From the dying embers of arcade racers time, Ridge Racer Type 4 is still something I revisit every year. The best Ridge Racer ever made, and while it may not live up to the standards many have for deep, lifestyle racing games now? It's great to run through the story mode once in a while.
Outrun 2, the arcade and Xbox original or SP edition on the Playstation 2, is one of the best games ever made without hyperbole.
Forza Horizon 3 and Mario Kart 8 are my favourite modern driving games. Mario Kart 8 has eaten up some hundreds of hours over the Wii U and Switch, offline and in various forms of multiplayer and is recognized as being pretty much the best kart racer so what else can I write here?
Forza Horizon 3 is one of those lifestyle racing games I mentioned earlier, but it's actually fun to drive around a compacted version of south Queensland and northern New South Wales compared to the despairing boredom of the setting and compression of the real life lands in something like Forza Horizon 4. Maybe I played too much Colin McRae Rally back in the day, and drove too many of those UK roads years ago, but I've also driven those Australian roads and can see where Horizon 3 meets it in a much more tonally correct and interesting way.
Plus the macho bullshit blokeyness (something which usually drives me very far away!) fits a lot of Australian car types and the try-hardness actually fits that culture for once (/not to mention bike culture and such, hence why Straya has exported so much more to motor vehicles in various forms of media that you may realize), whereas other games that do something similar in and out of the series seem inconceivably naff and, well, just try-hard and desperate like wanker boy racers inspired by The Fast And The Furious. Forza Horizon 3 works in tone, in gameplay, and in style, and not many games with some aspects of simulation ever truly manage that.
Log in to comment