Racing Topic! (was: Best racing games for PSP?)

[Edmond Dantes]

Renamed the thread to accomodate its expanded focus.

And another question:

Okay, so I was looking up Nascar 99 for Playstation (I picked it up at Goodwill and wondered what other people thought) and I noticed there was a version called "Nascar 99 Legacy" which is apparently a collector's edition (there was one for 98 as well).

But I can't find any info on what, exactly, is in the Legacy version that's not in the regular version, save that legacy is apparently 2-discs.

So, anyone know?

(Anyone but me get the feeling that most gamers don't play sports games?)

[lilmanjs]

Renamed the thread to accomodate its expanded focus.

And another question:

Okay, so I was looking up Nascar 99 for Playstation (I picked it up at Goodwill and wondered what other people thought) and I noticed there was a version called "Nascar 99 Legacy" which is apparently a collector's edition (there was one for 98 as well).

But I can't find any info on what, exactly, is in the Legacy version that's not in the regular version, save that legacy is apparently 2-discs.

So, anyone know?

(Anyone but me get the feeling that most gamers don't play sports games?)

I quite can't remember, but I don't think there is much to the Legacy version of Nascar 99 besides Homestead being a new track added. I'm sure you can find some youtube videos though, but I've only ever owned the non legacy version of Nascar 99.

[Ghegs]

LEGACY VERSION FEATURES:
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. joins the field of 37 NASCAR Drivers
16 Licensed NCASCAR tracks - now including Miami-Homestead Speedway
Authentic head-to-head NASCAR racing
2 Player split-screen racing - race father vs. son
Championship season mode
Exclusive Two-man booth featuring Bob Jenkins and Benny Parsons
24 Hi-res cars on the track
Includes NASCAR Rocks Music CD!

[Edmond Dantes]

Thanks, Ghegs.

(Incidentally I've been lurking at Rolling Start... might sign up soon. Mostly been reading about racing controllers)

.... on another note, tried to play Pole Position on Namco Museum Volume One and... wow, has this game always been this twitchy? Or is it just a game that seriously demands a neGcon? Is there a version that'll work with analog sticks?

... Also, what are some good racers for the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 (both hucard and CD)? I played a bit of Rad Racer today and it put me in the mood for more games in that style.

[Ghegs]

Yeah, in the PS1 Namco Museum the two Pole Position games are digital-only unless played with a neGcon. Luckily Pole Position is on a good number of other Namco collections as well. Namco Museum (PS2, Xbox, GC), Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary (PS2, Xbox, GC, PC), Namco Museum Virtual Arcade (Xbox 360)...the game should work with analog sticks on these.

Not that many racers on the PCE...there's OutRun, and Road Spirits is kind of the same vein as that and Rad Racer.

[BrianC]

Not that many racers on the PCE...there's OutRun, and Road Spirits is kind of the same vein as that and Rad Racer.

Final Lap Twin is good stuff and even has a RPG style mode.

Yeah, Pole Position in Namco Museum v. 1 PSX is more twitchy than other ports I have played, including ones with digital controls. I definitely plan to get a Negcon to play it better.

[Obiwanshinobi]

So yeah, I'm looking for Racers for any system I own now. That means every console up to the PS2 and Gamecube, any PC up 'til Windows 98, and, ummm... yeah.

Moto Racer (1, 2, 3) on PC/PSX. Some liked them best played with a keyboard, but analogue pad (recognised as "joystick" in the menu) did the job for me. Mashed: Fully Loaded. Crash 'N' Burn (2004). Midnight Club II (the PS2 version). The original Burnout.
Nitrobike on PS2 seemed okay, but I haven't played the Wii version.
Jak X (play without memory card in a slot to avoid the glitchy auto-saving).
In F-Zero GX play the Story mode.

[HydrogLox]

TOPIC EXPAND!
So yeah, I'm looking for Racers for any system I own now. That means every console up to the PS2 and Gamecube, any PC up 'til Windows 98, and, ummm... yeah.

Some former Wipeout/Wipeout XL team members formed Curly Monsters and released N.Gen Racing for PS1 (and Quantum Redshift for the classic Xbox (works on 360BC)).

