By Jim Rossignol on February 11th, 2013 at 3:00 pm.
Mine is probably Wipeout 2097, or Ballistics. I do like a bit of rallying, though. It’s in the blood, you see. My Dad used to throw a Mini Cooper around the welsh mountains occasionally. I’d do the same if I hadn’t spent all my money on crisps.
Oh, and there’s a teaser video out for GRiD 2. (It’s spelled like that, you see.) That was the real news, before I got distracted. You can watch that below. Also a ballistics video, because nostalgia.
I bet there won’t be any sonic booms in Grid 2.
11/02/2013 at 15:02 Muddy Water says:
Burnout Paradise!
11/02/2013 at 15:55 eightbitrobot says:
Hell yes Burnout Paradise, I love that game.. not sure if I would classify it as my favorite -racing- game though, since 90% of the +200 hours I played of it was spent doing online challenges. Then again, I can’t think of any other game that can compete with the title.
Burnout Paradise 2? I need it, directly in to my veins.
11/02/2013 at 17:53 Dog Pants says:
I agree, if only for my crash/strip tactic. The game took a reaction photo of you in multiplayer when you were wiped out by another player, assuming you had a webcam. I used this to my advantage by removing an item of clothing any time one of my friends did it. They stopped making me crash very quickly.
For proper racing games my mind immediately reverts to Need for Speed Road Challenge.
11/02/2013 at 22:39 PopeRatzo says:
Burnout Paradise is by far, hands down, without a doubt my favorite racing game, and one of my favorite games of all time. There’s so much to do, so much time to spend, such variety and excitement. I even came to love DJ What’s-his-name who I thought was annoying at the time but when I played the latest NFS: Most Wanted I realized I missed.
I bought three copies of Burnout Paradise for PC and was a houseguest at a friend’s house that only had Macs (but a Playstation 2) so I bought a copy of Burnout Paradise for PS3 as well.
If Criterion would make a proper Burnout Paradise 2, I’d pay $100 for it. Maybe $200. Today. As a friggin’ pre-order. (God, it’s stupid for me to write that because some game developer might read it and say, “Oh look, we can start charging $100 for games now”. And my answer would be “Not for that POS third-person shooter with the 5-hour campaign, you can’t”.)
Something about the light in Paradise City really pumped the serotonin into my brain. When it was daytime, it felt like daytime. When it was night, it felt like night.
Oh hell, now I’m sad because it’s been so long without Burnout Paradise 2. I’m going to go take a spin in my Tesla in NFS:Most Wanted (Criterion-style), but it’s just not the same.
12/02/2013 at 04:37 icarussc says:
Also yes here, just for the sake of clarity.
12/02/2013 at 04:36 icarussc says:
YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!! (just to be emphatic) Yes. (To be concise)
11/02/2013 at 15:05 brulleks says:
Flat Out 2 (or Flat Out Ultimate Carnage, given that it souped it all up a little and added more drivers, but Flat Out 2 was the one that captured my shallow heart).
11/02/2013 at 15:56 Matt says:
Seconded. Gimme my racing games as silly and fun as you can get, and give me many, many, many, many physicsy things to crash into, any day.
11/02/2013 at 15:05 mr.ioes says:
None really. A year ago I took a look at ~10 different racing games from the past years and I hated them all. Rubberband AI SUCKS. No tuning SUCKS.
Where’s my NFS Porsche/Hot Pursuit? I don’t get it why there’s no market for those anymore, apparently. Even the popular Burnout Paradise … just terrible in my opinion.
Also, it seems like all racing games have the same UI designer.
Ballistics looked cool, never heard of it before.
11/02/2013 at 16:13 bonjovi says:
I miss a game similar to NFS Porche. Haven’t played a better racing game since. Sure Burnout, Driver, Grid, etc were fun games, but nowhere near the experience.
11/02/2013 at 20:17 identiti_crisis says:
I agree. The problem with racing games these days is the same as it is with FPSs – the variety we once enjoyed is disappearing from the “mainstream”.
Back in 2000 I was playing the likes of Driver, Gran Turismo 2, GPL, 1NSANE, Screamer 4×4, NFS IV, Carmageddon 2, GP4, POD, TOCA 2, Rollcage, Interstate ’76 and other, older stuff. Now we have either “hardcore sims for the pretentious” or “story-based extreme racing for the talentless”, with both now bleeding over and poaching from each other. Flatout and Burnout (before it decided to try to take NFS’s admittedly off-balance-to-the-point-of-teetering crown) were interesting, the former having excellent keyboard controls (a requirement for me given my particular arcade-racer upbringing) and both chunky crash physics not felt since the original Destruction Derby game (or a Papyrus sim), but that’s about it from my addled memory.
Incidentally, I played the demo of Ballistics that came with PCG issue 104 (Christmas 2001) primarily because it had been “making Jim happy”. It was too fast for me, faster than Wipeout, which is also too fast for me :(
My favourite racer is probably Grand Prix Legends, but I’ve probably put more time into Gran Turismo. Both of those are covered in my near future, so I’d really like to see a new game in the vein of Screamer 4×4 being made, but including tarmac and circuit disciplines like hillclimbs and rallycross, plus a continuously generating, open, branching countryside, forest trail or public road environment. If I had any talent, I’d throw it on Kickstarter or something…
11/02/2013 at 20:55 ScreenCheetah says:
I played the heck out of Ballistics. It’s hands-down the fastest racing game ever – and I’m not talking about those games where it says you’re doing 6000kph but visually you’re only doing 100kph. It felt properly-quick.
Unfortunately Ballistics wasn’t very approachable. Given the limits of human reaction times, to set a good lap time you had to memorise the track perfectly. You couldn’t merely react to an obstacle appearing in your field of vision. You had to know exactly where you had to be a few seconds from ‘now’.
This made it a very unapproachable game.
Yet it felt so, so, so rewarding when people at LAN parties would crowd around the PC and stare in awe as the player dodged every obstacle with a Jedi-like foresight and fighterjet speeds. 1000, 2000, 3000kph! “Impossible!”, they would cry. “How is he doing that??!?!” And the player would simply smile.
( As for me, Trackmania: Sunshine and Trackmania: United are probably my favourite driving games. Or Driver: SF. )
11/02/2013 at 15:05 MrLebanon says:
Gran Turismo 3!
Would have love to play 5 but I do not has a Playboxstation
11/02/2013 at 15:05 Shivoa says:
Probably Forza 4 (even if MS are stupid about providing their work for the one true platform, the one they generate masses of revenue for as Windows – the one they could lose to Linux if OpenGL and that drive really ramps up in the future and no one could say they didn’t abandon for gaming well before Valve et al started to wander).
That gameplay teaser seems to contain very little gameplay.
11/02/2013 at 16:11 Snargelfargen says:
Yes Forza for sure, although I haven’t tried #4 yet. The semi-realistic driving models, the massive car selections, the ridiculous depth of customization… there’s nothing else out there quite like it. * Forza is also the only game that let me go hooning around ractetracks in the car I learned to drive in!!! Honda Accord for the record, and I can confirm the handling is spot on. The rear tends to slip a bit under heavy acceleration in turns, but it’s really quite sedate even foir a family sedan.
Really, really wish MS would make a pc version of Forza. I’d even buy all the dlc.
