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[Mizhara]

So, it occurs to me that there might be others out there that really enjoys some balls-tightening adrenaline rushes at the edge of what human engineering can do, except can't actually do it in real life due to either lack of money, skill or courage. Racing games do seem to have gotten places since the old days of Stunt and... well, all the old games. The physics engines are becoming absolutely incredible when it comes to both the cars and the tracks, and you can get an incredibly authentic racing experience in the comfort of your own home now.

One of these incredible games snuck in completely under my radar, namely DiRT Rally.

Having dropped the arcade game style they followed in their latest outings (Grid games, the dudebro style Dirt3 etc) Codemasters have returned to Rally with an absolutely fantastic rally sim that delivers what may be the most insane rally game I've ever played. It's incredibly hard and enormously satisfying to succeed at. I've heard some use the term "The Dark Souls of racing games" and I can't actually disagree. Somewhere between six and seven hours into the game I've managed to win one stage out of I have no idea how many I've driven and I still loved every minute of it.

It may just be the way rally works, where you're at every point a split hair from complete disaster while still trying to push the envelope further, but this is easily the game where I've felt like I've gone really fucking fast, even though I've been going up to four times faster in other games in various hypercars etc. The tracks are so faithfully reproduced that people have put their own replays side-by-side with real life footage and it has matched damn near 100%, and the physics are amazing.

Fair warning, if you don't have a wheel and pedals, you're not going to get the same out of this game as someone who does. Feathering brakes, shifting the balance of the car while feeling the grip in your hands as you try to negotiate a hairpin with a scandinavian flick (or in my case, the lesser known but far more spectacular scandinavian flip) just isn't going to be as good or feel as amazing as with a decent racing wheel.

So, what racing games are mainstays in your collection, and which ones will you argue have the best driving feel to them? You know, except for Eurotruck Simulator 2, obviously. Best game ever. So engrossing.

[Mizhara]

Really? No other racers out there?

[Lyn Farel]

I... liked racing games when I was a child, and then a teen. From 1992 to 2000 or so I always had a racing game to play along with all my other games...

Now though, I totally stopped for some reason...

[Mizhara]

Go find yourself something cheap but good on Steam, and rekindle the flame. The really nice thing about racing games is that you can usually know exactly how long you'll be occupied per race, so you can play them as casually or in twelve hour sessions however you want.

What kind of racing games were you into?

[Lyn Farel]

I don't know, I guess i'm not really into those anymore...  At least not enough to really spend time on them.

I used to play many different styles actually, I wasn't really picky when I was a kid. From old cheesy (and incredibly fun) stuff like Death Rally and some other racing games with weapons, to more serious F1 and other stuff preceding Need for Speed, and even a motorbike one I played a bit but don't remember the title... I spent an incredible amount of hours on Star Wars racer too. So pretty diverse, all in all..

Most of the time it was also games I played because I had them for X or Y reasons... I rarely went to shopping for racing games actually. Most of those were either bought by my father or especially found sold with hardware, or free copies with another game...

So yeah, as I wanted to say, i'm not really a racer... But the genre is not unknown to me. I just lost track of it a long time ago (no pun intended...).

[Ché Biko]

Most of my racing has been on PS2, for some reason I don't like racing on PC.
Gran Turismo 3 has been my favourite for a long time. Recently I enjoy playing Burnout Takedown with a friend, and very recently I bought a second hand copy of F1-06. I've started playing this game at realistic settings, which means you lose control easily, and doing a Grand Prix takes as long as in real life, including the practice and qualification sessions.
In the hours I've played, I've managed to take pole position in my second attempt at my first GP qualification, but so far I've been unable to finish a race...not crashing for 50+ laps is hard...especially in the first lap.

[Mizhara]

Realistic F1 is murderously difficult. You're piloting a fighter jet on wheels, with serious changes both in your car's performance and the track itself over a very long time of very strenuous physical activity.

Granted, DiRT Rally isn't exactly forgiving either. Barring the soundtrack, that video is embarrassingly close to a lot of my stages.

[Korsavius]

I loved racing games on console growing up. I had a lot of them from the Need for Speed series. I also had some Midnight Clubs. I also had a gem of a game called Red Asphalt for PS1. I never was able to beat the final boss on that game. And of course, you can't be a fan of racing games and not have liked Twisted Metal. Ah, the good old days.

[Mizhara]

Yeah, I used to be really into the NFS series myself, in my days of Arcade racing. The GRID games took over though, giving a slightly more "real" racing experience while having the same gamut of casual through hypercars. Project Cars managed to instill a bit of a hunger for realistic games though, so now it's all about things like Asetto Corsa and DiRT Rally etc.

Turning off every single HUD element and then tearing through Wales or Greece in an '80s Ford Cosworth in bonnet cam is a rush no other games have ever given me, especially when you're knife-fighting the guys on the podium for their spot.

[Morwen Lagann]

GTA5 doesn't count, does it?

Mind, I'm currently raging at it for disappearing one of the cars I'd saved in a garage. 

[Mizhara]

Eeeeeeeeh... honestly, the driving in GTA5 rivals some of the other Arcade style driving games. Surpasses it, even. I wouldn't call it a racing and driving game, but respect where respect is due.

Can you adjust your FOV properly now, in first person driving mode?

I am torn between missing the days where I could play something like NFS Underground and stupidly enjoy it, and appreciating the current days of not being able to stand that arcade nonsense and being ecstatic about the batfuck insanity of Group B cars tearing through the mountains of Greece in a somewhat realistic fashion.

[Morwen Lagann]

I have no idea about FOV tweaking - I only picked up the game over the last weekend. Wasn't being entirely serious anyway.

I've always been more a fan of the old F-Zero series, myself.

[Mizhara]

Uploaded a couple of stages worth of gameplay, to try and show off how gorgeous the game is even in dreary rain or night conditions. Turns out youtube compression really does suck, but I guess it'll have to do. It's two rally stages back to back, in Wales, unedited so every mistake and fuckup is right there as well.

[Velarra]

I'm rather fond of prancing stallions, the green hell and Assetto Corsa

links:

Game:
http://www.assettocorsa.net/en/

Mod Scene sites:
http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/categories/assetto-corsa.1/

http://www.drivingitalia.net/forum/index.php?app=downloads&showcat=364

Kunos's Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgrlBI6OzHgVA-iVupI4TuQ

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Related to the Codemasters' return to form in sim racing with Dirt Rally, you might really like RBR, even if graphics are dated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burns_Rally

[Mizhara]

AC is definitely one of the real highlights of simdriving on PC.