Little-Known or Forgotten Racing/Driving Games

[JohnBM01]

I once played "R: Racing Evolution" for the Gamecube. Had this still been the PS2/Gamecube/XBOX generation of gaming, I would definitely add this to my PS2 collection. I would want to spend more time with this game. From the songs in "R: Racing Evolution" I've heard, my favorite is "Liquid Soul." So look up that song if you're interested in this game's soundtrack.

 

[Kryption]

Both of these were really fun.

 

[Wolfe]

R: Racing Evolution was about the only shot I had at a racing sim-ish game on the Gamecube before I had to give up and get a PS2 for what I couldn't get on the GCN. Not that I have any regrets with the PS2.

So R:RE wasn't enough by itself, but it does have its own charms, and I came back to it about a decade later and played through a lot of the Forza-style event mode.

 

[magic_town]

There's this game i remember playing but can't find any info on it anywhere, not even a name. From what I remember it was a PS2 combat driving game, where you are put into an arena and have to destroy your opponents, and most levels usually had one boss who had an extremely powerful car. I also think the cars might've been spaceships, or at least hovered off the ground, but I could be wrong on that. I only remember 2 levels, one which was in the desert and 1 which was in some sort of industrial area like a factory.

The game also had an announcer of some kind, but I think that was usually just the boss.

Not Vigilante 8: 2nd Offence?

 

[-Fred-]

Here's one I used to play a lot when I was a kid, although from memory it felt and looked a lot better than that... Test Drive Off-Road, that featured 4 trucks (!) and what, maybe 5-6 tracks in total.



And this one too, come to think of it.

 

[Eyes Fried Open]

And this one too, come to think of it.

OMG. I used to play the bejeezus out of this when i was a kid. So many memories.

 

[rom30s]

Auto modelista was definatley another favorite, I played this this game non stop trying to unlock the engine swaps but never was able to unlock em.

(also I keep seeing that automobilista thread and I keep thinking its for this game)

 

[yabiggoose]

I hated the different physics in the US version. But the US version added some muscle cars. Love the normal version though.

 

[Wolfe]

I hated the different physics in the US version.

This is news to me, or maybe I did hear about that before and forgot. Could you elaborate a bit?

 

[yabiggoose]

Auto Modellista US Tuned.
Had slightly changed menus, some American cars added and different physics.
Has a Dodge Viper on the cover.
I've played both versions on PS2 so I know it's legit.

 

[Magdelayna]

Sled Storm (PS1)
Rumble Racing (PS2)


Lost so many hours playing these in 2 player split screen...

 

[rom30s]

Auto Modellista US Tuned.
Had slightly changed menus, some American cars added and different physics.
Has a Dodge Viper on the cover.
I've played both versions on PS2 so I know it's legit.

I didnt know they changed the physics, I only own the original PAL version so I missed out on the extras cars and tracks

 

[JohnBM01]

Do you think there are certain racing/driving games forgotten for the wrong reasons? Or maybe certain games that probably shouldn't have ended up eventually being forgotten or disregarded?

 

[JR98]

I think there are quite a few old PC racing games that have been forgotten solely because of how hard they are to get working on modern PC's. I still haven't worked out a way to get Grand Prix Legends to work properly on Win8 and there are probably quite a few others as well.

 

[glassjaw]

I recently wrote about Auto Modellista on my blog. I think the physics get criticized a bit too much. I still had a lot of fun with the game, imperfect as it was. Never played the Japanese version.

 

[glassjaw]

Do you think there are certain racing/driving games forgotten for the wrong reasons? Or maybe certain games that probably shouldn't have ended up eventually being forgotten or disregarded?

In response to this, yeah I think it's a problem especially for obsolete/forgotten consoles. One of my favorite racing games ever is Test Drive Le Mans on the Dreamcast. It was really ahead of its time, with dynamic time and weather, a full field of cars and the entire roster from the '98/'99 runnings. The physics were sim for the time, but still infinitely playable now. Plus the game looks great, especially if you're fortunate enough to play it at 480p with a VGA box. Many games have tried to do Le Mans justice since but they are always missing something. Usually it's a lack of actual competitors or endurance racing features, like fuel loss, tire wear and pit stops. Even Forza and Gran Turismo haven't had as faithful a recreation of the world's biggest endurance race, despite claiming the license. It also helps that the time period when the game was made had a very interesting mix of cars that you just don't see competing anymore.

 

[rom30s]

SRS got forgotten about as need for speed underground 2 took all the attention. Its not a bad game it at least had police chases and car damage.

 

[Neddo]

SRS had a choice of manual and automatic transmissions at the dealer. Something that newer games should look up to

 

[rom30s]

SRS had a choice of manual and automatic transmissions at the dealer. Something that newer games should look up to

thats true but if you wanted manual and you picked auto I dont think there was an option to change it, you gota buy another car

it also had girlfriends to choose from with live action videos haha

 

[AOS-]

View attachment 603464 View attachment 603465
Both of these were really fun.

Yes to Beetle Adventure Racing.

Finding those shortcuts and doing beetle battles were loads of fun.

