Old vs. new

TheRealRacer

TheRealRacer

36
United States
United States
Is it just me or do any of you feel a longing for older racing games of the past? Some of the older games just seem so cute and wholesome to me. I do admit there are some good newer games, such as Team Sonic Racing I am hyped about. It's just that newer games seem to have such a big budget, costing thousands of dollars just to make a scene, and yet I love the graphics of the old ones so much, something was so cheesy and wholesome about the classic games.
 
Tristan H
I came across this article recently which talks about what is needed in a great racing game, and why modern games often fall short. It was written in 2015, but I think it is still relevant.

https://www.gamesradar.com/au/most-modern-racing-games-suck-heres-what-theyre-doing-wrong/

I'm not sure if the 'Damage' and 'Rivalry' points are essential. The early Gran Turismo games did not have these, but they were still pretty perfect.
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They were very good but nowhere near perfect. GT2 had damage by the way. Just not visually.

Damage is essential for endurance racing otherwise if you are faster then that's it. You may as well stop. When the next corner can cost you everything you have reason to do it.

Rivalry has been outstanding in every race game that has it. The incentive to beat that player who is just a little bit quicker that you is what keeps a game that lacks in other areas alive.
 
Tired Tyres
They were very good but nowhere near perfect. GT2 had damage by the way. Just not visually.

Damage is essential for endurance racing otherwise if you are faster then that's it. You may as well stop. When the next corner can cost you everything you have reason to do it.

Rivalry has been outstanding in every race game that has it. The incentive to beat that player who is just a little bit quicker that you is what keeps a game that lacks in other areas alive.
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Don't get me wrong, they can be great things, but I don't think they are as essential to a perfect racing game as the other factors mentioned.

The primary test of endurance racing is consistent performance. Sure a good damage model might make things more interesting and challenging, but a mistake can still be costly without damage.

I think even a perfect racing game doesn't necessarily need to have endurance racing, particularly if it has a more arcade flavour.
 
The only old racing game that I'm still playing even nowadays is Gran Turismo 5 for PS3. It's my personal game.
 
I used to go back quite often and re-play driving games on the Dreamcast & oXbox such as MSR, Le Mann's 24hr, F355 Challenge, PGR 1/2, CMR 3, 4 & 5 etc, in fact I'm playing Vanishing Point for the uptienth time again now. Just because they are old doesn't make them bad, why miss out on the classics or not go back & play old stuff you would still enjoy ?
 
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