What are Your Favorite Xbox 360 Racing Games?

[Halfblind]

I asked this question or Reddit and I want to ask it here too.

 

Last Christmas I received some used Xbox 360 games as a gift, and I've been enjoying a couple of great racing games. First, I am not a fan of simulation racing games, so my racing interest lean closer to the arcade side of the spectrum. I've just never been interested in sim racers, because I don't have the patience for playing the same race track a thousand times to perfect every turn. I am also not a fan of most mobile racing games either, because their track length is too short. Even though I am not perfect at arcade racing games I really do enjoy them. Here are some that I have played so far.

 

Most Favorites:

 

Need For Speed: Hot Persuit - Made by the same people who developed the Burnout Series. This game is like the love child between burnout and NFS. This game feels more refined gameplay wise and looks more refined visually.

1. Even though the graphics look a little pixelated and dated by today's standards the environments still look beautiful to look at. I always prefer graphical aesthetics over fidelity.
2. Multiple shortcuts and alternative routes make the environments feel more believable and make then more replayable.
3. Various tools like EMP and spikes give the gameplay more depth. This turns a standard racetrack into a playground.
4. Preview tracks and vehicles lets you try them out before you race them. Great if you want to learn where all the shortcuts are and learn the tracks really well.
5. There is an open world mode where you can just drive and explore. Great to help you relax and listen to your favorite music after a stressful day.
6. There are no penalties for crashing and driving reckless!

 

Split/Second - This game is just reckless abandonment embodied and the most fun that I've had in a racing game in a very long time. I just can't believe that Disney even published it.

1. Graphics and environments still look great to this day. It's exciting to see them explode and crumble before your eyes.
2. Earning powerplays by drifting is a very thoughtful gameplay mechanic. The driving also feels very smooth and intuitive. I don't have to think about it.
3. Using the powerplays to change the routes gives the races replayability and makes the courses feel more fluidic and dynamic.
4. There are no penalties for crashing and driving reckless!

 

Least Favorites:

 

Need For Speed: The Run - There is just something about this game that I just don't like. It leans too close to a simulation racing game for my tastes. Trying to balance the gameplay and perfect my cornering is difficult for me. I also don't like how the game gives you a finite number of retries per stage. It feels like the game penalizes you for making mistakes. Some of the rock textures in the wilderness areas also look really bad in my opinion. It lookes like they used bump mapping, gloss and bloom effects when they should have left them eternally lit with a matte finish instead.

 

Crackdown 1&2 - Crackdown is a really fun game, but its racing segments are really, really bad. Let's just leave it at that. You can download both games for free from the Xbox 360 marketplace.

 

Wanted Games:

 

Outrun 2006 - You can't go wrong with Outrun 2006 for the Original Xbox. Running the game on the 360 these days is the most premiere way of playing it. You can go wrong with how much it cost these days. For a game that was originally under $50 new it is often priced at over $200 used. I'm not paying that much for a game that I would play rarely anyways.

 

Need For Speed: Rivals - This NFS game looks like the love child between Hot Persuit and Most Wanted (2012). As much as I like Hot Persuit, this game would definitely be up my alley. I've borrowed Most Wanted a years ago, so I might want that game as well.

 

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What were and still are your favorite racing games for the Xbox 360? Please also tell me why. Thank you!

[Nevander]

Favorites are NFS Most Wanted and an underrated one called Baja 1000.

[Mr. Freeze]

Burnout Revenge 

[Halfblind]

On 6/7/2023 at 11:05 PM, Nevander said:

NFS Most Wanted

What version of Most Wanted did you play, the 2005 or the 2012 version? If you played them both, which one did you like best?

 

On 6/7/2023 at 11:08 PM, Mr. Freeze said:

Burnout Revenge 

What did you like about Burnout: Revenge so much? Did you ever play Burnout: Takedown and Paradice? If so, what did you think about those games too?

[heliumlamb]

outrun 2 special tours (included in 2006 c2c) is good as arcade racing will probably ever get. feels perfect no matter the hardware, even feels as it should on the psp running at anywhere between 10-30 fps. it is worth playing at least 2 credits worth on any of its ports. here is a patch for the that adds improves controller support, among other fixes for the windows version, because i implore any interested beings to experience it. the xbox release of vanilla OR2 also works on the 360, which does not have the slipstream mechanic, but featured unlockable courses from a few AM2 model 3 racers that never got home ports. playing the outrun 2 course in sp/c2c is not quite the same experience, slipstream kind of feels op in that course, but it seems like the time restrictions have been tightened in outrun 2 sp to compensate for the steady supply of ways to increase speed. every single thing that sega am2 learned from every single arcade racing game they've made up to that point (about 15, including shenmue forklift) is delivered with both elegantly and efficiently in bursts of no more than 6 minutes. play it any way you can.

