Arcade Racing

[catfood]

Was considering getting the Moto Racer Collection on Steam after seeing it in this LGR video, but the users report technical troubles.

I have Moto Racer 1 and 2 on GOG and they both worked perfectly.

 

[Curratum]

Turns out I had them on GOG too. MR1 is a polygon colored mess, MR2 runs at under 30 fps. That's not really what I'd call working perfectly.

 

[catfood]

Turns out I had them on GOG too. MR1 is a polygon colored mess, MR2 runs at under 30 fps. That's not really what I'd call working perfectly.

What OS are you running?

 

[Curratum]

Turns out I had them on GOG too. MR1 is a polygon colored mess, MR2 runs at under 30 fps. That's not really what I'd call working perfectly.

What OS are you running?

Windows 10, because it's the year 2022 and it's almost out of the door... Don't you people play DX12 games? I mean, GPU driver support for Win 7 has been practically over for a while now, hasn't it?

 

[catfood]

Turns out I had them on GOG too. MR1 is a polygon colored mess, MR2 runs at under 30 fps. That's not really what I'd call working perfectly.

What OS are you running?

Don't you people play DX12 games?

Uh, no?

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Anybody plays Trackmania?

As a kid, literally everyone in my school played TrackMania Nations Forever
Not kidding, even girls would play it - obviously not even near as much as the boys, but still
I remember in our free time we would go either a school computer (the library and IT rooms had lots of them) or the goverment gibs, "e-school program", sanctioned laptop and connect to the schools local network and proceed to have 1/2 hours massive LAN parties of either CS1.6 or TMNF
Good times!

Anyway
The game is cool and the track editor amazing - although unfortunate some guys try too hard with who can make the most idiotic, unfun tracks possible
I also like the fact that servers are organized by countries and their region, so it was IMO immensly cool searching for local server and listenning to folk music blasting the speaker, and then hopping to another server around the world and seeing the differences
Pretty neat and comfy experience

 

[DJOGamer PT]

By the way...
Any reason TrackMania 2020 hasn't been realesed on Steam?

 

[V17]

By the way...
Any reason TrackMania 2020 hasn't been realesed on Steam?

The reason is Ubisoft.

The game is cool and the track editor amazing - although unfortunate some guys try too hard with who can make the most idiotic, unfun tracks possible
I also like the fact that servers are organized by countries and their region, so it was IMO immensly cool searching for local server and listenning to folk music blasting the speaker, and then hopping to another server around the world and seeing the differences

On one hand the 3000 different server plugins on every server that did everything from sharing local records to blasting ridiculous music are out. Server-side scripting still exists, but UI plugins were largely moved to client-side. So these local server differences mostly vanished.

On the other hand the average quality of community-made tracks is much higher nowadays. There's Cup of the Day, which is a daily contest open to all, usually played by about 4000 people I think, and it features a new community-made track selected by Nadeo from tracks that went through Track Review, which is a kind of a basic filter ran by players. This possibility of having your track seen and played by so many people at once is a big incentive to create a good looking and balanced track and it has gradually pushed the quality way up.

 

[Young_Hollow]

I can attest to the awesomeness of Flatout 2: https://af.gog.com/game/flatout_2?as=1649904300 Flatout 2 Ultimate Carnage is available on steam but it doesn't seem as enjoyable as plain FO2 to me because everything wrecks so fast and even races seem like destruction contests unlike in FO2 where wrecking someone in a race is a secondary goal to winning it.

Haven't played but graphics look good: https://af.gog.com/en/game/world_rally_fever_born_on_the_road?as=1649904300

Waiting for a good discount to Monster Jam Steel Titans 2, its also on GOG:


Waiting for dev to patch out emojis in this otherwise stellar looking retro racing game with level editor:


Quadbike racing game with character customization and all important female playable character:


Crashy combat racing game remastered with level editor: https://store.steampowered.com/app/508980/Crashday_Redline_Edition/

And if these aren't for you, you could also just fly the grey flag and download your preferred flavor of Road Rash or pre-2000s Need for Speed from MyAbandonware. If you want a FOSS kart racer you could go with Supertuxkart: https://supertuxkart.net/Discover

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Download of Rollcage Redux to let it play on modern systems: https://www.codemonkey.me.uk/rollcage_redux.php

 

[Young_Hollow]

Looks to be a good Faltout clone that's less realistic (and hence better than) Wreckfest. Found it thanks to this video that was somehow recommended to me, so bless the eviltube algorithm.

 

[Curratum]

There can be only one

 

[Curratum]

ropulos just because of the reaction button, I had this printed after putting together the design myself, the game is too unknown and indie to have actual official merchandise :D

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Flatout 2 and Ultimate Carnage at 80% off.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed straddles the line between arcade and sim racing, but it's just so wonderful everyone should play it. Probably the most beautiful racing game I've seen.



