Little-Known or Forgotten Racing/Driving Games

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Ah, I see Sports Car GT has made it to the list :) This is one of my all time favorites and first sim racer. The hours that went into this gem... :P I actually never met anyone that even knew this game.
 
It's been almost nine years since Midnight Club: Los Angeles was released. Now that it's online mode is out of service, it is forgotten by many, but it was one of my favorite video games besides Gran Turismo. Anyone still remember it?


I bought my PS3 in 2009 just for this game. I wouldn't call it forgotten though. Still see people begging for Rockstar to bring this series back.

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While Genki is mostly know for the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series, I liked this title they made for the N64.

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Another very cool racing game on SNES was Zero 4 Champ RR-Z. It's only drag race, with JDM cars, but you could make some tuning and settings on cars, and had a very nice story to follow (but, I would be able to know the story many years later as the game is japanese only...). And, it also has some nice side quests (in the caracter room was possible to play videogame! - Inception?)

Anyway, the main dificulty in the game is that you have to use clutch to change change speed, and the stick is controled by the directions buttons, so it was hard to make it fast and correct.

 
It's been almost nine years since Midnight Club: Los Angeles was released. Now that it's online mode is out of service, it is forgotten by many, but it was one of my favorite video games besides Gran Turismo. Anyone still remember it?


It may have been a good game at the time, especially for PS3 owners who were artistically gifted and didn't know of Forza's livery editor. Unfortunately, the handling killed the enjoyment of the game for me, like Midnight Club 3 did. It felt like you were a bar of soap on a skating rink, and you could never bite into a corner like you could in NFS.

Also I didn't mind the supposed 'Nintendo hard' difficulty spikes, even when it was released. The only time the difficulty even mattered was when you were trying to buy the garage from Karol, and even then, you could game it by just doing pink slip races for cash on the hardest difficulty, pick a course you were good at, and use the Ninja ZX-14 and cut odds in your favor.

Though I do have to admit, when I first played GTA V, one of the earliest thoughts I had was 'This is the Midnight Club LA I wish we got' because goddamn, it is still amazing that it took that long for MCLA to be topped in how lifelike and breathing LA was in that game. Also the handling was better in GTA V by leaps and bounds.
 
Midnight Club 2 for me. It's probably not that obscure since it's a Rockstar title after all, but usually the only game from the series I see being discussed is LA, with no love shown to the other titles.

It's extremely arcade-y by definition and the career mode is harder than hard sometimes, but I'll be damned if I didn't love it for all its faults. The constantly fast-paced action is something I don't see as often as I'd like in other games.
 
R: Racing Evolution - Gamecube

Possibly the last Nintendo game to have licensed racing cars?

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The game was alright and seemingly with my memory jogged a bit of variety (ovals, le mans cars, rally, drag racing etc) but I remember the story mode being over rather quickly and this coming from someone who normally takes ages to finish games.

Luckily it was also boxed with the excellent PacMan Vs. which required a GBA connected to a Gamecube whereby the ghosts were controlled on the TV using Gamecube controllers and Pacman himself was controlled away from prying eyes on the GBA. A good concept and a fun party game.

 
Now here is one even I tend to forget about. It's not something you see everyday either.

FFX Runner

This is a flash game I used to play a lot when I was 12 before the sites got blocked. The goal in this game is to escape without being destroyed or running out of fuel. It's pretty difficult and the AI is very aggressive. It may not be much, but it's a pretty fun game and I recommend trying it out!

They released a HD version of the game in recent years and it's even better than the original, but you have to have a pretty good PC to run it at full speed.
 
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The most recent would be Mario Kart 8 with the Mercedes-Benz W25, and NFS Most Wanted U with the E46 M3 GTR. :)

Oh of course the W25!

Always found it hilarious how that legendary car isn't officially on any of the big sim racing games but was there on Mario Kart of all games. It's always my first pick.
 
Now here is one even I tend to forget about. It's not something you see everyday either.

FFX Runner

This is flash game I used to play a lot when I was 12 before the sites got blocked. The goal in this game is to escape without being destroyed or running out of fuel. It's pretty difficult and the AI is very aggressive. It may not be much, but it's a pretty fun game and I recommend trying it out!

They released a HD version of the game in recent years and it's even better than the original, but you have to have a pretty good PC to run it at full speed.

It's been many, many years since I last played that one. Don't remember getting very far in it due to how vicious the AI was.
 
