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If a racing game is seen as GOTY quality and then why isn't it rewarded as such?

Schmick

Member
Its possible that Forza Horizon 5 maybe the best Horizon game to date when it is released later in November. And that's a pretty big thing when you consider that 3 and 4 have scored into the 90s on Metacritic. If it materialises that FH5 surpasses the previous games then surely this is the year a racing game is rewarded GOTY.

Racing games don't seem to fair well despite critical acclaim (Forza, GT, Mario Kart, NFS, Burnout). I think there are two games that have been rewarded GOTY, Mario Kart 8 and Gran Turismo 3.

Why is that racing games generally are not considered? Is it because they simply are not as good the other contenders? Or the frequency they continue to release at means they are simply not being innovative enough compared to the previous iteration.

Forza Horizon 5 has already been shown to have the best graphics in a game so far. Sound, which has always been a weakness in earlier games, seems to be improved greatly. And Horizon have always brilliant gameplay and content.

Playground Games are one of the best in the industry. Perhaps time to get the recognition they deserve.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
The same goes for other racing games, on top of simulators, with Microsoft Flight Simulator being a prime example alongside other games that are often wrongly seen as "niche" (usually because they require too much involvement and skill to be appreciated by those who give such awards, who rarely dabble beyond shooters and action adventures).

The reason is pretty simple: Most Game of the Year awards aren't really designed to honor games and developers. They're little more than engagement gimmicks for those who host them.

The consequence is that giving awards to games that are seen as "niche" runs at risk to provide less engagement, so they're overlooked.
 
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ACESHIGH

Banned
Hipster journos don't get a hard on with racing games. Much better to have emotional sad dad simulators with cutscenes galore.

They long for that Hollywood cred... Stomping goombas and doing crazy stunts in an arcade style racing game would set gaming back to the dark ages in their eyes.

Also the company that is cool to hate from the big 3 is currently the best in class with racing games, that may have something to do as well.
 
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Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
The game isn't out yet, give it a rest.

That doesn't in any shape or form invalidate the issue since the same happened with 4, which was certainly deserving of a lot more honors than what it got. The same goes for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and other simulation and quasi-simulation games that award organizers and websites see as niche or at least not super-mainstream (unless they're indie darlings, in which case they sometimes take the chance because it makes them look sophisticated, and they love to look sophisticated).

You can safely bet everything you own that even if Gran Turismo 7 turns out to be a grand return of the series to the glory of the past with a Metacritic significantly above 90, its GOTY tally will be negligible next year. Mark my words.
 
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Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
Its simple if you love cars and driving you will love those games and will see every detail the devs put in and that will make it 10x more impressive, if not you will just see different color cars driving in a open world. They don't care about the iconic cars that are in the game with every little detail, they don't care about the weather simulations, they don't care that the physics are calculated at 360hz and that it handels differntly on different surfaces. Its easier for them to give a award to some game with a good story, good gameplay and solid visual presentation. I hate it also that racing games get looked over every time like its easy for a racing game to have good visuals or no animation so its easy to render. The time the devs spend on making all those cars with all those little detail is far more impressive for me as a car enthusiastic than any other character model. And in Forza horizon case even the world is more detailed than some other non racing open world games. I saw a review somewhere from a guy that was complaining that he got bored after a while because he could not get out the car in Forza Horizon 3 ( a racing game). And watch how some reviewers are gonna give Forza Horizon 5 lower scores than 4 even if they improved in literally every catagory graphics, sound, gameplay, map size, tuning, ....
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Hipster journos don't get a hard on with racing games. Much better to have emotional sad dad simulators with cutscenes galore.

They long for that Hollywood cred... Stomping goombas and doing crazy stunts in an arcade style racing game would set gaming back to the dark ages in their eyes.

Also the company that is cool to hate from the big 3 is currently the best in class with racing games, that may have something to do as well.
crying GIF
 

bender

What time is it?
I doubt it will be better than FH or FH3. It certainly will not be better than Moose Life.
 

jose4gg

Member
How many new mechanics can a game introduce, that's the trick question, the core of those games is very simple, is something similar to sports games, they can be awesome, in fact, we can give Forza Horizon credit because of the open world, etc, but at the end, I know is just a different map, better graphics and sound that Forza 4 was, the same goes to sports games, and other racing games.
 

Arachnid

Member
Maybe it's the level of simplicity in a racing game
I wouldn't call any Forza game simple. The variety of car types and how much you can tweak every little thing (down to the air in the tires, jesus) in them goes far beyond most games. That's before you get to the user generate content, how different terrain and weather impacts what you need to trick out your car with, or the different types of races. Sure, the core gameplay loop is driving, but that's like calling every shooter simple because "it's just shooting" or every stealth game simple because "it's just sneaking around". Forza isn't as simple as something like Need for Speed.

