The dwindle of racing games

Few years ago i poured nearly 500 hours into Midnight Club LA, which is still to date, my favourite racing game. However, the developers of it, R* San Diego i think, have disbanded and the future of Midnight Club is very much in doubt. Having been R*'s 2nd highest money income(Behind GTA, obviously), you'd think they'd put together a new team to make more, since i loved these games.

But anyway, MCLA came and passed and i played it to death, and i didn't find a racing game that came came anywhere near as good. Enter Test Drive Unlimited 2. I gave it a go for £15, and liked it, but it wasn't that good. Two huge maps, Hawaii and Ibiza, are beautiful islands but you'll likely not see the same street twice, which personally i think, is a bad thing in a racing game. Then i discover the Vinyl editor and i near enough fall in love.

However it was announced a few month/weeks ago that their developer, also was to be either sold off, or disbanded. So thats maybe another racing game down the drain. This decline in racing games is disturbing for me, because despite all the teamwork you can have in a FPS, or the fun in LBP, i cant help but feel a hell of alot more pleasure just cruising round town, admiring peoples cars in an online free roaming racing game. Am i the only one who is dissapointed with the decline in racing games?

Also, the ones that are still around are going down hill. NFS is a prime example. Last good one was Underground 2 in my opinion. I'm hoping NFS Most Wanted will give me what i want. But only time will tell.

quote Existence

I just want another Burnout. Hate how Criterion has been put on NFS now.

Paradise is definitely my favorite arcade racer. There has yet to be an equal to it.

I think what's happening is a lot of devs are shying away from the racing genre since Forza and GT seem to have a monopoly over it.

Eh, it doesn't really bother me. MC was a good series though, so I somewhat share the sadness there. I think one day R* will continue it though, they certainly haven't discounted the possibility.

I for one am kind of glad that Criterion have been put on NFS though, Hot Pursuit (2010) was a damn good racer. And the new Most Wanted is looking promising as well. Growing up on NFS, I'm glad that it's finally coming out on top again thanks to Criterion.

Boyd Did you read that there's no in-car view? That's seriously put me off the game. In-car view is the only way to play a racing game imo.

Also, NFS: Shift. Definitely one of the best racing series out there. What you're saying is, there aren't many open world racers anymore, which is correct. Burnout Paradise hasn't been equalled.

quote DarshD

My all-time favorite is- Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix on my PS2. NFS games are like CoD now...Same stuff. I had NFS Undercover and Underground 2. Undercover wasn't as good. RUN was a disappointment. Hot Persuit is pretty solid though. However, the way they milk the series is rather annoying.

All games/genres are being milked now. Either the Devs have ran out of ideas or us, the gamers expect too much

I'm very much into racing games, and have to say I think there have been some superb ones in this gen. Gran Turismo 5, Burnout Paradise, NFS Hot Pursuit, Dirt 2/Dirt 3, Wipeout HD to name my personal favourites. NFS Most Wanted is looking awesome as well. Very much looks like a Burnout/Hot Pursuit mash up. I've never played any Midnight Club games though, and the only NFS game I've ever played was Hot Pursuit. Just never been completely convinced by them. Pretty much the only racing game I played in the PS2 era was Burnout. I have every one and they're all amazing. Wasn't into any other racing games back then so I can't compare them to anything else.

quote redneonfish

Boyd Did you read that there's no in-car view? That's seriously put me off the game. In-car view is the only way to play a racing game imo.

Also, NFS: Shift. Definitely one of the best racing series out there. What you're saying is, there aren't many open world racers anymore, which is correct. Burnout Paradise hasn't been equalled.

Shift and Shift Unleashed were garbage. Bloody cars handled like a burnt turd on an asphalt driveway.

Lucky for me, I snagged Unleashed for free for being a PS+ member. After playing it, there is no way I would pay anything for it. I really ought to just delete it, since I can't even manage to give it a second chance.