Top 10 racing games that need a second chance

The video game industry is something that has its highs and lows. With IP’s being brought back from the dead nearly every day, and with an industry nearly reliant on nostalgia and growing fanbases, rather than new ideas and products that break the mold. To be fair however, it makes sense why companies would rather bank on an old series to back-up new material. Making a new series from scratch is very risky, but sometimes, these breaks from the norm end up creating hidden gems.
Today, I’m covering my top 10 racing games that deserve a second chance.
This list will not be limited to one per franchise, and not every game on this list was a complete failure. There are some installments on this list that may be from massive, iconic, brands in the racing game genre. The idea is to cover games that I feel need sequels, instead of getting another Forza or Need for Speed that is practically that same from every other one besides the look, setting, and car list. This list is for the underdogs, so let’s get right into number 10.

#10 - Drive Club

This is probably the most recent entry on this list, but none the less, Drive Club was a great idea gone to waste. The idea of having your own clubs that get to go up against other clubs is such a great idea, but it never caught on due to a rough start. It’s sad really, because everything else was so good. The graphics, the sound design, the track design, the fantastic season pass that costed only $12, and gave you nearly double the number of cars given at launch, and the simple, yet thrilling career mode.
Yes, yes, yes, cheap but yes, and HELL YES.

#9 - Auto Modellista

Before we dive into this game, I have a question. Why does every racing game developer try to go for a more realistic look? Sure, we have Nintendo, and the amazing Mario Kart series, with all its cartoon-y splendor, but what if the next GRID game from Code masters looked more like this:

I would personally go out to the store, buy a copy full price and proceed to play this masterpiece until my eyes bled and my job calls me and asks me if I’m still alive. Auto Modellista is the game I’ve always wanted, before I even knew what I wanted.
Well… it’s almost the game I wanted.
The handling model is garbage, the career mode is barely functional, there is no challenge outside of having to wrestle the cars through each corner and if it looked like any other racing game on the market, it would fade into obscurity faster than Driving Emotion Type-S (Unless you liked that game, and if you did please tell me why in the comments. I’d be intrigued…). And yet, despite its numerous flaws, it still looks amazing. It looks so good, that it’s one of the few games that I’d recommend checking out just for the way it looks. Also if you’re going to play this game, you need to go to Akagi Hill, snatch the AE-86, and blast Eurobeat so loud your ears bleed. You’ll thank me later.

#7 -Need for Speed: Prostreet

Now, this game was a success, despite it getting some overall Luke-warm reception at launch. Pro-street combines the gameplay of an arcade-sim, but puts into the backdrop of what a track day actually looks like. It’s amazing career mode, engaging difficulty (for the first half anyways), great car list, fantastic tuning and customization options and plethora of game modes make this game something that should’ve had a sequel a long time ago. The real meat of the came comes from the varied amount of events with Grip mode, which is just your basic racing mode, drag mode, drift mode and this intense amazing mode called Speed and it’s the best mode. Period. More racing sim games need an atmosphere, tuning options and career mode like Pro-street, and it’s a damn shame no one has tried since it’s launch nearly 10 years ago.

#6 - Pure

You know what racing genre needs more love and attention nowadays? The off-road, extreme sports genre. Games like MX Vs ATV, ATV Off Road Fury and this game. This is an action-racing game that revolves around balls-to-the-wall chaotic racing, massive jumps, incredibly arcade-y and memorable tricks and plenty of fast paced moments. The biggest feature, however, is the amazing garage mode, where you can make your own ATV’s from scratch. Literally everything from the frame up is customizable, and you win races to earn more parts. However, the saddest bit of all isn’t the fact that this game doesn’t even have a sequel, nor is it how the studio behind it, Black Rock Studios, is going to appear on this list again, with another racing game that failed. It’s that no one has taken the idea of making your own vehicles from scratch and applied it to any other racing games, and that’s just feels like a wasted opportunity. At least you can pick up Pure for about $5, and it just became backwards-compatible on Xbox One. Ride on.

#6 - Tourist Trophy

#6 – Tourist Trophy

If anyone loves the Gran Turismo series, like me, and wants to drive the same amazing tracks from 4 but on bikes (like me, again), then Tourist Trophy is the game for you. It’s simply Gran Turismo 4 but with bikes, but is more than just a simple re-skin. You get a whole new career mode, with over 100 new bikes to explore, a new handling model to learn and a whole new track - Ricardo Torma Valencia Circuit.
If you love GT4, and love bikes, you need this game in your library.

#5 - Blur

If Project Gotham Racing and Mario Kart had a kid, this would be the offspring. Blur is an action-packed racing game that take the formula of Mario Kart and applies the look and feel of a PGR game into the mix to offer an epic and fast paced battle in each race, but to truly explain the chaos behind this game, please watch the trailer.
It tells you all you need to know.

#4 - Micro Machines V4

This game needs more love and attention. It’s a top-down, arcade racing game in the vain of games like R/C Pro Am. It’s based solely around the Micro Machines toys, and follow races set around places you’d race these toys in real life, like your bedroom, or in the kitchen, or at the beach. The best part of the game, however, revolves around the weapon system that can make the races fast, intense and memorable. It’s a pick-up-and-play, 4-player, video gaming masterpiece that needs more love.

#3 - Split-Second

Remember Pure and that company Black Rock? Well, here’s their other unsung hero. Imagine an arcade racing game which is about 10 drivers on a movie set/race track, and you must win the race while earning “power” by passing, drafting, drifting and driving like a bad-ass. The catch? The power you earn can be used to blow up obstacles in the road, destroying the other competitors. To better explain, here’s a simple trailer that tells you all you need to know.

This idea is so bonkers, yet so genius that the fact a sequel wasn’t made is a disgrace. The best part? Split-Screen Multiplayer, baby. And it’s so simple to pick up and play, that you don’t need to spend hours perfecting it. You just pick-up the remote and play. Simple.

#2 - Stuntman

What if the developers behind Driver made a spin-off that focused on a new game engine, that ended up being used for a game that came out nearly 4 years later that ended up bombing and leaving Atari into bankruptcy? You get Stuntman, which surprisingly made the PS2’s Greatest Hits collection and had an official sequel known as Stuntman: Ignition, but was never talked about ever again. It’s a simple concept of nailing every stunt the director calls out while driving through a movie set. It’s based wholly around the idea of constantly trying to hit every single mark on the board, while driving smoothly and keeping within a time limit. The biggest selling point, besides the idea behind the game itself, was the fantastic handling model, great visuals that still hold up well, and the fun and crazy physics engine, which can lead to dramatic results when considering the realistic damage modeling of each car. It’s a simple, fun concept that really should’ve caught on, but sadly didn’t.
THQ did take the license and made a sequel, but it sadly never capture the spirit of the original, nor did it have the sales to match.

#1 - Driver: San Francisco

How does this sound? A massive open world to explore, an in-depth campaign mode which revolves around the mystery of a criminal’s escape, and you being induced into a coma after an accident, the ability to morph into any car on the street and drive it, a handling model which the developers behind the original Driver games spent 3 years perfecting, a full list of licensed cars with full damage modeling, and split-screen and online multiplayer chock full of fun modes. Get Driver: San Francisco if you haven’t.
You’ll thank me later.

Ironically, it’s been rumored that the team behind this game was making a sequel, but Ubisoft saw what they were doing, and decided to scrap the idea, build a new game engine called Disrupt, which was an engine originally built for driving, and made Watch_Dogs from it, supposedly. Then that game broke the companies record of the best-selling launch of a game.
I guess this list does have a happy ending….