[Cannonballs]

Very old bump but didn’t know where to ask, anyone have any experience with Sega Race TV? I know it was never ported and the arcade didn’t seem to be very popular in USA.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Seeing this one bumped, I feel Moto Racer Advance deserves a mention. It's a really real Moto Racer game, imagine Ridge Racer on GBA being any good. Some amateurish artwork in menus, utter lack of music and pretty bullshit A.I. dudes (bumping into them doesn't seem to slow THEM down whatsoever, makes me feel like I'm racing against solid ghosts) are the worst of it, so, if you are not cool about button mashing in F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, GBA's most essential racer for you might well be Moto Racer Advance.
Having had a pretty good gaming experience with GBA ports of Sega titles (Super Monkey Ball, ChuChu Rocket!), I would expect GBA OutRun to deliver as well.
Also, I consider Kuru Kuru Kururin to be a racing game. Seeing it called "puzzler" all the time is one of things that very much drove me out of internet.
I've recently been in awe with the Wii TrackMania again. I feel I could study its craft for years! It is monumental. There's faith in gaming to be had after all.

[BrianC]

Very old bump but didn’t know where to ask, anyone have any experience with Sega Race TV? I know it was never ported and the arcade didn’t seem to be very popular in USA.

I haven't heard of it before, but I watched a video and it looks interesting. Like a mix of Power Drift and F-Zero GX.

[guigui]

Necroing this thread because I was having fond memories of Sonic & All Stars Transformed game on the PS3, then a little search lead me to this game "Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Battle", supposedly out in Q1 2022.
But I never heard of it anywhere else than this page. Any informations on this game :

https://sonicfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Soni ... ing_Master

[Air Master Burst]

Necroing this thread because I was having fond memories of Sonic & All Stars Transformed game on the PS3, then a little search lead me to this game "Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Battle", supposedly out in Q1 2022.
But I never heard of it anywhere else than this page. Any informations on this game :

https://sonicfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Soni ... ing_Master

That's the site for Sonic fans to list features for their dream games, not real info on games that actually exist.

[guigui]

Oh well, welcome to the internet, me

[copy-paster]

Was about to make a new racing thread since I've been back on racing game fever lately, and double checked and found this thread.

You just can't go wrong with PSP Ridge Racers. It's like combination of all the good things of previous RRs/"best of" sorta thing and make it much better. Handling is pure arcadey goodness and even includes almost all the tracks from previous entries, also bringing back previous music tracks albeit fewer are selected but the new tracks are bangers too. To think that this was the system's launch game and imagine seeing this back in the day with PS2-like graphics and all run with 60fps no dips whatsover.

BTW do anyone here also have interest with Simcades?

[Air Master Burst]

You just can't go wrong with PSP Ridge Racers. It's like combination of all the good things of previous RRs/"best of" sorta thing and make it much better. Handling is pure arcadey goodness and even includes almost all the tracks from previous entries, also bringing back previous music tracks albeit fewer are selected but the new tracks are bangers too. To think that this was the system's launch game and imagine seeing this back in the day with PS2-like graphics and all run with 60fps no dips whatsover.

Ridge Racer PSP is great but completely irrelevant because Ridge Racer 2 on PSP has all the stuff from the first one plus nearly every track and song that had been in any Ridge Racer up to that point. It's in a dead heat with RR4 for best in the series.

Also wanna give a special shoutout to the PSP version of Midnight Club: LA Remix! Instead of a straight port of the underwhelming console version, it gives you kind of a greatest hits mashup of Midnight Clubs 2 and 3. Midnight Club 2 is still the finest street-racing game I think I've ever played.

[copy-paster]

Yes I refer Ridge Racers as the whole (includes RR2), both are basically the same game with the latter just add few extras.

I did have great time with MC3 Dub Remix, it's one of my favorite arcade racer as well but I haven't finish all the career modes yet. Felt it was too long to progress.

[Air Master Burst]

Midnight Club 3 is pretty good too, but I find all the licensed cars and focus on customization really takes away from the quality of the actual racing.

[To Far Away Times]

Outrun 2006. Everything else competes for second place.