One of the games I played the most when I was messing around with a PSP was Split Second. There's a PC version which I should try eventually. It lets you blow up part of the track as you're racing in order to sabotage rivals and access shortcuts.



Screamer 2 is a perfect 90s arcade racer with tight controls and great tracks.



I like to recommend Tank Racer as no one else will. It's an end-of-cycle PS1 game where you drive a tank and shoot other tanks with your turret. Similar to a kart game, but with more emphasis on racing. Due to its generic name it went completely unnoticed. I've heard the PC version is inferior.



Really stretching the definition of arcade "racing" here, but the original Carmageddon should be enjoyable to anyone who likes the genre. One of my favorite games.

 

[manifest]

It is done. I am the BallisticNG. The game has an embarrassment of content, including basically every mechanic from every era of Wipeout in the options, plus several on top of that. Could've done without the zero-g maps and some of the reverse tracks are just cruel with blind turns throwing you into the wall. The worst addition of all is the tag-team races, where you need to maintain position with an AI teammate in the racing equivalent of an escort quest. Wipeout had a bunch of bullshit modes too though, especially the later game.

I'd argue that BallisticNG/Classic Wipeout isn't entirely "arcade"... they have very intricate physics, quirks and a learning curve unlike like your normal arcade. Whereas racing arcades are easy to get into, hard to master... Wipeout/BNG is hard to get into, hard to master. It's its very own thing. Very satisfying once you learn how to go fast without bumping into walls.

I know my sim racing friends prefer the two to other arcade racers, so you might be onto something there. BallisticNG has a greater focus on aerial maneuvers than any Wipeout game; time spent on the ground is just a liability at 1200KPH. By comparison, something like Redout almost feels like you're playing the DOOM Marine. Never really liked that aspect of F-Zero either. You can see how much the developer is pitching back in these precision runs:

I stopped bothering for the Platinums on these, Von Snake plays beautifully. Looking forward to the next expansion, might go back to Wipeout Fusion now.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[Nutmeg]

I really enjoyed V-Rally 4. Not at all a sim.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[Sukhāvatī]

BallisticNG 1.3 update released, plus price increase.

https://neognosis.games/2022/11/30/ballisticng-1-3-is-now-released/

 

[Sukhāvatī]

New BallisitcNG expansion.

Maceno Island introduces 6 new tracks, all playable in forward and reverse, a new campaign and a new set of colorful liveries.

 

[†††]

I've been playing Ridge Racer Type 4 these days. Such an stylish and soulful game, and probably the best graphics out of any 5th gen console game. Shame it's so easy to beat the AI in this one. Tried also playing Rage Racer but it lacks analog support (unless you have a NegCon) and playing a non-Wipeout racer without analog feels really weird these days.

 

[Nutmeg]

unless you have a NegCon

It's a good investment. I use it to play *all* racing games via a USB convertor and emulation

 

[†††]

I've revisited Rage Racer, it's fucking dogshit. What were they thinking. I've voiced my complaints on /vr/ but here I go:

• Drifting feels busted, many times the car won't turn. Playing around with the drift settings does nothing. I had to learn how to not downshift during the drift or else I'd lose all speed.
• Rival AI is rage inducing (maybe that explains the game's name), they'll often occupy the middle of the lane in a turn and fuck you over. Or you'll see two rivals lined up leveled to each other hogging the road. If you ever touch them, you lose all speed. If they touch you from behind, you lose all speed. And you'll be crashing them all the time, halting your progress completely.
• Since either because of rival AI or your car refusing to drift, you'll find yourself down to 000 mph often, and the absolutely retarded power band won't let you pick up speed quickly. The cars only have a modicum of power when redlining.
• Related to the previous issue, there are tons of uphills in the game and you'll have to downshift a lot. Problem is that it makes no sense that the fifth gear at 8K RPM loses completely all power, you have to downshift to 4th and redline it through the entire uphill. And these uphill/downhill sections get old quick, as they are mostly composed of long straights without nothing to do in the meantime. Oh, and if bump a rival during these sections, the entire race is ruined.
• Game is ugly as sin, the tracks themselves are all grey and monochrome, feels like playing an early 7th gen game. Framerate is choppy.
• The main mode is boring, as you'll be driving the same 4 variations of the track over and over in order to advance classes. And because the track layouts are unenjoyable, it doesn't bring the same joy as the original RR where the main track was brilliantly designed.
• I've managed to configure the analog controls playing with the NeGcon settings in the emulator but doesn't help that much.
• Soundtrack is good but too samey, gets old quickly.

Worst RR of the 5th gen no doubt. I hate it.

 

[Nutmeg]

Game is ugly as sin, the tracks themselves are all grey and monochrome, feels like playing an early 7th gen game. Framerate is choppy.

I absolutely love the art (racing games with actual art design and not just "realism"? yes please) and sound design in rage, so I disagree strongly here, and I like the tracks, but the physics aren't my cup of tea at all, which is very important.

AI is actually challenging which is good.