Favorite "Not Drift Stage" Racing Game?

[Bonzi77]

What is your favorite racing game? OBVIOUSLY DRIFT STAGE is your favorite, but outside of that, what do you like?

I personally really liked Wipeout on the sega saturn, as well as Mario Kart DS and Daytona USA. I've never been into those super simulator type games, although I can definitely see the appeal.

[kesadisan]

I'm totally into Daytona USA. By far the saturn port sucks. But it's still my first favorite arcade racing.
Second is Ridge Racer. My first PSX game I've ever had. It then grows to Rage Racer which really blows my mind. Then freaking R4 come out and it's the first time I got detention because I didn't even study as usual XD

Of course I love realistic racing too. Bad taste on it though. I love Gran Turismo, and own all of the series. Used to love it because the car collection are extreme, and love the menu music so much. It's still great till now.

Forza did blew me away actually. Horizon 2 sucks though.

[GMane]

The Trackmaina series is pretty fun, but you generally race against yourself and the clock, even in multiplayer. The Burnout series is great if what you're going for is crashing into everything. I second your call of Mario Kart DS.

[DisketteDetective]

I know this is an obvious choice but I'd have to go with OutRunners for the Arcade. There's just something absolutely cheese and badass about that game, and the fact that you drive 200+MPH all over the world. Also my close second would be Split/Second, that game is just a blast in general.

[bademeistAr]

Hard to narrow it down since I play a lot of racing games ... Among the more recent favorites are Forza Motorsport 4 and Dirt 2. The all-time greats can't be complete without some Ridge Racer Type 4, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and, of course, Outrun though.

[DJ_Lobster]

I've only gotten to play Daytona USA in an arcade a few times, but it was really fun. I can't really list a favorite, I've played so many. I'm just going to list off some games I can think of that I really like, in no specific order:

• Need for Speed Underground Series
• Test Drive 5
• Grand Turismo Series (kind of got out of it after GT4 though)
• Trackmania
• Mario Kart with friends is pretty fun
• Midnight Club series
• Crash Team Racing
• Dirt 2
• Ridge Racer series
• ATV Offroad Fury
• Kinetica
• FlatOut series
• Stuntman
• Grid Series
• Midtown Madness & Motocross Madness series
• Dirt Track Racing series
• Twisted Metal series (does that count? lol)
• Jet Moto

That's all I can really think of off the top of my head. I played a lot of racing games with my Dad, and there's a lot I'm probably forgetting, like some Nascar games on the PS2 I can't remember the name of. Even just racing games that were probably bad but were fun because of playing with friends.

I also borrowed a Logitech wheel recently for about a month (forget the name, but it's the really nice one with the 3 pedals and shifter) and played games like Live for Speed and iRacing. It was soo much fun. I really want to put together a wheel and seat setup for racing in, especially once the Oculus Rift comes out.

[TrackerTD]

OutRun 2006 for me. I'd love the Xbox version for the Daytona 2 and SCUD Race tracks, but alas.

Gale Racer on Saturn is fun, but often maligned, since it was released a week after the Saturn in Japan.

[chasepettit]

I've never been very good at answering these all time favorites sorts of questions, and there's quite a bit of variety within the racing genre which can make it hard to fairly compare some games. I'll take a shot at a quick top ten though (limiting myself to one game per franchise):

1. Burnout Paradise
2. Super Hang-On
3. Outrun 2006
4. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)
5. Forza Motorsport 4
6. R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
7. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
8. Super Monaco GP
9. Dirt 3
10. Touge Max 2

[PsEG]

For arcade racers, Burnout Paradise or F-Zero GX. Burnout Paradise combined bits and pieces of every Burnout before it into a its different boosting mechanics, and despite the singleplayer being a little weak, the multiplayer was amazing, and the emphasis on cooperation in its freeburn challenges is something I still haven't seen another game pull off nearly as well since. F-Zero GX is the most solid and enjoyable future racer I've ever played, with the difficulty of the tracks and handling taking prominence over AI trickery. I probably spent hundreds of hours on its time trial mode for the sheer joy of figuring out another nuance of a track and shaving seconds off my laps, and I never even got into all of the crazy tricks the top players were able to discover and master over time.

