An Arcade racer to complement FM7

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Hi,

I own FM7 for a few month and I'm verry satisfied with it (jumped from FM4 to FM7)

I now search an arcade racer to complement FM7 that is compatible with free roam.

Here are the contenders: with my percieved advantages taking into account that some are offset by tha fact I own FM7.
Note that I don't have gold and play solo.

FH3:
Pro: very beautiful, the rain forrest, the dynamic weather, car interior
Cons: No need to use an off road vehicle off road, cutting track in races is the way to go, car visual customizing is limited

NFS Payback
Pro: apparently nice arcade racing physics, Cool Fast and furious like scenario, Somme Hollywood like missions, visual car customization, no cops in free roam(confirm?), car specialization race/off road/ drag/ drift
Cons: smaller map, no dynamic weather, no car interior

The Crew 2
Pro: apparently nice arcade racing physics, very cool map, bikes, boats, planes, car specialization race/off road/ drag/ drift, car interior, race cars, visual car customization
Cons: Missions appears dull, Scenario is not great apparently

FH4:
Pro: Nice English twisty roads, beautiful. seasons
Cons: we don't know much yet

Have you one of them? could you please help me in my choice?
For now I'm inching towards the NFS

Vinz
 
I would just wait wait for FH4. It looks like it's going to be the definitive arcade racer of this generation. I guess you could pick up FH3 if you can find it for cheap, but I'm not sure it's worth it with the successor being so close. It's a great game but will I play it when October 2nd comes around? I doubt it.

I haven't played NFS since the PS2 days and The Crew never really caught my interest, so I cannot give any advice on those two.
 
I saw they re-released (?) Burnout Paradise. I had the game a while back on Xbox? I think. Anyway, it wasn't too bad. I enjoyed the Burnout series a lot. Even though it's not 'Real" cars. Criterion did s real good job with that game. Anyway, it's been redone, and heard some good things about it. I also think someone here in these forums has it, ( I can't remember who ). It's worth being on your list of considerations at the very least. I just got FH2 a couple of weeks ago. To boost my Forza score. I'm not much into the open world racing, but I can see where it has huge appeal. It's good enough to have me considering Pre-Ordering FH4. And, yeah, I'll probably go for FH3 sometime soon.
 
Hi,

I own FM7 for a few month and I'm verry satisfied with it (jumped from FM4 to FM7)

I now search an arcade racer to complement FM7 that is compatible with free roam.

Here are the contenders: with my percieved advantages taking into account that some are offset by tha fact I own FM7.
Note that I don't have gold and play solo.

FH3:
Pro: very beautiful, the rain forrest, the dynamic weather, car interior
Cons: No need to use an off road vehicle off road, cutting track in races is the way to go, car visual customizing is limited
You'll get bored with FM.

NFS Payback
Pro: apparently nice arcade racing physics, Cool Fast and furious like scenario, Somme Hollywood like missions, visual car customization, no cops in free roam(confirm?), car specialization race/off road/ drag/ drift
Cons: smaller map, no dynamic weather, no car interior
Very low car count.

The Crew 2
Pro: apparently nice arcade racing physics, very cool map, bikes, boats, planes, car specialization race/off road/ drag/ drift, car interior, race cars, visual car customization
Cons: Missions appears dull, Scenario is not great apparently

FH4:
Pro: Nice English twisty roads, beautiful. seasons
Cons: Doesn't exist for purchase.

Have you one of them? could you please help me in my choice?
For now I'm inching towards the NFS

Vinz
I added/fixed some cons for you. :)
 
Cons: No need to use an off road vehicle off road, cutting track in races is the way to go...

I don't see how these are cons in an arcade racer. An arcade racer is kind of by definition putting fun before realism. Arcade racers are exactly the sort of games that let you ford rivers in a Koeniggsegg and smash through buildings to get a quicker lap time. Hell, FH3 has an entire expansion dedicated to pretending you're a Hot Wheels car.

