Support NeoGAF

[Unknown?]

Seriously, what drove Criterion away from the blockbuster Burnout 3 and Burnout Revenge to embrace open world games where you have to drive around searching for events.

The whole point of arcade racing is to launch the game, pick the event you want to play and the course you want to play it at, and roll out. It was never to drive around looking for missions.

Also what happened to split screen couch co-op racers. Surely the current machines can handle them, the n64 could.

Ugh I hate most open world racers. So boring driving around for the next event.

 

[Breakage]

My only racing pick up this year was GRID 2 (I haven't jumped into the current gen).
It, along with Blur and Split Second, is an underrated gen 7 racer.

 

[aEku]

i hope the crew 2 will leave a big mark

 

[FrostyLemon]

F-Zero GX will always be the GOAT arcade racer in my opinion. Really miss that series.

I miss PGR4, I felt like the driving in that game was so satisfying without being silly. I bought Forza Horizon recently, and despite its best efforts to make me feel like I'm playing an arcade racer, you can just feel the stiffness and sim like nature of it. Not quite the same.

 

[martinstraka8282]

Yes it sucks big time. Im holding huge hope for On Rush but we'll see. Arcade racers have been ruined by open worlds and sim aspects.

Need for speeds have been terrible this gen and are open world unfortunately and ive forced myself to play some because of the lack of options, but when it comes down to it, they suck and have some incredibly frustrating aspects.

Driveclub is good but its by no means straight arcade like the old days and leans towards sim a bit too much for me. You really have to pay attention to your driving line because the margin for error is small. The bikes admittedly felt more arcade for some reason.

Forza Horizon 2 & 3 are another kind of crossover sim/arcade but i found it more fun than driveclub. Its the only reason i have to hang on to my Xbox at this point.

Table top racing was fun for like an afternoon maybe but its pretty lame too.

Dirt 4 has arcade handling options but again its not at all an arcade game like we had in the past.

Everything else this gen has been sim or not even worth mentioning iirc. Just like sports games, i want them to be fun again with arcade aspects, enough with the sims already. Break neck speeds, ridiculous drifting, and slamming into walls/opponents without the match ending or your car being reset.

 

[Nintendo Switch]

I don't understand EA's thinking. Burnout 3 was a huge franchise with insane sales. Traffic Check and crash mode and split screen couch coop were amazing in Burnout Revenge. It was the perfect arcade racer and sold really well. Even now, a remastered Burnout Revenge would easily sell a few million copies.

First they ruin it by going open world so that you had to drive around and around looking for an event you want to play, only to take a wrong turn and have the event end prematurely. But even then it sold well.

But then EA just drops the IP altogether despite how popular it is.

Does that make sense to anyone?

 

[MADGAME]

GTAO racing is fantastic.

Came here to say this. It’s really fun.

 

[camaropilot]

Although we may not have as many great arcade racers as last gen, I still think there's some pretty good depth to the games that are available this gen. My picks are below



Arcade(ish) racing games from this gen that I've played, enjoyed, and are worth your time IMO:

Driveclub
Wipeout Omega Collection
Riptide GP: Renegade
Trackmania Turbo (VR is amazing)
Forza Horizon 2


Games I plan on playing in the future:

Forza Horizon 3
Absolute Drift
Flatout 4
Need for Speed
Need for Speed Rivals
Need for Speed Payback
Redout
Fast RMX(hoping for a physical copy)
Jack X racing
MotoGP3
Baja: Edge of Control
Road Rage
Radial G: Racing Revolved
Aqua Moto: Racing Utopia
Danger Zone
Steep (not really a racing game, but kind of...)

I'm sure there's more that I missed that could be hidden gems.

Edit: I just watched the On Rush trailer and now I'm super excited for it!

 

[halo117]

I'm with you.

Blur was my favorite.

Yes! Just repurchased last month. It was one of the most fun games when it came out and unfortunately disappeared No one plays online at the moment, but the AI is enough to bring some memories back

 

[Kei_Kurono]

Dirty Drivin' was a great game that came out in arcades over 5 years ago. I'm sure if enough demand is there they will port it over like they did with Big Buck Hunter HD not long ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhKNUnfi9yw&t=20s

 

[autoduelist]

I know it got a lot of hate for some reason, but I'm absolutely loving NFS Payback. Scratching my arcade racer itch... I'm about halfway to plat.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

The Crew 2 looks quite fun, but probably pretty average overall. FH4 will be the daddy next year.

I wish we could get the burnouts and PGR's on Xbox BC though

 

[Rayderism]

I'll tell ya, I will never understand why sim racers are more popular than arcade racers. Personally, I find sim racers very boring. In a racing game, I don't want to simulate real life, I want to do stuff you CAN'T do in real life.

I can only assume that most sim racer fans don't have an actual driver's license yet, and that's why they like them so much. I know that's when I started finding sim racers boring; when I got my driver's license. Geez, that was like 30 years ago......

