Please talk PS2 racing games with me, eh?

[noiseredux]

OK, so for my bday last week my wife brought me to an arcade and I was reminded how fun racing games can be. I played The Fast & The Furious Tokyo Drift, which was a total blast. Apparently it has a PS2 port that's still kept its value a bit (still goes for $15 a Gamestop anyway). I also played Need For Speed Underground, which was pretty fun, though I found it too dark and had trouble navigating at times because of that -- this was probably a fault of the monitor, not the game.

So, so, so... I'm curious about some good PS2 racing games. I've played OutRun 2006 and I have Street Racing Syndicate. Outside of that, I'm a bit clueless. I feel like there's a hundred Need For Speed entries. And a lot of Midnight Club and Burnout games. I just have no idea what's good and what's not. I'm definitely more a fan of arcade style games though. I don't want to know how to build a car in real life in order to play a video game.

[CRTGAMER]

PS2 Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (Scroll down a little)

One of the best Need For Speeds, drives like the older PC releases with aggressive cops keeping pace.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

My favorites on the PS2:

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2:

The last of the old-school NFS games. Take various supercars out on extremely curvy roads with tons of shortcuts and extremely nasty cops (AI in the game is brutal).

Need for Speed Underground/Most Wanted: Both games could compete for my Top Racing Games list. You've had a bit of experience with Underground now. As you said, it's dark (shouldn't be so dark as you can't navigate), has a pretty good soundtrack, lots of customization, and many race types. Most Wanted is a hybrid of Hot Pursuit 2 and Underground. While many things such as the tuner car focus remain for Most Wanted, the focus on just plain racing and cops has been taken from Hot Pursuit 2, and put into a great open world racing game.

Gran Turismo 3/4: Either is a good option, and both are extremely cheap. The simulation aspect may put you off at first, but if you stick with it (much like a fighting game), the end result can be extremely rewarding. Both games are also packed full with content and will last you a good long while. Gran Turismo 4 is one of the few HD PS2 games, supporting both 480p AND 1080i.

XGIII: If you liked the XG game on N64 this one takes it to the next level. It's extremely challenging and the mechanics aren't the best. Still a fun racer that I whole heartily recommend.

Wipeout Fusion: Typical Wipeout fair. I wouldn't really recommend it on the basis that several things are missing compared to the new games and it's a bit hard to go back. If you have the option to play imports, the PSP game Wipeout Pulse made it to the PS2 in Europe. However, it is extremely fast (and has a very different style to the new games, and is still worth a look.

Burnout series: The Burnout games are less racing more ramming your opponents, but they're extremely fun, extremely pretty, and sport lots of game modes. The soundtrack is typically excellent as well.

[noiseredux]

wow great post, Ryan. Thanks!

I always kind of forget about the Wipeout series. I still want the first game for nostalgia mostly... that longbox just looks so awesome. I assume that for a newer title in the series I should check out the PSN game? But good info on the PS2 PAL re-release of the PSP game. I may look into it if it has 60HZ mode.

I know a lot of folks suggest the Burnout games, but I guess what i dont' really understand is the emphasis on crashing. It doesn't actually seem much like a racing game to me. Is it more like demolition derby or something?

[J T]

I bought a racing wheel a few years ago and then kind of went crazy and bought a ton of PS2 racing games.

CRTGAMER has started you on a good path. Hot Puruit 2 is the best of the Need for Speed titles.

My favorite racers are Midnight Club 2 and 3. They are of the open-world arcade racer variety. One downside though, They do require the L3 R3 buttons though to start a race, and these cannot be re-mapped to different buttons. A lot of racing wheels don't have an L3/R3 button (or at least mine doesn't) so I would have to plug in a standard controller to start a race, then plug in the racing wheel.

If you like old school arcade racers, then you also should check out Midway Arcade Treasures 3 as it has a lot of arcade classics such as Badlands, Offroad Thunder
Race Drivin', San Francisco Rush the Rock: Alcatraz Edition, S.T.U.N. Runner, Super Off Road, Hydro Thunder (console version), and San Francisco Rush 2049 (console version).

