What's your favorite arcade racing franchise and why?

I tried to put all the relevant and contemporary ones, unfortunatley couldn't put more. So, feel free to add more franchises into the discussion.

I choose PGR. The game series always featured a good balance between arcade/sim, with an a varied rooster of cars of lots of diferent decades and makers (something that a NFS game hardly does) and interesting tracks based on street locations. The game always have been straight to the point racing, with an satyisfing kudos system and solid online play.

Where the heck is F-Zero boy!!

Arcade racing died after NFS2SE. It was the last great arcade racing title I played.

Arcade racing died after NFS2SE. It was the last great arcade racing title I played.

harshv82

Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PS2 version only, pc and xbox versions were crap) were worthy sequels.

Arcade racing died after NFS2SE. It was the last great arcade racing title I played.

harshv82

Burnout 3 takedown? that was just immense, i thought the genre was a bit flat before that came along and shove a rocket up its crapper.Wouldnt mind a new Road Rash with Criterion heading it tbh.

[QUOTE="harshv82"]

Arcade racing died after NFS2SE. It was the last great arcade racing title I played.

razgriz_101

Burnout 3 takedown? that was just immense, i thought the genre was a bit flat before that came along and shove a rocket up its crapper.Wouldnt mind a new Road Rash with Criterion heading it tbh.

Burnout 3 was a masterpiece. I have Burnout Paradise, but I think its overall a frustrating game and doesn't have the fun factor that Burnout 3 and revenge featured.

I like the Codemasters games. GRID and the DiRT series are brilliant.

Overall, PGR.

DiRT, although I guess you could just say Colin McRae(although the classic Colin McRae games aren't as arcady as they are now)

Trackmania. I usually don't like arcade racing too much. This one has captured my attention because a lot of tracks are more like puzzle game, where you have to figure out the solution and then perfectly execute it.

Of the ones listed I'd have to go with Ridge Racer although it's a tough call between that, Burnout and NFS. Ridge Racer though is consistantly gorgous to look at, excellent arcade handling model and just fun :D

Burnout. In most racing games, I play to win, and that means excersizing proper control and technique of my driving, striving to avoid the other cars and taking turns with caution so as not to crash into a wall or spin out beyond recovery.

But a game that not only encourages, but is even designed around traffic collisions of massive pile-ups and city wide damege, where you're rewarded and scored for that, is a load of fun. What a way to blow of steam :D :D

Right after Forza, I would say Burnout is my favourite series, with F-zero and Wipeout after that.

Trackmania and Mario Kart (DS and(/or) Wii versions) are obligatory this gen in such a poll.

Wipeout and Burnout. Mario Kart is awesome, but far too much BS with items. Being half a lap ahead of everyone else 10 feet from the finish line and getting hit by 10 items in the last 10 seconds and ending up in last place is only fun so many times.110million

There is a random factor, and it's set too high in MKWii I agree.

To me winning or loosing is irrelevant. I tend to win more often than not when playing with IRL friends so skill is most definitely a factor, one that gets more apparent the longer you play. Play 1-3 tracks and you might get super unlucky in each of those, get mad and call it a game purely about luck. However play 20 tracks and the skill of the players will be reflected, that's how probabilities work.

But again, I agree that the rubberbanding in MKWii was too much. It's a flaw of the game, but it's not like its competition are flawless games.

MK still has its own unique selling points relative to the other major contenders for this category, including being a Party racer and the really good tilt based controls (Wii Wheel). As a Wii game it has good online aswell.

F-Zero.

Followed by Midnight Club.

I like F-Zero's speed and difficulty, Midnight Club for it's "open" sort of tracks and great sense of speed.

Though I would call it simi sim instead 8) PGR series for me. Why, hmm, I dunno umm, visuals have always been awesome as well as handling for this type of driver works very well plus the cars, showrooms which included Geometry Wars :D it's roots being Metropolis Street Racer don't hurt and the beautiful scenery and locales plus PGR TV and car damage , Kudos system and it's always been on-line with 4 player split screen as well.

That shoud suffice. :P

F-Zero.

Followed by Midnight Club.

I like F-Zero's speed and difficulty, Midnight Club for it's "open" sort of tracks and great sense of speed.

siLVURcross

totally forgot about midnight club.

Unfortunately there was a massive layoff ocurred on Rockstar San Diego, basically the whole midnight club team left the company. Sadly, Los Angeles was the last one of the franchise.

Forza is the best imo.AtariKidX

Forza, GT and the likes were not included because it supposed to be a Arcade Racing discussion. I won't go deep on the physics acurracy of both games, but they're sim oriented so therefore not included.

Forza is the best imo.AtariKidX

Did you happen to notice the category of racers being asked about? Or are you trying to imply something here?

[QUOTE="siLVURcross"]

F-Zero.

Followed by Midnight Club.

I like F-Zero's speed and difficulty, Midnight Club for it's "open" sort of tracks and great sense of speed.

markko84

totally forgot about midnight club.

Unfortunately there was a massive layoff ocurred on Rockstar San Diego, basically the whole midnight club team left the company. Sadly, Los Angeles was the last one of the franchise.

[QUOTE="AtariKidX"]Forza is the best imo.AdobeArtist

Did you happen to notice the category of racers being asked about? Or are you trying to imply something here?

[QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

[QUOTE="AtariKidX"]Forza is the best imo.Heil68

Did you happen to notice the category of racers being asked about? Or are you trying to imply something here?

What are you talking about? :? Turn 10 has always branded Forza as a sim racer. And that's what most gamers, aside from the GT fans that is, also see it as.

[QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

[QUOTE="AtariKidX"]Forza is the best imo.Heil68

Did you happen to notice the category of racers being asked about? Or are you trying to imply something here?

