Racing fun for novices - where have they gone?

richiej

Prominent Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
1,789
Reaction score
109
Points
303
Location
London / Herts
For those who are old enough to remember games such as Lotus Esprit Challenge on the Amiga and Ridge Racer on the PS1. Where have all the pick up and play racers gone. The ones where you don't spin out at every corner for the first three hours of playing. Apart from Mario Kart, where have all the head to head racers gone that you can actually sit in the same room as friends or family and race against each other?

I can't be bothered to sit and play for a couple of hours before I learn how to smoothly go around a corner at speed, using one of the 6 buttons at my disposal, to avoid crashing. I'd like to pick up, do a lap at a reasonable speed without crashing big time at every corner, and learn how to do this faster and faster.

Am I just too old for all these modern day games, and what I want just isn't real racing? Am I missing a game that does exist? Or maybe I'm simply not switching the games into idiot mode?
 
Guess you haven't played Driveclub then, It's easy to jump in and have a quick ten minutes doing challenges or spend longer doing Time Trials, like all great games it's easy to play, it takes time to master.

Have you tried Trackmania?
 
Like Kenny says,Driveclub is a fantastic pick up and play racer,if you love hotlapping vs other players ghosts then you've got thousands of leaderboards to try your hand at.The single player tour gets quite challenging,but there's an easy mode if you find it too much.There's no split screen though,that's where Trackmania might suit you better as I think it has up to 4 player split screen.
 
For those who are old enough to remember games such as Lotus Esprit Challenge on the Amiga and Ridge Racer on the PS1. Where have all the pick up and play racers gone. The ones where you don't spin out at every corner for the first three hours of playing. Apart from Mario Kart, where have all the head to head racers gone that you can actually sit in the same room as friends or family and race against each other?

I can't be bothered to sit and play for a couple of hours before I learn how to smoothly go around a corner at speed, using one of the 6 buttons at my disposal, to avoid crashing. I'd like to pick up, do a lap at a reasonable speed without crashing big time at every corner, and learn how to do this faster and faster.

Am I just too old for all these modern day games, and what I want just isn't real racing? Am I missing a game that does exist? Or maybe I'm simply not switching the games into idiot mode?

Trackmania Turbo could be right up your street.
 
For those who are old enough to remember games such as Lotus Esprit Challenge on the Amiga and Ridge Racer on the PS1. Where have all the pick up and play racers gone. The ones where you don't spin out at every corner for the first three hours of playing. Apart from Mario Kart, where have all the head to head racers gone that you can actually sit in the same room as friends or family and race against each other?

I can't be bothered to sit and play for a couple of hours before I learn how to smoothly go around a corner at speed, using one of the 6 buttons at my disposal, to avoid crashing. I'd like to pick up, do a lap at a reasonable speed without crashing big time at every corner, and learn how to do this faster and faster.

Am I just too old for all these modern day games, and what I want just isn't real racing? Am I missing a game that does exist? Or maybe I'm simply not switching the games into idiot mode?
Arcade racers still exist in their droves. The graphics are better in them these days, but the arcade market is just as (if not more than) catered for than the console sim market. I guess with games like Project Cars, Dirt Rally and Assetto Corsa hitting consoles, the balance is being redressed somewhat but there are still plenty of arcade style racers about. On the PS4 check out the following :-

Drive Club
NFS Rivals
Need for Speed
The Club
Track mania Turbo

There's also Table Top Racing World Tour coming to PS4 - here's a video


The thing is that to get the enjoyment out of any racing game, you have to put the time in to learn the tracks etc. I put 100's of hours into the original mario kart for example, perfecting the tracks on time trial. Most games these days can be toned down by reducing the difficulty and adding in loads of assists if you aren't bothered about being competitive and just want a bit of fun.
 
If you're after an arcade racer then NFS Rivals is a lot of fun. In general I've enjoyed a lot the Need for Speed franchise games, some more than others. It doesn't (IIRC) offer any kind of in the room multiplayer which is a pity. NFSR does have online multiplayer and weapons though.

GTAV online has plenty of pick up and play racing - and the GTA mode races also allow you to use weapons. I've probably raced more miles in GTAO than any other game :)

Table Top Racing above looks like a lot of fun, I was very amused that he managed to go all the way through without once saying "Micromachines" :)
 
GTA V does have a surprisingly satisfying racing element so @AMc, that's a +1 from me.
 
I haven't been in in a while but agree with this. Are there many AVF'rs or Sons still playing this?
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom