Little-Known or Forgotten Racing/Driving Games

[JohnBM01]

Of all the little-known racing games, this arcade game is... a bit different. Have a look:


Moto Champ (restored arcade game) - Sega
(1973, Arcade)
From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhO02gQEu-k

That's right. This game doesn't need a monitor because this was purely an electromechanical game. You may even say this could have been a forefather to the classic Hang-On series. Watch how you control the game and all that. VERY little-known game. That's even when most racing games didn't really have monitors and fantastic (at the time) graphics.

 

[ND4SPD]

That looks incredibly fun! I'd love to give that a try.

 

[RedOak]

any of you guys ever played a F1 racing game where the tires had little colored dots on them to tell the player how "used" they were? (from blue all the way to red). And when you entered the pit, you took control of a pitcrew guy and had to change all four tires one by one on your own? i can't remember the name of that game, but i played it a lot on my Comodore64 back in the days...

Edit: PITSTOP II!!! YES! LOL Found it! Ahhh the memories!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD7rB7FPepA

Man i played that game for a few years ehhe

 

[JohnBM01]

^ And here's the video in case you want to see it in action while enjoying the comfort of being on GTPlanet's forums:



I'll keep finding more YouTube videos of little-known or forgotten racing games. Visit my YouTube channel to see more videos I was able to find on YouTube in regards to such games. I'm mostly banking on that since people will upload ANYTHING to YouTube, that I may fortunately be able to find a little-known racing title. So I'll keep trying for all of you lovely people on here! Thank me later...

 

[JohnBM01]

Oh my goodness... PLEASE check this out. What happens when you mix Pole Position with OutRun... and add two extra screens? You get this:


TX-1 - by Tatsumi; licensed to Atari, Namco, and Taito
(1983, Arcade) <<< also available in High Quality
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzElArDFFSo

Just by watching this video, I know this game took Pole Position and added an OutRun twist to it. In fact, this game (made the same year I was born) came before the classic OutRun series. So I kind of wonder if Sega may have looked at this game for a little inspiration for OutRun with the branging courses. Unlike Pole Position, you can get spun out from contact rather than simply crash violently like in Pole Position. This is a forgotten or little-known title to me for these reasons.

 

[Lee]

Circuit Breakers! Released at the tail end of the 90's, one of the best multiplayers on the Playstation.

The game was huge aswell, good memories.

 

[JohnBM01]

Heard about it, seen it often in online searches, but never seen videos of it until recently. Check out this:



...and this:


"JGTC"
(1998 - PS1; by Digital Frontier)


This is one of the many videos I've found on YouTube of little-known or forgotten racing games. It's a Japan-only game. Now on to something I've played in the past which was... while mediocre, not bad:



"Car and Driver Presents Grand Tour Racing '98"
(1998, PS1 - Eutechnyx)

The name I've affiliated with racing game mediocrity for the PS1 was Eutechnyx, but this game was actually pretty interesting. You race around the world. None of the cars were real, but you pick a team and go racing. Each team has five types of cars: GT cars, buggies, rally cars, Dakar cars, and Indy cars. Trust me when I tell you this... the Indy Cars can be absolutely tough to keep on the track and are very fast. The video I've supplemented is of the GT cars around the streets of Hong Kong. The only way you can fully pull ahead is to keep racing with the same team. Each venue has about six races. I think the game has a total of 36 courses including some bonus ones. There are also non-dynamic weather conditions that change the overall flow of the race. One thing you have to respect about this game is that this game doesn't really have invisible barriers. You can actually fly off the road or off a cliff or into the water... and you get a "Game Over" screen.



You can see more YouTube videos of little-known or forgotten racing games from my playlist on YouTube here: < http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=64613E18AAD3625E >. Carry on!

 

[Mr.Duel]

That analog bike racing games looks exciting ;D BTW John, that first JGTC vid you posted was mine B) thanks for posting.

on the subject of little known/forgotten, this game was the classic that never was. Trans-Am Racing 68-72 would have been the first GT Legends (as opposed to Simbin's) In the last minute it was canned. It's really a shame as the game or rather sim featured cool muscle cars like the Parnelli Jones Mustang.

 

[JohnBM01]

Oh... you're welcome, sir. Just doing what I can on YouTube and GTPlanet.

 

[homeforsummer]

I remember a few of the obscure games mentioned actually, good times I'd forgotten about Max Power racing actually, I never owned it, but I always remember that Escort on the cover was the most featured tuned car ever in Max Power at that point, they made a massive deal of it and I can't remember what was special about it other than the colour!

I'm wondering if anyone can help me with a couple of racing games I used to play.

They were PC games, probably late 80s into early 90s. One was a Formula One game, I think just called "Grand Prix Cars" or something. It wasn't a Geoff Crammond one as far as I'm aware. The graphics were pretty rudimentary but it did have a turning steering wheel. The sounds were clearly midi-based.

