Idea for a new racing game

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Something I want to see, a racing RPG. I've been thinking about this a bit, and I have a great story line and game idea. Even came up with a name for it: Autopia. Opening movie starts out with a tight race between fast cars, we see the lead driver get bumped, switch to inside view, he's heading for the wall, crash, spinning, fade to black. (I use 'he' for convenience in this description, the character could just as easily be female)

Our hero wakes up in an unknown apartment in a strange city. There is an ad for race car drivers wanted. At first, he makes money racing other people's cars in small races. He can also drive around the city and talk to people. Eventually, he finds out this is the future. A rich eccentric called 'The Collector' has a time machine, he has been snatching up good drivers from the past who were about to die anyway to live in a fake city he built for them and race all the cars he has collected.

Our hero's driving skills are only as good as the player's, but he would have to learn other skills in the game, such as tuning and body work, and get the tools and workspace to use them. The kinds of modifications the player can do to the car depends on the characters skills, tools, and workshop. The character can meet and recruit others to work with him, great racers, tuners, even pit crews who would all need the right skills and training to do their job right.

Eventually, he can get sponsorship from different companies, build up a race team, even build his own tracks and custom race cars and sponsor his own races. The AI of other drivers would have to be good, and they would have personalities off the track, too. They would hold grudges if you did something they don't like, and some of them would try dirty tricks in races if they didn't like you. Fortunately, as a consequence of The Collector's time machine technology, you can't really die. You just wake up in bed the next morning, but cars could be totaled.

There would be a 'free drive' for getting around in the city, and some of the other racers might challenge you to some illegal street racing. There would be racing on race tracks, of course. There would also be auto shows where you show off your tuning and bodywork skills.

Partway through the game, our hero learns that his family back in the past is going to die in a car crash! Now he needs to convince The Collector to bring them here. Game culminates in a big race with the collector himself and our hero is reunited with his family if he wins.

What do you think?
 
If game makers would combine body modification and free roam from Midnight Club 3, Physics and 600 vinyls from Forza, GT4 graphics, and Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 paint editing then they would have a perfect game.
 
CAMAROBOY69
If game makers would combine body modification and free roam from Midnight Club 3, Physics and 600 vinyls from Forza, GT4 graphics, and Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 paint editing then they would have a perfect game.
👍
 
full_wick
Something I want to see, a racing RPG.

What do you think?


The idea is not new... Racing Lagoon for PSX (Squaresoft,jp) had a similar idea... it was exactly called "racing rpg".... and yes I'd like to buy such a game... maybe we are lucky in this new console generation....
 
Max_DC: Judging from the specs on these new consoles, we will be lucky! But yeah, I am hoping for something like this on the new consoles. I didn't know it had been done before, but I'm not surprised.

Even without the story line, there are some things in this idea that could make any racing game better. Why do more racing games not incorporate the idea of sponsors? (I'm picturing cut scenes of your character flogging some stupid antiperspirant or something. Hey, it pays the bills...) Training the pit crew seems like a no-brainer addition to any racer. And build your own tracks. Why, I remember doing this on the ancient game, "Racing Destruction Set" for the Commodore 64!

P.S. Do you drive a WRX like the one in your picture? My wife's dad is a plant manager at the Subaru plant in Indiana where they build those, they are so sweet! I can't afford one myself, I just have an Impreza Sport Wagon, which is still a fun little car and great for going camping in (plenty of room for gear, nice on dirt roads and good clearance.)
 
i like the sound of your idea full_wick, make it even better by being able to make yourself into the game, face etc, build the cars engine from scratch etc, and im not sure about the future city thing. it should be a real world thing were u start as a taxi driver or something and get recognised.

the types of racing involved? nascar, indy, cart, transam, F1, BTCC, ETCC, WTCC, GP2, F3, WRC, V8 supercars.

then you have a game, lol, add the RPG walk around element, and voila.


:D

sorry, your idea is very good and would be a great game :)
 
Sure, a more realistic version of the game I described would be good, too. The "Future City" thing just gives a dramatic arc to the story outside of the racing aspect. It also provides some rationale for things that are unrealistic but make for good game play, like "extra lives", the fact that you can't go off the edge of the map, and the ability to rapidly create new race tracks from scratch.
 
Autopia? Sounds like a disease which causes incontinence.
 
i like Driver 1 and 2, as well as stuntman, pure driving. Ive yet to play driv3r, but ive heard its trying to be like GTA and even True Crime.

I love the games where you have damage, and lots of people chasing you, i love playing GTA SA getting about 4 - 5 stars and just driving, seeing how long i can run from the cops, its so much fun.

Your game sounds good, but AI is the key, if it wasnt for OLR i wouldnt play much GT at all, AI plays a huge part in racing games imho.
 
Max_DC
The idea is not new... Racing Lagoon for PSX (Squaresoft,jp) had a similar idea... it was exactly called "racing rpg".... and yes I'd like to buy such a game... maybe we are lucky in this new console generation....

I almost bought that game at one point, but I think GT2 came out and I forgot about it.

I don't particularly enjoy the story style that you find in Toca RD games and like that R:Racing Evolution game. I'd rather have a game like the Kaido Battle series or the TXR series where the story is just text based and you just get on with the racing mainly without having to watch stupid cutscenes.
 
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