What’s that bar over the back wheel for?
torsion bar, I’d say?
that’d be a weird solution to sth that has been figured out before, but then… you take a look at it and you get the idea why…
That’d make sense, yeah.
my game pass free trial ran out so I got wreckfest and while it’s not fair to compare to horizon, it feels exactly like a much, much more realistically modelled PS1 game, which is exactly what I wanted
The production values are extremely Finnish
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i know this thread really leans toward recent stuff by and large, but i’m a retro racing afficianado through and through and i need to express myself, so THERE
check out this hot WR i got the other day:
this game is great! i have the 4-pack GBA cart that has GT Advance 1-3 and MotoGP, all of which are great fun. the only real issue is that GT Advance 1 has an absurd password system because the publisher ripped out cart saving from the japanese version to cut costs. the game sold well anyway, so i guess they win? still, they took an A game and made it a B in one fell swoop with that change. luckily the other 3 games on the cart have cart saves.
another disgustingly good handheld racer, probably the best top-down/isometric racing game i’ve ever played, is Mickey’s Speedway USA GBC. here’s another spicy WR:
this game is so fucking good. the biggest issues are the AI is incredibly obnoxious and the items are crap. you can’t really pass in this game efficiently due to the pinball physics on collisions and the AI taking up the whole damn (permanently narrow) roads, so you’re frequently bound by luck in terms of going really fast. there are also some severe framerate issues that crop up from time to time if the game has to draw too many sprites. still, it’s a marvel for GBC - the scrolling is smooth, the music is hot, the controls are sublime, the level design is utterly fantastic, etc. etc. furthermore, none of the above issues are present in time trials. time trials is great! i have every WR in the game now!
i’m looking for more good handheld racers for GB/GBC/GBA. give me your favorites!
others I own currently
- Race Drivin’ (GB)
- Wave Race (GB)
- F1 Race (GB)
- Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)
i’m interested in woody woodpecker racing, maybe konami krazy racers? i need time trials, that’s my kink
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F-Zero Maximum Overdrive or whatever the first one is called is
very good
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oh right i do have F-Zero: Maximum Velocity and GP Legend, but not Climax (also the best one), which is extremely expensive and JP-only
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we’re raving on about vintage cars, so it is only fair to bring vintage racing games to the table, feel free to share your love for these games here!
actually i have been thinking about one recently, i. e. the first Burnout on the gamecube. The experience of playing it still manages to spark that warm, fuzzy feeling of having a blast when going fast, though i only get around to pop it back in every… phew, 5ish years or so?
it obv has dated horribly, two player splitscreen is akin to highspeed chess (who can remember where the next corner goes, because you cannot see anything), the handling worse than you remember it being, the game being blurry as hell and the controls, aside from the clicky triggers, mediocre.
But then it had those fantastic Euro X(?) tracks where they connected separate tracks to one giant race track, with hardcore timing between checkpoints (after a while, you knew in advance that you would not be able to make it, up to 30ish seconds even), and racing around these tracks evoked the kind of thrills that you can only get in split/second.
…
and why am i thinking of that game these days?
Well, Horizon 4 makes me do so.
And here inwas a bit puzzled why H3 didn’t - after some pondering, i think it is the setting: Where H3 offers some empty stretches of straight road, where you can floor the accelerator and do SUPER SONIC RACING, you almost always hit something in H4, and quite quickly at that.
And much to my surprise, this exactly brings back that kind of at-the-edge-feeling i’ve been missing for a while now… the urge to go fast, insanely faaaast, because you absolutely should not do that.
Come to think of it, my younger brother had that GT1 game, i think? have to check that now.
