Car racing games on PC?

[Zak Gordon]

I've been out of the action for a long time. My last often played racing game was the all time classic Geoff Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix, on an Amiga!

https://www.mobygames.com/game/world-circuit

Since then i dabbled in the first Forza on Xbox (original) which was decent, and F1 Career Challenge on PS2 which was strangely less interesting than the old Amiga Formula One Grand Prix!

Anyway for some reason i never got into 'racers' on PC much and have a desire to get back into some of that. So what suggestions do the good people have here?

I do have some specifics i'm after, but am generally interested in what people consider their 'best' game in the genre?

===============
Specifics are:

Wants:

1. Good single player campaign mode, lots of vehicles plus upgrades to them during all the campaign stuff.
2. Varied terrain types (road, track, dirt etc) to race on and decent landscapes and environment effects.
3. Reasonable realism (vs pure outlandish arcade fun) with proper damage affects on cars performance.
4. Something that performs decently on mid-range hardware, with as few bugs as possible!

Don't Wants:

1. Not official track bound games (so not a Grand Prix/Nascar kind of thing).
2. Not an online only/connection required game (I'm just looking for single player without that complication).
3. No loot-boxes, paid for (in real money) unlocks, or any kind of 'nickel and dime' DLC nonsense.
4. PC spec requirements so high it needs a +£700 GPU, in SLI!

I'm not even sure of the franchise names these days, even on the consoles, so it's a bit of a new genre thing for me considering how long ago i was into these kind of games.

Looking forward to the suggestions

 

[Chris Simon]

I'm still playing Richard Burns Rally. It's old, but bloody awesome. No other game came close in physics and the feel of a car. (FF wheel is a neccessity)

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

Forza Horizon by the sounds of it.

There are a lot of good track based racers out there (Automobilista,Rfactor 2, Assetto Corsa), but if you’re not overly bothered by ultra realistic physics then Forza’s the way to go.

Project Cars 2 is okay, but I experienced a ton of technical and AI issues. The F1 series have a decent career mode, and Dirt Rally is good.

Most of these have demos to try them out first, and failing that use Steams refund option.

Edit- And Chris is right, Richard Burns rally is the benchmark for rally sims

 

[Jon flint]

Give Forza horizon 4 a go, theres a demo on the Windows store you can try to see how it'll run on your system.

 

[dm06]

Flatout
Grid 2
Split Second (more arcade)

 

[NMS]

For real Asseto Corsa, Project Cars 2, F1 series, Asseto Corsa Competizione...

For Fun Gas Guzzlers

 

[Henkka77]

Wants:

1. Good single player campaign mode, lots of vehicles plus upgrades to them during all the campaign stuff.
2. Varied terrain types (road, track, dirt etc) to race on and decent landscapes and environment effects.
3. Reasonable realism (vs pure outlandish arcade fun) with proper damage affects on cars performance.
4. Something that performs decently on mid-range hardware, with as few bugs as possible!

Don't Wants:

1. Not official track bound games (so not a Grand Prix/Nascar kind of thing).
2. Not an online only/connection required game (I'm just looking for single player without that complication).
3. No loot-boxes, paid for (in real money) unlocks, or any kind of 'nickel and dime' DLC nonsense.
4. PC spec requirements so high it needs a +£700 GPU, in SLI!

[video=youtube;cbsDiIuI7KQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbsDiIuI7KQ[/video]

There you go.

 

[Vasea Azure]

Sounds like best option for you are games in the Forza serie, eventually Project Cars 2 that has a career mode and various tracks (ice, dirt and so on but no "upgrades" like Forza).

 

[Zieman]

If you can skip point 1 of "wants" partially, Rally Trophy with TTrealmod2005 fits the bill.
Or I'm just nostalgic & have a soft spot for the game.

 

[Zak Gordon]

Cool! Awesome range of suggestions folks

I did go out and pick up Flatout2 from GOG (thanks for the pointer dm06) plus 5 parts of some kind of community mod for it (yet to install that just yet). It's a crazy game and i suck at it (so far). I'll have to see how the campaign unfolds (i gather it is short) to see if it is exactly what i'm after, but it is a good start.

Wreckfest is probably a more updated version of the Flatout games? I think it mostly focuses on MP, but if it has a deep and long single player campaign mode it would be one to get for sure.

The original Forza i liked quite a bit, so people suggesting later versions of that game are probably in exactly the right spot for what i'm after ultimately, as it mixes car types and track types very nicely. However i've been reading a few 'horror' stories over the last few days about the DLC and forced paywall issues on some of the series and also performance issues on PC (less so console, but i don't/won't own a modern console). So i need to do more research into that series and find the 'sweet spot' probably?

Richard Burns Rally sounds awesome (even if just focused on rally sport) but is apparently nearly impossible to find these days due to publishing rights issues (one reason it has not appeared on GOG apparently).

Microsoft store, like Steam store is not an option in terms of digital downloads (i only use GOG for those), so if i end up with a disk copy (of something) from amazon i'd need to check out the DRM issues with that.

Anyway thanks for all the great suggestions, i've got a lot of new names to check up on (Project Cars, Asseto Corsa etc).

 

[Fishy]

DiRT Rally is supposed to be very good and has a mix of asphalt/dirt (or both) tracks, mostly WRC but a few other events too such as Pikes Peak. Got it as a side key in a bundle but didn't take the time to try it out yet (no wheel at the moment), so don't take my word for it.