Outrun 2006: Coast to Coast is another amazing arcade racer. One of the best really. Definitely check that title out.

If you want realism, then Gran Turismo 3 and 4 are the obvious choice. Another excellent game though is TOCA Race Driver 3. Not so many people talk about that one, but it is surprisingly well done.

If you want something a little more fantasy based, then XGIII: Extreme G Racing is a good title (though I would avoid XGRA: Extreme G Racing Alliance). WipEout Fusion is also decent.

If you're looking to do some offroading then try Shox. Someone on this forum recommended it to me as an underrated racing gem, and it's pretty sweet. There is also Motorstorm: Arctice Edge, which got released later in the consoles lifespan. That's a pretty good one, though the controls feel a little weightless or not substantial enough? I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but it felt a little off even though it was a fun game. Of course the ATV Offroad Fury games are good for this sort of racer too.

[J T]

heh. Looks like Ryan beat me to the punch on several titles.

Oh, I was going to mention the Burnout games too. I've mostly played Burnout: Revenge. It breaks all the rules of physics and you actually go faster for ramming people that are going slow. There are levels it looks like you are stuck in traffic on a freeway, but you just keep slamming into people and inexplicably gaining speed. It's very liberating if you have a morning commute. The only thing that really sucks in Burnout is that there are near constant load screens and they are long (especially if you have on of those extra large memory cards and autosave is turned on). The load screens really kill the pacing of the game. The courses are short high bursts of energy, then you're just sitting on your hands waiting for the game to load. Again, I was playing with a memory card that would slow down load times for awhile before I realized the card was the problem, so my opinion is a little colored. It was better when I used a standard card, but there still is a lot of loading.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

wow great post, Ryan. Thanks!

I always kind of forget about the Wipeout series. I still want the first game for nostalgia mostly... that longbox just looks so awesome. I assume that for a newer title in the series I should check out the PSN game? But good info on the PS2 PAL re-release of the PSP game. I may look into it if it has 60HZ mode.

I know a lot of folks suggest the Burnout games, but I guess what i dont' really understand is the emphasis on crashing. It doesn't actually seem much like a racing game to me. Is it more like demolition derby or something?

It's a bit of both. There are some circuit races, and some destroy X cars races etc. The main reason you want to destroy cars is to gain boost, and without boosting almost 100% of the time the hard races become nearly impossible.

The PSN title (HD Fury) is definitely the best one so far. It was released in physical form over in the UK but it's a tad pricey.

@J T Totally forgot about Midnight Club 2! Definitely look into that one Noise. It's a fantastic open world arcade racer that I lost countless hours to. It has 3 cities and a huge selection of cars and bikes. I love the physics in that game. The cities can be a bit dull but Tokyo in particular is a lot of fun to drive through.

Also forgot about Motorstorm on the PS2. It's really not as good as the PS3 titles though, so you may as well just get it for PSP and have it on the go.

[eskil]

I never really got into sixth-gen racing games, I really should. I did play a decent amount of NFS Underground, which I loved. Except for the god-awful lighting in the game—it makes sense that every race is at night-time, but do all the streets have to be slippery wet? It's such a pain to navigate through the tracks on this.
I also really liked NFS Carbon, which I'm pretty sure was on PS2, too.

[CRTGAMER]

I'm debating on (don't scream) on getting PS2 Starsky and Hutch.

The idea of driving the car with a wheel and pedals and shooting the bad guys with a LIGHTGUN AT THE SAME TIME! Unfortunately, I recently replaced the bedroom TV with a HD CRT, so the game would be regulated to the tiny kitchen TV. Well, there is always the older TV to set up outside on Halloween night, an annual tradition while passing out candy.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

NFS Underground is a great game. I played it a lot growing up. The second one isn't quite as good though.

R: Racing Evolution is like Gran Turisimo-lite and has a cool story starring a cute ambulance/race car driver. It's over in a few hours, but it will also cost you less than a combo meal.