Sim, arcade, simcade, anything. I’m kinda disconnected from the genre and want to know what is considered the GOATs of racing games to try them out.

Me personally, I’d say Dirt Rally 2, very addicting gameplay.

  • Yuri addict@ani.socialEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    When my logitech g27 racing wheel was still working i USED to play the living hell out of modded richard burns rally it was fun playing a racing sim with almost life like physics.

    • Varyag@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      It’s amazing that it’s still the best rally sim to this day. This game is old enough to drink in the States.

  • kingthrillgore@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Gran Turismo and Forza. I love the simulation aspect, ain’t no way on Earth I want to drive a sports car. Too irresponsible.

    Mario Kart for the social aspect.

  • Takios@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    Need for Speed Porsche to be honest. The campaign of going through the Porsche eras is iconic. Buying new cars and tuning them up is really fun and you really feel the difference between the cars.

  • BmeBenji@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    I’m a huge fan of Burnout Paradise. The crash physics and cameras are so addicting that I’ll drive up and down the same street just flipping my car on its roof using the same split ramp just to see the carnage. The driving is a wonderful arcadey feel that makes insane turns easy to pull off, and the crashes make those insane turns addicting to completely fail.

    Many people say the early Burnout games are better, but I’ve never played them and Paradise has remained entertaining for 17 years

  • SimplyTadpole@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 is my childhood game and I will always love it. I also like various other games from the NFS series, from the first one up to Carbon.

    Not many newer racing games I like, but I do enjoy occasionally playing art of rally, Inertial Drift, Forza Horizon 4 and Wreckfest.

  • Zaemz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    I have really fond memories of the first Grid game from 2008. That’s alongside NFS: Most Wanted from around that time, likw most people it seems, haha! I also spent an inordinate amount of time playing Gran Turismo 3: A-spec. I loved the career mode so much.

    My favorite cars are the Lotus Espirit and Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR, to this day, because of Gran Turismo 3 and Most Wanted, respectively.

    There haven’t been many recently that have piqued my interest, other than the gang all wanting to get Forza Horizon. I don’t play it much on my own, though.

    If there were another track game where you work up from the bottom with a shit car in different classes of races, earning money and unlocking new parts and stuff along the way, I’d be into it. It seems most newer racing games just have generic “Engine Upgrade 1”-type options, or full-blown sim where you’re picking extremely particular individual pieces and tuning everything to an overwhelming degree.

  • ampersarnie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    3 days ago

    Ridge Racer Type 4 was a game that absolutely ooze with style in every aspect. The graphics were up there with the best of them at the time, cars ranged from simple to utter batshit in design and performance. UI both in and out of races is iconic, holding a motif that is both a racing aesthetic and minimal design, keeping the details only where they’re needed. The music moving from the 90s rave of the older games, over to house was a bold move but it works perfectly. It fits exactly how it needs with the course settings, gameplay and overall aesthetic.

    Wip3out while the previous games may be more iconic due to the groundwork laid out by the Designers Republic. Even though they gave the series its icon graphic design style, the third game is the most definitive entry in the series (imo). It continues the design and refines that groundwork brought by tDR. The gameplay is fast and can be intense. Visually the graphics were incredible at the time with track designs that influenced the few later games with new elements and environments. The music was the perfect mix of future trance and techno that still lives in my head today.

  • kibiz0r@midwest.socialEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    Art of Rally

    Need For Speed: Heat

    Does bike racing count? If so: Descenders is amazing

    And if that counts, how about Crumble?

    Ooh: Turbo Golf Racing, and Kart Rider

    Race the Sun?

  • cmfhsu@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    For sim, I utilize iRacing to practice and learn tracks before real life amateur endurance races in champcar and lemons as well as track days.

    IMO iRacing physics are so good and the tracks are so well modeled that it’s a very effective learning tool. It’s the first sim since Live For Speed that really feels close enough to real life for me to forget I’m playing a sim.

    Plus traffic management and race craft are so crucially important in wheel to wheel racing & I simply don’t get any other opportunity to practice those.

  • celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    It’s difficult to say. One of my least favorite mechanics in racing games is rubber banding. Another is rewarding people in last place with a powerup and punishing people in first for being good at the game (looking at you, every single Mario Kart title ever). That being said, there are games without these mechanics and they wind up feeling lifeless, such as Motorstorm and GTA Online races. So the trick to enjoying racing games I’ve found is to play games that only minimally rely on rubber banding, and without blue shell tier powerups, or racing games that deprioritize ranks in favor of adding tons of personality to the experience.

    Racing games that truly don’t offend me:

    • Crash Team Racing
    • Star Wars Episode 1 Racer
    • Forza Motorsport 2
    • Burnout Paradise