That said, I do still play sim racers, I just don't invest as much time into them as I do arcade racers. The arcadey ones are just so much more fun in comparison. And isn't that what gaming is supposed to be about, FUN?

 

[Wonko_C]

I am not into sim racers that much either (Namco, give us Ridge Racer 8 with the ability to play the full game in VR), but I gotta disagree with you on the real-life driving comparison: Sim racers still fulfill a fantasy about driving expensive cars at dangerous speeds, and unless you're a trained racing pilot, or extremely rich, its higly unlikely you will ever do that in real life. Sim racing can even get you to become a pro pilot, so there's even legitimate uses for it.

 

[PooBone]

I know. Seems like Forza Horizon is the closest you can get to a chill, fun arcade racer these days without going full on Mario Kart remake number 9.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

I am not into sim racers that much either (Namco, give us Ridge Racer 8 with the ability to play the full game in VR), but I gotta disagree with you on the real-life driving comparison: Sim racers still fulfill a fantasy about driving expensive cars at dangerous speeds, and unless you're a trained racing pilot, or extremely rich, its higly unlikely you will ever do that in real life. Sim racing can even get you to become a pro pilot, so there's even legitimate uses for it.

No kidding. They already have some new cars and tracks from the Vita version and Slipstream (mobile) that have never seen a console release so you'd think it wouldn't be too difficult to make a new game. Unfortunately, I'm pessimistic about them ever releasing a console version again. I think it was someone from EA or Microsoft who said that arcade racers don't make enough money to warrant a console release which is why all the mobile games try to get you to pay real world money for more cars, tracks, etc. Otherwise, we'd see more ports of actual arcade games. I'd love to see games like Storm Racer G or Cruis'n Redline get a console port, but it just seems more and more unlikely. It's a shame, but Android seems to be the way to go if you want new games in the genre.

 

[martinstraka8282]

I've been re-buying a bunch of PS2 games lately and holy crap has that ever brought to light just how much this genre has died off (As well as arcade sports). There's probably almost 100 arcade racers on PS2 alone compared to almost zilch on PS4. So depressing to completely lose your favorite kind of games.

 

[jufonuk]

I miss arcade racers and arcade sports games.

They were great for multiplayer

 

[Wonko_C]

No kidding. They already have some new cars and tracks from the Vita version and Slipstream (mobile) that have never seen a console release so you'd think it wouldn't be too difficult to make a new game. Unfortunately, I'm pessimistic about them ever releasing a console version again. I think it was someone from EA or Microsoft who said that arcade racers don't make enough money to warrant a console release which is why all the mobile games try to get you to pay real world money for more cars, tracks, etc. Otherwise, we'd see more ports of actual arcade games. I'd love to see games like Storm Racer G or Cruis'n Redline get a console port, but it just seems more and more unlikely. It's a shame, but Android seems to be the way to go if you want new games in the genre.

You just reminded me I'm still waiting for the PS4 port of Horizon Chase. I want to play it on something other than my phone's screen.

 

[DryvBy]

Arcade here has Mario Kart. That's fine and dandy, but I want my San Francisco Rush!

 

[Nintendo Switch]

Playing a lot of Fast Rmx and Riptide GP

So I guess the Switch and apple tv got all the new arcade racers

 

[Danjin44]

I guess I'm very few people that played and loved Motorstorm Apocalypse. I really the would re-release it on PS4.

 

[petran79]

I also miss isometric arcade racers like Over Top and Neo Drift Out. No one bothered with that genre after that, yet in the arcades you drove those games using a driving wheel.

 

[nkarafo]

Two years later and not much have changed...

 

[Whitecrow]

Shotout to Sony for closing one of the best studios of the genre

 

[Skyfox]

Xenon Racer had an awful launch (particularly on switch). It also has a tutorial that shows you the wrong way to drift which was a shame.

Reviews absolutely SLAUGHTERED this game. Admittedly, as I said, the switch version was in a poor state on launch.

But they fixed it. Drifting is as simple as hold accelerate and tap, tap on the handbrake.

The game is an arcade racing MASTERPIECE that everyone is missing out on.

I have three copies of this game (PS4 Pro, X1X and Switch). It is phenomenal.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Blur was great but isn't backwards compatible.

Horizon Chase Turbo is supposed to be good fun.

 

[Mihos]

I have trouble in open world racers of taking wrong turns. I rather slam into a wall than try and find my way back to a race I know I already lost.

 

[Domisto]

This is what I will be most looking for come PS5. It's time, Sony.

 

[Griffon]

Great arcade racers have been an extreme rarity for more than a decade now. Last one that I managed to enjoy was Sonic Racing Transformed.

It's surprising that almost no indies identified the niche. A real good arcade racer could really do well.
But then again they all keep flooding the market with metroidvanias like morons...