Needs more mobile games:

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Cargirls...'Nuff said. I've mentioned this game in some threads, like 'The General Anime Tread', and I was discriminated against how biased I was at this Japanese racing game. This game consists of over-240+ Cargirls or Syanago (approved by each automaker!) and the levels relate to various roads in Japan. (I don't know if they have Akagi or Haruna. Sorry, Initial D fans, at least they have the Toyota AE86.) Sadly, the game stopped updating since January 2017. We didn't get to see if GM, Ford, or other Western automakers (compared to Fiat-Chrysler, who participated in the game.) would participate in the game. That, and other variants of certain Syanago, like the Nissan GT-R NISMO (R35) or the Subaru BRZ STi Performance Concept. (Yup, that's right. They have concepts, like the Mazda RX-Vision and Toyota S-FR.)

Title: Syanago Collection
Genre: Racing/Sugoroku (Japanese Backgammon)

Official Site (Japanese):
http://syanago.com/

List Of Syanago (Japanese):
http://syanago.com/wiki/?車なご一覧

Anime News Network Article (2014): http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/int...and-toyotas-turn-moe-for-bishoujo-game/.78676

(BONUS) 4Koma/Comic #1 of 4:
http://autoc-one.jp/special/1996985/

(BONUS) 4Koma/Comic #2 of 4:
http://autoc-one.jp/special/2055087/

(BONUS) 4Koma/Comic #3 of 4:
http://autoc-one.jp/special/2126282/

(BONUS) 4Koma/Comic #4 of 4:
http://autoc-one.jp/special/2199611/
 
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Another one? How many racing games does the PS1 exactly have?
Also, I really have to get into collecting some of these games.
 
Another one? How many racing games does the PS1 exactly have?
Also, I really have to get into collecting some of these games.

Well, PS1 had some very cool racing games, but I think these ones were exclusive for the japanese market. I played some of them, I have really enjoyed! Theses are the ones I remember:

- Advan Racing: this is probably one of the coolest racing games I have ever played!




- Option Tuning Car Battle and Option Tuning Car Battle 2: on those games you can tune your cars at the japaneses tuning garages, like Top Secret, Kansai and Mine's!!!

Option Tuning Car Battle:


Option Tuning Car Battle 2



- Na Karuma Retsuden - Greatest 70's: this is a game that reminds a little Gran Turismo, but it have only 70's japaneses cars!

 
While searching on PS1 games:



Also this is like the only game ever to simulate "speed warning" dings everytime you pass 100 KMH...Yeah I'm that uninteresting person.
 
Does anybody remember Racing Simulation 3?


A personal favourite thing to do as a kid was to park my car on the start finish straight at Mexico (Indianapolis) and watch the other cars go around the circuit and avoid it. Was pretty wild. Sometimes my car was driven into. Other times, it was a masterpiece with cars spinning out everywhere.
 
GTI Club, no i don't really remember this game even though i've played it in a bowling alley in my area. You drive a red mini around tight streets around Monaco. Also if you had an extra 4 bucks on you you can drive the yellow Bugatti EB110. Was probably popular as Daytona at the time
 
One game I have been meaning to talk about for a while now is this.

The Dukes of Hazzard Racing for Home
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Although it lacks a proper quick race feature unless you play two player, it is in my opinion a pretty good game, especially if you're a fan of the show. Got this game from someone back in 2004 and beat it several times back in those days. I tried to beat it again early this year, but my disc is too scratched up for me to continue unfortunately. Me and my brother used to have fun playing this together and I imagine that is why it's not working now.

The game does have a sequel to it that some felt wasn't as good, but I happen to disagree. I will talk about it later though.
 
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GTI Club, no i don't really remember this game even though i've played it in a bowling alley in my area. You drive a red mini around tight streets around Monaco. Also if you had an extra 4 bucks on you you can drive the yellow Bugatti EB110. Was probably popular as Daytona at the time

I never played the original, but there was an HD version for PS3. Had a bunch of classic hot hatches including the Mini Cooper S, VW Golf GTI, Renault 5 Turbo, Lancia Delta HF & Autobianchi A112 Abarth. There was also a DLC pack that added new hot hatches such as the Fiat 500 Abarth, Peugeot 207 GTI, VW Golf V GTI & Mini Cooper S JCW.

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There was 3 races that was 3 variations of Monte Carlo and you got rewards for the different cars for winning each race in that respective car, including police & taxi liveries respective of each car's country, and you can also free roam around the map. There's also multiplayer but no one plays it. I don't think you can buy it anymore though since it's licence expired.
 
