country and we are mainly dependent on import. However, to support our clients in this time of crisis, we are providing emergency services to essential vehicles like ambulance, health-care staffs vehicles, and also diplomats vehicle. This is our core responsibility for now, which is to support the Nation and help fight the crisis.

Hopefully, the auto market will find its footing after 2 months and there won't be too much of a disturbance in the auto sales in the market. We think that the automobile market percentage will gradually increase after the lock down. The situation was even worst at the time of 2015 earthquake and border lock down, during that time we had faced some concerns but we were able to be back on track within a month’s time.  In this current situation, Toyota will be back on track promptly. Furthermore, we should be optimistic since Nepal is not struggling as badly as other countries, and the market will possibly see growth within 6 months.

Kiran Acharya, 

Head-Marketing, IME Motors

Everything seems uncertain as of now. This unprecedented crisis will further add to the woes of the auto sector. However, we should look for new ways to embrace this sudden change. This can be done through by introducing an online sales platform where we can create and manage demand through live bookings and introduce a virtual tour of the showroom. Similarly, the service area is another aspect which should be taken care of.

These methods, if implemented, will help the dealers maintain a fair level of business until the lockdown ends. Also, it will help us to strengthen our connection with the customers by providing an extra value.  

What we’re going to tell you today might be borderline illegal in Nepal. Or it might not be. Without clear directives, we don’t know.

We’re talking about the Virtual Private Networks (VPN). In simple terms, solutions that help you mask your IP Address to protect you from the potential threat of hackers (think using torrents), and let you access websites that have been banned.

When we say banned, we don’t mean only the porn websites that our super-intelligent Nepali government banned to curb sexual violence. It includes offerings of service providers like Netflix, Hotstar and even YouTube that may not show certain videos in Nepal. VPN helps users access those videos and plenty of other materials not available in Nepal.

So it’s not all sex and crimes with VPN. People can use it for protection and recreation.

ExpressVPN

The ExpressVPN is compatible with almost all available routers and operating systems and allows up to five simultaneous connections. With 256-bit AES encryption and a no-logs policy, ExpressVPN with 3,000+ servers in over 90 countries allows unlimited bandwidth and data.

This VPN service has a 30-day money back guarantee and is extremely secure and includes an automatic kill switch to prevent leaks during accidental disconnects, and split tunneling that allows you to choose what traffic passes through the VPN. Access to so many IP addresses allows the service to go undetected even by the strictest anti-VPN measures.

ProtonVPN

The ProtonVPN comes with unlimited free data and no-log policy adhering to Swiss privacy laws to protect your anonymity. It offers a limited free version, which gives you access to servers in Japan, Netherlands and US only. But the unlimited data even on the free version sets ProtonVPN apart from similar other services.

Upgrading to a paid plan will boost the performance and speed but you can use the free virtual locations to bypass censorship and access geo-blocked social media platforms and messaging apps.

Along with an easy-to-use, intuitive interface and multi-platform compatibility, this VPN also offers strong security, including powerful AES encryption and an automatic kill switch.

Windscribe

Windscribe allows 10GB of free data every month and with its robust encryption, malware protection and ad blocking, this VPN also offers a desktop app and browser extension.

The free version restricts you to servers in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, and Switzerland. But this should be more than enough to unblock most contents on the web.

Windscribe comes with a firewall that blocks all traffic outside the VPN’s secure tunnel in order to prevent unexpected leaks. The company has a detailed privacy policy that clearly explains what data they store, as well as a no-logs policy to protect your privacy.

While the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown has more than half the world’s population cooped up in their homes, people are also learning to work—and communicate— from the comfort of their homes. Here are three online meeting and conferencing services to help you.

Zoom

Zoom is a video-conferencing solution that has a limited service for free; the Pro plan with more features is being offered for $14.99 a month per user. Currently, Zoom is probably the most popular service among professionals to hold remote meetings with their work colleagues.

Zoom has useful features like high definition video and audio and, for the paying members, provision of typed transcripts of all calls you record as videos. It considers the needs of all types of users and is also being used by high profile companies such as Pandora, Box, GoDaddy, Slack, and Uber.

Zoho Meeting

Zoho Meeting is another excellent tool for video-conferencing. It does not offer a free version, but has a 14-day trial period for users to test and get acquainted with the product before purchasing the service. The pricing for Zoho Meeting starts at $10 per host per month for up to 100 participants. The webinar plan starts at $19.

One advantage, if one may call it that, of the Zoho Meeting is that it is web and browser-based, and therefore, you don’t need to download any software or install anything to use the tool. With a simple Chrome extension you can host and record online meetings and webinars. Further, you can share and record screens across various platforms.

EZTalks

The EZTalks video conferencing solution allows users to access collaboration services such as webinars, online meetings, audio, and video conferencing. With EZTalk, you can share presentations, slideshows, audios, and videos with up to 10,000 participants.

The EZTalks free plan has a 40 minutes limit on group meetings and allows you to host up 100 participants. The paid plans with more advanced features start at $13 per month per host. The software of EZtalks can be used on a wide range of platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, and Linux.