Little-Known or Forgotten Racing/Driving Games

[Stephan]

this was a great game, I loved the physics of the cars.

it had a great selection of cars as well, except even though the bug eye wrx is on the cover Ive never seen it in the game.

Im pretty sure this game is a console version of the arcade game battle gear.

It looked like the first 2 Battle Gear games.

 

[McLaren]

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.

I remember renting this once right around when it came out.

It was pretty fun, but iirc, the damage would stay throughout the game until you fixed it which had the chance of making future races difficult if you were strapped for money to fix said damage. I thought the customization options were pretty well done, too.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Now, here's a title that I'm not sure how known it is.

This was one of the most fun racing games I played as a kid. Also, it's the only Hotwheels game I ever played. Though granted, I enjoyed it more for battle mode than for the racing. I loved the multiple arenas that you could battle hw cars in along with the powerups. My friends and I had quite a few fun nights battling each other in this game. I recently bought it at a game shop and it's still quite fun, though the physics aren't the best.

Darn you beat me to it! I got this game about 9 years ago, I used to play it a lot and it was fun. It gets pretty dang hard near the end of the game and made me want to use cheats to finish it, but it was fun regardless. I haven't played this game since summer of 2007, I should change that sometime!

Is DT Racer on PS2 really that bad?

Yep.

I watched some quality videos of both single and multiplayer mode and it seems there are many elements one should look forward to in this game.

To be fair, the game actually looks pretty good and it has decent graphics, but it's physics are what really brings it down. If it weren't for that, maybe I would have given it a chance, but I personally didn't like it much at all.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Yeah, DT Racer imo was to the PS2 what Vanishing Point was to the PS1. They were both great looking racing games that looked like they could have been really fun, but the horrendous driving physics ruined what could have been great gameplay. It goes to show how important physics are in any racing game as they can make it or break a game. I mean, I'm not the pickiest gamer when it comes to driving physics by any means, if there's weight to the cars and I'm able to keep them under control, then I'll gladly play through the game. However for DT Racer, the physics were just too bad for me to enjoy the game at all.

 

[SupraLiam]

Anybody played Tokyo Highway Battle?

It's a pretty good game, just really hard at first. It's one of them games that you have to grind for upgrades but it's a over all solid game.

 

[PletdeKoe]

No

 

[Wolfe]

Anybody played Tokyo Highway Battle?

It's a pretty good game, just really hard at first. It's one of them games that you have to grind for upgrades but it's a over all solid game.

That's one of the first entries of the Shutokou Battle (Tokyo Xtreme Racer) series.

 

[Matej]

Anybody played Tokyo Highway Battle?

It's a pretty good game, just really hard at first. It's one of them games that you have to grind for upgrades but it's a over all solid game.

Some melodies were really good, I listen to them from time to time. Grinding was sometimes tedious with only three circuits available and high difficulty at first. And I couldn't get used to on/off drifting model so I tried to keep griping all the time.

 

[SupraLiam]

There's a ton of interesting racing games from that era, mostly Japanese exclusives. Wangan Dead Heat is an example (I think it's called that)

Trying to build a collection of said games at the moment

 

[Matej]

There's a ton of interesting racing games from that era, mostly Japanese exclusives. Wangan Dead Heat is an example (I think it's called that)

Trying to build a collection of said games at the moment

Then I recommend watching this video. Some very interesting (and good) driving titles can be found.

 

[SupraLiam]

Then I recommend watching this video. Some very interesting (and good) driving titles can be found.

Thanks, that's actually really helpful!

 

[glassjaw]

Shameless plug: for those of you on Drivetribe, I have started a tribe called Virtua Racing that specializes in old or little-known racing games. Kind of like a group to appreciate/preserve these games, and anyone is welcome to post. Check it out!

 

[Matej]

Group S Challenge for Xbox - very little info can be found on this game. Has anyone played it?

 

[JR98]

Looks a lot like Gran Turismo 3. Even the HUD looks heavily inspired by it.

 

[Digitdan7]

I haven't played it, but I know it was made by Capcom to give players a more traditional racing game after Automodellista's failiure.
Group S Challenge (Circus Drive in Japan) is generic and bland, whilst Automodellista is, well, Automodellista.

 

[VXR]

AutoModelista is one of those games I wish they'd be brave enough to bring back. The cel-shaded art style would look mega in HD, plus whilst not the best, I found the handling functional enough.

Group S Challenge was just awful to play.

 

[rom30s]

Group S Challenge for Xbox - very little info can be found on this game. Has anyone played it?

good to see people acknowledge this game, ive been on the hunt to get my hands on this for ages

 

[rom30s]

I guess this was ubisofts take on automodelista, it doesnt compare but was is still fun to play.

there was also a gamecube version

 

[glassjaw]

Group S Challenge for Xbox - very little info can be found on this game. Has anyone played it?