The wipeout games are pretty good too.

[Air Master Burst]

Outrun 2006. Everything else competes for second place.

The wipeout games are pretty good too.

Outrun 2/2006 is amazing, but the PSP port (while solid) is pretty far from the best version of that game.

I'd take Wipeout Pulse and Ridge Racer 2 over PSP Outrun 2006, but I don't know if either measure up to the console or arcade versions of Outrun. Wipeout Pulse probably does.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I had a lot of fun with the Wangan Midnight series too. The lack of a proper port of the arcade games has always been a shame, though.

Am I the only one who wants chase cam games to not have that zoom in and out effect as speed increases and decreases? I'm a firm believer in the camera staying firmly planted at a fixed distance behind the car regardless of speed. Many arcade games have stayed faithful to this design but there's many modern games that have implemented this dynamic camera effect, and I hate my car getting much further away from the camera if I'm going fast. It just makes it harder to see without adding anything fun to the experience.

[copy-paster]

Am I the only one who wants chase cam games to not have that zoom in and out effect as speed increases and decreases? I'm a firm believer in the camera staying firmly planted at a fixed distance behind the car regardless of speed.

I think this is made to get the sense of speed of driving, and I kinda like this dynamic too because sometimes going fast isn't always the best. NFS ProStreet Speed Challenge is one of the games I could think of got the best sense of speed and camera dynamic.

Pretty sure PS2-era japanese racing games always have fixed chase cam regardless of speed.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

If it were a toggle option I'd be okay with it, but I've honestly yet to see it in any racing game that has it. Doesn't seem to be a standard option feature. I find it also a nuisance in games like GTA:SA...

[guigui]

Bumping Racing Topic! to mention New Star GP

F1 racing game on all platform, tends toward arcade driving more than simulation I'd say.

Pretty minimalistic graphics may recall Virtua Racing, but the game is much deeper. Lots of tracks, tweaks possible to your cars, teams, pit stop strategies, weather strategies, and most important of all : really satisfying gameplay where you can see that your actual maneuvering of your car decides the fate of the course.

Career has some nice events like time challenge, rival course, elimination course, checkpoint courses, and of course Grand Prix. Also has a Championship mode I did not try yet. For Ghegs, I'm not sure it has a proper Best Time mode, maybe unlocked later ?

So far I'm at early career mode, and I think driving can get more and more hectic and technical as you increase in era (i.e. rank and difficulty), need to play more to see.

New Star GP is often discounted in the $5 range, and if you like racing games you'd do yourself a favor to grab it at that price.


Also available is both Super Woden GP I and II. I was not please with the top view at first, but people comparing it to "early GT games" had me interested. Anyone tried those games and can give feedback ?

[D]

IMHO Woden has boat physics.
Boat physics, there is no difference between grip and no-grip (sliding, drifting) So you are always just controlling a boat that looks like a car. Als no real steering, the 'car' just pivots from the centre of the car
If you like racing games with boat physics then yes go for it.
Please let me know if I judge too harshly

I really wanted to like the Woden series

[guigui]

IMHO Woden has boat physics.
Boat physics, there is no difference between grip and no-grip (sliding, drifting) So you are always just controlling a boat that looks like a car. Als no real steering, the 'car' just pivots from the centre of the car
If you like racing games with boat physics then yes go for it.
Please let me know if I judge too harshly

I really wanted to like the Woden series

Definitely not good description of what racing game should be indeed. Never tried the game myself, wish there'd be a demo somewhere.

[Lemnear]

Outrun 2006. Everything else competes for second place.

The wipeout games are pretty good too.

Outrun 2/2006 is amazing, but the PSP port (while solid) is pretty far from the best version of that game.

I'd take Wipeout Pulse and Ridge Racer 2 over PSP Outrun 2006, but I don't know if either measure up to the console or arcade versions of Outrun. Wipeout Pulse probably does.

Ridge Racer 2 is the best racing game available on PSP, it is the Sonic Generation of the series, a compendium of all the chapters released on PS1/PS2 up to that point, so all the RR from 1 to 5 including Rave Racer which was released only as an Arcade.