*except perhaps Gran Turismo, but using the thumbstick for acceleration is silly. Maybe it’s better with a wheel…
11/02/2013 at 17:05 dE says:
Rubberband AI. A single mechanic turns an entire genre unplayable for me.
I get the idea behind it, but a system that forces players to lose, because they drove too well, and vice versa, rewards them for intentionally driving crap, is already flawed by design.
/edit:
late note: replied to the wrong comment, sorry
11/02/2013 at 17:16 Dimonte says:
There may be some rubberbanding going on, but on professional, AI drives balls-out. Just look at the lap times when paused, you won’t see much deviation between Rossi’s laps when he is in front of you and when he is behind you.
11/02/2013 at 17:23 Shivoa says:
Just as well that’s something Forza doesn’t suffer from. Set it too hard or drive slowly and you can watch as the sharp end of the pack goes of to an unassailable lead and eventually laps you, set it easier and once you’ve overtaken the pack in the first 1-2 laps you will be driving in pure clean air and thinking about the online leaderboards and your friends times for their clean laps (a nice indication of the type of game, all clean laps rank higher than even the fastest dirty ones on the tables and assists are clearly marked) rather than the competition until you see the stragglers that need lapping on longer races.
I’ve had times where I’ve completely lost it on a final lap and didn’t reach for the rewind because there wasn’t a car anywhere near me. Recovered to the track, mutter about my hot clean lap being lost, drive on in to the finish line in first, think about maybe being time to ratchet the enemy level up so they don’t hold back.
11/02/2013 at 17:44 dE says:
Oops, that reply was actually meant for another comment. I’m sorry, didn’t notice until your comments. I can’t comment on Forza and Rubberbanding.
11/02/2013 at 17:13 Dimonte says:
Yep, it’s probably the best simulatory racing game right now. Fun to play with a gamepad, awesome with wheel, hard enough to challenge serious racer, forgiving enough to race your little brother in split screen.
Now the important thing. You can get something like that on the PC. It’s called Project CARS, currently in buy-in beta (orders are closed right now but are expected to open soon), simply beautiful, here’s the community-made trailer http://youtu.be/Tug6rRMqYuc and main site http://www.wmdportal.com/projects/cars/ . It’s a bit thin on content right now, but it’s pretty. And awesome to drive. And unbelievably beautiful. And it supports up to 60 players in one race. And it’s stupendously gorgeous. And you can have night races in heavy rain.
11/02/2013 at 15:06 phelix says:
FlatOut! Not sure it’s technically a racing game or a carnage simulator, but it’s crazy fun with friends either way.
11/02/2013 at 15:06 Bluerps says:
Waverace 64!
No, really.
(I don’t play that many racing games)
11/02/2013 at 18:45 SuicideKing says:
WAVEFACE
11/02/2013 at 15:07 tobecooper says:
Colin McRae Rally 2 and NFS: Porsche, because nostalgia.
Carmageddon, because because.
God, I haven’t played a racing game in a long time.
11/02/2013 at 15:10 Splynter says:
Racing games are a genre I don’t tend to play much on PC, so my favourite comes from the Gamecube: Fzero GX.
11/02/2013 at 15:10 Steed says:
The old Wipeout on Playstation was pretty damn good, but of the more modern racers it’s gotta go to Grid. Just the right balance of arcade and simulation, dial it up or tone it down depending on your fancy. Only thing I really disliked with Grid were the Le Mans races that popped up in the season…
Very excited for Grid 2.
Oooohhhhh, Burnout on the Gamecube! Split screen, was immense.
11/02/2013 at 15:12 InternetBatman says:
Hot Throttle:
http://games.adultswim.com/hot-throttle-twitchy-online-game.html
11/02/2013 at 15:12 Haplo says:
Mario Kart.
11/02/2013 at 15:12 ethone says:
rFactor 2. Now go google it. ;)
11/02/2013 at 15:26 Capt. Eduardo del Mango says:
I’m so, so disappointed in ISI over rF2.
The first rF was all the work of modders. All the actual content that came with it was useless and you never saw it after putting the mods on (hell, you even had to swap out its original FFB system). Arbitrarily tying rF2′s MP to their servers so they can charge a subscription for it is just so, so underhand given that undoubtedly once again unpaid third party modders will drive sales of their game.
Just a bit scummy, really.
12/02/2013 at 10:40 sidhellfire says:
Also rF2 does not meet modern standards. Of course it is an improvement over original. Huge improvement. But that should happen 3 or 4 years ago.
11/02/2013 at 15:13 iucounu says:
Burnout Takedown / Revenge.
11/02/2013 at 15:13 piphil says:
With respect to rallying, I’ve never really found a game that felt better than Richard Burns Rally. I mean, I’ve never driven a real rally car, so I’ve no idea how they actually handle, but RBR felt less arcadey than the majority of rally-based “simulations”. It felt hard without being unfair – if you crashed, it was because you’d misjudged a turn, or tried to drive too fast.
I used to feel physically drained after finishing long stages at speed, balancing risk/reward by pushing or holding back through the stages as your next couple of turns are called out by your co-driver. I’m not that great at wheel-to-wheel racing, preferring solo time trailing, so I’d love a more modern take on “serious” rallying, although the WRC is so weak these days I guess there’s no commercial push to do so.
It could also be in the blood as my Dad also used to get thrown around the Welsh countryside as a co-driver in a Ford Escort Mexico. :-P
For other racing forms, Grand Prix Legends and Race 07 tempt me back every so often, although I’d suspect the former has died by now online, and the latter was always full of participants who used to forget that cold tires + heavier fuel load = you need to break a few yards earlier into the first corner… >__<
12/02/2013 at 01:09 Nic Clapper says:
Cool to see RBR getting mentioned around here. Such a great rally game! Arcade games like Dirt2 are fun too, but nothing has really compared to the experience you get with RBR…
And yea I hope someday we’ll see someone do another rally thats comparable. RBR has held up surprisingly well I think, but it’d be nice to get a new one with updated visuals and more cars etc.
Also, hopefully these things become affordable heh http://www.force-dynamics.com/401/
11/02/2013 at 15:13 Mud says:
iRacing and Richard Burns Rally.
11/02/2013 at 18:10 22raoulduke says:
You, sir, have immaculate taste.
11/02/2013 at 15:14 Makariel says:
Gran Turismo 5, too bad it’s only on the playbox.
11/02/2013 at 15:16 Capt. Eduardo del Mango says:
Grand Prix Legends! Still awesome after all these years, and every bit the equal of iRacing thanks to the community’s work.
Other ones; NR2003 (primarily with the GTP mod), netKar. There’s copies of Live for Speed, RBR, GTR2 around but they don’t come out that often.
‘Grid’ always seemed pretty underwhelming to me – it sits in that ‘semi-sim’ genre with Gran Turismo and Forza but manages to be pretty pale against them. If you want a PC racing game playable with a gamepad pick up Race ’07 and have a good deal more fun driving the cars about than you ever will in a Codemasters game.
11/02/2013 at 15:16 Dowson says:
Crash Team Racing counts enough for me to say it, even if it is a cart racer.
Also F-Zero GX I have very fond memories of it, mainly because it was hard, but I enjoyed it. Good sound track as well.
Anyway GRID was a very good game, I can’t wait for the sequel, if its half as good as GRID it’ll still be a day one purchase.
That been said I do hope its not half as good, I hope its much improved.