Perhaps you're not into the full on arcade racer vibe, but you still want something a bit more casual than FM7? I'd still say you'll probably get more fun out of a Horizon game than anything else, and as a solo player you can choose not to cut tracks and go offroad in Ferraris if you wish. The Crew 2 looks like it could be good, but it's not out yet either.
 
This is even a contest... I dont even like Horizon 3 that much but clearly, CLEARLY it has no real competition.

And its cheap now... buy the main game and get the twin packed Hot Wheels and Blizzard Mountain and you have so much content to get thru.

Enjoy that until FH4 comes out.
 
In NFS Payback,no cops in freeroam takes away from playback ability,so is definitely not a pro in my opinion.
 
Thank you for you inputs.

I downloaded this weekend FH3 demo. I didn't realize it existed before.
My thoughts:
The landscape is breathtakingly beautiful :D
The missions are full of positive energy
The mission races are very well crafted and so beautiful

You litterally want to love the game.

But I'm going to get heavy fire from fans, because I didn't like the driving at all :(
I don't feel the car planted on the road, I can't tell if it's starting to slide... the driving is too slippery.
Even braking gives me no feedback... It's like driving on jelly.

I completed the demo twice, then I had to return to FM7 for my forzathon, hell, I raced SPA with the Datsun 280ZX (GT reborn) and it was such a blast in comparison, that race was so much more pleasure than FH...
Then my son fired NFS Hot poursuit from 2010... I took the controller for a few minutes and noticed that I had more feeling of the car than in FH. I had fun with it really.

I thing FH is out of the race (I also did not like the driving of FH2 demo on xbox 360)

I'll try the crew 2 open Beta on 21/06 :)

Everyone says FH is the best open world racer, I don't understand why I don't like it :-/
 
In NFS Payback,no cops in freeroam takes away from playback ability,so is definitely not a pro in my opinion.

I like my free roam sessions to be calm, if there's cops I tend to avoid them, so I don't go full throtle :). i was freaked out in NFS most wanted (2005)
For me, no cops in free roam is a PRO

Imari
I don't see how these are cons in an arcade racer. An arcade racer is kind of by definition putting fun before realism. Arcade racers are exactly the sort of games that let you ford rivers in a Koeniggsegg and smash through buildings to get a quicker lap time. Hell, FH3 has an entire expansion dedicated to pretending you're a Hot Wheels car.

Arcade or not if you can simply go straight from one chackpoint to another you loose the pleasure of doing the turns. In payback videos, cutting is a choice: do I gain time by being slowed in the grass or can I corner faster?
Yeah the Hot wheel part is a great idea, I love it :)
 
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You can definetely have some fun with Payback but you better skip it. In 3 days you can play the open Beta for the Crew 2.. try it, than go buy FH3 and play that game till FH4 came out. If you don't like the physics of the Horizon series you will hate the physicss of other races too. IMO
 
I don't see how these are cons in an arcade racer. An arcade racer is kind of by definition putting fun before realism. Arcade racers are exactly the sort of games that let you ford rivers in a Koeniggsegg and smash through buildings to get a quicker lap time...
A game can put fun before realism and still justify the existence of offroad-oriented vehicles in its roster, incentivize staying on the road and nailing apexes to avoid losing time, and balance risk & reward in taking a shortcut. Many arcade racers do those things. Freedom to explore is fine, but the triviality of driving offroad beginning with FH2 pretty much gutted the appeal of the race events and the map, in my view.
 
I like my free roam sessions to be calm, if there's cops I tend to avoid them, so I don't go full throtle :). i was freaked out in NFS most wanted (2005)
For me, no cops in free roam is a PRO
Fair play,but it woulda been nothing for them to make it possible,love to just get a chase going sometimes ala Driver SF.:)
 
A game can put fun before realism and still justify the existence of offroad-oriented vehicles in its roster, incentivize staying on the road and nailing apexes to avoid losing time, and balance risk & reward in taking a shortcut. Many arcade racers do those things. Freedom to explore is fine, but the triviality of driving offroad beginning with FH2 pretty much gutted the appeal of the race events and the map, in my view.

