A whole bunch of racing games were cheap recently, and there are so many that it's difficult to look through them all. What do you recommend looking out for in future?
from Skua@kbin.earth to games@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 15:22
https://kbin.earth/m/games@lemmy.world/t/1709735

Title edited as it has been pointed out to me that the sale has actually ended

I picked up Descenders and Absolute Drift. Only tried the latter so far, but it's great fun. Feels like there's an extremely high skill ceiling to it that I am unlikely to reach. It only cost me £1 too!

I normally go for sim racers like Assetto Corsa and Automobilista, but I have a real soft spot for the old Wipeout games and the similarly-aged N-Gen. Pacer (a touch light on tracks but a perfect spiritual successor to Wipeout) and Jetborne Racing (basically a tech demo and extremely demanding with a gamepad, but worth checking out) have been fun releases in somewhat more recent years

#games

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windowsphoneguy@feddit.org on 05 Aug 15:29 next collapse

Sale is already over, unfortunately! I was planning to pick up Aero GPX, but missed the sale, too

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 15:30 collapse

Agh, I should have checked with it being a new week! Ahh well, there will be others in the future

I see that Aero GPX has a demo I can try too!

gonzo-rand19@moist.catsweat.com on 05 Aug 15:42 next collapse

If you like retro-inspired arcade racers, Slipstream is a fucking blast. You can use your own music if you want to and there are mods to add more cars.

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 16:25 collapse

Hah, that looks like the gameplay of PS3 / Xbox 360 era Ridge Racer but sent back to Ridge Racer 1993 graphics. Definitely seems like one of those delightful projects where someone just has nostalgia for something and also has the skills and drive to just do it themselves

tomkatt@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 15:51 next collapse

Since you mentioned AG racers, check out BallisticNG and the Redout games.

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 16:27 collapse

I've been keeping an eye out for BallisticNG! Sadly it wasn't significantly discounted in the sale, so it's one to pick up either when it is on sale or when I have gotten through the rest of my unplayed games. I was initially put off a little by just how hard it seemed to be aping early Wipeout, but someone on here persuaded me to take a look

What's Redout actually like to play? I have seen a little bit of gameplay and it looks like it's aiming above all to feel as blindingly fast as possible

tomkatt@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 16:49 next collapse

Redout is a weird one. It got a lot of comparisons to F-Zero because of the speed but it plays a lot more like Wipeout, or like an F-Zero/Wipeout hybrid. It’s very fast, and the steering mechanics are interesting as it requires using both joysticks to steer through a lot of turns. I like it, but find it pretty difficult. The ships tend to be a bit floaty and the main thing is controlling well to not hit walls as they utterly kill your momentum.

With BallisticNG, it does ape on Wipeout a lot (by design) but it’s an absolute love letter to the series and is extremely polished. It also has workshop support for all kinds of custom tracks and ships.

There are things BallisticNG does though that are really interesting, like solo races where your goal is to go as far as possible without exploding from damage. You can’t use the brakes and it gets faster every few sections. Those are probably my favorite races.

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 17:00 collapse

Watching a couple of videos just now, I do think that Redout has managed to develop a far stronger visual and musical language than most of its competitors outside of Wipeout (and Pacer, to a lesser degree). The long high-precision aerial segments look difficult, but in the kind of way that would be really satisfying to get right

There are things BallisticNG does though that are really interesting, like solo races where your goal is to go as far as possible without exploding from damage. You can’t use the brakes and it gets faster every few sections. Those are probably my favorite races.

That's actually something Wipeout did, it's one of the few things from Fusion that people liked enough for it to be brought back. But it's a lot of fun, so seeing it in in BallisticNG is a selling point for me

tomkatt@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 17:06 collapse

That’s actually something Wipeout did, it’s one of the few things from Fusion that people liked enough for it to be brought back.

Ah, I didn’t know that, I’ve never played the series past 3 and XL.

