open world racing games

[Ando85]

I'm in the market to buy a racing game and I am considering Midnight Club Los Angeles. However, the one thing that makes me dubious is the fact that it is open world. When I played Burnout Paradise I would have to constantly pull up the map to avoid making wrong turns. It got rather tedious and frustrating. However, later on I played Forza Horizon and they did it where that wasn't an issue.

So will I encounter the same problem I did with Burnout Paradise or is it a non issue like Forza Horizon? Thanks.

 

[Jamash]

I have to admit I also share your frustration with the navigation in Burnout Paradise, but as far as I can recall, I never had that problem in Midnight Club L.A. or any other open world racing game. Once you get used to it, navigating in Midnight Club L.A. is a non-issue like in Forza Horizon.

As far as I remember, there's a competent map and mini-map system employed by Midnight Club L.A., plus it utilises an compass arrow on the HUD which shows you the heading of your next objective and each checkpoint or major turn has massive illuminated direction graphics superimposed on to the street, so it's very difficult to get lost.

Also, the map is quite a faithful recreation of a section of L.A., so it's pretty easy to navigate anyway, plus it's a Rockstar game so it has the same consistent quality and attention to detail that all their games have... a difficult to navigate racing game in a real world location wouldn't have passed their QA.

 

[LaoJim]

From what I remember its not much of a problem in Midnight club, in a race you are following a fixed route with checkpoints every so often (most of the time). Los Angeles is a pretty straightforward city to race in as well, grid system - fairly easy to learn.

However Midnight Club does have one huge problem - it's hard as hell. Firstly the rubber-banding is atrocious - crash on the first corner you can still win the race easily - crash on the last and irrespective of how you have been driving you will lose - not second - last. And because its an open world racer with cross-traffic you will crash, or overshoot your turn. This coupled with the fact that you have to top the table of best of four races ***and you can't restart a busted race*** means that it gets frustrating quickly.

That said, you'll pick it up for a steal these days - when you're not tearing your hair out, it's a good, fun, technically impressive (for its time) racing game and you'll get your money's worth exploring and doing the early races.

 

[Ando85]

From what I remember its not much of a problem in Midnight club, in a race you are following a fixed route with checkpoints every so often (most of the time). Los Angeles is a pretty straightforward city to race in as well, grid system - fairly easy to learn.

However Midnight Club does have one huge problem - it's hard as hell. Firstly the rubber-banding is atrocious - crash on the first corner you can still win the race easily - crash on the last and irrespective of how you have been driving you will lose - not second - last. And because its an open world racer with cross-traffic you will crash, or overshoot your turn. This coupled with the fact that you have to top the table of best of four races ***and you can't restart a busted race*** means that it gets frustrating quickly.

That said, you'll pick it up for a steal these days - when you're not tearing your hair out, it's a good, fun, technically impressive (for its time) racing game and you'll get your money's worth exploring and doing the early races.

Did a little research and they seemed to have a patch that added an easier difficulty. A lot of the times with racing games I put it on a relatively easy setting and just zone out and drive while listening to music all while still progressing in the game. That is what I did with the Forza series at least.

 

[Ando85]

I have to admit I also share your frustration with the navigation in Burnout Paradise, but as far as I can recall, I never had that problem in Midnight Club L.A. or any other open world racing game. Once you get used to it, navigating in Midnight Club L.A. is a non-issue like in Forza Horizon.

As far as I remember, there's a competent map and mini-map system employed by Midnight Club L.A., plus it utilises an compass arrow on the HUD which shows you the heading of your next objective and each checkpoint or major turn has massive illuminated direction graphics superimposed on to the street, so it's very difficult to get lost.

Also, the map is quite a faithful recreation of a section of L.A., so it's pretty easy to navigate anyway, plus it's a Rockstar game so it has the same consistent quality and attention to detail that all their games have... a difficult to navigate racing game in a real world location wouldn't have passed their QA.

Alright thanks. That is a good thing to note about it being a Rockstar game. Almost forgot. I'm actually not a huge GTA fan but I do acknowledge the sheer amount of detail and polish they put into the series. However, I seemed to enjoy games like Bully and LA Noire more.