11/02/2013 at 19:10 Snargelfargen says:
Grid was pretty well done, but the single-player side of it felt unfinished. The seasons were structured sort of awkwardly and the LeMans races felt like a chore instead of the fun they should have been.
I hope they put a little more care into the actual campaign as the driving model and car selection was great.
The game also needed more demolition derbies. What a great, unexpected bit of fun that was.
11/02/2013 at 19:45 GameCat says:
Crash Team Racing ftw. Especialy deathmatch mode for 2-4 players on split screen.
Split/Second – all that demolition of race track was brilliant.
Colin McRae Rally 2 – imo the best rally racer.
Dotstream (GBA) – racing stripped to core. Briliant game, like all from BitGenerations.
Carmageddon TDR 2000 (yes, that one). It have great atmosphere and level design.
11/02/2013 at 15:16 emotionengine says:
The WipeOut series is my favourite by far. WipeOut 2097/XL deserves a special spot of its own because of the soundtrack alone, although the PC version didn’t come with the star roster of licensed tracks the them lucky Playstations got (it wasn’t too bad though) – at least it had far superior graphics.
11/02/2013 at 15:18 Gnoupi says:
Oooh, I’m not the only one who loved Ballistics, nice!
Now that was a crazily fast game.
Here is another video, to get an idea of how you could go when knowing the track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WX3J4ob6uY
In general, always preferred futuristic fast games: FZero, Wipeout series, Rollcage…
The only game which was giving me the same speed feeling, more recently was Burnout Paradise. Nitronic Rush isn’t too far either.
11/02/2013 at 17:55 tungstenHead says:
I only ever had the demo for Ballistics. It only included that one track and I played the ever living crap out of it. It was rare to get a run that smooth, but I managed it a couple of times. Also, I totally remember that music.
12/02/2013 at 03:47 El_Emmental says:
Same here ! Loved Ballistics so much, it’s a shame it didn’t worked.
I still have the dvd case on my shelf, sadly it had its flaws and never got anywhere in sales – in my dreams an indie dev makes a similar game (through KS or not) and we’re all happily going at mach 4.
11/02/2013 at 15:18 James Allen says:
NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
followed closely by
Richard Burns Rally
11/02/2013 at 16:55 Guvornator says:
Ah, sweet, sweet NASCAR. The first one was the driving game I ever bought. Loved it, and also the paint customization tools that came with it. Those crashes were amazing…
11/02/2013 at 15:18 Uberman says:
Fuel. I don’t know why. I’m fully aware of its deficiencies. But there’s just something about it. I like the Codemasters’ racing games in general, but Fuel is by far the standout for me. Real dirty offroad racing. Ridiculous shortcuts resulting in fantastic risk / reward decisions. I love it.
11/02/2013 at 16:16 brulleks says:
Oh yes, I loved Fuel as well. The racing was a bit poo, but just charging around the amazing rolling landscape, hurtling off the edge of ravines and landing crazy jumps was fantastic.
Such a shame there won’t be a second one to improve on what they started.
11/02/2013 at 16:21 peterako1989 says:
in case you didn’t discovered it yet, go to moddb and search for the FUEL:REFUELED mod. currently is the only mod for fuel and it really makes the game a completely new beast, fixing a lot of stuff like handling, bugs and collision detection.
No, im not spamming and im not the modder
11/02/2013 at 16:25 brulleks says:
I installed that once but could never get it to work properly – just kept getting an error whenever I started the game. Does it work with the Steam version?
11/02/2013 at 20:55 peterako1989 says:
i know. V15 was somewhat of a chore to install. vetron released REFUELED R2 which is more stremlined. you just copy the contents of the mod to FUEL’s main directory, you run JSGME, you activate what you want and you are good to go.
11/02/2013 at 19:50 The Random One says:
Same here! Fuel is the only racing game I actually enjoyed, I think I was playing it on and off for like two or three years.
11/02/2013 at 20:28 zeekthegeek says:
There was a really good post mortem by the Dead End Thrills guys about FUEL development. It’s really intereesting to see that this work-for-hire dev worked part time for like 10 years on building this crazy terrain and such, and THEN made it into racing routes through touchup. Very procedural.
11/02/2013 at 15:19 Adam Smith says:
Rollcage.
11/02/2013 at 15:26 Magnetude says:
ROLLCAGE! I recall there was a project to remake it for PC, but it looks like it might have died :(
11/02/2013 at 15:35 Gnoupi says:
Ah, Rollcage, it was really great in the gravity defying context.
11/02/2013 at 15:48 Flint says:
Came here to say this. Rollcage truly is the greatest of all time in this category.
11/02/2013 at 21:09 Fataleer says:
Rollcage.
The game that forced me to buy proper 3D card.
TNT2 if you need to know.
To this day I have two copies in close proximity of computer. I actually bought second copy because could not wait for warranty process of my non-working CD to finish.
Good times.
4 people around tiny 17inch 4:3 CRT having sooo much fun in Deathmatch, my friend destroying my gamepad (and buying second one, for me to destroy it month later).
Good times.
There sure is a market for this. I would gladly pay several tens of money for something like that.
12/02/2013 at 10:22 lordfrikk says:
I love me some Rollcage, one of my favourite games on PC.
11/02/2013 at 15:23 db1331 says:
Mario Kart 64
NFS Underground 2
11/02/2013 at 15:25 Lewie Procter says:
F-Zero GX, hands down.
11/02/2013 at 16:23 Guvornator says:
It is awesome! Shame no-one would play it with me because of how bastard hard it was. Was the first game I played on a TV over 14 inches, after 10 of which i had to have a little sit down in a quiet room to calm down.
11/02/2013 at 15:26 Mr. Mister says:
Since last update added LAN multiplayer, I guess Nitronic Rush finally meets al the requirements to not be excluded from the “racing” category.
So yeah, Nitronic Rush, been playing it for as long as other people have been playing Skyrim. I think it’s about time to get a world 1st score again on some level, squishy Skirmisheer must have taken it again by now.
11/02/2013 at 15:27 PearlChoco says:
Dethkarz. Still the best arcade racer imo.
Oh and Grand Prix 2 of course.
11/02/2013 at 15:28 rockman29 says:
Gran Turismo 5 without question, pure car porn.
11/02/2013 at 15:29 Magnusm1 says:
Burnout: Paradise.
No contest.
11/02/2013 at 15:30 drewski says:
Don’t think I’ve played a racer since Gran Turismo 3. Don’t think I’ve played a PC racer since Grand Prix 3…
11/02/2013 at 15:31 Magnetude says:
Hoping against hope they put splitscreen in this one (racing games are pointless without it). GRID the first had a destruction derby mode that was better than nearly any dedicated destruction derby game, sadly limited to just the one track & car. That + splitscreen would make this the king of games.
11/02/2013 at 15:33 Revolving Ocelot says:
Not played many racing games, but F-Zero GX stood out for me. Actually felt like you were going 2000 km/h when the speedometer said you were going that fast. I remember having a mean custom vehicle that could go about 3000 km/h quite easily.
11/02/2013 at 15:34 CaLe says:
Funnily enough, it’s GRID. I loved the car handling so much in that game. It just did exactly what I wanted it to do, like it was an extension of my mind and fingers. Forza Horizon is the only game to come close since.
11/02/2013 at 17:47 Pictoru says:
Grid helped me on my drivers exam …i used to play cockpit view and the feel of the cars was really accurate (tho a bit arcade-ish), it’s a huge shame 2 won’t have the feature…i’m hoping for a post-launch patch with it, i want to believe!
