What Games have the best "Sense of Speed"?

[American Tanker]

Note that I'm NOT talking about whatever raw numbers are coming up on screen; I'm talking about how fast the game felt, which I understand is quite subjective.

I have to say that I'm quite surprised at how fast the Colin McRae DiRT games felt. Maybe I'm just biased because I favor off-road racing in general, but DiRT in general made me really feel like I was absolutely flying through the environments. Even if the actual speed was only like 150 miles an hour at most.

Another one that I'm really surprised by how fast it feels is one that I only just got into a few days ago, Trackmania Nations Forever, which is free on Steam. This one's really intense when you get your speed up, especially with some of the roller-coaster like elements in some of the courses.

As much as I may prefer its N64 prequel, F-Zero GX genuinely does feel like a faster game. The N64 just didn't have the graphics capabilities(or they just weren't pushing the system hard enough) for F-Zero X to really feel as fast as it should have. But I still prefer the N64 game because I feel it handles better and has better music.

Does anyone else here know of games that seriously made you feel like you were really hauling @$$?

 

[CritialGaming]

The Forza games do this really well imo. I get really nervous and tense doing 180+ in Forza games because it feels so stupid fast.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Burnout Revenge did ?speed? best for me. I loved barreling down the congested streets at 200 mph, camera shaking, the hiss of the nitrous, knocking other cars out the way in spectacular fashion, then, of course, the explosions. That game is basically testosterone?s and adrenaline?s love child.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistics_%28video_game%29

"Ballistics is a futuristic racing computer game developed by Grin and published by Xicat Interactive in 2001. Grin developed an arcade version of the game, released in 2002 featuring a unique reclined seating position cabinet by Triotech. Players race across seven different tracks in various leagues against other competitors on high-speed hoverbikes.

The game was Grin's first to be released, and featured the first version of their Diesel game engine. Grin worked closely with NVIDIA to incorporate then new technologies into the game, and was marketed as one of the flagship titles for the GeForce 3 Series of graphics cards.

Critical reaction was generally favourable, with reviewers being impressed by the beauty of the graphics and the thrilling depiction of speed. They were however, slightly disappointed with the shallow nature of the gameplay. A newer version of the arcade game was released in 2003, incorporating motion simulator technology into the arcade cabinet."

 

[Frankster]

I don't have much experience with racing games tbh but the original wipeout and wipeout 2097 certainly felt speedy for my tastes, haven't played the sequels so dunno how they hold up though.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

F-Zero X and Wipeout come to mind. There is that other title with futuristic bikes which i forget the name of too. A thumping electronic soundtrack and the addition of weapons help increase that feeling of tense survival testing your reaction glands.

There is a rhythm game called Thumper and another called Amplitude that utilise speed with style.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

For a non-racing game, I'd say Sleeping Dogs has a genuinely good sense of speed, particularly in the higher-power cars, though it's helped by those cars controlling really smoothly.

Another non-racing example - I think Prototype has a pretty decent feel when it comes to speed - once you get most of the movement upgrades allowing Mercer to dash up buildings, fling himself into the air and parkour over cars and obstacles, the speed and running in the game feels very satisfying.

Burnout Revenge did ?speed? best for me. I loved barreling down the congested streets at 200 mph, camera shaking, the hiss of the nitrous, knocking other cars out the way in spectacular fashion, then, of course, the explosions. That game is basically testosterone?s and adrenaline?s love child.

I'd definitely second the shout of the Burnout games, especially 3: Takedown and Revenge.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

elite: Dangerous made you really feel like you're going fast! Loved it!

 

[CaitSeith]

I'm going for XG3: Extreme G Racing for GameCube/PS2. It's a futuristic motorcycle racing game that has a cool feature when you reach certain speed, the music goes momentarily silent and the controls get slightly looser, creating the sense of breaking the sound barrier.

 

[kilenem]

Burnout 3 and if you have the Xbox version you get custom in game tracks.

 

[BrawlMan]

I'm going for XG3: Extreme G Racing for GambeCube/PS2. It's a futuristic motorcycle racing game that has a cool feature when you reach certain speed, the music goes momentarily silent and the controls get slightly looser, creating the sense of breaking the sound barrier.

Played XG1 & XG2 on the N64. I wonder why I never got 3.

Burnout Revenge did ?speed? best for me. I loved barreling down the congested streets at 200 mph, camera shaking, the hiss of the nitrous, knocking other cars out the way in spectacular fashion, then, of course, the explosions. That game is basically testosterone?s and adrenaline?s love child.

I'm glad someone got to it, before I did.

Racing Games
Burnout: Paradise
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)
Fast Racing Neo

Non-Racing
Sonic Generations
Vanquish
DMC4 Special Edition - When you have Turbo Mode Enabled and playing either as Dante or Vergil; especially the latter.

 

[AD-Stu]

The Speed Mode sections of Need for Speed: Pro Street did it for me, in that "holy hell one wrong move and I'm gonna go flying into the hills" way.

 

[Lufia Erim]

I remember playing Wipeout XL on the psone. Shit goes so fast especially on higher difficulties.

 

[Rabish Bini]

Another vote for the Burnout games.

In particular 3, which is a damn near perfect racing game.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

I'm going for XG3: Extreme G Racing for GameCube/PS2

Loved that game~ 1000G was basically just broken sound barriers everywhere.

I add my vote for that, plus Fast RMX (Or Neo), and F-Zero GX for sure

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I'm going for XG3: Extreme G Racing for GambeCube/PS2.

Damn, beat me to it. Anyway, I too really liked how everything goes quiet when you pass the sound barrier. It's a neat feature that really does give you that feeling of 'holy shit, I'm going fast!'. AFAIK, it's the only racing game that implemented something like it.

Most other games I can think of have been mentioned already, but I'm going to give a shout out for Mirror's Edge.

Sure, compared to every other game in this thread, you move at a comparative snails pace, but doing a really smooth run gives you a very satisfying sense of speed. But the best example is when you fall of a building to your death. Your hear the sound of rushing air, the screen blurs increasingly and sounds become distorted (and of course, that sickening crunch at the bottom). Combine these and you get an effect that not only feels fast, but is terrifying as hell too.

 

[MrFalconfly]

The DiRT series.

Mostly because 50km/h on loose gravel is a lot more on the edge, than doing mach 2 in a jet.

 

[American Fox]

Also, running as Quicksilver in the city hub in Lego Avengers is pretty awesome, too

 

[Danbo Jambo]

SNES - Top Racer. It's still wonderful to play to this day, and the superb soundtrack really helps capture that vibe of speed.

 

[Cette]

When you really get going in Tribes Ascend you feel every bit of that 140+KPH you're flying at.