Racing/driving games

[ilvny]

Does anybody play or have played any racing/driving games?  I like the Need for Speed games.

[Takumi]

Mario Kart

[DaBigE]

I've played a few over the years, although currently only one is installed on my PC: Need for Speed Hot Pursuit.
Others that I have played:

• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
• MS Midtown Madness, Midtown Madness 2 (loved the opening bridges in Chicago)
• The Simpsons Road Rage (PS2)
• Ford Racing 2 (PS2)
• The Streets of SimCity
• Pole Position (Atari)

[Zmapper]

I just reinstalled Midtown Madness Chicago Edition on my laptop about a month ago. Even though it is 14 years old and my laptop is Windows 7, it runs great.

[DaBigE]

I just reinstalled Midtown Madness Chicago Edition on my laptop about a month ago. Even though it is 14 years old and my laptop is Windows 7, it runs great.

Good to know. It was installed on my old PC, but I didn't port that game over when I got a Windows 7 laptop, since I rarely played it anymore (but still have all the install CDs)

[Billy F 1988]

I've played Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2, Burnout and Wave Race Blue Storm for the GameCube, NASCAR Racing 2003 Season for PC, Driving Speed 2 also for PC, and Project Gotham Racing 4 for XBOX 360.

NFSHP2 was my favorite because of two cars: the Chevy Corvette Z06 and the Mercedes CLK-GTR, that for which I blasted a sub 1:10 lap run around the Coastal Parklands course in the backward mirror configuration where I hit 206 MPH, average around 197, and fly by the forest and gas station in fifth to sixth gear.

I did have one of several knarly crashes, some involving the popos (yep, the police) dropping these bombs on the roadway. If you hit these suckers, you're gonna go flyin' in a hurry and these cars aren't meant to be airplanes. Especially if you're driving the Mercedes CLK-GTR. That thing's a friggin' rocket if you hit those bombs. One time on one of the intermediate courses, I think it was Island Outskirts, I drove a NFS Dodge Viper GTS when I got airborne and started to pirrouette from a palm tree rapidly on impact.

I started to like PGR4 because of the Enzo and Corvette Z06.

[Stratuscaster]

Been playing the recent NFS: Most Wanted and Forza Horizon on Xbox 360 lately. The Burnout series is also a favorite - logged quite a bit of time in Burnout Paradise.

Midtown Madness on the PC was great - bugged me that the map wasn't more realistic.

[formulanone]

Played a lot of the Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto series, but I rarely have time for games anymore. Tried Forza Motorsport 4 on a "real" wheel and seat rig, and I really liked it.

[bugo]

Any of the 3d GTA games (GTA 3 and newer.)  San Andreas is my favorite.  GTA is so cool that with the minigames it can be anything from a slot machine simulator to a racing game to a shoot up game to a strategy game.  You can be an ambulance driver or a pimp.  The GTA series is definitely the greatest game series since the SNES days.

[spmkam]

The Burnout games are fantastic too.

[AsphaltPlanet]

^Burnout Paradise was one of the best open-ended driving games to ever come out. 

I don't have the remake of NFS Most Wanted, but I loved it when it first came out for the PS2.  The remake of Hot Pursuit for the PS3 was graphically very solid, but a bit lackluster compared to some of the more open-ended games like Burnout.

Midnight Club Los Angeles was a great game as well.  I loved that they even included button copy signs overtop of the freeways.

[corco]

Midtown Madness/2 and Streets of Sim City were both awesome

[Duke87]

Streets of SimCity I don't think can run properly on a 64 bit OS. Which is unfortunate, because it was an awesome game. Especially the soundtrack.

I have like most people my age also played my fair share of Mario Kart, along with Crash Team Racing (which is even more awesome than Mario Kart 64) and some Gran Tursimo, Ridge Racer, Midnight Club... and I used to play the hell out of Midtown Madness 1 and 2 at my cousin's house although I never owned either myself.

Need for Speed I was never fond of since you spend your focus much more on avoiding the cops and their traps then on actually racing, which just ruins the fun.

GTA is no fun for much the same reason. If I'm going to go on a virtual rampage, I would much prefer to be unstoppable than to have to dodge cops.

[bugo]

I had Streets of Sim City and while a great idea, the finished product was half baked.  If they had a game that was a cross between Sim City and Grand Theft Auto it would be the ultimate game.

[Roadsguy]

I had Streets of Sim City and while a great idea, the finished product was half baked.  If they had a game that was a cross between Sim City and Grand Theft Auto it would be the ultimate game.

...and the flexibility of Minecraft. Too bad blockyness just doesn't fit well with roads.

[Truvelo]

GTA2 is my favourite. Unlike the comments a few posts back about the later 3D versions, I prefer the original versions mainly for their simplicity.

[Rushmeister]

Anyone remember the arcade game Stocker? 

If so, do you remember how to cheat by driving "off road" in order to actually make it "cross country" before the time expires?

(Oh man, now I have the stupid music from that game stuck in my head!)

[Ian]

As AsphaltPlanet already said, Midnight Club: Los Angeles is one of my favorite games to play on Xbox. I also enjoy Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV.

[ilvny]

I remember Streets of SimCity and the GTA games.

[Takumi]

I used to play Initial D, versions 3 & 4, a lot at local arcades...in fact it's the source of my user name here (after the main character in the series).

[Sanctimoniously]

Burnout: Revenge is a (unashamedly) guilty pleasure of mine. I remember being intensely disappointed when it was announced that Burnout 3: Takedown would not be backwards-compatible with the 360.

[formulanone]

I used to play Initial D, versions 3 & 4, a lot at local arcades...in fact it's the source of my user name here (after the main character in the series).

There's no secret Fujiwara with Hachiroku.

[Takumi]

I used to play Initial D, versions 3 & 4, a lot at local arcades...in fact it's the source of my user name here (after the main character in the series).

There's no secret Fujiwara with Hachiroku.

I never actually used the 86, I always went with either a Skyline GT-R or a Honda of some sort, depending on the version. I think the last time I played (version 4 in 2010) I had an Integra Type-R and an S2000.

[Stratuscaster]

^Burnout Paradise was one of the best open-ended driving games to ever come out. 

I don't have the remake of NFS Most Wanted, but I loved it when it first came out for the PS2.

If you like Burnout Paradise, give the new NFS:MW a try - Criterion Games did both of them and there's a similar feel, but NFS:MW benefits from having real cars in it.

[1995hoo]

I used to play Mario Kart Wii online a lot, but I got fed up with the hackers.

As a kid I loved Enduro (I may still have my Activision patch in a box somewhere) for the Atari VCS–actually we had an Intellivision with the System Changer add-on so we could play Atari games too. At the arcade I loved Turbo and the sit-down version of Out Run.