11/02/2013 at 15:39 Land says:
Live for Speed (No, NOT Need for Speed…)
11/02/2013 at 15:39 skyturnedred says:
Flatout 2 (or UC) is probably my favourite. Either that or Carmageddon. Basically, what I want from my racing games is the option to completely obliterate your opponents.
11/02/2013 at 15:43 TomxJ says:
Destruction Derby 2
11/02/2013 at 15:43 FMAN71 says:
Star Wars Podracer fo sho!
11/02/2013 at 15:47 demondays says:
Definitely Flatout 2! (Too bad 3 was such a garbage…) and maybe old NfS Most Wanted.
11/02/2013 at 15:48 Saarlaender39 says:
That’d be Richard Burns Rally for me, then.
11/02/2013 at 15:51 gwathdring says:
Trackmania: Nations. I’m enjoying Shift 2 even though I’m terrible at it, enjoyed the demo of Burnout: Paradise and I’m extremely fond of Blur with four player Split Screen on my friend’s Xbox.
Ooh, Mario Kart is a really close second.
11/02/2013 at 15:52 Gnoupi says:
Re-Volt was quite nice, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-Volt, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUQM6Eir7PI
11/02/2013 at 15:52 AlexV says:
Killer Loop! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVcM-HXBtgc
On the PC it was fast, it was futuristic, and it had nice mechanics (magnet thingy, powerups). Just the right balance of penalty for hitting the side of the track, and possibly, but not too easy, to fly off of it if you screw up.
I’d love a modern-ed up version of that to play…
11/02/2013 at 15:55 cyan says:
Blur, man. Blur.
11/02/2013 at 15:55 Engloutie says:
Trackmania, anyone? :)
11/02/2013 at 16:19 brulleks says:
The original, yes. Not so much the others for some reason (although I quite enjoyed Nations). I think the online scoreboard element of United really put me off, as it suddenly became a game about competing (and looking shit) against other people, rather than just beating the game itself.
11/02/2013 at 15:56 Synesthesia says:
Rollcage and Burnout 2! Damn, i’m gonna go play rollcage right now. Such good music!
11/02/2013 at 15:57 jellydonut says:
Apparently there isn’t even cockpit view in this new Grid/GRID/GRIDFACE thing. What?
I did enjoy Live for Speed. That’s the last one I played.
11/02/2013 at 16:00 Commander Gun says:
Fatal Racing! I’ve had so much fun with that game.
At the moment, it is Trackmania (1). i’m looking forward to TM2 though, as soon as they launch the stadium edition.
11/02/2013 at 16:01 yhancik says:
I actually really liked POD. The ambience, design and music was fitting the futuristic trend of the time (I still love the soundtrack), and I liked the driving. Maybe it was actually shit, but I liked it.
I also enjoyed Carmageddon 1 and Flatout 2. Wipeout was pretty but I was shit at it.
11/02/2013 at 20:16 fish99 says:
POD was actually awesome, cool car designs, imaginative tracks with multiple routes that went all over the place, outstanding visuals for the time (being part of the first wave of 3D accelerated games), really nice handing, it also had loads of free cars and tracks released by Ubi, and it had online multiplayer.
I’d love to see a modern version.
11/02/2013 at 16:01 ArtyFishal says:
Richard Burns Rally
Need for Speed Shift
Trackmania
11/02/2013 at 16:06 Parrot says:
Dirt Racer (snes) & Driver1 & RBR & TDU1
11/02/2013 at 16:08 FurryLippedSquid says:
Indycar here.
11/02/2013 at 22:55 particlese says:
I thought Ballistics triggered my nostalgia pretty hard, but your favorite really brings me back! I suspect you’re talking about a different series, but it made me think of “IndyCar Racing” for DOS (1993-ish) and how many hours I used to spend playing it. It also had sweet music with a hint of the “always coca-cola” tune (around the 45 second mark):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vpd1v_eC8po#t=16s
11/02/2013 at 16:09 Paul.Power says:
Micro Machines 1, 2, ’96 and V3.
If we’re going for games released in the last decade and a half (damn that makes me feel old), erm… Mario Kart DS and Driver: San Francisco spring to mind, as terrible as I am at the latter.
e: VVV completely forgot about Excite Truck, which is amazingly fun. SUPER TRUCK SLAM!
11/02/2013 at 17:26 noom says:
Micro Machines. Superb.
I did at one point in my teenage years manage to cram enough friends into my living room to engage in playing the N64 Micro Machines 8 player. Delightfully chaotic.
11/02/2013 at 18:32 jimmydean239 says:
I recently got a mega drive to play Micro Machines. Got the original and TT 96 (4 players!). When my mates come round there’s no contest, they turn their nose up at any other games. Best racing games ever, bar none.
11/02/2013 at 16:12 KDR_11k says:
Excite Trucks since it’s not that much about racing but isn’t as full of random BS moments as Mario Kart. The US guys claim that Excite Bots is better but they never released that in Europe.
12/02/2013 at 09:13 Paul.Power says:
Forgot about Excite Truck, it’s an amazing game and probably my favourite Wii game. Shame Excite Bots never made it to Europe…
11/02/2013 at 16:18 MiniMatt says:
Road Rash on the sega megadrive.
Riding a motorbike at breakneck speeds whilst swatting away fellow competitors and commuters with a crowbar. It’s basically teaching you a life skill.
11/02/2013 at 16:20 brulleks says:
Oh god, yes. That’s another great one. Can’t wait to see how the remake turns out, assuming it’s still in the pipeline.
11/02/2013 at 16:20 Oneknown says:
My personal favorite will always be Re-Volt. RC car racing with bottle rockets? Yes please!
11/02/2013 at 16:22 ChromeBallz says:
OMG, Ballistics was mentioned! One of my favourite games ever!
And the video in the OP? Slooooooow. I can go faster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaJiPpLzbNg
And yes, i am bragging.
11/02/2013 at 16:22 brulleks says:
Going back a while, but I also had quite a thing for Badlands on the Spectrum. I preferred it to Super/Championship Sprint as it included weapons and armour you could upgrade between races.
11/02/2013 at 16:29 Oozo says:
Rock ‘n’ Roll Racing is dominating the race!
11/02/2013 at 16:32 Muzman says:
Trackmania (Nations Forever I think it was, particularly)
It’s simple and uncluttered but also completely preposterous and devoid of anything remotely sim-ish. Can’t really beat the price for another thing.
11/02/2013 at 16:41 MinisterofDOOM says:
I’m a car guy for whom driving is a favorite pastime (maybe the only hobby that outranks gaming for me). Because of that, I have a hard time enjoying racing games. The complete lack of car/driver feedback (don’t kid yourself–force feedback wheels don’t do jack) makes driving feel unnatural and numb and difficult to enjoy. There’s no inertia, no feel of the corners, traction, throttle response, brake feel, steering response…all of it’s missing.
In my real car, I can feel which tire is breaking loose when, where my understeer threshold is, how hard I can throttle out of a turn without ending up ass-first in a fence… Some games do a better job than others at trying to compensate for this lack of feedback, but none of them actually succeed. It’s simply not fun to try to be competitive in a situation where my senses feel completely neutered. So I don’t have a favorite racing game.
I also take issue with the AI in most racing games, which tends to be generally terrible at driving amongst other cars in an intelligent way.