[sunnshiner]

Bumping Racing Topic! to mention New Star GP

F1 racing game on all platform, tends toward arcade driving more than simulation I'd say.

Pretty minimalistic graphics may recall Virtua Racing, but the game is much deeper. Lots of tracks, tweaks possible to your cars, teams, pit stop strategies, weather strategies, and most important of all : really satisfying gameplay where you can see that your actual maneuvering of your car decides the fate of the course.

Career has some nice events like time challenge, rival course, elimination course, checkpoint courses, and of course Grand Prix. Also has a Championship mode I did not try yet. For Ghegs, I'm not sure it has a proper Best Time mode, maybe unlocked later ?

So far I'm at early career mode, and I think driving can get more and more hectic and technical as you increase in era (i.e. rank and difficulty), need to play more to see.

New Star GP is often discounted in the $5 range, and if you like racing games you'd do yourself a favor to grab it at that price.


Also available is both Super Woden GP I and II. I was not please with the top view at first, but people comparing it to "early GT games" had me interested. Anyone tried those games and can give feedback ?

I'm intrigued by New Star GP but it still looks a bit too simmy for me- racing lines, pit stops, strategies, unnecessary character customisation (ie filler)... no thanks. It's a shame because it looks ace. I'll stick with OG Virtua Racing.

The Super Woden GP games are only just ok, I got both 1 & 2 on sale and haven't played them since the first day I got them. The balance/progression isn't great, like you can get stuck with a certain set of cars and not be able to progress to different races until you grind enough of whatever the in-game currency is to buy your way out of the rut. Also, yeah, boat physics. You'd be better off playing Micro Machines, Hot Rod or Tinker Racers.

[guigui]

I'm intrigued by New Star GP but it still looks a bit too simmy for me- racing lines, pit stops, strategies, unnecessary character customisation (ie filler)... no thanks. It's a shame because it looks ace. I'll stick with OG Virtua Racing.

The Super Woden GP games are only just ok, I got both 1 & 2 on sale and haven't played them since the first day I got them. The balance/progression isn't great, like you can get stuck with a certain set of cars and not be able to progress to different races until you grind enough of whatever the in-game currency is to buy your way out of the rut. Also, yeah, boat physics. You'd be better off playing Micro Machines, Hot Rod or Tinker Racers.

True that New Star GP is not a pure arcade experience. Racing line can be disabled, pit stops only appear in GP races but not in any the other modes (elimination, checkpoints, time trial, VS race and more I did not uncover yet).
The boost system is quite simple (refills every lap) and allowsfrom some nice recovers after hard turns. Also worth mentionning that the "Rewind" option may be completely ignored.
Sure you need to upgrade your car with money earned in races to keep it up to pace with AI opponents, but no real grind is required and I found that this goes well along the regular progression of the game where everything goes faster and faster as you progress in the game.
AI btw is not rubbish and pretty challenging if you dont take care of what you do. And most important part : driving feels good and tight, rewarding when you overtake opponents in a tough corner.

Thanks also for the feedback on Woden, does not look like I'll get it either.

I was also intrigued by Lego 2K Drive. Sure the online transactions get blamed a lot, but I dont intend to use it and would just like to know if driving and races in this one are fast and fun ?

[it290]

I picked up New Star as well and I'm having a lot of fun with it. My only real complaint is that with the racing lines on, it's too easy (at least for the initial seasons in each decade, granted you can do more but the progression doesn't really push you to), and with them off you'd need to achieve sim-like knowledge of each course in order to succeed. Wish there was an option similar to Gran Turismo where it tells you the suggested gear/speed for the upcoming corner without telling you explicitly where to brake.

The boosts are fine, but I don't think they really improve the game—would rather they'd have omitted it and just kept slipstreaming as a universal mechanic (slightly buffed vs. its current state) instead of implementing it as a perk.

Speaking of perks, I found the vast majority of them to be pretty 'meh' and often found myself choosing between two I didn't really care about just to keep my crew happy, which is kind of silly.

All that said, the game is just really fun to handle and the driving feels really good, which are the things that count. The damage model is a nice touch too.