The other, as far as I can remember, was called "Grand Prix Bikes" and was made by the same development team. I assume though it was made a bit later - the tracks had elevations and dips which GP cars didn't. You could race in 125, 250 and 500cc classes, but the bikes were generic. I remember the 500cc bike was yellow and black, and the 250cc was white, with red and blue accents. Can't remember the 125! The riding view was on the bike, not behind it as many other bike games around the time were.

STOP PRESS: Holy crap, I've found it!

It was called Grand Prix Circuit - The Cycles. Found some brief info on this site. And screenshots!

Anyone remember it? I'd love to know if people remember this game, it was the racing game I grew up playing. And if anyone can find info on the F1 version of it that'd be awesome.

EDIT: More holy crap, found the car one too!

 

[JohnBM01]

"The Cycles" is one of my "Little-Known or Forgotten Racing/Driving Games" in my YouTube playlist. You'll need to edit your code for the YouTube video you posted.

 

[homeforsummer]

Whoops yeah, now edited, thanks 👍

 

[buickgnx88]

One of my favorites on the N64, Revolt

Great game where you get to race RC cars on various courses, which range from neighborhood streets and yards to a supermarket, museum, and even a cruise ship! You're also able to create your own track and race on it!

There are different powerups available, similar to Mario Kart, and plenty of cool cars to choose from. The multiplayer was the best, up to 4 people battling it out Twisted Metal style.

 

[fafat]

Racing Lagoon High Speed RPG, one the best game ever ! I can't understand why Square hasn't made other Racing lagoon.First and only game to feature bosozoku kits for your cars!

 

[Mr.Duel]

Here's another interesting idea. Taito's Dangerous Curves in the arcades pits superbikes against sportscars on twisty mountain roads, what could be more exciting than that! Unfortunately even tho the ROM exists, it's unplayable. Still I dream of this being release in a compilation some day, sigh...

 

[JohnBM01]

Here is a new entry from me. This isn't an exciting or fun game, but I finally have finally seen a proper video to showcase what one game is about. It's the same name of a game I love most among arcade racing titles, but it's not made by a much better game company and is not to the same level of the game which it shares its name with, despite being completely unrelated:


"Super GT 24H"
1996, Jaleco - Arcade

NOTE: You may need to turn up the volume a bit to hear it at a respectable level.

Super GT 24H is not to be confused with the classic Sega racing title released in the same year as Super GT/SCUD Race. This video was supplemented by one of my YouTube friends, lucsiac. This video showcases the 24-hour time cycle this game has. This game features two courses which can be raced in reverse. While the cars are fictional, the game features a few real sponsors like Endless Brakes and Dunlop. The best way to think of this course would be to imagine a Ridge Racer-type course that has elements of Le Mans and Monte Carlo. The front straight and its surroundings are almost completely reminiscent of the 24 Hours of Le Mans course. The tall buildings overlooking the water is reminiscent of the Monte Carlo F1 street course. The game is mostly mediocre with nothing extremely new to bring to the table. Completing the task of surviving this race is made available with four cars. One looks like a Ferrari F40 with an Alfa Romeo-sty;e look up front (the car that is raced in this video), a blue car that looks like a Honda/Acura NSX, a yellow car that resembles the McLaren F1, and a white Porsche-looking car with red accents. The game has a nice overall time transition. You can make pit stops for fuel, repair damage, and even change drivers. You probably won't need to utilize your pit crew in this gam. A Sega Saturn port of this game gives you a somewhat more realistic time cycle.

I first had a hint of this game years ago (maybe 1998 or so) when I heard of some kind of sequel to Sega Super GT. Unfortunately, this was made by Jaleco and shares absolutely no affiliation or likeness to Super GT/SCUD Race. Nonetheless, it's a time-killing game if you're bored. I'm speaking as a guy who has never played this game to know just what I'm talking about. If Sega Super GT/SCUD Race is ever resurrected (CHEAP PLUG - please view this video for more on any ideas regarding resurrection of Super GT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpxScOES7jg ), I'd be interested in taking a few elements from this game and making it much better. Most notably, a proper time cycle system.



That's all from me. Have a lovely day, lovely people!

 

[JohnBM01]

According to something I read on Wikipedia, here are all the cars that can be raced in Sega's "Le Mans 24":

* 1971 JWA Gulf Porsche 917
* 1989 Sauber Mercedes C9
* 1991 Mazdaspeed Mazda 787B
* 1996 McLaren F1 GTR
* 1996 NISMO Skyline GT-R GT1 (R33)
* 1996 Porsche 911 GT1
* 1996 Porsche 911 GT2
* 1996 Ferrari F40 GTE
* 1996 Canaska Chrysler Viper GTS-R

It's still completely unknown to a lot of people. Only the YouTube videos I've provided offer any real insight as to how this game plays. Check Post #1 ( https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showpost.php?p=3177710&postcount=1 ) for info and Post #3 ( https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showpost.php?p=3177710&postcount=3 ) for video proof of Le Mans 24.

 

[Dragonistic]

Circuit Breakers! Released at the tail end of the 90's, one of the best multiplayers on the Playstation.

I had that! I remember it now, such a random game. Good quick fun though It was very similar to the Micro Machines game on PlayStation with the whole top down thing going on.