11/02/2013 at 16:45 Sheng-ji says:
Which games do you feel do better?
11/02/2013 at 21:43 MinisterofDOOM says:
I appreciated Forza’s color-coded racing line–which helped give some impression of speed and braking ability/response and put them in a place where my eyes naturally looked anyway–as one of the better attempts.
Some more realistic sims offer detailed live telemetry displays which are kinda helpful, but don’t really put the info where it’s going to be helpful for me DURING the race…that presentation is best for review afterward. rFactor’s MotecAdd-DX addon, for instance, shows a lot of the info I’m after…but not in a quick-reference format that’s particularly useful during a race.
11/02/2013 at 16:45 Jason Moyer says:
Shift 2 until Project CARS comes out later this year, hopefully.
Grid 2 is interesting, I guess, although I’m curious if it’s going to go the route of the F1 series where each entry has gotten better and better or the DIRT series where each entry has gotten worse and worse. On the plus side, the first Grid didn’t set the bar very high.
I’d like to check out WRC3, but I’m still holding out hope that it will eventually get Greenlit. The fact that it even needs to go through that process in light of the rubbish Valve instantly approves seems silly to me.
(If you’re talking favorites of all time, then the answer is Richard Burns Rally or Grand Prix 4 or GTR2.)
11/02/2013 at 16:45 Bracknellexile says:
Carmageddon II got played to death back in the day. I’m hoping the remake lives up to expectations.
More recently though it’s been Grid and, whilst it’s undoubtedly flawed, I’m finding I’m wasting quite a few hours in the new WRC 3.
11/02/2013 at 16:58 Guvornator says:
TOCA Touring Cars 1 and 2. Loads of fun, plus my Microsoft Sidewinder Wheel actually worked with them! Happy days, and always funny when the race replays went wrong…
11/02/2013 at 17:03 bionicazn says:
I use to love Sega Rally on the Saturn :D. On the Playstation I enjoyed playing Gran Turismo and Destruction Derby!
11/02/2013 at 17:05 eXo_Sherlock says:
My favourite racing game to LAN play has to be ToCA Race Driver 2 – we had some epic races on that game, back in the day. We evolved over to GRID when it came out, but it never really caught our attention as well, so we migrated back.
Other than that, I did used to love the Formula 1 game I had on the Nintendo 64. Used to race whole seasons on that, full race length, with damage and pro simulation mode on. Loved it.
11/02/2013 at 18:33 Splynter says:
Was it F1: World Grand Prix? Played that at the height of my F1 obsession, and boy was it a great game. I seem to recall having a lot of fun turning off penalties and trying to knock the wheels off other racers.
11/02/2013 at 17:08 motherpuncher says:
Gran Turismo 5. I spent many hours playing that game. It is also the first racing game that I played with a nice steering wheel and pedal setup. So much fun.
I am currently waiting in anticipation for great looking games set to release in the next year or so.
11/02/2013 at 17:10 Marik Bentusi says:
Can’t say I’ve played too many, so I’m sticking with NFS:MW (the original).
edit: scratch that, totally forgot Driver: San Fransisco.
11/02/2013 at 17:24 noom says:
Beetle Adventure Racing! Or maybe Extreme G.
I have terrible taste in racing games ok?
11/02/2013 at 17:30 Laurentius says:
Back in the day Lotus 3 and now Outrun 2006 Coast to Coast – Splash Wave and drifting ! Omg i am gonna play it right now .
11/02/2013 at 17:30 Guest_84592 says:
In all honesty: Live for Speed. Best 24(?) pound I have spent in my life.
There is no other racing game that has eaten so many hours, and driven me so extremely to perfect my technique. It’s actually the game that got me to buy a driving wheel. Also got the best online multiplayer I have ever seen with any racing game.
Too bad it’s dead by any reasonable measure, and always was weak on cars and tracks.
11/02/2013 at 17:35 BreadBitten says:
‘WipEout HD’, no questions asked. If we’re allowed to pick more, then 2nd place goes to ‘Burnout: Revenge’ (never played ‘Paradise’).
11/02/2013 at 20:30 fish99 says:
I actually found Wipeout HD disappointing. The tracks are all from the PSP versions, so they’re short (mostly 20-30 second laps), designed for playing on the go, and have fairly simple layouts without technical sections. They really don’t compare with the best tracks from Wipeout Fusion, which were 40-60 second laps and have a ton more variety of locations and spectacular backdrops to see. The game structure in HD is also pretty weak IMO, with lots of dull challenges.
I was hoping we’d get a proper PS3 Wipeout game at some point, but that’s not gonna happen now since Sony shut Psygnosis down.
11/02/2013 at 17:41 Rian Snuff says:
Dirt 3 (Only because my current budget can’t afford 4) > Flatout Ultimate Carnage > Wipeout series.
Dirt 3 with a group of buddies being aggressive as all hell with full simulation/damage is pure amazing in my opinion.
The end?
PS, I’d love to see a new Road Rage.. On PC..
Holy sheeet that would rock.
(Honorable mention of Trackmania)
11/02/2013 at 20:37 Suits says:
there is no Dirt 4
12/02/2013 at 02:37 trjp says:
Dirt Showdown?
It’s not shit – it’s better than Flatout 2 – it’s not a DIRT game really tho
11/02/2013 at 22:47 Snargelfargen says:
“my current budget can’t afford 4″
This is me, but for Dirt 3. I’ve never seen it cheaper than $35 and currently it’s sitting at $49 on steam. The DLC add many exciting tracks and cars but they are hidden away somewhere in GFWL and cost ~$50 in total.
Apparently there’s a complete edition including the dlc, which I would purchase pretty much instantly even at full price for a 2-year-old game. It isn’t available on any digital download sites though.
Just googled “Dirt 3 Complete edition” on and the second result is a torrent…
12/02/2013 at 02:40 trjp says:
Dirt3 has been cheap a few times but it has this horrific GFWL (yes THAT) only DLC which invades every corner of the game and which is never discounted so wait for a ‘Complete Edition’ because it’s about £14 to unlock every DLC-based event and without those you cannot ‘Gold’ everything in the game (no really!!)
Which is reason enough not to care about it I reckon.
Dirt2 is the better game – Dirt3 has Gymkhana which is fun for a while but also bloody hard and frustrating and not really worth the admission price alone – and I think Dirt2 had the slightly better track offerings – in fact I know it did cos I keep going back to it and not Dirt3
11/02/2013 at 17:41 Crow says:
Flatout 2 and Mobil 1 Rally Championship are my most favorite. Recently however I spent ton of hours with Forza 3.
11/02/2013 at 17:43 randomkeyhits says:
Though I had great fun with Burnout Paradise, first place would have to go to the original TOCA Touring Car Championship. No rubber banding and, for the time, great AI, plus I could recognise and relate to all the tracks.
11/02/2013 at 18:21 Guvornator says:
It’s continually upsetting to me that very few games have Oulton Park in them. That track was so much fun in TOCA
11/02/2013 at 17:46 C0llic says:
I used to love the old TOCA games from codemasters. Spilt screen co-op with my little brother on the PS2. Since then, not many racing games have been able to hold my interest
11/02/2013 at 17:54 trjp says:
I’m a car racing fan and always have been. Whilst I played all the early arcade games, the first game to really catch my eye was Revs on the BBC Micro. It had PROPER red/white stripey kerbs and real tracks, the £500+ it and a machine cost was way beyond me and my only real desire for a long,long time.