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bit more on wreckfest – I think the reason why I was so encouraged to give it a go is that it’s simultaneously like, the most simulationist arcade racing game and the most arcadey racing sim I’ve ever played. there’s no turbo or pickups or asymmetrical competition and you have to drive fairly conservatively around corners, but every race ends with several opponents crashed out in the middle of the track whom you have to dodge on later laps; it almost feels like a translation of like, super off-road to the forza engine. or a scandinavian version of speed racer.
there actually isn’t much else like it out there – I think some of the Dirt games probably get close to scratching the same itch – but it’s really quite well done for what it is, even if it’s in the shadow of the best semi-sim racing release in like two decades.
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after all there aren’t too many other games that have had to realistically model trying to drive the last leg of a race with a blown radiator and three tires
it also has the most apropos and least cloying hard-rocking soundtrack I’ve heard since the PS1
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for that matter, it’s also one of the only racing sims where driving like a total aggressive asshole as much as possible actually has appropriate risk and reward, rather than being sort of half-acknowledged through an incomplete damage model and sort of ignored as a viable if cheap strategy
also the mods are highly on point
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1459657809&searchtext=
Shit Turismo
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that Lada looks mighty tempting… you’re giving this high praise, you know!
well, maybe i’m lucky and a good ol’ friend of mine has already bought it and as such i will be able to test drive it when i’m going back to my hometown this weekend.
Keep your bumpers crossed!.. errrr…
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Today in FH4 I found a Peel P50 in a barn 
Wish I could remember how to take a screenshot in windows 10 xbox whatever
I changed some graphics settings and it prompted me to restart the game so they could take effect. I said no, but I guess it still loaded some shaders or something. The ground would get a metallic purple cast to it, rocks would turn black, white, and pink. Very vaporwave
This game is a delight
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I’ve been playing Need For Speed (2015) because Rudie reminded me of it and it’s free on Origin if you have a subscription. Or maybe even if you don’t, I’m not sure. (free for “Basic” and “Premium”, whatever that means)
The FMVs make me legit uncomfortable. Not just cringe but uncomfortable. The game pops up transparent screens to tutorialize you constantly and people call you on the phone. It’s incredibly annoying! And I have to play with keyboard because neither the DS4 nor the X360 pad work at all for whatever reason on my system with this game.
Damn does the frostbite engine look good. I love it. Loved it since I played NFS: The Run, which is the best arcade racer because it’s a mix between a racing game and Dragon’s Lair.
After it I’ll probably give Wreckfest a chance. Does it have a campaign experience?
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I’ve been playing through Racedriver GRID again and holy shit this game is so good. I’m still in the early stages and haven’t hit the LMP class races yet, but I’m remembering why this game struck a chord with me when it came out. The presentation and sense of speed leaves (or left) everything else in the dust.
The sound direction is hitting me pretty hard too. The hyper dramatic soundtrack kicking in during the last event of a series, or the last few hours of Le Mans, is just perfect. Game is fuckin’ fire.
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it has a career mode where you buy and upgrade cars and compete in increasingly difficult races but all the reviewers keep pointing out how cheap that part of it feels, and they aren’t wrong; it’s basically all a series of menus between races.
I don’t want to oversell it (whereas I definitely want to push FH4 as hard as possible), I was just trying to think through why I was so relatively taken by it when it doesn’t immediately stand out.
That’s too bad, I play racing games almost exclusively for their career/campaign modes. I need something to stitch the racing together for me because that alone isn’t doing it for me. I need context.
I didn’t realize you could get the xbox game pass 14 day trial on PC as well. Duh! Now it’s a no brainer to try out Horizon 4
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I’m driving a Honda Civic because I can’t handle the sports cars 
I feel like something is wrong with my controller settings. Did any of you change anything there?
How do you learn how to play this game, this ain’t no Outrun 2
The lowest difficulty settings will apply brakes for you if you’re going into a corner too fast. I found that hard to work with and went one click up when I was first playing Horizon 2. You can start on the assists and slowly turn them off (also turn on manual transmission if you like) for score bonuses as you get the hang of it. The driving line is quite good in Forza vis a vis Gran Turismo.
Also, if you can, get into something AWD like a WRX for Focus RS if you’re having trouble in corners or with the weather effects.