This generation has been a rather... slow one depending on which racing games you like. While on the more realistic side of racers there's been a lot of stuff even on console, many of the big names of arcade racing haven't showed up at all this generation leaving a drought throughout the entire gen that only recently started getting filled. Still, despite this lack of arcade racers, I think this generation still had many of the best games in the genre. Here's my top 3:
3) Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
The original Crash Team Racing was already, in my opinion, the greatest kart racer of all time thank to its depth that allowed casual players to still enjoy the story and the races while also allowing the enthusiasts to take the mechanics to their limit. So when a remake was announced, and it turned out to not only have the CNK + CTR content but entirely original tracks as well, my hype was through the roof and thankfully the game managed to surpass even the absurdly high expectations I had for it. Not once in the reveal would I have thought that the game would end up having... every single playable character in a Crash Racing game!? Even something like the Crash 1 characters seemed like a stretch, but boy was I ever glad to be wrong.
2) Forza Horizon 4
Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan of Open World racing games; I'm of the opinion that a well-made track will always be better than a well-made open world, but Forza Horizon 4 comes very damn close to breaking that rule. Maybe not neccesarily by offering the most interesting layouts for races, but by how dynamic this game is and the sheer variety of activities available for you to do, it almost feels like they bundled a lot of racing games into one incredibly fun and equally good-looking package. It really is no surpsise this game is one of the highest-rated racing games of all time.
1) Gran Turismo Sport
Not once would I've ever thought I'd be putting a Gran Turismo game at the top of a racing games list, and not especially in one that has a game as good as Forza Horizon 4 on it. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I hated the series or anything (in fact, the first Gran Turismo is one of the first racing games I played and I liked it well enough), but before this game I just wasn't into the more realistic side of racing games. Avoiding collisions? Respecting track limits? Actually caring about respecting the space of the other racers? That sounded boring, and honestly if you're racing against AI it kinda is.
That's the magic of Gran Turismo Sport, though, online racing. While in most racing games on console racing online is just complete garbage, Gran Turismo coming in and showing everyone how to do it was so refreshing. Sure, the focus on online made for weaker singleplayer offerings (especially at launch), but in exchange racing online in GTS is just superb as soon as you go up in the Sportmanship ladder, it makes races feel much more intense than the "oh well I can abuse the AI this way and that way" that happens when racing against AI. There's simply nothing better than applying pressure to the racer in front of you throughout the whole race and then finally seeing them make a mistake on the final lap, and thankfully the great matchmaking makes the situations of everyone in a race being much better than you very rare, for the most part you'll all be on the same skill level.
After experiencing that, playing against an AI feels... hollow. It's kinda like how in figthing games fighting against the AI is rarely ever interesting because you can just spam hadokens and stunlock the enemy, races in which you know there isn't a human behind the wheel are now this backwards, primitive thing that can't compare at all with the real thing.
So, Era, what are your racing games of the generation?
3) Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled
The original Crash Team Racing was already, in my opinion, the greatest kart racer of all time thank to its depth that allowed casual players to still enjoy the story and the races while also allowing the enthusiasts to take the mechanics to their limit. So when a remake was announced, and it turned out to not only have the CNK + CTR content but entirely original tracks as well, my hype was through the roof and thankfully the game managed to surpass even the absurdly high expectations I had for it. Not once in the reveal would I have thought that the game would end up having... every single playable character in a Crash Racing game!? Even something like the Crash 1 characters seemed like a stretch, but boy was I ever glad to be wrong.
2) Forza Horizon 4
Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan of Open World racing games; I'm of the opinion that a well-made track will always be better than a well-made open world, but Forza Horizon 4 comes very damn close to breaking that rule. Maybe not neccesarily by offering the most interesting layouts for races, but by how dynamic this game is and the sheer variety of activities available for you to do, it almost feels like they bundled a lot of racing games into one incredibly fun and equally good-looking package. It really is no surpsise this game is one of the highest-rated racing games of all time.
Not once would I've ever thought I'd be putting a Gran Turismo game at the top of a racing games list, and not especially in one that has a game as good as Forza Horizon 4 on it. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I hated the series or anything (in fact, the first Gran Turismo is one of the first racing games I played and I liked it well enough), but before this game I just wasn't into the more realistic side of racing games. Avoiding collisions? Respecting track limits? Actually caring about respecting the space of the other racers? That sounded boring, and honestly if you're racing against AI it kinda is.
That's the magic of Gran Turismo Sport, though, online racing. While in most racing games on console racing online is just complete garbage, Gran Turismo coming in and showing everyone how to do it was so refreshing. Sure, the focus on online made for weaker singleplayer offerings (especially at launch), but in exchange racing online in GTS is just superb as soon as you go up in the Sportmanship ladder, it makes races feel much more intense than the "oh well I can abuse the AI this way and that way" that happens when racing against AI. There's simply nothing better than applying pressure to the racer in front of you throughout the whole race and then finally seeing them make a mistake on the final lap, and thankfully the great matchmaking makes the situations of everyone in a race being much better than you very rare, for the most part you'll all be on the same skill level.
After experiencing that, playing against an AI feels... hollow. It's kinda like how in figthing games fighting against the AI is rarely ever interesting because you can just spam hadokens and stunlock the enemy, races in which you know there isn't a human behind the wheel are now this backwards, primitive thing that can't compare at all with the real thing.
So, Era, what are your racing games of the generation?
