What Makes a Racing Game Appealing to YOU?

[Terronium-12]

The landscape for racing games, both simulation and arcade (with everything in-between as well!) alike, have changed over the past 10 years. Open world racers have taken the brunt of attention as of late and for good reason because it fundamentally changes the dynamic in one very specific way, even your favorite sim-racer can't replicate: allowing you to take your favorite car(s), favorite tunes, as well as your favorite tunes (music this time) and blast down the highway or any stretch of road and take in the sights.

In fact, the open world phenomenon is so prevalent that even Assetto Corsa Evo has plans to give players the ability to explore its own open-world map — some 600 sq km of Eifel playground — some time this summer.

Despite the natural evolution of things, majority of us have our particularities about what makes a racing game appealing to us from the offset and that's the point of this discussion: what is it that makes a racing game appeal to you? Is it the visuals? The audio? A specific feature or set of features? Whatever it is, feel free to spill your guts until you can't spill anymore!

 

[BKGlover]

I don't know if I'm fickle or just an idiot, likely both, but what I've concluded about myself is that each game has a chance, but I can't pin down anything general.

I prefer rock music to the techno/electro beats that seem to be everywhere, but some games have given me pause to reconsider, while most just make me mute the music entirely.

I don't like having my hand held through the game, but at the same time total sandbox freedom is also something I don't like, especially if there's no goal as I can get more out of going for a drive in reality.

I want to race. I want to race different things and find out if they are fun. Hot lapping has no appeal to me without a goal, and outside of old NASCAR games I have no want to bother with the idea.

If I can enjoy the driving model, I couldn't care less if the cars are real of fictional. Same for locations. Add in some lore and good chance I'll at least try to immerse myself with the logic and world.

Most recent thought, I am looking for a game that I can engage with, enjoy, finish, and then go again with a different run in mind. I am wholly off the 'live service' wagon as I don't like the obligation to check in just to get an arbitrary reward that'll be meaningless.

Stop trying to be witty, hip, or youthful... especially if there's droning when the npcs are putting on heirs. Granted not new but far more grating now

Unfortunately, most of the racing games I've played that are fairly recent miss so many marks. I've considered if I should keep playing or give up on it all and use the spare time to get frustrated with working on my vehicles or building something badly.

Sorry if this wasn't what you had in mind.

 

[05XR8]

Pretty much the games that get me closest to how I want to play the main racing series I enjoy. Games that have some form of touring cars: ToCA/Codemasters, Gran Turismo 2, Forza Motorsport franchise, Shift 1 & 2, Project Cars 1 & 2, Super Woden II.

The first Need For Speed games I’d say for me, got me into more open world style racing. Gave me a bit of a break from structured racing series. The early Driver and GTA(Liberty City, Vice City, SAN Andreas, IV & TBOGT) games were great in taking a break from racing altogether.

A game can have one touring car I like in it and that game would get my dollar.

 

[PletdeKoe]

It’s all about the driving feel for me. As long as it makes me think I need skill, but still can have fun I’m okay. GT is fantastic. So is Assetto Corsa, but that one requires more skill, so GT has my vote. Grid is to easy so, again that one loses out. Etc.

Then again, I grew up with GT so, for me there just nothing like it.

 

[TypeRDC5]

It’s all about the driving feel for me. As long as it makes me think I need skill, but still can have fun I’m okay. GT is fantastic. So is Assetto Corsa, but that one requires more skill, so GT has my vote. Grid is to easy so, again that one loses out. Etc.

Then again, I grew up with GT so, for me there just nothing like it.

I feel the same, I like all types of racing games but I find the GT series the perfect balance between fun and sim/skill, i always end up coming back to GT.

So I guess my answer is the same as PletdeKoe's 😅 it"s the best of both worlds and even through all its bad points it's the one racing I always put the mist hours in.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Purpose, enjoyment, controller play-ability and simulation.

These are my 4 pillars, few games have ever achieved all 4 for me, so when they do, they tend to go down as one of the very best in my opinion. Allow me to elaborate on what I look for in each pillar.

Purpose, what's making me pick it up, what is the games structure, what is the aim? Games like Assetto Corsa, whilst great simulations, have no purpose for me. Well laid out career modes, championships, playlists, clearly defined aims and reasons to pick it up and play. It has to be structured well too, this ties in to enjoyment as well, as a well structured game that gives you a feeling of purpose to playing it, progression, earning achievements/trophies, unlocks etc.

Enjoyment, self explanatory, it has to be fun to play, it has to be engaging, it has to make me want to go back to it over and over.

Controller play-ability, also self explanatory. How does it play on my preferred method of gaming peripheral. It's great if a game is amazing on a wheel and has a sophisticated physics system, but if it doesn't feel good on a pad, I'm not interested.

Simulation. This doesn't always have to mean the driving physics, though I do typically prefer games that are grounded more towards realism in this aspect, the driving physics aren't the only means of defining simulation. Do licensed motorsport games simulate the sport correctly? Are tracks represented accurately? Do games with career modes feel authentic? Is the AI good to race against? Do they simulate real racers/humans well? Do I feel like I'm in control of whatever it is the game tells me I'm in control of? Again, that doesn't have to mean is it the most accurate simulation of this vehicle, it just has to mean, does this feel what I would expect this vehicle to feel like?

Few games tick all these boxes, and not everything I enjoy has ticked them all, but it needs to get at least 3 of the 4 consider purchasing.

My top 5 racing games of all time (see thread here https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/your-top-10-racing-games-of-all-time.415855/post-13932049 ) Are probably the only 5 that have ticked every box. Those are; Dirt Rally 2.0 (now replaced by EA WRC), Forza Motorsport 4, Gran Turismo 5, Colin McRae Rally and Forza Horizon 4.

For the purpose of this topic, I would also add F1 2020 as a game that ticked all 4 pillars.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Customization and good AI, those are really the only two things I need.

I find games like Assetto Corsa and GT7 the most replayable because they both feature heavy customization that allow the player to fine-tune their experience to be whatever they want to make it. Assetto Corsa has full customization in terms of modding, allowing users to tweak AI settings to suit each race, custom championships, the ability to set every AI car on the grid, name the drivers, etc. to make incredibly accurate and realistic race recreations.

Gran Turismo recently has been introducing similar features through custom races, with the user able to set cars using their garage with full support for custom liveries, driver names, cosmetic parts on the cars, grid order, and so on. The only downsides were you needed to buy everything with in-game credits, and the AI was only ok.

Enter Sophy and now the AI in GT7 has received a huge boost. It's still a little slow for most experienced players, but the AI got a huge bump in raceability and intelligence. Assetto has pretty fast AI as well, but it's a little dumb sometimes.

I really just like sandbox elements in racing games where I am the master of my time playing it, I get to decide what kind of event or championship I'm running that day. The lack of restriction might be boring to some who like progression and structure, but it keeps the game way more fresh long after the career has been dusted.

My dream racing game would be one with these sandbox elements, but also the ability for creators in the online community to share pre-made events or championships with each other. So if I wanted to hop on and do a classic Le Mans series, I wouldn't need to spend 40 hours grinding and then another few setting everything up, I could just find a highly rated one shared online, download it, and be off to the races.