Just a heads up to, BNG has a 2097 mode as well, with entirely different physics/control. It’s still in dev builds but it seems like the goal is to integrate both styles from OG Wipeout (2085 and 2097) within the game as separate campaigns.

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 17:18 collapse

You didn't miss out on much with Fusion. I enjoyed the post-Fusion games on the PSP a lot though

Thanks for all the information on BNG!

silverchase@sh.itjust.works on 05 Aug 17:01 collapse

I recently started playing BallisticNG, having never played the Wipeout games. I’m finding it hypnotic and the controls feel great. I’m still on baby speeds by the game’s standards.

Out of curiosity, I looked up videos of the PS1 Wipeout games for reference and they looked slow in comparison!

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 17:17 collapse

It definitely was slow compared to BNG. The later games picked up the pace a bit, but never to that extent. The focus was more on trying to race cleanly with very slidey and floaty physics. In the original particularly, touching the walls at all would immediately bring you to a complete halt

caut_R@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 16:03 next collapse

Idk how much it fits into your understanding of racing games, but one of my favorite vibing games of all time is Slipstream.

My favorite traditional racing game is the old DiRT 2. I‘m just not much of a sim guy, I dislike having to fight the car too much, it starts to feel like I’m trying to steer a washing machine on ice. I am challenging myself with DiRT Rally 2.0 (yes, confusing) though, not sure how far I‘ll get.

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 16:38 collapse

Dirt Rally 2 is excellent! I've actually walked along a couple of the stages too, I was quite impressed by how well they recreated them. The limitations on multiplayer formats annoyed me quite a lot, but I do think it's the only game I've ever played where rallycross felt like it really worked well, and I love the rallycross format

Sanctus@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 16:07 next collapse

You’ll have to sail the seas to get it but Fatal Inertia is my favorite racing game.

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 16:44 collapse

Oh cool, I've never even heard of this one. Allowing the player some actual control over the z-axis is such an obvious thing to add to an AG racer now that I've seen it, but I've never even considered it before

Sanctus@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 17:56 collapse

As far as I know you need a 360 emulator to play it. Very interesting and unique racing game with fun customization options. This day and age the lifespan may be more limited but it still some fun on the couch with a buddy.

whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 05 Aug 16:29 next collapse

I enjoy more arcade style racing games so over the last few years the ones I enjoyed the most were burnout paradise and the remake, trackmania, and forza horizon 4 and 5

Delta_V@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 17:42 next collapse

BeamNG.drive + Automation: The Car Company Tycoon Game

Automation lets you dive deep into the particulars of a vehicle you create, which can then be exported to race with it in BeamNG.drive.

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 17:53 collapse

Ooooh, this is a fascinating combination. I had no idea it was a possibility. I already have BeamNG too so I'm halfway there

IndiBrony@lemmy.world on 05 Aug 20:30 collapse

I can get lost for hours tweaking Automation creations to get them perfect - all for me to take them to BeamNG and accidentally wreck them.

I made a Peugeot 206cc clone the other day. I called it the Pugo 2006cc (literally: poo go two hundred and six).

I tried racing it and the understeer was I M M E N S E – I love it!

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 21:09 collapse

I would love to see a screenshot of this creation if you have one

Soapbox@lemmy.zip on 05 Aug 18:07 next collapse

I’ve been having a blast playing Descenders. I also picked up Hot Wheels Unleashed to play with my Hot Wheels obsessed 4 yr old.

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 19:49 collapse

That's good to hear! I'm looking forward ot trying it. I used to love mountain biking when I was younger and I was reeeaaasonably good at it, but I've had enough sports injuries in my life so that's at the wayside by now

Ulrich@feddit.org on 05 Aug 18:34 collapse

Depends: are you looking for arcade or sim?

Skua@kbin.earth on 05 Aug 18:41 collapse

Sim is my preference, but I'm not against an arcade if it's doing something interesting