 

[LaoJim]

Did a little research and they seemed to have a patch that added an easier difficulty. A lot of the times with racing games I put it on a relatively easy setting and just zone out and drive while listening to music all while still progressing in the game. That is what I did with the Forza series at least.

I wasn't aware of that, and come to think of it I didn't have my XBox connected to the internet for the first year I had it, which is when I played the game. I was thinking I might be able to go back and try again, however Rockstar seem to say that its only easier for the first third of the game, which I'm pretty sure I got through by sheer bloody mindedness.

From what I remember of the difficulty there is no easy setting - some races are marked as easy, but these tend to disappear fairly quickly. You can't just cheese it though the whole game on easy.

If you're into open-world driving and chilling out, may I suggest Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2. Not the greatest games in the world, but they both have real Hawaiian/Mediterranean islands modelled in some detail and you can just put your footdown and drive around in sports cars. The handlings and gameplays not nearly as good as Forza (Horizons), but they'll be cheap and might be what you're looking for.

 

[StatusNil]

If you're into open-world driving and chilling out, may I suggest Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2. Not the greatest games in the world, but they both have real Hawaiian/Mediterranean islands modelled in some detail and you can just put your footdown and drive around in sports cars. The handlings and gameplays not nearly as good as Forza (Horizons), but they'll be cheap and might be what you're looking for.

Oh yeah, I didn't play the first TDU, but TDU2 is definitely my favorite ever game for some virtual cruising. It might not objectively be the best driving game ever in terms of mechanics, and progressing to higher vehicle classes is annoying since there's a qualifying test you have to complete, which (of course) are the hardest part of the game, if memory serves. But the open world is absolutely HUGE, and you can drive anywhere, both on and off-road. I'm kinda biased though, since it did much to lift my spirits to just get lost in it for days after some unwelcome medical news. All for a fiver on a Steam sale.

 

[Blitsie]

Its definitely much easier to navigate than Paradise, which was also my biggest gripe with that game. Paradise city was just not designed for the insane speed the game plays at and I also constantly found myself either taking a turn too early or usually too late because even with that flickering street name system in place I'd still overshoot my turn because I'm driving too damn fast to react.

I recall not having that problem in Midnight Club at least, the city was much more well designed and easier to travel through. The problem, as already mentioned, was definitely the difficulty level. Early on its still manageable, but midway through the game demands some pretty insane racing skills as even one tiny muck up can cost you the whole race, also traffic, sometimes its like your car is a magnet because even with your very best efforts you'll still have some schmuck drive straight into you out of nowhere and cost you the race.

Its otherwise an amazing game though, ultimately, I highly recommend going for it if you enjoy challenging racers. If you want something a bit more relaxing, I highly recommend the first Test Drive Unlimited, working your way from rags to riches and exploring the island is almost therapeutic.

 

[TranshumanistG]

Unfortunately my experience with 'pure' open-world racing games is limited to Lego Racers 2 which had multiple open 'worlds' between which you could travel (Sandy Bay, Dinosaur Island, Arctic. Mars, Tournament in Another Dimenstion) and as far as I can remember there were no big world maps at all which didn't hurt my navigation too much. Except for the Mars which was contained inside a giant crater and had too many rocky outcroppings.

I actually recommend this game instead. It has got friendly visuals, you can construct your vehicles from Lego bricks and there's Mario Cart'esque power-ups in the races. Also, vehicles get destroyed brick-by brick and eventually you may have to resort to racing on your own two feet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCOetyt5pVU

 

[Ando85]

Burnout Paradise I found fairly easy. Since every single race ends in 1 of 8 places. It wasn't even close to hard to figure out the easy ways to win.

Yeah, perhaps I should give the game another chance. A friend told me that after you get a basic idea of the layout of the city it really isn't a huge problem. I also had a blast playing Burnout 3 Takedown. I think it is the only racing game I enjoyed so much that after finishing it I deleted my save file just to do it all a second time.