 

[Stephan]

Anybody played Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix? One of Genki's rare titles that has been only released in Japan.

I don't get it why Genki didn't release an NA/EU version of C1 Grand Prix. Should this have been released worldwide, then this would have been easily the best game that Genki has ever made. I mean this game combined the elements from Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Kaido Racer and making into a legal street racing game with TXR and Kaido Racer elements. Not to mention a good livery editor plus you can even edit your garage.

The car list is also interesting as well. You even have minivans in the game as well.

 

[JohnBM01]

Yeah, it's a great shame C1 Grand Prix was never released outside of Japan. I still think of "Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2" as an underrated racing game. Well, C1GP would maybe be even more underrated. It probably would add a real racing touch outside of the highway battles and touge battles familiar with Genki titles. I probably would log a good amount of time playing around with the many features and cars.

 

[ForceMotion]

Anybody played Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix? One of Genki's rare titles that has been only released in Japan.

I don't get it why Genki didn't release an NA/EU version of C1 Grand Prix. Should this have been released worldwide, then this would have been easily the best game that Genki has ever made. I mean this game combined the elements from Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Kaido Racer and making into a legal street racing game with TXR and Kaido Racer elements. Not to mention a good livery editor plus you can even edit your garage.

The car list is also interesting as well. You even have minivans in the game as well.

I tried to play this but almost everything is in Japanese while Kaido Racer JP version most menus are in English so this game makes it harder to play :/

 

[AOS-]

I once played "R: Racing Evolution" for the Gamecube. Had this still been the PS2/Gamecube/XBOX generation of gaming, I would definitely add this to my PS2 collection. I would want to spend more time with this game. From the songs in "R: Racing Evolution" I've heard, my favorite is "Liquid Soul." So look up that song if you're interested in this game's soundtrack.

That's another one I remember playing or a short while. My dad was sold on this game because it had braking assist, which basically meant he didn't have to learn any braking lines whatsoever.

 

[Stephan]

I tried to play this but almost everything is in Japanese while Kaido Racer JP version most menus are in English so this game makes it harder to play :/

Yeah. The Japanese menus is what made me rage because I can't even read a thing unless I have a Japanese friend who's with me and willing to translate everything. Otherwise like @JohnBM01 said, I would've logged in C1GP a lot.

 

[Matej]

Regarding C1 Grand Prix, plenty of menu translations can be found on the internet here. I would really love to play that game someday, it has some really cool and original features.

Vanishing Point is my pick of the day. I played PSX version. The physics was not good, going around corners precisely was mostly a matter of luck, but the soundtrack and mood of the game were awesome. It also had "stunt driving", which basically combined elements from GT licences and real life gymkhana events. Video of the gameplay here:

 

[ToyGTone]

4x4 Evolution or simply 4x4 Evo:

I remember i used to have a PC demo of this game back like over 10 years ago, man i had fun just messing around the map. I don't remember being that outdated tho. There was also a sequel that i only knew earlier this year.

 

[Stephan]

Regarding C1 Grand Prix, plenty of menu translations can be found on the internet here. I would really love to play that game someday, it has some really cool and original features.

Vanishing Point is my pick of the day. I played PSX version. The physics was not good, going around corners precisely was mostly a matter of luck, but the soundtrack and mood of the game were awesome. It also had "stunt driving", which basically combined elements from GT licences and real life gymkhana events. Video of the gameplay here:

Thanks! You are a lifesaver. Now I can play C1GP again thanks to the translation guide you gave.

 

[Tornado]

4X4 Evo 2 does a lot of little things that make the game dramatically better, and do a lot to make it look less like a game that was released in a beta state.

Regarding C1 Grand Prix, plenty of menu translations can be found on the internet here. I would really love to play that game someday, it has some really cool and original features.


Vanishing Point is my pick of the day. I played PSX version. The physics was not good, going around corners precisely was mostly a matter of luck, but the soundtrack and mood of the game were awesome. It also had "stunt driving", which basically combined elements from GT licences and real life gymkhana events. Video of the gameplay here:

Vanishing Point is interesting because it was one of the earlier games that was hugely hyped by the gaming press that immediately fell off the face of the earth as soon as it released. Driving Emotion Type S and Auto Modelista were a couple others.

 

[Matej]

Vanishing Point is interesting because it was one of the earlier games that was hugely hyped by the gaming press that immediately fell off the face of the earth as soon as it released. Driving Emotion Type S and Auto Modelista were a couple others.

I didn't know that. I know people were impressed with the way vehicles behaved when involved in an accident, but this hype probably also disappeared quickly after the game hit the stores. Shame, the car handling was actually the only wrong thing with the game, everything else was either good or great.

Speaking of Driving Emotion Type S... the only positive marks I can give to the game are related to cockpit view in each car and gymkhana events - not even GT3 had those...

...

I forgot about Europe Racer for PSX. They actually did a great job on modelling all those European cities you had to race in. Collecting stuff during the race was also appealing along with the music, but the car handling... oh my, nothing positive I can say. Interface was also bad, even some beta games had better format than this.