 

[Mole HD]

After trying a few, getting bored with racing Ferraris in Forza and seeing no sign of my old favourite TOCA 3 from Xbox days, I plumped for Project Cars 2.

Loving the career mode since racing proper racetrack models in a racing team with racing livery is what it's all about...as opposed to pointlessly racing nice coloured Ferraris against a field of anonymously beige Ford Escorts [yesnod]

Project cars 2...since I get to hammer it around Brands Hatch in a Renault Clio

 

[Zak Gordon]

After trying a few, getting bored with racing Ferraris in Forza and seeing no sign of my old favourite TOCA 3 from Xbox days, I plumped for Project Cars 2.

I've been watching VintageBeef give the new Forza 4 Horizons a run, and the only thing i like about it is the graphics. It seems way too easy overall, full of OTT rewards for the earliest of minor achievements. So i think i will be avoiding that as i'm looking for something to offer long-term challenge and only reward me when i've actually earned it.

Project Cars 2 can be a bit buggy i read, and pretty sure my 1050Ti is not going to cut it I get a feeling i'm looking at a 'last gen' or earlier era racer (in part so my hardware can handle it, and in part to avoid the modern curse of mainstream game design (make it easy)).

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Forza Motorsport, not Horizon.

That's my recommendation.

Not a fan of Horizon. Physics are carp.

Motorsport though... Oh yes, it's good. You'll need to find curated leagues for online though. Randoms just crash.

 

[Arry]

GTA? IV or V should give you all you wish.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Tough getting all of those in a PC game. It is where consoles tend to excel (racing and beat 'em ups are the two genres that really stand out on consoles).

I think people have covered the best matches for you here.

I am partial to Need for Speed Underground, but probably a bit too arcadey for you and only on roads.

GTA had loads of fun in as well.

My favourite racing games of all time have to be: Wipeout (the original), Outrun (the original), Demolition Derby, Colin McRae Rally, and NFS:U.

 

[Mengy]

DiRT 4 is my current favorite PC racing game. I'm partial to rally games in general, but DiRT 4 has procedural tracks so the variety keeps it very interesting. Plus it has a very good career mode, much better than DiRT Rally had.

And it looks great too:

 

[Zak Gordon]

So my list has become this (in no particular order):

1. GRID (2008) - this seems the 'better' version (vs GRID 2) from what i've read about it.

2. Dirt 2 (2009) - offers more than just 'rally' style racing (staggered timed races etc), so as a 'rally' sim would work for me.

3. Need For Speed Underground 2 (2004) or Most Wanted (2005) - these have the advantage of if being difficult to find on PC i could just likely find a PS2 or Xbox version in a store for like £1 (probably).

4. TOCA race Driver 3 (2006) - GRID supersedes this in the timeline, but i'm not sure which i would pick just now.

Grand Turismo 4 could be an option (PS2 only, so not PC) and as an outlier (as it seems to just be a track racer) GTR 2 (Game of the Year edition) might do, but it's near impossible to find.

The BIG issue with all options is finding it on PC DVD, then dealing with any issues in that (nasty DRM and stuff like Games for Windows Live etc). I do have tools to deal with most of that, but it can be a problem. Which i guess is where the Need For Speed options might be most practical as i can easily pick them up for my old consoles.

@Arry, GTA isn't really my kind of game (to 'thugish'?), but i know they are highly thought of. It was the racing (and campaign around that) I was interested in more than murder and mugging old ladies

@Mengy, I suspect Dirt 4 will either be too demanding for my rig OR require some kind of online authentication/Steam etc?

There seems to be a 'sweet spot' year wise for all these kind of games, just looking at the cashcow for EA that the Need for Speed games have been (like how many versions!?), in recent years you can see all the 'monitisation' stuff that has crept in to many franchises, so i'm looking at a retro period probably in the 2005-2010 era?

Anyway the search continues for a 'classic' best in class racing game with great campaign mode and no nickle and diming. I didn't realise it was such a popular genre (and Agony_Aunt is correct they seem better made for console), with so many options. The early list above should give me what i'm after, but i need to dig into the Forza Horizon series a bit more (4 looks poor gameplay wise to me, 3 had issues (performance and DLC) etc).

Edit: that didn't take long! Forza Horizon on PC is a no go for me, so i'll stick with my original Forza on Xbox You can get Forza 6 Apex for free IF on Windows 10! Like drug pedellers at the school gates

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

Worth noting that Dirt Rally 2 has been announced for launch in February. But too early to make a purchasing decision - the trailer looks to be mostly (all?) pre-rendered stuff.

[video=youtube_share;iEcf6Arn77k]https://youtu.be/iEcf6Arn77k[/video]

 

[Henkka77]

I did go out and pick up Flatout2 from GOG (thanks for the pointer dm06) plus 5 parts of some kind of community mod for it (yet to install that just yet). It's a crazy game and i suck at it (so far). I'll have to see how the campaign unfolds (i gather it is short) to see if it is exactly what i'm after, but it is a good start.

Wreckfest is probably a more updated version of the Flatout games? I think it mostly focuses on MP, but if it has a deep and long single player campaign mode it would be one to get for sure.

Yup, both come from the same dev studio, Bugbear Entertainment. (Finland, woohoo)
Flatout 2 was great back in the time until GameSpy was shut down causing mp to be obsolete.
Wreckfest follows the very same footsteps with modern graphics and physics. I can recommend it strongly, although the main focus and fun is in the multiplayer side.
But i believe you can have lots of fun with SP campaign also, havent given much time for that as im having way too much with multiplayer mayhems.