Moving on, I think I’ve played every racing game there is and I’ve formed some strong opinions about them. For me it’s about modelling cars and their physics in a believable and pleasing way and wrapping some actual GAME around that.
Driver – for example – was a game based around this idea of a slidey 70s muscle car and it was great for it’s time – but it’s not a ‘racer’ really is it? That said, Driver: SF is a fantastic game which no-one should miss at it’s current ‘bargain’ price – it’s not a racer either tho.
The first popular licensed racer was probably Gran Turismo, which was great in it’s time but it focussed on the cars and tracks and offered almost no “game” behind that . After GT2 I lost interest in it’s “buy car, tune car, win easily, repeat” formula completely.
MSR on Dreamcast was amazing tho – tracks which suited the cars, cars which handled well and some GAME to play too. It was the best racing game ever for a LONG time (and PGR2 also held that crown for much the same reasons – PGR3/4 weren’t the best games at the time tho)
Grid moved the game on a bit – it took racing a bit more seriously but maintained the variety – I liked it but it was a system-killer in it’s day, I hope this one is more sympathetic!?
Forza is just GT with even shinier graphics tho Forza Horizon is quite good, if a BIT of a Skinner Box perhaps (see also Driver: SF)
Need for Speed: Shift tried to head further into ‘sim’ territory but results are mixed. It has a fantastic sense of speed and amazing in-car options but the handling tries to do too much and never makes it – it’s not arcadey and it’s not sim and it never feels quite right to me.
Off tarmac, the DIRT games are the kings – Dirt2 is quite possibly the best racing game ever made in it’s own way – take a rallycross track, the throwing of the car into huge drifts from dirt to tarmac and scrabbling that last bit of grip – epic, epic, epic.
An honourable mention too for the original Need for Speed: Most Wanted which just took the city racer/tuning formula and wrapped it with some interesting gameplay ideas and fantastic handling (on the original XBOX at least, the PC version feels sloppy to me). It’s my “best arcade racer” ever.
Note: I’ve little interest in flying spaceships or any form of armoured racing (other than Carmageddon perhaps), I don’t even care for “Mario Kart” games much – they’re not really ‘racers’ in my book…
p.s. I don’t play “sims” because they tend to be slow-motion understeer simulators and I can’t afford a decent enough wheel and pedals to pretend otherwise :)
11/02/2013 at 17:56 crocket21 says:
I used to really enjoy Rock and Roll Racing on the SNES.
11/02/2013 at 18:03 mr.black says:
Hmm.. depends on my nostalgia amount I have at the given time.. If lots, then NFS 3 Hot Pursuit, the original; If less, then NFS Underground I played for most hours; If none, than Burnout Paradajz and Driver SF are still lots of silly fun..
11/02/2013 at 18:03 Bracknellexile says:
Surprised to see no love for Geoff Crammond’s GP series so far. No other game had me repeating tracks over and over again to shave a tenth of a second off my time like those did and it’s still one of the best sets of games ever made at the sim end of the racing market.
11/02/2013 at 18:20 sharks.don't.sleep says:
Motocross Madness – awesome physics for that time.
11/02/2013 at 18:21 grundus says:
My favourite ever is probably Wipeout 2097, I really believe that game is responsible for my taste in music, my desire to be a graphic designer (got as far as a degree then never found work…!) and my love for the little details in sci-fi. The logos and catchphrases made it something really special, kind of more than just a racing game. Hard to explain. That game meant a lot more to me than most, you see.
My favourite that I still play is probably… I’m not sure. I’m going to say Project CARS, but that’s more because I’m excited to see what it’s like when it launches. Right now it’s not my favourite, but I’m confident it will be.
11/02/2013 at 18:33 jon_hill987 says:
Re-Volt, no question.
11/02/2013 at 18:51 SuicideKing says:
NFS II: SE, Andretti Racing. Ah, 1999!
In more recent times, NFS HP2 and NFS Shift, though to play Shift properly i think one requires a steering wheel, which i haven’t got :(
11/02/2013 at 18:52 SuicideKing says:
BTW i completely HATE the recent fusion of NFS and Burnout.
12/02/2013 at 02:42 trjp says:
The new NFS:MW is weird – it’s not an NFS – it’s definately not MW – it’s almost certainly Burnout but that name doesn’t appear and it’s also a bit pants.
Online is good – it’s BP’s online polished to fuck and back – but offline is a grind/chore of a thing.
12/02/2013 at 11:15 SuicideKing says:
Yeah i know what you mean…i made the mistake of buying NFS: HP (BURNOUTFACE EDITION)…couldn’t even play the pursuits, was too annoying. Also, horrible console port.
11/02/2013 at 21:58 Jason Moyer says:
I’m on my 4th or 5th career playthrough in Shift 2 using an xbox pad and it works fine, in all honesty.
11/02/2013 at 22:36 SuicideKing says:
Ah, i use the keyboard!
11/02/2013 at 19:13 Radiant says:
The trick to older racing games was to turn up the resolution to stupid levels.
Slowed the entire game down to a manageable crawl even though the speedo said 5million mph.
Rollcage I’m looking at you.
11/02/2013 at 19:14 cHeal says:
There are many.
It’s quite likely that I have spent the greatest amount of time on Grand Prix 2, with Grand Prix 4 very close behind. Still play Grand Prix 4 though. Simply put no other game challenges it for AI and since I drive not just for the challenge but for the experience this makes Grand Prix 4 the most absorbing and immersive experiences I have ever played. I can’t speak for the physics (which are at least very very impressive) but the AI is simply fantastic. It reacts appropriately to pitstops, weather changes, and my position on the track near it. It makes mistakes, it provides great challenge but most importantly it feels real.
Rally Championship was an immense challenge back in the day and I still consider Richard Burns Rally the best Rally sim ever built. Grand Prix Legends was a great game but I only acquired a wheel many years after its hayday. GTR2 was fantastic, a bruising and visceral racing sim but its AI was at time simply atrocious.
Currently most of my racing time (which is the vast majority of my gaming time) is with Project Cars. It’s really difficult to judge the game, with specific car and track selections feeling utterly mundane. But equally driving the 78 lotus around the old Nurburing is one of the single most enjoyable pursuits I have in my life at this moment. It is so long and so challenging, with so many corners to remember. Driving on the absolute limit as much as you dare is truly incredible. So too the Lotus 67 is immense fun, the DTM audi, the formula ford cars and classic NASCAR ’90 car around somewhere like Watkins Glen is such an absolute delight it is really quite hard to describe. But at the current time the AI is still at an early stage and I fear for its overall cohesion as a racing experience with so many disparate racing series and few cars to fully populate them. Which is astounding given the huge number of cars. Right now it is a rag tag collection of cars with little rhyme nor reason.
I really hope the final product is as good as it could be but I worry about the lack of vision that I feel is present in the design of the overall product. I have already bought it and already have gotten my monies worth from it in terms of the time I have spent playing it but it truly will be a shame if the great work that has gone into it (graphically and in its physics) is not presented in an attractive enough package to make it equal to the sum of its parts.
11/02/2013 at 19:23 ShineyBlueShoes says:
I think GRID is still my favorite as it just hit all of the right notes, though Ridge Racer 64 still holds a sweet spot in my heart. That stupid, rigid, cheating awful game that could not stop playing and still never unlocked all the cars.
