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Everyone reading this article likely has a memory attached to a racing game as a child, whether it be Need For Speed, Midnight Club, or Midtown Madness. However, these days, there are practically no racing games that have the hype they used to have.
It is no secret that racing games are not the crown jewel of the gaming industry as they once were. Come along with us as we explore the reasons why we think this is.
The Problems
In this section, we will mention the problems that we think the current racing games suffer from, after which we will zoom out and evaluate the genre as a whole.
Freebies
Back in the day, games like Need For Speed Unground 2 had you working day and night to get a better car. You would start the game with a family car or a sedan and slowly make your way up the ranks to get faster and better cars.
This allowed you to develop a connection with what you are driving. You get a sense of immersion in upgrading a crappy car or trying to save up for a better one.
These days, all the driving simulators give you so much off the bat that you lose all sense of progression. You go from a Mira to a Huracan in a few hours of gameplay, if not even less. Making progress this easy does nothing but make it meaningless.
Open Worlds
Every racing game these days is chasing the trend of being completely open-world. Though we think the open-world concept suits a racing game, these games are implemented so that there is nothing of substance in these open worlds.
A lot of these worlds, like in NFS Unbound, feel empty and dead, making the concept something that only pads out development costs and increases playtime. Nothing fun comes out of lifeless streets that you can explore on your will.
If your concept of an open world does not go beyond the idea of making your game bigger, it might be better to leave the feature alone to focus on concepts that are unique and fun, like a cool art style or an interesting mechanic.
Live Service
Apart from shooters, racing games seem like the most fitting candidates for adding microtransactions to squeeze the most money out of the player as possible. Studios might think that people who buy their game might be likely to invest just a few more bucks to get a supercar off the rib.
These sleazy business tactics do nothing but alienate your player base, making them feel like they’ve been ripped off for buying these games, which in turn makes the masses less likely to buy racing games.
Zooming Out
A few weeks ago, feeling nostalgic for childhood car games, I tried some racing games but found them too unforgiving and boring. Craving more, I turned to GTA V and got hooked.
Surprisingly, GTA V became the best driving sim I’ve played in the last decade, thanks to its immersive world and the stories of Franklin, Michael, and Trevor.
This made me think that maybe racing games aren’t entertaining anymore because everything else has surpassed the intricacy you can integrate with your game if your only action in that game is to drive a car.
During my childhood, games like GTA San Andreas, Vice City, or the PS2 Tomb Raider had little to do apart from a primary mechanic, similar to racing games. In that age, the genre felt right at home.
Nowadays, however, it seems really hard to convince myself to play Forza instead of Elden Ring or Cyberpunk. It appears as though the whole industry has moved forward while racing games have stayed the same, if not devolved.
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[News Editor]
Obaid is pursuing a Law degree while working as a content writer. He has worked as a gaming writer for over three years because of his passion for the medium and reporting the latest updates in the industry. Having played hundreds of games, Obaid finds himself coming back to Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Red Dead Redemption 2, with these games being among his favorites. He has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as Wccftech, Metro UK, PS Lifestyle, GamePressure, VGC, and Gamespot.
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