The point is that both GT5 e Forza 4 have way more realistic physics than any other game mentioned on the thread. Only games like GTR series, Rfactor, Iracing and Live for Speed that are more realistic. Neither of those games are relevant on the thread.

Considering the developers consider Forza not a true sim, I think he has a very valid point and should be included in the poll Since it's not I personally would pick Need For Speed from the TC's list. Heil68

When did Turn 10 say Forza is not a sim?

[QUOTE="markko84"]

[QUOTE="siLVURcross"]

F-Zero.

Followed by Midnight Club.

I like F-Zero's speed and difficulty, Midnight Club for it's "open" sort of tracks and great sense of speed.

siLVURcross

totally forgot about midnight club.

Unfortunately there was a massive layoff ocurred on Rockstar San Diego, basically the whole midnight club team left the company. Sadly, Los Angeles was the last one of the franchise.

not from the same team, at least. The Rockstar matrix owns the game.

[QUOTE="Heil68"][QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

Did you happen to notice the category of racers being asked about? Or are you trying to imply something here?

AdobeArtist

What are you talking about? :? Turn 10 has always branded Forza as a sim racer. And that's what most gamers, aside from the GT fans that is, also see it as.

It doesn't matter what the developers say. Forza and GT are both far from sims, although I wouldn't quite call them arcade.

[QUOTE="Heil68"][QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

Did you happen to notice the category of racers being asked about? Or are you trying to imply something here?

AdobeArtist

What are you talking about? :? Turn 10 has always branded Forza as a sim racer. And that's what most gamers, aside from the GT fans that is, also see it as.

[QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

[QUOTE="Heil68"] Considering the developers consider Forza not a true sim, I think he has a very valid point and should be included in the poll Since it's not I personally would pick Need For Speed from the TC's list. Phoenix534

What are you talking about? :? Turn 10 has always branded Forza as a sim racer. And that's what most gamers, aside from the GT fans that is, also see it as.

It doesn't matter what the developers say. Forza and GT are both far from sims, although I wouldn't quite call them arcade.

"Simulation games can be too hard for some players. "Forza Motorsport 3" rises above the distinction between simulation and arcade games " Not a true sim game.Heil68

GT and Forza both fall under this semi-sim genre. It's "sim enough for most people to think of it as such". PC has real sims, I'm not saying this in the sense of PC elitism, I'm saying it because its true. GT and Forza have enough tweaking that car fans can enjoy it, but there are way more options you can tweak in real sims.

Carmageddon, because it's has multi-solution gameplay. You can win the stages by racing through the checkpoints, destroying all your opponents or running over all the pedestrians.

[QUOTE="Heil68"]"Simulation games can be too hard for some players. "Forza Motorsport 3" rises above the distinction between simulation and arcade games " Not a true sim game.110million

GT and Forza both fall under this semi-sim genre. It's "sim enough for most people to think of it as such". PC has real sims, I'm not saying this in the sense of PC elitism, I'm saying it because its true. GT and Forza have enough tweaking that car fans can enjoy it, but there are way more options you can tweak in real sims.

[QUOTE="110million"]

[QUOTE="Heil68"]"Simulation games can be too hard for some players. "Forza Motorsport 3" rises above the distinction between simulation and arcade games " Not a true sim game.Heil68

GT and Forza both fall under this semi-sim genre. It's "sim enough for most people to think of it as such". PC has real sims, I'm not saying this in the sense of PC elitism, I'm saying it because its true. GT and Forza have enough tweaking that car fans can enjoy it, but there are way more options you can tweak in real sims.

Race Pro from the xbox360 actually got excelent physcis. But the graphics were not very well received so it harmed the game sucess.

I think Race Pro is very underrated, and sincerly the graphics do not look bad as lot of people claims.

[QUOTE="AdobeArtist"]

[QUOTE="Heil68"] Considering the developers consider Forza not a true sim, I think he has a very valid point and should be included in the poll Since it's not I personally would pick Need For Speed from the TC's list. Heil68

What are you talking about? :? Turn 10 has always branded Forza as a sim racer. And that's what most gamers, aside from the GT fans that is, also see it as.

No F-Zero or Mario Kart?nintendoboy16

No Mario Kart? Wipeout? I'm disappointed. But NFS is the only franchise with realistic cars that I like. I played Midnight Club: LA on the PS3 & didn't like the controls & didn't end up playing it much, but it was alright. But I spent a lot of time with NFS:U2 & thought it was pretty good. I also spent a little bit of time with NFS: Hot Pursuit & thought it was excellent & plan to pick it up soon.

Oh, what about Star Wars Episode 1: Racer? That seemed pretty cool back in the day also.

I don't have one. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is the only one in the NFS series I like. I am not a big racing fan to begin with, but when I do get into racing, I much prefer a sim over and arcade racer anyday. In fact, the only racing series I like is the Gran Turismo series.

PGR definitely, they're just fantastic games, damn shame about BC :cry:.

PGR definitely, they're just fantastic games, damn shame about BC :cry:.

Snugenz

yes.

blame activison for that...

BC should have sticked with MS. Microsoft owns the PGR brand and probably won't use anymore. And if it uses, will be with other development team.

Farewell to PGR and Midnight Club series.

WipEout

[QUOTE="Snugenz"]

PGR definitely, they're just fantastic games, damn shame about BC :cry:.

markko84

yes.

blame activison for that...

BC should have sticked with MS. Microsoft owns the PGR brand and probably won't use anymore. And if it uses, will be with other development team.

Farewell to PGR and Midnight Club series.

Well T10 could pick up the franchise and i'd imagine they'd do a great job with it, but BC had magic that i doubt could be completely replaced.