Also, didn't Telltales Walking Dead win GOTY way back when? It's not simplicity. People just like good stories. Niche games, no matter how good the gameplay, don't get a chance (unless the story is that good). If games won GOTY awards on gameplay more than story, Bloodborne or MGSV would have beat Witcher 3 back in 2015 (side note, all my favorite games of the gen; holy crap what a stacked year).

EDIT: What squall said
 
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Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
How many new mechanics can a game introduce, that's the trick question, the core of those games is very simple, is something similar to sports games, they can be awesome, in fact, we can give Forza Horizon credit because of the open world, etc, but at the end, I know is just a different map, better graphics and sound that Forza 4 was, the same goes to sports games, and other racing games.
Now lets do the same for the other games,
TLOU 2 is the same as TLOU 1 just with better graphics, new locations and some more animations
Gears 5 is the same as Gears 1 better graphics, new locations and some new weapons
RDR 2 is the same as RDR 1 with better graphics, new locations and some more animations
BOTW 2 is the same as BOTW 1 just better graphics, more locations and some new skills

You see how you can discredit every game if you look it from that perspective, people that love racing games and play the game more than the average joe can see how much they improve every single game. Also its harder to improve something when its that good, Foza Horizon 3 and 4 are amazing games and the support 4 got from the dev till the end was incredible and kept going. they added alot of the things fans wanted so it kept the game alive. And now with 5 they turned everything to 11, literally improved almost everything. The last couple games got over 90 metascore, how much do you think this will get. They add alot of new gametypes also, last year they even added a BR mode in Forza in a fricking racing game. So how can you say that they are al the same?
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Forza Horizon 3 is my GOAT racer but I just don't see a racing game ever getting GOTY over a good to great action adventure game or shooter idk why
 

Wildebeest

Member
You could say the same about any sports games not just motor sports. Or any strategy game, no matter how well respected. Adventure games are played by a wider cross-section of people and have a lower barrier of entry for people who are not genre experts. Can you imagine some arts and farts voting panel being stacked with petrol heads who only own a console to play realistic racing sims?
 

Fare thee well

Neophyte
Racing games, real time strategy, fighting games, mech games, space sims, etc. This forum doesn't even fucking discuss Warhammer 2-3 Total War and it's one of the best competitive and unit-rich RTS games I've ever played.

It's all a long list of variety that just doesn't seem to be in the public eye anymore. Everyone just wants shooters or some bland openworld crap like sameysoft. I'm glad some brave souls out there still invest in and try new things.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
F-Zero GX was the game of the year 2003, by all relevant metrics (i.e. what I consider GotY), so GotY quality racing games do get GotYs! F-Zero X got robbed because it decided to drop the same year as Banjo-Kazooie and OoT. Which is insane, to be frank.
 

Notabueno

Banned
Because the same way we don't give Oscars to football match or tik-toks, or Emmys to voice messages or phone rings, there's no reason we should give a GOTY to a sport/simulation game or a puzzle/gatcha "game".

That doesn't mean there aren't great or even a few select "best" sport/simulations games, but that these are not games as art but pure products. That's why GOTY have never been awarded to Tetris, Fortnite, Candy Crush or PUBG despite their popularity...
 

Notabueno

Banned
F-Zero GX was the game of the year 2003, by all relevant metrics (i.e. what I consider GotY), so GotY quality racing games do get GotYs! F-Zero X got robbed because it decided to drop the same year as Banjo-Kazooie and OoT. Which is insane, to be frank.

what?
 

TwiztidElf

Member
Wreckfest was my personal 2019 GOTY.
Looking back, genre defining games such as Gran Turismo, MSR/PGR, were in the discussion back in those days.
An iterative, QTE, built by committee game with mobile phone game like progression, such as FH5 should not be GOTY though, no matter how good it is.
 
Well, I don't really know the reason but it's probably the same reason why sports games or annual releases don't really win GOTY awards.
Remember, there are like 400+ outlets around the world giving GOTY awards to a lot of games every year so I'm sure all the big names get at least 1 GOTY, but almost every year (if not every year) there are only 3 or 4 games taking most of the prizes.
 