For simulation, Forza Motorsport 4 still holds a very near and dear place in my heart. Despite some very obnoxious memory leak issues that ruined lobbies for months, the ability to easily switch between incredibly serious spec races to more silly affairs and game types made its multiplayer the most dynamic I've ever experienced in a driving game. Nowhere else have I been able to race a field of Smart Fortwos and Ford Transit SuperSports against each other and have the end result be competitive, reasonably clean, and entertaining as hell.

[billy_killmeyer]

Need for Speed Carbon is probably my favorite just because I spent so much of my Game Cube days playing it. BUT what I can name with utmost certainty is my least favorite racing game which is NFS Rivals. It looks pretty and can be fun but the cops in it while you're playing as a racer are just the dumbest thing and ruin it.

[tylerjones4292]

I'm a bit of a recent convert to racing games. For arcade-y games I really liked Blur, the Sonic kart racers, Mini Motor Racing Evo, NFS: Hot Pursuit, and Mario Kart 8. Dirt 3 got me into the more realistic games, but I'm still waiting for them to take it off of GFWL.

Last year at MAGFest I discovered the arcade cabinet for Sega Rally Championship and fell completely in love with it. Sadly the home version doesn't quite measure up.

[gabrielmagno1]

These are my favorite racing games:

• Top Gear, SNES (1992)
• Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2, PC (2002)
• Grid, PC (2008)

[ryanx9000]

It's gotta be a tie for me, between two completely different racers. Ridge Racer Type 4 and Forza Motorsport 4. I absolutely love the style and driving mechanics of Ridge Racer Type 4, it's just such a cool game. I love Forza 4 because of the large variety of tracks and cars combined with all of the tuning options the game gave you. I would spend hours just driving around tuning and customizing cars and the online lobbies were a lot of fun.

[thebolt7]

OutRun 2, for sure. Nothing beats playing it in a sit down arcade cabinet, but SUMO did a fantastic job with the Xbox Live Arcade version. Second would probably be Mario Kart 8, if that counts. Absolutely excellent game.

[chinsip]

Currently, i'm going to say Driveclub and Mario Kart 8. its not popular to like DC but it looks amazing, the physics are good and its an enjoyable racer, with the added bonus of spot challenges you play whilst racing to beat friends online... i dont think i need to say anything about the definitive MK!

i've put a lot of time in to the Gran Turismo series over the years and loved GT5 so they would be long time faves, keen to see v7 on PS4!

[DownhillDinosaur]

Favorite will have to be the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series. Just love the highway routes and the little story going along with it in the game.

[ferrarimanf355]

The Xbox Live Arcade/PSN ports of Daytona are better than the arcade versions in every way. I totally disagree on Forza Horizon 2, though, it's the main reason why I got an Xbox One in the first place. So fun.

I'd also add Fast and the Furious Super Cars in the arcade, it's a good racer from the guys who made Cruis'n Exotica, with some imaginative level designs, and H2Overdrive from the guys who made Hydro Thunder. San Francisco Rush 2049, too, especially the arcade version. Asphalt 8 is getting a lot of playtime on my iPhone. My favorite Need for Speed game is Porsche Unleashed, really wish EA would put that up on GOG or Origin. And of course, Ferrari F355 Challenge for the arcades, hence my username.

[AE86_SHINJI]

Initial D Arcade Stage
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune
Mario Kart
Gran Turismo

[jaydubnb]

I couldn't agree with this more...but I'll try!

I consider Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast the greatest racing game of all time. Only the original Outrun, Burnout 3, and Forza Horizon 2 come close (though I have soft spots for Daytona USA and SEGA Rally, too).

The game seriously hits on all points: Great level design, good controls, eye-candy, and some of the best music to grace a racing game ("Night Flight"!).

It's unfortunate that OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast is no longer available for purchase. I feel like a racing gem is now lost to time.

[kestrel1]

Forza Horizon 2 (and generally the entire Forza series) is by far my racer of choice, though if we're talking strictly "arcade" style racing, Outrun 2006 and Daytona USA are probably my front runners.