 

and related: the 360 and ps3 got a better-than perfect port of daytona usa, AM2's second best racing game. i think you can still purchase it through the xbox 360 version of the michaelsoft store, either thru browser or thru the console itself.

there was a shutoku battle game on the console, kind of a stat-tweaking, customization and progression-heavy but still arcadey racing game where you do laps around tokyo's C1 and surrounding highways, coming across various drivers as you make the rounds to take for a little brief race. a real, dangerous thing people sometimes do. it was released in eu/na as "Import Tuner Challenge" which makes no sense, because relative to the region the game itself takes place in, those just-off-brand-enough vehicles are for the most part, not imports. (believe me it's not as bad as atlus taking cave's togue MAX, a highway pass racing game, and changing the cover art to a literal chevrolet s10 pickup truck) it's kind of grindy but have a simple, fun and safe way to loop the C1

Ridge Racer 6 is one i have yet to play, but if it's anything like the psp ridge racers with the added boost mechanic, it is just good fun. Cannot Support NeGcon

 

it has been a long time but Burnout Paradise got fairly boring for me at some point, and that's about all i remember of it. it is harsh, but it is how i feel. i would rather play burnout 2. paradise just felt like burnout 3 (a phenomenal game+have not played revenge) added an open world that was glued on with coconut oil. it impressed me at first with its scale but it fell off super fast.
 

[openroadracer]

Split/Second has got to be the most exciting, most unique racing game I've ever played, and is in desperate need of a remaster.

The concept sounds silly on the surface: A competition-focused reality TV show where people race around tracks and blow up sections of the course to get an advantage? Sounds kinda dumb at first glance, right?

But the game leans into it and plays it for all it's worth. Every vehicle sounds like a powerful monster of a machine. Every course is absolutely stuffed with things that go BANG. And the soundtrack really drives home just what kind of game this is.

Honestly, if I were to remake Split/Second, I'd go even further and make it an in-universe E-Sport. Why? Get rid of the idea of building an actual in-universe physical course to destroy, just set the whole thing in a virtual environment that can be even more outrageous. Push the explosions to the max, with ever bigger booms being presented steadily during the game's "Season" mode.

 

I'd also hire a broad array of voice actors to give every rival driver their own unique voices. This would be especially important for the game's Elite Drivers, who are constant rivals in the player's path through "Season" mode. I want to give the rivals in the game some real personality, so having voice chatter during the races would really add to them.

[DuckReconMajor]

On 6/9/2023 at 3:18 AM, Halfblind said:

What version of Most Wanted did you play, the 2005 or the 2012 version? If you played them both, which one did you like best?

 

2005 is the one all of us played back in the 360 days. Very good game and I agree with Nevander in recommending it if we're talking about the same one. 

 

I have not played 2012 but from what I know it's not nearly as fondly remembered as 2005 is

[Kinsie]

Seconding Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast and XBLA Daytona USA, and throwing Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed onto the pile. Just sublime cart racing goodness.

[scalliano]

Since we're focusing on arcade racers, I'm seconding NFS Most Wanted 2005: STILL the best NFS game ever made, and the 360 version is the definitive stock version of the game. I'll also thrown NFS Carbon in there as it's basically a direct sequel/expandalone.

 

Also seconding Split/Second: If Michael Bay made Burnout, it would be this.

Blur: It's like WipEout, but with cars. Suffered the misfortune of a horrendously misguided marketing campaign but it's great fun, especially with mates.

 

Driver: San Francisco: Fantastic cops'n'robbers formula the series is known for (Driv3r notwithstanding), but with a unique "shift" mechanic which allows you to control other cars to aid your progress.

 

One last thing: if you come across a copy of Import Tuner Challenge, grab it as it is actually Tokyo Xtreme Racer X..

 

Honourable mention goes to Burnout 2: Point of Impact. Technically an OG Xbox game, but it works with the 360's back-compat and has the best Crash mode in the series for multiplayer sessions. Yes, I will die on that hill.