Exacly my thoughts, Thanks Wolfe to put it down way better than me :)

Fair play,but it woulda been nothing for them to make it possible,love to just get a chase going sometimes ala Driver SF.:)

If you want that, you have to give a go to NFS Rivals. Open map with intense racer/Cop action. I hesitated in the begining to include it in my list.
 
Exacly my thoughts, Thanks Wolfe to put it down way better than me :)



If you want that, you have to give a go to NFS Rivals. Open map with intense racer/Cop action. I hesitated in the begining to include it in my list.
You can't pause that game though for whatever reason on or offline.
 
But I'm going to get heavy fire from fans, because I didn't like the driving at all :(
I don't feel the car planted on the road, I can't tell if it's starting to slide... the driving is too slippery.
Even braking gives me no feedback... It's like driving on jelly.

Not from me. Switching from Forza (5, 6, 7) to the FH (2-3, I never played 1) does take some time and tweaking to get used to, but once you do, you do get a better feel of the cars on the road or other surfaces, but yes, its looser and you have to drive accordingly. I think suspension of belief is necessary to fully enjoy the great gaming experience that FH3 is.
 
A game can put fun before realism and still justify the existence of offroad-oriented vehicles in its roster, incentivize staying on the road and nailing apexes to avoid losing time, and balance risk & reward in taking a shortcut. Many arcade racers do those things. Freedom to explore is fine, but the triviality of driving offroad beginning with FH2 pretty much gutted the appeal of the race events and the map, in my view.

Absolutely, but knocking an arcade game for not being realistic seems not particularly rational. What you're actually disappointed in is how the imaginary physics work, which is always going to be swings and roundabouts as there's umpteen million ways to do it. I didn't like The Crew 1. I quite like The Crew 2. I really like FH3. Wipeout HD is super awesome. None of those physics choices are a con for an arcade racer, but they can be cons for particular players depending on what you're into.

Don't get me wrong, I get it. I play FH3 in a manner that does not involve me taking hypercars off-road. If there's a dirt or off-road race, I choose a car that's appropriate (SUUBARUUUUU!). I would prefer a game that had some nod towards off-road ability when choosing cars over one that doesn't. But that's my personal opinion, that's nothing wrong with the game. It's a valid design choice and it certainly has it's benefits.

It seems that vinz was mixing objective facts about games (small map, dynamic weather, etc.) with personal opinion. Fair enough I suppose, it's asking for a personal recommendation. But you'll notice that just about everything else on the list is an objective truth or clearly presented as an opinion (eg. missions appear dull), so I'm not exactly surprised that I read that part as another objective fact. I'll put it down to a misinterpretation on my part, it would seem that English may not be their first language.
 
Absolutely, but knocking an arcade game for not being realistic seems not particularly rational. What you're actually disappointed in is how the imaginary physics work, which is always going to be swings and roundabouts as there's umpteen million ways to do it. I didn't like The Crew 1. I quite like The Crew 2. I really like FH3. Wipeout HD is super awesome. None of those physics choices are a con for an arcade racer, but they can be cons for particular players depending on what you're into.

Don't get me wrong, I get it. I play FH3 in a manner that does not involve me taking hypercars off-road. If there's a dirt or off-road race, I choose a car that's appropriate (SUUBARUUUUU!). I would prefer a game that had some nod towards off-road ability when choosing cars over one that doesn't. But that's my personal opinion, that's nothing wrong with the game. It's a valid design choice and it certainly has it's benefits.

It seems that vinz was mixing objective facts about games (small map, dynamic weather, etc.) with personal opinion. Fair enough I suppose, it's asking for a personal recommendation. But you'll notice that just about everything else on the list is an objective truth or clearly presented as an opinion (eg. missions appear dull), so I'm not exactly surprised that I read that part as another objective fact. I'll put it down to a misinterpretation on my part, it would seem that English may not be their first language.

Hi Imari,

When I criticize the fact that there's no penalty (save grip) in going off road with any car. I do not criticize the unrealistic physics, I criticize the fact that this decision makes a less interesting gameplay. :)

Apparently you agree since you only use "off road typed" cars in off road. A real limit would have been better that a gentleman's agreement with yourself :)

yes I am mixing objective and subjective facts so that you could get my mindset. I do not pretend to be fair :D

Vinz
 
Hello,

I have bought NFS payback and have a few races done.

