why the lack of touge?

chimukun · Nov 13, 2014

touge games have pretty much died for some reason. the last great one is still ps2 exclusive.

with this gen, we had grid and forza with 1 course thats not rl. and thats all that i know of. other than open source things.

there are no games with good physics, and actual touge locations.

BKGlover · Nov 13, 2014

If I'm honest, I think the problem lies in that many people don't really know, or care, about touge. It is an interesting discipline, but I do think it gets confused with mountain drifting, and if they are the same thing then you have a case-in-point example to use. Forza, if I remember it correctly, really was just racing up and down a mountain, as GRID not only did it better, but held similar rules between 1 and 2, about the only thing they share but that's another sub-forum. Initial D and FnF: Tokyo Drift may have affected things as well, but I've seen neither soooooo yeah.

What's the PS2 game? I'd never heard of it myself until GRID 1.

Downhill Dino · Nov 13, 2014

BKGlover
What's the PS2 game? I'd never heard of it myself until GRID 1.

I think he's referring to the Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift series.

BKGlover · Nov 13, 2014

Downhill Dino
I think he's referring to the Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift series.

That would make sense. I've played TXR 1&2, but haven't gotten to the drift series. I do hope the driving engine is better suited for it than TXR's.

chimukun · Nov 13, 2014

Downhill Dino
I think he's referring to the Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift series.

yes correct

BKGlover
That would make sense. I've played TXR 1&2, but haven't gotten to the drift series. I do hope the driving engine is better suited for it than TXR's.

driving engine's pretty different & really sim like in d2. d1 was pretty ******, in terms of realism or fun, and actually harder.
I have a g25, & drift 2 had by far the most realistic physics ffb on ps2, and still holds up to everything today, imo. It still probably has the best brakes and countersteer feel than any "sim" I tried, 10 years after it's release.

Luminis · Nov 13, 2014

Well, same reason why there's no proper game about hill climbing: Too few people actually care. Touge's even more of a niche phenomenon than hill climb, it seems. The only guys I know IRL that know or care about it are either into JDM cars or into Initial D.

Personally, I liked Fujimi Kaido well enough. Love technical courses like that, but I prefer to use them for time attack than actual touge.

sesselpupser · Nov 13, 2014

Yeah, for a niche thing like this you have two options: Japanese games - which I know nothing about but I assume they've stopped making them - and PC mods. I'm pretty sure the PC version of San Andreas has touge courses (but not so great physics), rFactor has a couple too, such as this conversion of a Richard Burns Rally stage (language warning on the awful, awful music, do yourself a favour and mute it):

Or this one:

I'm not sure but I think you can do multiplayer on them.

Or if you don't want to do multiplayer, a copy of Richard Burns Rally with the RSRBR 201x mod and all the add-ons will give you a lot of cars and stages, including Pikes Peak which is kind of terrifying.

BrodieBoi94 · Nov 13, 2014

@BKGlover 's point is right.

I still own Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero, 3, and Drift 2 (Doing playthroughs on all). I have been playing those games since they were somewhat new, and even then not many knew about them. As far as if people care about that gaming style IDK. They are easily the most underrated racing games. TXRD2 is something that I would like to encourage ANYONE on this forum to pick up, for the 3-10 bucks it costs and I'm sure you will appreciate it.

Problem is not many people are going to see this, let alone go buy a ps2 and maybe a dfp wheel just to play this game when they're so old now. Most are focused on the current games (Driveclub, Forza 4/5, GT5/6, P Cars) and their gripes with current games can be cured with some older games.

I get tired of new games personally though, they just seem half done. I prefer to keep a balance, some new some old.

But before I get too off topic I believe that this genre of racing games is pretty much non-existent because of the companies behind them. They aren't mainstream, or high budget, you probably won't see a commercial or add about them.

chimukun · Nov 14, 2014

i believe txrd2 must of been atleast reasonably budget, and mainstream appeal in japan. it had more real cars than any other txr game from my knowledge. laser traced roads, and involvement of professional drivers in it's development. Maybe it's just hard to make money with that kind of budget, without having a big global recognition.

if they wanted to save money, they can just update graphics, keep the same physics engine(maybe without some tinkering to perfect it). and i won't even need real licensed cars. txr0 style was fine for me.

Downhill Dino · Nov 14, 2014

I don't think "TXR0 style" is legal these days. It was a risky move then and probably still is now.

N0t_L3fty · Nov 14, 2014

I just found Grid black edition & Grid2 in the used game stack today & bought them. Waiting for all the stuff to install to the hard drive. Hope I didn't waste my time...

BKGlover · Nov 14, 2014

TXR was as close to trademark infringement as you could probably get. Also, TXR2 for Dreamcast IS TXR0 for PS2, so as I've played more on 2, that's my reference.

N0t_L3fty
I just found Grid black edition & Grid2 in the used game stack today & bought them. Waiting for all the stuff to install to the hard drive. Hope I didn't waste my time...

If you're talking about the games en total, the GRID sub-forum might help you know for sure. If just for Touge..... ssssssssssst....you may regret it. I think GRID 1 is incredible all-around, but there isn't much touge racing, and none outside the J-Speed events IIRC. GRID 2 is worse in that what could have been touge events are now split between PtP races with the full field (Like Forza 1), Head to Head races where contact is encouraged, and "regular" Touge.