Whatever happened to racing games (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by bigboismith@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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How come there are so few racing games coming out lately? Feels like it's just codemasters doing their thing, some struggling indie games and a truckload of shovelware. I'm not saying it's dead but wasn't racing games one of the primary genres?

Another thing that bugs me with the few games that come out is the lack of progression and immersion. NFS Unbound impressed me slightly with actually starting you out with a low spec car and having slow (by modern standards) progression. However halfway through when you have fast and "cool" cars you really felt the games mediocrity.

Dirt rally 1 and 2 has economy systems, but after a single championship you can basically buy whatever car you want. The rallies are immersive but everything between is just boring menues.

Why do you think the state of racing games is so poor? The industry being shit? Audiences not playing them anymore?

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[-] bigboismith@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Gran Turismo is Playstation exclusive and has only released two games the last decade. Quite sad since I have heard a lot of great things about it.

Haven't played the crew, but it seems to follow the same "drive a supercar around a track" that Forza has.

Not saying there are no racing games, but there is a lack of variety besides the four flavors of: Microsoft racing game, EA racing game, Ubisoft racing game or Codemasters (Recently acquired by ea) racing game. Compare this to the huge variety in strategy games or shooters.

The only thing keeping racing games relevant for me are the amazing indie games, but the lack of content hinders them more than other genres imo.

[-] ms_lane@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Do you want themed racing games in different time periods?

If you're using realworld(or alikes) cars, there isn't really much more to go for, you've got circuit, street, rally, drift and touring cars - which really the only thing you can start to really differ is locale or time period.

F1 is F1 and F1 fans will slaughter anyone who tries to mess with F1. But also there are yearly games, since the rules change every year and the new game is the new rules.

Do you want more arcade style?

What are the indie games that have piqued your interest?

[-] bigboismith@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

The thing is miss is immersion and progression. It feels like you get a 1000hp lambo five hours into the game, and the gameplay is just driving around a track interrupted by navigating clunky menus.

Some of my favorite indie games are "art of rally" and "revhead", the former having great driving but no progression and the latter having great progression and customisation, just very mediocre driving.