11/02/2013 at 19:25 captain nemo says:
Burnout 2 : Point of Impact (probably for the gratuitous destruction) <3 <3 <3
I also loved the music/ambiance. None of that DjStryker/EA Tracks rubbish.
Big Surf Shores footage here ; Good times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTxSHbOzG2E
11/02/2013 at 20:47 Guvornator says:
Why on earth did they ditch Crash Junctions for Showtime? Apart from being good fun on your own, it was perfect for some post pub shenanigans with a group of friends. Showtime is fiddly pants.
11/02/2013 at 19:32 Inzimus says:
Pitstop II (C-64)
Lotus 3 (Amiga 500)
Stunt Car Racer (Amiga 500)
today’s racing games just don’t cut it for me.
(and yes, I still have the computers hooked up and play these on a regular basis)
11/02/2013 at 19:33 sirchen says:
Shift 2! I’ve picked it up last summer alongside a proper steering wheel and it has been the most fun game I’ve played ever since. I only have time to play games over the summer and usually try to catch up on the best games. Unfortunately, nothing really motivated me to keep playing (which included the likes of Portal 2 or Crysis 1), except for Shift 2.
God, Shift 2 is wonderful. It’s just slighly not a Simulation so that you feel the excitement of driving a ‘real-car’ without having to have perfect handling (once you let go of most of the little help-tools, it feels very real!!!).
There is little more rewarding than learning to handle a Golf, some slow Nissan and then gradually graduate to faster more impressive cars. Over Christmas I finally got to GT1 class-cars. Playing ‘just one round’ at night is worst idea you can ever have – all the adrenalin rushing through body will make you stay awake for the next 3 hours at least.
Give it a try!
11/02/2013 at 19:59 BrokenSymmetry says:
Shift 2 really is a wonderful and underrated game. Huge amount of tracks, and by far the best in-car experience of any racing game.
11/02/2013 at 22:04 Jason Moyer says:
I finally dug this out about a month ago and I’ve been playing the heck out of it. The only real criticisms I have are the way your garage gets clogged up with unsellable cars (particularly with the DLC installed – you can fix this with a mod but then the car rewards don’t work) and the AI, which can be frustratingly slow (there’s probably a mod for that somewhere). The car/track selection and driving are fabulous, though.
I’ve been enjoying it enough that I was going to go buy into Project CARS, but apparently they’re no longer allowing signups which is a bummer.
12/02/2013 at 02:34 trjp says:
I like Shift 2 but like it’s predecessor I can never quite
a – get a controller setup which feels right – something is always wonky and I’ve spent HOURS on this
b – shake the idea that it’s not driving ‘for me’ sometimes…
There are also some crappy tracks and some dodgy AI issues and that annoying American giving it too much “sup dude” but at it’s core there’s a solid racer there and even the drifting is OK in 2.
Shift 1 was OK too – if you ignored the abysmal drifting at least. The latter races with Bugattis/SLRs etc.also had RIDICULOUS speed, I mean they were like SpaceBalls “Ludicous Speed – ENGAGE” – nothing, and I mean NOTHING takes off like they do :)
Races with those cars were really demolition derbies tho :)
11/02/2013 at 19:38 Armante says:
44 second video. 9 seconds of ‘gameplay’ consisting of cars driving past. On a bang for buck scale, this rates a ‘meh’. They do look nice though. /grumble
11/02/2013 at 19:58 DrGonzo says:
San Francisco Rush 2049!
12/02/2013 at 04:30 Flit says:
Yep yep yep! Nothing fits the bill quite like secret routes, moon gravity stunts, and constant explosions. Can’t wait for Distance!
11/02/2013 at 20:02 SuperNashwanPower says:
Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge
STUN Runner
Paperboy
Chuckie Egg
OK the last two arent racing games but I am feeling nostalgic
11/02/2013 at 20:03 Stochastic says:
This year looks to be a busy one for virtual gearheads. A look ahead at some upcoming releases:
Project C.A.R.S.
Race Room Racing Experience
rFactor 2
Assetto Corsa
All of these games have playable alphas/betas at the moment except for Assetto Corsa, which should have a “tech preview” in the coming weeks.
11/02/2013 at 20:10 F3ck says:
Presently I’m playing (well, over the last year) Blur, NFS:HP, and Driver SF…it is Hot Pursuit that I play most often though.
Can’t help myself.
11/02/2013 at 20:21 Orontes says:
Ignition’s my favourite. Amazing tracks and just generally good fun.
11/02/2013 at 20:34 Suits says:
Mario Kart 64
11/02/2013 at 20:43 fish99 says:
If you’re talking sims then stuff like iRacing (was subbed for 3 years, may go back for the Lotus 49) and Grand Prix Legends are the peaks of the genre, and where I’ve had the most hours of fun. Also noteable mentions for Grand Prix 2, Richard Burns Rally, GTR 1+2, rFactor, LFS etc.
I like my arcade racers too though, the Wipeout series, POD, PGR 1-3, Forza 1+2, the early Gran Turismo games (GT5 is a total mess btw), Re-Volt, even Wave Race on the N64.
I have a strong dislike for almost everything from EA and Codemasters though.
Best overall? Grand Prix Legends. Nothing beats those tracks and the feeling of driving those cars, especially in a league. iRacing is the only thing that comes close nowadays.
11/02/2013 at 20:52 JD Ogre says:
Favorite? Damn. That’s a tough one. So hard to decide between “Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit” (best vehicles and tracks and best feel to the racing) or “Need for Speed IV: High Stakes” (not quite as good looking as NFS3 was, nor as good vehicles or tracks, but it had a great progression system).
EDIT: Oh, wait! I can’t believe I almost forgot about “Racing Destruction Set”! Then again, it’s been more than 20 years since I last played it (compared to a decade for the two NFS games above).
11/02/2013 at 21:33 Spacewalk says:
Scud Race. It beat out all of the other SEGA racing games to become my favourite which took some doing because I don’t think that SEGA ever made a bad arcade racer. Shame it never got ported to anything.
Sorry PC gaming site, no computer games in this post.
11/02/2013 at 21:37 meepmeep says:
Monkey Race 2 in Super Monkey Ball 2
11/02/2013 at 21:41 apa says:
rFactor with HistorX mod. I want to race it online but I’m scared to go and join any real race because I’m a noob and can hardly drive a lap without spinning…
11/02/2013 at 21:45 allsorts46 says:
Blur! My friend and must’ve tried pretty much every game with cars in it, searching for a modern racing game with powerups that supported LAN play, and blur was the only thing that didn’t massively disappoint. It’s not the best if you’re looking for accurate simulation or pure racing, but it’s damn fun.
The only negative point I have to say about it is that it has the most ridiculous key bindings ever (unless you play with a controller).
11/02/2013 at 22:18 phobic says:
Iracing/Project Cars. Oh and rFactor with the F1 1979 mod.
11/02/2013 at 22:21 AsamiImako says:
Only one mention of DiRT 3? Blasphemous.
Something about the DiRT series and a racing wheel just feels amazing. All the jiggling and force feedback let you really feel the track under the tires let loose into a slide in a way that no tarmac racing game does.
11/02/2013 at 22:26 Infininja says:
I don’t think GRID is spelled like that. It’s DiRT that’s spelled like that.