 

[Mr.Duel]

That SuperGT looks super fun to play John, XD. I'm a dashboard view fan so that excites meh ^_^ Hope it's playable in MAME, hehe...

 

[Lucas]

Fatal Racing - From the old school.



I miss this game... T-T

 

[JohnBM01]

I think "Fatal Racing" and "Whiplash" are one in the same. I think I have that in my YouTube collection of little-known/forgotten games playlist. It was a game I wanted to get way back when, but my brother said we may upgrade our 8 MB RAM, 75 MHz computer before getting this. We didn't, and so I didn't get to play this. Some say it wasn't all that good. It was pretty interesting to say the least.

 

[Lucas]

It was not good, but almost every day I played it with my older brother, and we had so much fun. I could say it was the first racing game that I ever played

 

[rotary drifter]

txrd2 is one of the least known and underrated racing games. it focuses on touge, has a drift mode, deep tuning options and a story line while the physics are comparable with nearly anything adresses issues that enthusia and gt games left out.

 

[JohnBM01]

Great points, rotary drifter. I was actually going to do a YouTube video on why I came up with this little-known/forgotten racing games (honest!). I wanted to do a video on Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2 in the future. Surely this is a forgotten title because nobody gave it a damned chance. This game was given as less of a chance as another game... Enthusia Professional Racing. But no... most people want racing games to be like a Burnout game with the soundtrack to Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

Keep the little-knowns coming!

 

[HACKr]

One of my favorites on the N64, Revolt

Great game where you get to race RC cars on various courses, which range from neighborhood streets and yards to a supermarket, museum, and even a cruise ship! You're also able to create your own track and race on it!

There are different powerups available, similar to Mario Kart, and plenty of cool cars to choose from. The multiplayer was the best, up to 4 people battling it out Twisted Metal style.

HOLY CRAP! I had this on PC. I messed with the internals of it so much. I had self-made custom vehicles that were absolutely unbeatable (unless the AI is racing another one of my monsters, which it did from time to time) and all of my custom tracks had custom textures that I made and had so many other things that you couldn't do with the included track editor. I remember splitting the TAZ files and editing the INIs like it was yesterday.

Then I discovered that Gran Turismo 2 had things I could mess with...

 

[rotary drifter]

Great points, rotary drifter. I was actually going to do a YouTube video on why I came up with this little-known/forgotten racing games (honest!). I wanted to do a video on Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2 in the future. Surely this is a forgotten title because nobody gave it a damned chance. This game was given as less of a chance as another game... Enthusia Professional Racing. But no... most people want racing games to be like a Burnout game with the soundtrack to Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

Keep the little-knowns coming!

i liked the music style from txrd2. i'm thinking of getting txr3 which i know is supposed to be more arcady but should probably be fun. main problem is that i can't find it anywhere.

anyways i compared txrd2 to enthusia and LFS. physics wise i would rate txrd2 higher, because the car seems to be less stable and closer to LFS at high speeds, brakes lock easier and you can spin out easily with just a tap of the brake while moving on straights, and the game actually has tire/brake wear. Hills and bumps are more sensitive than Enthusia. There are some glitches, and arcady elements but some of that stuff made it more fun. it's a little easier to initiate accel off drifting but hard to control(atleast the way i tune my cars in TXRD2) add to the fact that you can customize the cars to handle the way you want. which makes enthusia cars a lot more tame, and harder to control but fun compared to my tuned cars, or you can make them neutral/understeery and easier to drive.

track wise: TXRD2 is superior, but thats cuz i love touge. TXRD2 also allows you to play most courses with rain or snow, fog, stormy weather, day night. and you can't go wrong with a drift mode

 

[rotary drifter]

how about d1gp. drifting is a bit easy other than the fact that the e-brake is hard to use with a wheel because of the position of uncustomizable buttons.

it is a little known/forgotten game. gets a pop in every once inawhile.

 

[JohnBM01]

Think it's time to post something I think a lot of you will agree on as being little-known or forgotten...

...all the Need for Speed V-Rally games.

With the popularity of evading the police and tricking out cars, it just seemed like a great goodbye to this kind of spinoff of Need for Speed. Really, the NFS: Underground direction basically signaled the end of racing the exclusive and capable sportscars in favor of mostly performance-oriented regular cars (still including some high-end sports cars and supercars). Who really talks about NFS V-Rally games anymore? Very forgotten. I actually wanted to play "Need for Speed V-Rally 3" for the PS2 because it looked lovely from pictures on the back of the box. Yet still, it's all a forgotten title and forgotten series.

 

[JohnBM01]

I've paid homage to a game that's mostly forgotten for the PlayStation 2. Here's my video:

 

[tankuroded]

Ahhhh... time for a bump.

Two Neo-Geo racing games that is apparently little-known:

[Youtube]GgyCPL6y3Z0[/Youtube]

Neo Drift Out (sequel to Drift Out '94 that JohnBM01 mentioned )

[Youtube]0SVux__hGSI[/Youtube]

Thrash Rally (a top-down Neo-Geo rally game)