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The lack of Arcade Racers released in the last 13 years is really disappointing.

Drew1440

Member
The popularity of open-world racing games like Burnout Paradise probably killed them off due to a higher budget requirement whilst giving the impression that arcade racers have to be open-world in order to succeed.
 
The popularity of open-world racing games like Burnout Paradise probably killed them off due to a higher budget requirement whilst giving the impression that arcade racers have to be open-world in order to succeed.
Open World racing games suck ass.

They can't offer the variety of normal Arcade racers and to me every track nerds a separate music track. Like It was in my all time Favorit Arcade Racer Burnout 2.
 

Shut0wen

Member
I'd say ea needs to bring back burnout, but they'd just screw it up.
Tbf the makers of burnout are pretty shit now, they literally have to make it exactly like burnout revenge but they wont and stick to shitty repetitive paradise
 

Chronicle

Member
I agree. These days there's so much computing power put towards physics and realism. I love the old arcade racers. I felt this is what made driveclub so good. It was a good 50/50 mix.

Motorstorm 1-3 were amazing. So much fun with bro racing.
 

Calverz

Member
40Oz Pour One Out GIF
 

Bond007

Member
Agree- there was also a time when there were too many. Wish devs would give em a shot again.
Last racer i truly enjoyed that wasn't some big name in this vein was Split/Second.

I pretty much just enjoy GT and Forza Motorsports (No thanks on Horizon) these days. NFS hasn't had me since Hot Pursuit (2010) but i legit buy em all hoping for the best.
 
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drotahorror

Member
It was mentioned already but Lego 2k Drive looks like a lot of fun, although I guess not quite what I'm looking for in an arcade racer. Definitely looks like the best Lego game I've ever seen or wanted to play.

 
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Yeah, I’m not a big racing game fan but sometimes I just have that itch and there only seems to be Kart racers. I will say though Forza Horizon was a lot more arcade than I ever would’ve expected, having never played a Forza game I always thought it was a straight racing sim like GT
Thats because Horizon IS an arcade racer and arguably the only high budget one out there holding the torch. Forza Motorsport on the other hand is a sim like GT7.
 

01011001

Banned
for anyone with any modern Xbox who wants a proper Dreamcast like arcade racer.

Hydro-thunder-hurricane-cover-01.png


Microsofts most underrated Xbox exclusive. and released within the last 13 years!

everything about this game is reminiscent of early 2000s arcade racers on console,
it has almost zero modern sensibilities even tho it came out towards the end of the 360 generation.
and it's not like most of those retro style racers where you can feel how they're retro on purpose. this one legit feels like it was originally made in 1999 for dreamcast.
pure Sega Arcade era design sensibilities, 60fps, 4p splitscreen, online mode with server browser instead of matchmaking (still active players from time to time), unlock boats and tracks by simply playing, complete challenges to unlock liveries for the boats.
 
The genre went to shit in the AA-AAA space when it switched over to Open World.
I disagree. I think that something like Forza Horizon is way more mainstream than any arcade racer of the past. I am still in awe of Forza Horizon 3 and everything it could do with the genre.

Then again, I prefered Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed and Ford Racing 3 to something like R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 or Midnight Club 3, so maybe I like a bit of simulation in my racing games. Mechanically, the Sega and Crash kart racing games are a fantastic alternative.
 
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CamHostage

Member
It's a bit limited, but if you just need to scratch an arcade racer itch, you can try Formula Retro Racing.
Already released on other platforms. Will be available on Playstation platforms April 21st.

Here's a clip:



This game does a 4P split screen, which is another thing that we don't get nearly enough of these days (or, that we don't appreciate, since it's mostly indies doing this feature while AAA racers are sometimes too stupidly complex to run split.) So, that's pretty cool. 4P is pretty good (and the simplified graphics make it easy to follow on your own divided portion of a big screen) although for a huge party multiplayer experience, you may want to also check out the remastered Virtua Racing, which does 6P and even 8P split...

 
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for anyone with any modern Xbox who wants a proper Dreamcast like arcade racer.

Hydro-thunder-hurricane-cover-01.png


Microsofts most underrated Xbox exclusive. and released within the last 13 years!

everything about this game is reminiscent of early 2000s arcade racers on console,
it has almost zero modern sensibilities even tho it came out towards the end of the 360 generation.
and it's not like most of those retro style racers where you can feel how they're retro on purpose. this one legit feels like it was originally made in 1999 for dreamcast.
pure Sega Arcade era design sensibilities, 60fps, 4p splitscreen, online mode with server browser instead of matchmaking (still active players from time to time), unlock boats and tracks by simply playing, complete challenges to unlock liveries for the boats.

FYI, it's only 60 fps on PC. It's 30 on Xbox 360. Though IIRC, the water graphics are slightly more dense on 360, but obviously it plays way better on PC at 60 fps.
 

01011001

Banned
Oh, interesting. It definitely wasn't 60 fps on OG 360, but after some research, apparently it ran uncapped and so can hit a steady 60 fps on the newer Xbox consoles.

it was very unstable on 360 yes. but on many tracks it was hitting 60fps decently well.

2p was extremely unstable tho.
 
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Damn, I miss the old school arcade racers. Niche games like Speed Devils and San Francisco Rush series sure were great. Devs in the old days were far more likely to take a punt on something. That’s how we got games like Crazy Taxi and Carmageddon.
 

simpatico

Member
I've got a CRT TV in my office and a pretty fresh F-Zero cartridge. I recommend it. Crazy how I still have muscle memory for this game from 30+ years ago. Dat soundtrack tho
 

nkarafo

Member
I blame the 360/PS3 generation for this. Nearly all arcade racing games were regressed to 30fps during that cursed console generation. I bet this left a bad taste in everyone's mouths about the genre.
 
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