I never played the original, but there was an HD version for PS3. Had a bunch of classic hot hatches including the Mini Cooper S, VW Golf GTI, Renault 5 Turbo, Lancia Delta HF & Autobianchi A112 Abarth. There was also a DLC pack that added new hot hatches such as the Fiat 500 Abarth, Peugeot 207 GTI, VW Golf V GTI & Mini Cooper S JCW.

There was 3 races that was 3 variations of Monte Carlo and you got rewards for the different cars for winning each race in that respective car, including police & taxi liveries respective of each car's country, and you can also free roam around the map. There's also multiplayer but no one plays it. I don't think you can buy it anymore though since it's licence expired.

Totally arcadish, but damn fun! And the car line up was amazing (I'm a huge fun of pocket rockets)!!!
 
Just in case I didn't mention this; I want to bring up PGR2. I finally tried this last year and it was fun to play. Sure, I found some of the challenges annoying (mainly the cone challenges), but I did enjoy the driving in this installment of PGR. Also, the graphics really hold up pretty well. I thought it could pass for an early Xbox 360 game in some areas, it even had detailled interiors.
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Also, PGR2 had not only Porsche models, but a flippin TERMINATOR COBRA!
 
I never noticed that thread. Shame on me.

I want to bring up PGR2. I finally tried this last year and it was fun to play.
PGR2 is an iconic racing game, the first to fully implement online features (racing, leaderboards, ghosts), not just as a layer over an offline content. If i have to name 3 of the most memorable racing games i ever played (i started in the 70's and played a lot, for personal and work), it should be on that list ;)

Now for the series. Ultim@te Race Pro is a series I've seen in pictures, but know very little about. There was an odd demo of this game I downloaded once, but it never loaded. So I'm left with a game that I have no idea as to how good it is or how it plays. Truly qualifies as a forgotten racing game for me.
I played the game for a whole day at the developer studio in Bordeaux (France) in the mid 90's ;) And at home too: Ultimate Race was initially released for a dedicated GPU of the very first generation of 3D cards: the PowerVR. Thoses GPU didn't have a common library like Direct X, so games weren't compatible, that may be why you weren't able to start it. I still have the card somewhere (along with others competing products of these early days of hardware 3d acceleration), but i guess i couldn't plug it in a today's PC :D
Anyway, Ultimate Race was really impressive for its time.
 
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Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee


World's Wildest Police Chases


Test Drive Unlimited

Test Drive Unlimited was a fun game I got it for my ps2 late last year and I enjoyed playing it. They even had interior car views on the ps2 which suprised me alot! I would buy it again for my newly built PC but I already have Test Drive Unlimited 2 and I'm having a lot of fun with that these past few weeks especially with all the car mods too...

Test Drive Unlimited was such a unique racing game to me and I love every bit of it. The idea of creating a character in a open world where you can buy nice houses and mansions and go to dealerships, purchase and drive brand new world class cars right off the showroom floor fascinates me.
 
Test Drive Unlimited was a fun game I got it for my ps2 late last year and I enjoyed playing it. They even had interior car views on the ps2 which suprised me alot! I would buy it again for my newly built PC but I already have Test Drive Unlimited 2 and I'm having a lot of fun with that these past few weeks especially with all the car mods too...

Test Drive Unlimited was such a unique racing game to me and I love every bit of it. The idea of creating a character in a open world where you can buy nice houses and mansions and go to dealerships, purchase and drive brand new world class cars right off the showroom floor fascinates me.
It was amazing. I also find it to be better than the X360/PC version because some cars not being DLC (such as the R34 GT-R) and the better clubs system on PS2.
 
Thought i'd bring up Test Drive/Le Mans 24 hours (the eutechnyx one on PS1/PC, not the Dreamcast game or it's roster updated PS2/PC counterpart) because of the bizarre cheat codes it had, entering Pie,Pizza or Hotdog as your name will take you to a race where you well, race "fast food" (very bad pun i know) entering rocket will force you into a space race with other rockets. There are also cheat cars from a game called motor mash on PS1. Entering your name as Buggy 1 to 8 will take you to a race with Grand Tour Racing 98/Total Drivin Buggies. Other than that the La Sarthe is so small it feels like a go kart track sometimes. There's also some additional tracks named after the La Sarthe turns. There's also commentary. And not very good commentary either. Here's some videos of the game and the others that I've mentioned above.

 
If anyone who's played R: Racing Evolution, here's for those who are stuck on getting gold in Single Race Event #11 from the Event Challenge mode, enjoy the video!
 
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