The graphics are simple, but nice.

By putting the health(?) bars directly in front of the cars you are explicitly blocking the line of motion.  I don't think this is a good choice.  Placing them on one side would give a visual bias.  Perhaps integrate this into the car graphic itself.  Either a few states (fine, damaged, really damaged) or maybe even get tricky and incorporate it into some racing stripes.  Hmm, maybe not enough pixels for that last idea.

I suggest reducing the saturation of the grass quite a bit to reduce its visual priority.

Many racing games offer a small image of the overall track so the player can tell where they are at with a quick glance.  But that depends on how the game plays, I  suppose.

Tourist

For texture inspiration, have a look around at some free texture packs.  Not pixel art but food for thought:



Will this environment have some vertical levels?  Stairs up to balconies, or raised platforms?  If so, consider how the stairs must be drawn to make sure they are visible (particularly descending northwards).

Tourist

A core shadow? I've never heard of this concept. Is it a shadow that, in conjunction with the outline,defines the 3d shape of the object?

Yeah, that's it.  I used to have a very nice picture of an egg with the shadows and whatnot labeled, but I can't seem to find it at the moment.  So here's the same info in a long tutorial:

http://www.conceptart.org/wiki/doku.php?id=tutorials:value

with the most relevant image here (linked for size):

http://www.conceptart.org/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?w=&h=&cache=cache&media=sphere_labeled.jpg

Human vision works on contrast.  If you smooth away all the contrast, the result looks a bit smudgy.  Maybe try a fractal approach?  Where you have smooth shading within each light/medium/dark area, but still keep a larger jump between the different areas.  That might give you a vexel style look though, which isn't what you're going for.  Dunno, jut thinking off the cuff.  

I like the experiment and hope to see it continue.
Tourist

Edit: Rats, messed up the link tag on the tutorial.  Should be fixed now.

Of course it's ok.  Grayscale is fine.  You might try fewer colors though.  Maybe 6 or so to start.  Practicing Line art or complete forms is fine. 
If you are new to pixels, the noobtorials at PixelJoint are useful: http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5692

Hope this helps.


But off topic, this week was adventures in digging. 

There is a tree stump in my yard.  So I go to dig it out.  Only it's not a tree stump exactly.  Two feet down and there's no roots so far, just trunk.  Like the previous owner buried a tree halfway and then just chopped off the top half at the new ground level.  Why?  This thing could go down six feet or more.  Well, ok, I can just cover the top with brickwork.

Digging adventure #2 was the anvil.  Yep, my house came with an anvil.  An I-beam really, about 1 foot long and 6 inches in either direction.  Welded to a short post that is stuck in a large post that is stuck in the ground.  The whole thing comes up to your waist.  The anvil part is heavy, gotta be 60 pounds or so (25+ kg) but it comes off and I can carry it.  The large post goes down to the ground, embedded in concrete.  No problem, I can just dig it out, right?

An hour later, I've got a hole a yard deep (1 m).  I've had to dig a hole to stand in just so I can dig down further.  The post keeps going, and doesn't even wiggle when I tug on it.  On the one hand, it's kind of amazing how much dirt one person can move in an hour.  On the other, I'll never be a gravedigger because I'm too much of a wimp.  And the post still mocks me.  I'll give it another shot tomorrow.

Anyone have a use for a heavy chunk of steel I-beam?

Tourist