Are there any good driving/racing games for PC any more?

Zak · Post by **Zak** » 24 Jun 2006, 22:17

I got bored with shooting and blowing things up a little. I have been looking around for some driving/racing demos, and there isn't a lot. Is this genre dead on Windows or what? The last driving game I really liked was NFS Porsche Unleashed. I haven't seen anything fun since then and the NFS series pretty much died out, right? Any suggestions please? Track, off-road, rally, whatever as long as it doesn't involve shotting, just pure driving fun.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 24 Jun 2006, 22:45

Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

That's the most recent one. We have a way of making it work in widescreen. Looks nice, play is interesting. Enjoyable game.

Before NFS:MW, the last NFS games I enjoyed were 2 SE, 3 and 4. :)

Zak · Post by **Zak** » 24 Jun 2006, 23:03

Thanks. I tried the demo a while ago and I think I had some problems with it, can't remember exactly what it was, controls most likely didn't work properly. I'm downloading it now to try again.

Post by **maherie** » 24 Jun 2006, 23:42

Driver series sucked too!

I think Toca 3 the new one coming out is supposed to have a wickedly vast driving experience.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 24 Jun 2006, 23:52

I liked Driver. It was really fun. :D

Driver 2 never appeared on the PC, and Driv3r sucked so much it was practically a black hole... ;)

Zak · Post by **Zak** » 25 Jun 2006, 00:07

Ah, yeah. There are a number of issues I have with the NFSMW demo: it stutters on dual core CPU, so I have to Alt-Tab to Task Manager to change the affinity, but then most of the time I can't go back to the game, it either quits or freezes. The few times I was able to play it I found it annoying not be able to shift into reverse, you have to press a separate button on the wheel or key on the kb to go into reverse. Also, there is no controller sensitivity setting AFAIK. There is no way to permanently set the wide resolution either - I used the nfsmwres.exe utility. And what's the deal with these virtual walls? I thought it was supposed to be an open game. So overall, there are way too many issues for this to be enjoyable :( I'm very picky when it comes to controls, and if I can't have it my way, I can't play a game.

Eh, I guess I'll go back to shotting and blowing things up :)

Test Drive Unlimited video looks nice.

CodE-E · Post by **CodE-E** » 25 Jun 2006, 15:14

Colin McRae Rally 2005's kicks serious ass.

NFS:Most Wanted sucks imho, mainly because it's got really lame framerates, and it's not any better than NFS:Underground (1).

Zak · Post by **Zak** » 25 Jun 2006, 16:18

It looks like none of these games are meant for me:( Colin McRae Rally 2005 demo is unplayable too. The moment I hit accelerator after 3-2-1... countdown the game literally fast forwards through the whole track in a split second and goes to the race end screen. Weird. NFS - Porsche Unleashed is even older than this and runs flawlessly, I don't get it.

royal · Post by **royal** » 25 Jun 2006, 17:58

I downloaded the NFSMW demo and tried installing it. The install file aborted saying that I need Direct X 9.0c which I have. dxdiag even tells me I have 9.0c and all other games work just fine. If they can't even code the installer properly, I wonder how well the game is even coded.

ajg · Post by **ajg** » 25 Jun 2006, 18:53

Colin McRae Rally 2005's kicks serious ass.

NFS:Most Wanted sucks imho, mainly because it's got really lame framerates, and it's not any better than NFS:Underground (1).

its okay on a sli rig :) still probably sloppy coding as to why it is so slow and occasionally stuttery. its not that gorgeous

LostHere · Post by **LostHere** » 25 Jun 2006, 21:18

No one mentioned Outrun 2006?

Personally, I enjoy racing game in exotic location, so it is kind of sad that NFS moved away from that area starting from Underground (not that the newer NFS are not good). Colin's tracks and even Flatout's tracks aren't really exotic enough for me, as most of them are either narrow dirt track or icy road.

I really hope Outrun 2006 would be my answer, since it seems to have amazing locations.

Zak · Post by **Zak** » 25 Jun 2006, 21:30

I downloaded the NFSMW demo and tried installing it. The install file aborted saying that I need Direct X 9.0c which I have. dxdiag even tells me I have 9.0c and all other games work just fine. If they can't even code the installer properly, I wonder how well the game is even coded.

I had this problem too at first when I expanded the installer files to another drive. Then I've deleted the files, expaned again to C: and it worked the second time. It doesn't make much sense, but it worked the second time around.

Test Drive Unilimited is supposed to take place on some tropical island - 1000 miles of open roads - it may be fun.

skeeder · Post by **skeeder** » 25 Jun 2006, 22:04

I never got the demo to work either, but the game runs flawlessly. I think its the best race game ever for pc.

FramerateUK · Post by **FramerateUK** » 26 Jun 2006, 00:34

No one mentioned Outrun 2006?

Personally, I enjoy racing game in exotic location, so it is kind of sad that NFS moved away from that area starting from Underground (not that the newer NFS are not good). Colin's tracks and even Flatout's tracks aren't really exotic enough for me, as most of them are either narrow dirt track or icy road.

I really hope Outrun 2006 would be my answer, since it seems to have amazing locations.

Should be good, ive got the PSP version and its good fun.

I really hope it has WS support.... but ive got a terrible feeling it wont have it....

FramerateUK · Post by **FramerateUK** » 26 Jun 2006, 00:39

Whowo! Ill correct myself and say it does actually support widescreen!!!

Pics in the bottom of this thread:

http://www.fruitforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21667&page=21

Violent Ken · Post by **Violent Ken** » 26 Jun 2006, 01:07

outrun 2006 is decent. really i only play since sega has the exclusive Ferrari liscence this year... NFS most wanted is the best racing on pc though

sparks50 · Post by **sparks50** » 26 Jun 2006, 01:08

Whowo! Ill correct myself and say it does actually support widescreen!!!

not for me :cry:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5118

PCMusicGuy · Post by **PCMusicGuy** » 26 Jun 2006, 04:02

There hasn't been a good NFS game since Hot Pursuit 2 imho. The craptacular FWD cars found in undergound do nothing for me. If you are looking for a wacky style driving game, Trackmania Sunrise is worth taking a look it. It's just a fun game to play although it does have starforce so you may have issues with that. For hardcore racing you can go with TOCA3 or GTR to hold you over until GTR2 comes out.

MisMatch · Post by **MisMatch** » 26 Jun 2006, 09:50

old but still one of the best racing games is F1 challenge
all those arcade racing games like NFS are fun on a console but on the PC i rather play some real race games like GTR. or when you want an easier one TOCA3.

CodE-E · Post by **CodE-E** » 26 Jun 2006, 11:13

Personally, I enjoy racing game in exotic location, so it is kind of sad that NFS moved away from that area starting from Underground (not that the newer NFS are not good). Colin's tracks and even Flatout's tracks aren't really exotic enough for me, as most of them are either narrow dirt track or icy road.

What?! Colin McRae Rally (2004 and 2005) have some amaaaaazing tracks, the best in any driving game, imho. They often are exotic, but they're realistic-looking. I guess Outrun has some very arcadey, exaggerated environments.

Anyway, I like a bit or realism in driving physics, that why I really like CMR. It's easy to get started and there's often no need to do a lot of tuning to your car before every race. The only downside is that it's a bit too easy at times.

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