It's pretty horrendous. The physics are terrible, it runs choppily, and has a paltry amount of tracks. Lacks all of Auto Modellista's charm or interesting features.

I guess this was ubisofts take on automodelista, it doesnt compare but was is still fun to play.

there was also a gamecube version

GT Pro Series was GT Cube, which never left Japan from what I understand, re-made as a Wii launch title. It was developed by MTO, who was responsible for all those mediocre GT Advance games for the GBA. I played this very briefly when the Wii came out, and I don't remember enjoying it much. It doesn't look nearly as good as Auto Modellista, despite being on superior hardware.

 

[JohnBM01]

Mate... this almost ABSOLUTELY is like Gran Turismo 3! I noticed the CAPCOM logos. Did "Group S Challenge" come before or after "Auto Modellista?" My other guess is that this game came out as a Gran Turismo (of sorts) for the XBOX before the much more successful Forza Motorsport franchise arrived. Or... did "Group S Challenge" come before or after Forza Motorsport 1?

I find it really sad that CAPCOM has had a few racing games, but none of them enjoyed any real attention compared to other game makers who made racing games, such as Konami. Almost as if we're not supposed to know CAPCOM outside of fighting games. I still think of "Slipstream" in regards to CAPCOM racing. It's a very cool game, but only those in Brazil know about it because the game was only marketed in Brazil.

(after seeing other comments) So "Group S Challenge" came AFTER Auto Modellista? I guess I'll avoid this title upon the comments about "Group S Challenge."


Asa for GT Pro Series, I do recall "GT Cube" as its Nintendo Gamecube port to the Wii. Nintendo is even more like that company whose portfolio of games can be enhanced with a proper racing title. We all know and love the Mario Kart series. And I even made a video and a blog post about if the current Nintendo series is capable of a real racing game. All Nintendo has really had was the GT series games (GT not the Gran Turismo series, mind you) as far as realistic racing games are concerned. Maybe we'll see a quality realistic racing game for the Nintendo Switch. For now, GT Pro Series- which I actually played before, is fairly forgotten.

 

[JR98]

Or... did "Group S Challenge" come before or after Forza Motorsport 1?

This came out in 2003 (According To Wikipedia), 2 years before the first Forza.

 

[Matej]

Until I checked the car list in Group S Challenge, I didn't know Nissan had a line of 190hp Primera (P11) models. Nice!

I'm sure after seeing what PD did with GT3, they could have come out with something different other than generic city racing, like gymkhana events or drag racing. Seems like another wasted potential given the large number of expensive licensed cars they brought. Automodellista at least tried to be different (same as Sega GT on DC).

 

[glassjaw]

Until I checked the car list in Group S Challenge, I didn't know Nissan had a line of 190hp Primera (P11) models. Nice!

I'm sure after seeing what PD did with GT3, they could have come out with something different other than generic city racing, like gymkhana events or drag racing. Seems like another wasted potential given the large number of expensive licensed cars they brought. Automodellista at least tried to be different (same as Sega GT on DC).

My theory is they did try something different with Auto Modellista, then when it didn't sell said, "OK, let's just try to do what Polyphony did," cause that sold. There was about a year between AM and Group S so they probably had them in development concurrently, but were hedging their bets between an arcade racer and a sim.

Only problem is they're not Polyphony. They make great high-energy arcade games. Not simulators. Which is why I still love AM. For all its faults, there isn't another game out there like it.

 

[Matej]

My theory is they did try something different with Auto Modellista, then when it didn't sell said, "OK, let's just try to do what Polyphony did," cause that sold.

Agree, that could be the reason. Though it seems they took it too literally as the game copies many things from GT3...

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Ah, I rented GT Pro Series a couple of times a few years ago and managed to get addicted to it, especially with the drift mode for some reason. Really, I recall having quite a bit of fun with it along with the GT Advance games on the GBA.

 

[ToyGTone]

I hope i'm not the only one who enjoyed this game. I remember there were some Touge races.

 

[Matej]

I hope i'm not the only one who enjoyed this game. I remember there were some Touge races.

How different was it from NFS:U2? Everything seems okay except from the handling.

 

[Casey]

Not many people seemed to like this game as much as I did back then.

 

[-Fred-]

I hope i'm not the only one who enjoyed this game. I remember there were some Touge races.

There's no game out there as of yet that has the same amount of customization as this did.

 

[Wolfe]

How different was it from NFS:U2? Everything seems okay except from the handling.

It was based upon Street Racing Syndicate, if you've played that game.