04/12 Top-10 Driving Games

[Cynicaster]

Awesome, no Mario Kart games on the list. I could never understand the allure of those, personally. I’m generally not too cool for cartoony games, but a big turtle riding a trike is pushing it.

Would RC Pro Am qualify? . I guess you don’t really “drive” an RC car, but it’s one of my favourite racers of all time.

I’m inclined to suggest Daytona USA (arcade) and the original Gran Turismo (PS1), but I do so silently, lest I wind up on the business end of a citation from the Retro Police.

To me, retro racing games played in 2012 are very hit and miss, even if they were great when they were current. I really think the advent of hardware scaling as seen on the SNES and Lynx was an important breakthrough for driving games—without it, most of the games just look like crap. I did like Super Monaco GP on the Genny despite the choppy software scaling, but I can’t even stand to look at most racing games from the NES era (like Rad Racer… *shudder*).

I’m very glad Enduro made the list—one of my all time faves. I remember first seeing it when I was about 6 years old at my parents’ friends house, and being kind of intimidated by it. The roar of your machine in that game as you rev up through the gears doesn’t sound particularly realistic, but to my ears it still sounds more badass than the engine/exhaust sounds from most games that were released on home consoles all the way up through the mid-late 90’s.

[random_dave]

This pic is embedded in the RGR Mobile Apps for this episode as extra content.

Fame at last! ;-)

[miner2049er]

Fame at last! ;-)

Not really, I'm telling people I did it.

[random_dave]

Not really, I'm telling people I did it.

Luckily I have proof that the low res graphic was generated by an early version of my psuedo 3d race track editor/previewer (T.E.A.T.S) that I'm making with Excel no less ;-)



Hopefully next time this top ten topic comes back around i can be entered for consideration, i might even have something finished and playable by then

[wntic]

HHHHMMMMM no super sprint or buggy boy:S

[Gordon Bennett]

I'll have to go with the 1981 Sega arcade racer Turbo. It's quite accessible, plays well and the ever shifting scenery keeps it interesting. Visually it's an absolute triumph for its time. I can't think of any other game from 1981 that looks half as good.

From the list given I choose Outrun. It's a spiritual successor to Turbo of sorts, with scaled scenery changing from one place to another and the low hill segments foreshortening the track, but with the addition of later hardware and of course the wonderful Splash Wave to accompany the action.

[Compute]

I went with Off Road. Although the game itself is pretty dull if you have unlimited credits, the multi-player appeal of that sub-genre is great. I think I would have preferred to pick Indy Heat, which is the same thing, only with Indy Cars. The tracks are more varied and there is a pit stop during the race. You can knock your opponent out of the pit lane while they're being serviced, although this causes damage to your car as well.

My friends and I used to play Days of Thunder for the NES. In retrospect it's a terrible game, but it was the first game I played where the player would control the actions of the guys in the pit area.

[Tepic]

Outrun from that list. I used to dream of playing Magical Sound Shower while driving my car (When I finally got old enough to drive!) I have never done it, maybe I should!

Also... My name mentioned twice in the segment.. That made my evening!

[Duke.Togo]

No love at all for RC Pro-Am? That's such a fun racer.

[miner2049er]

We have talked about that before on the show but for me, it didn't fit this top ten and was nowhere near my list.