Forza Horizon 4 has won several awards.
People on here understandably don't seem to care about awards until it involves their particular game. There are so many different awards and none of them really have any impact on the quality of a game so people may as well just give their favourite game their own game of the year award and it will be no more or less valid than any other award that particular game wins.
I have Forza Horizon 5 Ultimate Edition paid for since the day it went live, just as I did with Forza Horizon 4 Ultimate Edition and every other Forza Horizon, that's the only sort of award that truly matters in gaming, knowing how much their fanbase love what they make and that they're willing to support the work they do.
The only time an award could possibly be useful to a developer is maybe if they're a small studio and it's for maybe their first game and they could really benefit from some free publicity.
 
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Andodalf

Banned
GOTY awards tend to be given out by groups of people rating games and averaging them out. Games that are in generas some don’t like will take a big hit due to some in the group not liking them.
 
Game jurnos can barely figure out how platformers work with racing games especially forza and GT you will spend hours dialing in your car especially if you play with a manual transmission then your going to need to know how to tune for gears and rev limits. NFS heat came out and most jurnos didnt even beat that even though the game helps you figure out the simple stuff like blue part better then green but most of the stuff you that changes up cars greatly is locked behind the advance options.
 
Its simple if you love cars and driving you will love those games and will see every detail the devs put in and that will make it 10x more impressive, if not you will just see different color cars driving in a open world. They don't care about the iconic cars that are in the game with every little detail, they don't care about the weather simulations, they don't care that the physics are calculated at 360hz and that it handels differntly on different surfaces. Its easier for them to give a award to some game with a good story, good gameplay and solid visual presentation. I hate it also that racing games get looked over every time like its easy for a racing game to have good visuals or no animation so its easy to render. The time the devs spend on making all those cars with all those little detail is far more impressive for me as a car enthusiastic than any other character model. And in Forza horizon case even the world is more detailed than some other non racing open world games. I saw a review somewhere from a guy that was complaining that he got bored after a while because he could not get out the car in Forza Horizon 3 ( a racing game). And watch how some reviewers are gonna give Forza Horizon 5 lower scores than 4 even if they improved in literally every catagory graphics, sound, gameplay, map size, tuning, ....
fax
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
GOTY is a silly idea when you really think about it.

The greatest racing game of all time got there in 2004.
Im talking about Burnout 3 Takedown by the way.

I think weve reached a certain level of high brow-ness that a game thats "just" a game no matter how perfect it is has near no chance of actually winning Game of the Year.
Forza Horizon 5 is gonna be very similar to 4, we know exactly what to expect.

Pretty sure theyve already said the game is going back to the festival vibe instead of the full send of Forza Horizon 4.
Forza Horzion 3 as a full package was the best game in the series....im hoping Forza Horizon 5 can top that.
 
Now lets do the same for the other games,
TLOU 2 is the same as TLOU 1 just with better graphics, new locations and some more animations
Gears 5 is the same as Gears 1 better graphics, new locations and some new weapons
RDR 2 is the same as RDR 1 with better graphics, new locations and some more animations
BOTW 2 is the same as BOTW 1 just better graphics, more locations and some new skills
Kind of weird how you left that out the most important thing about the above games that you mentioned. The story. That almost always is something new and the big drawcard for these games.

With racing games its better graphics, new locations and some new cars. That's IT. You're not going to be engaged any further than trying out a new rocket bunny bodykit, engine conversion or drivetrain swap.
 
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WitchHunter

Member
Its possible that Forza Horizon 5 maybe the best Horizon game to date when it is released later in November. And that's a pretty big thing when you consider that 3 and 4 have scored into the 90s on Metacritic. If it materialises that FH5 surpasses the previous games then surely this is the year a racing game is rewarded GOTY.

Racing games don't seem to fair well despite critical acclaim (Forza, GT, Mario Kart, NFS, Burnout). I think there are two games that have been rewarded GOTY, Mario Kart 8 and Gran Turismo 3.

Why is that racing games generally are not considered? Is it because they simply are not as good the other contenders? Or the frequency they continue to release at means they are simply not being innovative enough compared to the previous iteration.

Forza Horizon 5 has already been shown to have the best graphics in a game so far. Sound, which has always been a weakness in earlier games, seems to be improved greatly. And Horizon have always brilliant gameplay and content.

Playground Games are one of the best in the industry. Perhaps time to get the recognition they deserve.
No story means go fuck off. That's all. GOTY cannot be a game without story. If you are procedural, you'll be sent into the tar pits.
 

Bragr

Banned
Pretty sure theyve already said the game is going back to the festival vibe instead of the full send of Forza Horizon 4.
Forza Horzion 3 as a full package was the best game in the series....im hoping Forza Horizon 5 can top that.
While I agree that 3 is the best in the series, it's still extremely similar to 4. To take it to another level, they gotta do something new.
 
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