What were the last video games you played?

[Mega-Tallica]

I'm not a racing fan, so I don't really care that much. But my friends are all about Forza and Gran Turismo, mostly for the customization and tuning. I think they spend more time tweaking their cars than they do racing.

Too much simulation. Even though they're great racing games, they tend to be a bit bland and boring unless you're really into cars and setups. I like cars a lot, but not enough to spend hours and hours of testing to shave off a couple thousands of a second on my lap times to be that much faster than everybody else. In real life, that'll be cool, in a game though it feels too much like a waste of time. Racing games with the best balance of simulation and arcade style are usually the best which is why I can't wait for GRID's long overdue sequel since the first one was a perfect balance of those two.

[www1221]

Arcade > Simulation. No one makes a better racing game than Criterion.

[Mega-Tallica]

Arcade > Simulation. No one makes a better racing game than Criterion.

If you asked me who makes the best racing games 5 years ago, I would've agreed with Criterion, but they flat out screwed up the NFS games and they've lost some of my respect along with it. They should have stuck with what they do best and that's the Burnout series instead of shoving their Burnout logic and physics into a NFS game that didn't need it, stalling any possible legit Burnout Paradise sequel and destroying the NFS games in the process.

Right now, I gotta go with Codemasters being the cream of the crop. The only thing they're missing is an open world racing game. If they develop that, then they'll be in business for a long time to come.

[www1221]

If you asked me who makes the best racing games 5 years ago, I would've agreed with Criterion, but they flat out screwed up the NFS games and they've lost some of my respect along with it. They should have stuck with what they do best and that's the Burnout series instead of shoving their Burnout logic and physics into a NFS game that didn't need it, stalling any possible legit Burnout Paradise sequel and destroying the NFS games in the process.

This isnt because of Criterion its EA. Need For Speed is the GH of the racing genre. NFS games are the ones the mainstream like better and sells better. EA wasnt going to let them make a Burnout game withtout the Need For Speed name some where on the box so they just made a Burnout game with some of the NFS touchings(customizing and real cars). This does nothing to future NFS games. Treyarch adding zombies to Call of Duty didnt make Infinity Ward add Zombies to their Call of Duty. Arcade racers are more fun than the simulation ones and Criterion makes those arcade games. No one does it better.

[Mega-Tallica]

This isnt because of Criterion its EA. Need For Speed is the GH of the racing genre. NFS games are the ones the mainstream like better and sells better. EA wasnt going to let them make a Burnout game withtout the Need For Speed name some where on the box so they just made a Burnout game with some of the NFS touchings(customizing and real cars). This does nothing to future NFS games. Treyarch adding zombies to Call of Duty didnt make Infinity Ward add Zombies to their Call of Duty. Arcade racers are more fun than the simulation ones and Criterion makes those arcade games. No one does it better.

It doesn't make sense to me that EA dumped the Burnout series and has Criterion working solely on NFS games. Burnout was mainstream and sold pretty well on it's own and NFS is NFS, slap that title on anything and it'll sell (which is the case lately, same was with GH), no need for Criterion to step in there when the two series' can easily co-exist and do well. Now, we're going to be stuck with NFS games that aren't sure if they want to be Burnout or if they want to be a legitimate arcade street racing game.

If Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted are to be taken as Burnout sequels, I am sorely disappointed in Criterion. If I was EA, I'd get Criterion off NFS and working on a new Burnout and I'd have Black Box work on an Underground 3 with improved car physics (go back to Undercover's physics engine which was the last decent NFS game) and full customization like the previous ones. But of course that's not gonna happen because that'll be too perfect.

[www1221]

It doesn't make sense to me that EA dumped the Burnout series and has Criterion working solely on NFS games. Burnout was mainstream and sold pretty well on it's own and NFS is NFS, slap that title on anything and it'll sell (which is the case lately, same was with GH), no need for Criterion to step in there when the two series' can easily co-exist and do well. Now, we're going to be stuck with NFS games that aren't sure if they want to be Burnout or if they want to be a legitimate arcade street racing game.

If Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted are to be taken as Burnout sequels, I am sorely disappointed in Criterion. If I was EA, I'd get Criterion off NFS and working on a new Burnout and I'd have Black Box work on an Underground 3 with improved car physics (go back to Undercover's physics engine which was the last decent NFS game) and full customization like the previous ones. But of course that's not gonna happen because that'll be too perfect.

Yes it makes perfect sense. Need For Speed always sold better than Burnout. It makes sense to have all the racing games under one name even if they are two totally different games. Black Box hasnt made a good game in years. Criterion is the A-team and just like Call of Duty the good and bad games will be alternating years.

[nascargo19]

speaking of racing games (no, I'm not talking about the Nascar game) I'm playing Gran Turismo 5 again and started the 1,000 KM race at Suzuka. So far I've already done 50 of the 172 laps. I'll probably go up to at least 86 laps (halfway) today and finish the rest tomorrow.

[Runesmith]

As a non-racing game fan, I had the most fun with Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer. You can keep your realistic cars; I'll take the souped up podracer. I also really dig Wave Race and F-Zero.

[www1221]

Of the big racing genres GT is the worst of them. That and early Forza. At least later Forzas become a bit more arcadey

[nascargo19]

Of the big racing genres GT is the worst of them. That and early Forza. At least later Forzas become a bit more arcadey

If you're looking for an arcade game, GT5 is absolute sh*t. But if you want a simulation game with more than one specific kind of racing I can't think of another game you could get for the PS3 that would be as good as this one.

If I remember right, the main reason I bought GT5 was for the Nascar in it. EA had let go of Nascar about two years before, and nobody else had done any work to start making a full nascar game. Honestly the nascar that is in this game isn't that great. Only about 8 drivers with 2 schemes each and the only two tracks being Daytona and Indianapolis. (surprises me we didn't even get one of the two road courses) I guess I shouldn't expect a full 43 car feild with all of the tracks from a game like GT5, but I imagined that the racing from those 8 cars taking up 16 spots (two of each car) would be a bit more realistic. It seems when at Daytona, you don't even have a restrictor plate in.

After I played more than just the nascar, I began to like the game more and more. I don't play it nearly as often as I did, but it's still a fantastic game.

edit: I suspended the race (basically a mid-race save for those of you not fimiliar with GT5) after about 3 straight hours where I completed 109 laps. I'll do the other 63 laps some other time.