The Racing Game Thread

[apsham]

Solar Crown and the new Crew are both having the problem of trying to be Forza Horizon like Forza Horizon isn’t already there. It boggles me mind that The Crew as it originally was happened to be one of the best feeling racers I’ve ever played - and tacked on story aside, I still loved it far more than the “hooo boy here’s your bracelet, we’ve turned this whole country into a lit racing festival fam” thing that Horizon, current day Crew and TDU have going.

I still fuck with FH4 from time to time though - even dead and soon to be delisted for purchase, you still get the rotating seasons and what not.

[JasonM]

I loved the original Crew because despite the weird scale of the world it was amazing to be able to drive through coast to coast.

Also I think the issue with Horizon is that the story is completely unfocused and thrown together with no real goal other than the aforementioned "lit racing festival brah" things going on.

At least The Crew tried to have an actual story sending you across the country, even if it was the usual low quality car-action movie schlock.

[Chris2K]

The Crew was such a revelation to me at the time, granted the "whole of the USA" was, at best, a few major cities and a lot of filler, I still really enjoyed it and the scale it created. The levelling up cars through racing them was also nice. Once they added boats and planes it became a shell of itself though.

But FH5 is just... perfect for me. The amount of cars is staggering, the driving is the perfect balance of simulation without becoming too restrictive, and their willingness to keep creating new content after nearly 3 years is so impressive.

[apsham]

Yeah I think there's still space for a game like FH - I think once you find one that you like that feels right to you and has the setting you like (I much prefer the setting of FH4 to FH5 for instance) then you're good to go, but you're also good to go with content for a VERY long time so multiple of those running at the same time is just reaching a bit much. The new Crew in particular is absolutely wildly uninspired and basically a carbon copy of Horizon as well.

[Rocketbusta]

As much as I love the Forza Horizon series, 5 was a step back for me. The unfocused “story” and how quickly you can get everything unlocked makes it a bit much. The seasons feature has very limited use with the Mexico map. Aside from tropical and dust storms (or if you spend time on the volcano in winter) it doesn’t feel like there’s much difference in season. 

I still prefer playing 3 and 4 very much. I like that you’ll be able to acquire cars in 4 even though the festival playlist is no more. Gives it more staying power than the others did after they delisted. I liked the demo of the Crew Motorfest, definitely want more competition in the simcade festival racer subgenre. Should make everyone better.