How come there are so few racing games coming out lately? Feels like it’s just codemasters doing their thing, some struggling indie games and a truckload of shovelware. I’m not saying it’s dead but wasn’t racing games one of the primary genres?
Another thing that bugs me with the few games that come out is the lack of progression and immersion. NFS Unbound impressed me slightly with actually starting you out with a low spec car and having slow (by modern standards) progression. However halfway through when you have fast and “cool” cars you really felt the games mediocrity.
Dirt rally 1 and 2 has economy systems, but after a single championship you can basically buy whatever car you want. The rallies are immersive but everything between is just boring menues.
Why do you think the state of racing games is so poor? The industry being shit? Audiences not playing them anymore?
I think there’s not a lot of room for competition, it’s either Gran Turismo on PS5, Forza on Xbox or… um… Mario Kart? On Switch?
You could say the same thing about Football games. There’s Madden and NCAA and that’s pretty much it.
The era of having niche games like Metropolis Street Racer, Project Gotham, Speed Devils, or, heck, go back to the OG Playstation with Wipeout, Jet Moto, Destruction Derby… that’s long over.
Which is a shame because I played the HELL out of MSR/PGR.