11/02/2013 at 22:26 Eight Rooks says:
Wipeout HD/Fury. It is my yardstick against which all other racing games get measured. And generally found wanting. Only real reason I miss owning a Playstation 3.
I remember Ballistics, though I always thought it was just posing. There’s a fine line between actually controlling something at that velocity and just going straight forward – I mean, it’s basically just a tunnel racer same as you get in countless forms on smartphones and tablets, just wound up to ludicrous, near-unplayable speed. Wipeout was always a far, far better marriage between slack-jawed increduility and something your average human being could actually get to grips with, IMO. Hitting Super Zen and above on Zen mode in HD/Fury is still pretty much the only time any videogame has left me genuinely scared I was about to have a heart attack.
11/02/2013 at 23:04 particlese says:
I’d have a hard time choosing between Indycar Racing for DOS or the Gameboy’s Super RC Pro-Am, though Ballistics was also tons-o-fun. The nostalgia factor for all those is massive, though. If we go with more modern racing games, I’d probably say Burnout Paradise, though I don’t really consider that racing since I just smash things and go exploring.
11/02/2013 at 23:29 RiptoR says:
I wonder if I could find my old Ballistics disc somewhere. Loved that game back in the day.
Anyone know if it is available as a direct download somewhere?
12/02/2013 at 08:52 strangeloup says:
I just had a look for it myself, as I’d somehow never heard of it before and it looks really neato. I can’t find it at any of the usual suspects, or via Google, but maybe someone else has an idea.
On the other hand you can get it off eBay for not much, and I’m rather tempted.
11/02/2013 at 23:47 Toupee says:
Without a doubt, BEETLE ADVENTURE RACING! Sad to see there’s not more love for it.
OK, so the cars themselves aren’t that interesting, but my god, this game has amazing track design. There are so many shortcuts (alternate routes might be a better turn) that you can make each lap an almost entirely different experience. Sometimes the alternate routes helped a lot. Sometimes they didn’t, if you already used up the nitro boxes. I have really fond memories of simply trying to unlock all of the levels, let alone find ALL of the secrets in this game. I’d just about kill for a new Beetle Adventure Racing.
I don’t normally consider myself a huge racing fan, but there are actually a lot of notable titles I’ve played over the years. I particularly enjoyed Sled Storm, Project Gotham Racing, Rallisport Challenge, Top Gear Overdrive (hot dog car!), Burnout 2 (crash mode!), most of the Mario Karts, and quite recently, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed (really ups the ante for kart racers; I love the variety of well thought-out modes). Racing games go great with smokin’ a bowl, in my opinion, or even just idle chatter between friends (with moments of awesome intensity sprinkled in).
But still. Beetle Adventure Racing.
12/02/2013 at 02:30 trjp says:
I loved Beetle Adventure Racing – it was a super-sleeper title at the time and just jam-packed with brilliant stuff, crazy tracks, cool secrets and the handling wasn’t actually bad either.
I suspect if either of us were to play it now tho, we’d be a bit shocked :)
12/02/2013 at 00:58 hamburger_cheesedoodle says:
NFS: Most Wanted. The first one, that is.
I would say Destruction Derby 64, but it’s only kinda a racing game. I still boot up PJ64 and play it even now though.
12/02/2013 at 02:21 Wolvaroo says:
Without a shadow of a doubt: Richard Burns Rally. Rallysim.fr is the place to be if you enjoy RBR.
I feel my $300 race wheel with clutch and H-shifter is completely justified on that game alone.
12/02/2013 at 02:36 trjp says:
A quick note to people bringing-up older cars – honestly, I played them all too but really, nothing made before the XBOX era is worth playing these days – we’ve come a long way.
Also – the ‘free’ game at GMG today is Supercars V8 Next Sumsuchtihng which is a spinoff of the TOCA engine and pretty decent ‘for free’. Turn off all driving aids, enable ‘wet track’, laugh your balls off (if you don’t have balls, buy some and pretend).
12/02/2013 at 03:27 LuNatic says:
Need for Speed IV: High Stakes. Honourable mentions to GRID, Blur, Hi-Octane and NFS:Most Wanted(the original).
Dishonourable mentions to the Criterion made NFS games.
12/02/2013 at 05:32 Fenix says:
Stunts. The editor was incredible for the time.
Followed by NFS: Porsche
12/02/2013 at 06:29 Samwise Gamgee says:
Colin McRae Rally 2
Richard Burns Rally (with wheel and pedals)
TOCA 2
Burnout Paradise
NFS Shift
12/02/2013 at 06:53 Screamer says:
Last I heard there was no in-car view in Grid 2, and I stopped paying attention to it.
12/02/2013 at 08:51 Ludomation says:
Hi-Octane.
12/02/2013 at 08:58 strangeloup says:
I think the only recent Car Wot Goes Fast games I’ve liked have been Forza and (to a slightly lesser extent) Project Gotham. I played Dirt 3 a bit but the decent rally bits weren’t enough of a focus for me. Beyond that, it’s going back to the PS1/2 Wipeout games, and Sega Rally on the Saturn.
Used to quite like Gran Turismo and a few others but I’m not sure I’d go back to them for more than a bit of nostalgia.
12/02/2013 at 11:02 pepper says:
I love the Race series games(Simbin), pretty much Race 07 with all its addons(GTR Evolution, Race On, STCC2 etc, all of em).
From a perspective of ye old, then I played a lot of Need For Speed 2 Special Edition, which had a few extra tracks.
I also played a lot of Half-Life: Rally, which actually was really good as far as a rally game went:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caYR5xLkc64
Actually, the best way to play the game was steering on the mouse and have the mouse buttons be the throttle and brake, you could gain some serious speed in corners on other drivers. It got me in first place a lot.
Wow, I really mis Half-Life rally….
12/02/2013 at 16:51 Engonge says:
My favourite is revolt.
12/02/2013 at 18:30 astrostl says:
Coming out of left field: Excite Truck. The only game I really enjoyed on my Wii, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Custom Mastodon soundtrack on an SD card was a major contributing factor, I suspect.
#2 would probably be Mario Kart DS. Specifically because of – not in spite of – snaking.
12/02/2013 at 20:58 tomek says:
Grand Prix Circuit
4D Sports Driving / Stunts
Need for Speed (3DO/PC)
Interstate76 (it has cars right?)
13/02/2013 at 10:59 Risingson says:
I arrive late to this discussion. Ok, I’m old, so I have a mix in my head with a lot of games of game history.
- Scalextric for Spectrum. The first time I could play against a friend in our custom tracks.
- Super Mario Kart.
- Lotus III. Beautiful Scroll.
- Lamborghini American Challenge, one of the most beautiful near-futuristic racing games ever made.
- The Rally series by Europress. I think the 1998 one was the one I remember most.
- Nascar Racing series, which were HARD
- The Screamer games. First time there were so many textures in a DOS game.
- Slipstream 5000, the best of its kind
- The first Need for Speed
- Ironman Super Off Road, again, the best of its kind
- Though Death Rally comes close to a second position
- World Rally Championship for the arcade
- Sega Rally Championship, which was also very beautiful
- Burnout Paradise, which is simply fun
- Grid, which is a marvel.
15/02/2013 at 13:40 Ham Solo says:
GRID, also NFS Hot Pursuit 2 and FlatOut 2/Ultimate Carnage.
I also like Blur, but it’s one of the worst console ports ever.