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.
Best rally Sim is definitely debatable, but it most definitely still holds up pretty well against more modern rally sims like Dirt Rally 2.0, and that is insane enough considering it’s age. The mods for RBR have definitely extended its lifespan.
The physics in RBR still feel better to me than the modern rally games like Dirt Rally 2, and WRC9 and what not, and that is incredibly impressive. I will say the modern games are better for competitive play and obviously have better graphics and immersion.
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.
I have really fond memories of the first Grid game from 2008. That’s alongside NFS: Most Wanted from around that time, like 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.
Forza Horizon 5. Why 5? Because unlike 4, it doesn’t crash to desktop a lot… although 4 has more to do and a more interesting season system (the tropics has “seasons” but not the snow and scorch temprature swings like people in temperate latitudes are used to), 5 just has a bit more polish, and bold move with taking it to Mexico.
I also am watching the progression of Forza Motorsport 7, because the FM series is basically not-Gran-Turismo and I can play it on my gaming PC (no consoles here).
I used to be all about Gran Turismo back in the day, as well as the DiRT series and even Race Driver. Codemasters games, though, tended to be very arcadey. I need to get Dirt Rally 2, as I played a bit of 1 and it was pretty good.
I also remember Spintires and its spiritual successors Mudrunner and Snowrunner. Fun off-roading sandbox games with mud physics… because no offroading game has even attempted that in the level of detail ST/MR has. Also, the original publisher of ST is the worst, and they’ve broken the original game, just get Mudrunner or Snowrunner for a better experience.
Also, I am on the lookout for spacecraft racecraft games. I want to use my 4 axis stick for something other than Airbus landing challenges.
Also the 1-2 combination of Automation (car company simulator) and BeamNG.drive. You can build a car in Automation and export it to BeamNG to drive around in. Bonus props to BeamNG being the only car sim I know of that has decided to actually model the physics of an automatic transmission. This is something I wished other games like Forza Horizon and Gran Turismo would do, as a lot of modern cars are Automatic only and in every case they just turn the auto into a stick… and it’s terrible, as automatic gear ratios don’t work for manual transmission driving. If we can upgrade the transmission, then we can have a better incentive to replace the slushbox with a crashbox if it’s worth the upgrade, considering that torque converter transmissions are used in offroad racing due to having better resilience against the shock forces from bumps and jumps.
Shoutout to Live For Speed, the surprisingly detailed car racing sim by three bros that even takes clutch temperatures into account. Their latest updates added workshop-style modded cars into the game.
Recreating production cars and racing them is fun.
Optimizing track cars for different locations is a LOT of fun. More power doesn’t always mean faster lap times - what matters is power to weight ratio, paired with getting the suspension, tires, brakes, and downforce just right.
The most fun build I’ve discovered so far is throwing a 2L, naturally aspirated V8 that makes 521 HP, into a Pontiac Fiero with racing slicks. The whole thing weighs just 1159 lbs, and can pull 3 G’s around corners.
Assetto Corsa is a fantastic simulator that me and my race team has used to learn a track before we take our race car there so we know all the turns. It really feels like you’re there and the game runs well and looks good low end hardware.
The absolute best arcade racer to me was always NFS Hot Pursuit 2 for PS2. The physics were so much fun and the cars were a curated selection of cool.
Always loved the Project Gotham Racing series, especially 3. Tons of fun to drift in those games. The Kudos system was definitely a unique feature.
Been playing through the Ridge Racer games most recently. Damn these are just fun to play.
Sega Rally Championship will always stand out as some of the best driving physics early on.
Art of Rally and Art of drift are hella fun “zen” games with a unique art style.
I was always a sucker for some of the cash-in Fast and Furious era car fad games. Juiced, Tokyo Extreme Racer (out before all of it) Street Racing Syndicate, NFS Underground, Midnight Club 3. They’re all fun but driving is always just ok.
My short list though: Gran Turismo 4 Forza Motorsport 4 or 6 (4 is less grindy I feel) NFS Most Wanted 2
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