Here's a sum up of the 3 games that I will try to keep
as objective as possible.

First we need to define two concepts: Simulation and
Arcade racers

Simulation: A racer that tries to mimic the real world activity. It can be done with more or less precision.
The important part is that it rewards the player for behaving like real world driver: slow down before
corners, be careful with throttle on corner exit, have a good racing line and avoid contact with environment and
other cars (loosing time).
With this definition Forza 7 falls into simultation
category (accessible simulation). To me it's not sim-arcade (see below for arcade definition)

Arcade: A racer that puts fun and show as first
objective. It rewards the player for going flat out and push to the limits.
The most obvious example is need for speed (with a few installement exceptions)

Forza Horizon 3 demo:
The game is extremely well made, is gorgeous, the race "tracks" are very cool and well done (thanks to destructible palm trees).
The driving is a kind of sim arcade, but they removed the grip feeling from FM7 and got a slippery gameplay.
I'd have kept the grip feeling and simply made the handling more forgiving (better traction control and stability). In FH3 you still loose the rear of the car easily while accelerating out of a curve.

The Crew 2 beta:
The open world is great with many cool roads, the driving is a real pleasure (car are rather heavy). I've not tried race cars, planes and boats too much.
The problem lies in the mission races where the tracks are really filled with traps. There's many object on the corner exteriors that stops your car completely. Also colliding with a traffic car triggers a deadly slow repop. And since there's no easy mode to learn the ropes, the missions (street racing /rally raid) are a matter of die and retry.
Is it a problem of not taking time to test the race enough or a decision to appeal to more hardcore gamer?

NFS: payback
The map is smaller and simpler that the other games (less trees, less buildings). the car list is smaller. The driving is very fun yet not simple. Drift need to be controlled to gain time. Cutting offroad (out of dirt roads) can be a time saver, or not due to the speed penalty.
Races are very well made and many of the most deadly obstacles are protected by barriers (not all :)). Tight corners are often wide. collide with traffic is not deadly (still you loose time)
Repop system is used when it actually helps you.
Races use the most beautifull roads.
Map is packed with activities (speed radar, speed runs, jumps etc...)
Good story if you like fat and furious kind of stories in games (all voiced for every dialog).
Easy difficulty is there if you struggle and medium is challenging.

That's the end of my rant :)

enjoy
 
That’s not a rant, that’s an informed opinion. 👍
In defense of FH3, you can get a better sense of handling and grip by upgrading and tuning your cars, an aspect that is not accessible in the demo.
Thanks Naco Libre :)
If I should buy another racer it would probably be an Horizon. i suppose I can get used to the driving, and have fun with it.
 
Of the arcade racing games I own:

FH3 & FH2 = both still excellent and the kings of arcade racing games IMO. I prefer the map and physics of FH2 but FH3 has a lot of improvements (X1X enhanced, 4K HDR, blueprints, auction house, HE bonus cars, ...)

The Crew 2 & The Crew 1 = the king if you want the biggest map or more diverse vehicles like bikes, monster trucks and in case of TC2 also boats and planes.

NFS Payback & NFS 2015 = best visual car customisation but smallest map and the worse physics.

My recommendation would be to wait for FH4 for sure, it will blow everything out of the water including its predecessors. And for the time being waiting until it’s release I recommend to get The Crew 2. Both FH4 and TC2 can complement each other perfectly, the games are so different they are not even competition for each other for the true racing fans.
 
I'm all for realism - I normally play Project Cars and FM7 when I'm too lazy to drag out my wheel, but I recently started playing FH3 (first Horizon game for me) and am having an absolute blast! Finally all those oddball cars in FM7 seem to have a purpose and a reason for being. I love to just go exploring in my Jeep Wrangler or cruise in my Corvette. The barn finds are fun and I love the story and details of the cars that comes out when you find one. It's relaxing and entertaining. I can't wait for FH4 and will be pushing my way through the Outback until then.
 

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