How come there are so few racing games coming out lately? Feels like it’s just codemasters doing their thing, some struggling indie games and a truckload of shovelware. I’m not saying it’s dead but wasn’t racing games one of the primary genres?
Another thing that bugs me with the few games that come out is the lack of progression and immersion. NFS Unbound impressed me slightly with actually starting you out with a low spec car and having slow (by modern standards) progression. However halfway through when you have fast and “cool” cars you really felt the games mediocrity.
Dirt rally 1 and 2 has economy systems, but after a single championship you can basically buy whatever car you want. The rallies are immersive but everything between is just boring menues.
Why do you think the state of racing games is so poor? The industry being shit? Audiences not playing them anymore?
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Turns out vehicle simulations are hard. You either have games that play like a cabinet arcade or require a “simmer” setup (control cockpit) to really be good at.
And then there’s the work that goes into the level of detail. Example, Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t even have the underside of most cars modelled, to save on polys and performance, but there’s still a lot of little details that have to be modelled, textured, and sound recorded. This is even more important when a driving game goes into VR, because you will notice when something in the interior is missing or offmodel.
Also shoutout to Live For Speed, the active-since-Windows-XP open beta / early access mediumcore simulation that’s had VR support for a long while, and a release date that will probably coincide with Half Life 3.
Still gonna be released before star citizen
It feels like we used to be spoiled for choice and now there’s only a few select titles out. A lot of racing franchises got ruined by micro-transaction garbage. Project Cars decided to go in an entirely different direction with their latest installment and basically ruined the game. Most games no longer support split screen so if you want to race locally with friends you basically only have Mario Kart.
There’s still games though. Forza, Gran Truismo, F1 24, Asseto Corsa, Need For Speed… But even so it feels like something is missing. There’s not a lot to fill in the Wipeout niche, or the Burnout niche. I miss random things like Midtown Madness and Twisted Metal. I really want a good racing combat experience again.
I think a lot of studios aren’t willing to take chances and a good racer isn’t something you can make easily since people want good graphics and excellent racing physics.
It’s weird that games nailed fun racing games back in the PS2/Xbox era. Between Burnout, Midnight Club, Need for Speed, all of them peaked. Then couldn’t repeat formula. Then on the PS3 they had Motorstorm. But really there hasn’t been a lot of fun racing games since.
There is also The Crew, Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon as well as Gran Turismo to mention a few more that I have played. Plus a whole slew of hardcore F1 titles, Nascar titles and the Trackmania series.
There might be something in there that catches your attention. Could just be a case of these not surfacing in your algorithm to get noticed.
Gran Turismo is Playstation exclusive and has only released two games the last decade. Quite sad since I have heard a lot of great things about it.
Haven’t played the crew, but it seems to follow the same “drive a supercar around a track” that Forza has.
Not saying there are no racing games, but there is a lack of variety besides the four flavors of: Microsoft racing game, EA racing game, Ubisoft racing game or Codemasters (Recently acquired by ea) racing game. Compare this to the huge variety in strategy games or shooters.
The only thing keeping racing games relevant for me are the amazing indie games, but the lack of content hinders them more than other genres imo.
Do you want themed racing games in different time periods?
If you’re using realworld(or alikes) cars, there isn’t really much more to go for, you’ve got circuit, street, rally, drift and touring cars - which really the only thing you can start to really differ is locale or time period.
F1 is F1 and F1 fans will slaughter anyone who tries to mess with F1. But also there are yearly games, since the rules change every year and the new game is the new rules.
Do you want more arcade style?
What are the indie games that have piqued your interest?
The thing is miss is immersion and progression. It feels like you get a 1000hp lambo five hours into the game, and the gameplay is just driving around a track interrupted by navigating clunky menus.
Some of my favorite indie games are “art of rally” and “revhead”, the former having great driving but no progression and the latter having great progression and customisation, just very mediocre driving.
If you liked art of rally, I suggest Parking Garage Rally Circuit. Much of the same vibe.
Yeah I feel that, I didn’t like Horizon 5 due to that, I don’t want to be a superstar out of the gate, let me buy a clapped out mazda demio first.
There were many great racers around the Xbox 360 era and before. I feel like since then I can count on one hand the amount of good ones.
I think it just not as popular anymore but then also if they don’t make them we can’t play them!
Wreckfest, Circuit Superstars, Art of Rally, EA WRC are some excellent newer games to try.
I wish so many popular racing games weren‘t over 100 gb on average. Installing a couple on my 500 gb Deck is pain.
I miss good arcade racers. I don’t remember the name of them, but I remember on the Xbox or 360 there were some really fun ones where you race around cities and nice landscapes. You could just jump in with friends and race. These days any racing game I try is like a job. Oh, you want to race? First drive to the garage, pick your car, talk to the mechanic, then spend 20 minutes driving to the race track. Mario Kart is about the only fun racing game I can think of, but I’d prefer something with real cars.
I think there’s not a lot of room for competition, it’s either Gran Turismo on PS5, Forza on Xbox or… um… Mario Kart? On Switch?
You could say the same thing about Football games. There’s Madden and NCAA and that’s pretty much it.
The era of having niche games like Metropolis Street Racer, Project Gotham, Speed Devils, or, heck, go back to the OG Playstation with Wipeout, Jet Moto, Destruction Derby… that’s long over.
Which is a shame because I played the HELL out of MSR/PGR.
What I find crazy is that on Playstation you got Gran Turismo in 2022 I think and there’ll be no other concurrent until Asseto Corsa Evo in probably 2026.
I’ve already so many hours of going around the Ring in GT7, but I’d really h’love an extension with a new career mode and new trophies until Asseto Corsa Evo.
