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Lincoln 6 Echo

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 29, 2005
94
0
Need recommendations on what racing game(s) to get for my PS3.

As background, the last great racing/driving game that I played was NFS: Most Wanted on my Xbox 1 (NFS:Underground series was awesome; I hated NFS:Carbon), PGR and Forza were also nice. I liked the demo for Grid (PS3). I'm not huge on rally-racing against the clock these days.
 

Patriks7

macrumors 65816
Oct 26, 2008
1,419
624
Vienna
NFS Hot Pursuit and Grid are pretty good racers. Stay away from TDU2. My personal favorite is Dirt 3, but since you're not huge on these types of games, I won't recommend it ;)
 

Taustin Powers

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2005
263
551
Burnout Paradise is the only racing game I will ever need on PS3....well, until the next Burnout game comes out, I guess. :D

It has a great mix of aracde style racing, big car (and bike) variety, great crash-based modes, stunt modes, time trials, a great open city with tons of stuff to explore and collectibles to find, and really good multiplayer (online only, no split screen though).

There are other great games out there, but to me, they never quite topped BP!
 

JayMysterio

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2010
1,494
32,929
Rock Ridge, California
I second NFS Hot Pursuit, lots of fun, very intense, and playing as the cops crashing bad guys rocks.

I also second Burnout Paradise, that game will keep you entertained for quite awhile. Tons of replay.
 

greganpace

macrumors regular
Aug 9, 2011
137
0
I am a car enthusiast, so GT5 is my vote. I have put in at least 100 hours into that game and I still have a lot of room to go. It has been fun all the way through too. But it is more of a simulator than a game, so you literally can mod just about anything you want, down to setting the camber on the fully custom suspension, and it matters. It also has the largest collection of real cars on any game. I find that stuff fun too, but it is all in your interest. If you want a more casual game, then the others in the post are probably the way to go.
 

Ungibbed

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2010
765
198
USA
A third for NFS: Hot Pursuit on the PS3, it looks great and is a wonderful "pick up & play" style of game. You take both sides as a street racer and the 5-0 getting better equipment and new cars as you gain rank/level up. You do this on how you perform during a race and other conditions.

Online play is very fun and hard to put down. Right now, the game should be a bargain but be aware that EA is being rather evil and wants to charge you $10 extra if you bought the game used. I've noticed this in all their games recently with a code to punch in for online access and a few "bonuses" that really hide the beast behind the sparkles...

If I recall, you can now buy the game directly from the PSN store and have the game installed directly to the PS3 hard drive without having to pay the "used" penalty and you don't need to have the game disc either. IIRC it's around 6GB or so.

Other great PS3 racers are Burnout Paradise (already been mentioned as well) and it has been the single most supported game by a developer that I have ever seen. The developer has gone and added so much free content from the original game to a whole new level. There are some additions that are a few bucks, but for the biggest bang for the buck, Burnout Paradise simply cannot be beaten for the sheer amount of content and it's slick visuals that never dip below 60 frames per second.

I recently picked up NFS: The Run despite mixed reviews and while there is a pretty cheesy backstory and a few QTE's (hit the right button at the right time or fail and do it all over again) but the meat of the game is a huge amount of cars and a coast to coast race from 'Frisco to New York City.

I have yet to complete it as it does have some rather challenging bits and some rather cheap AI (rubber band racing) along with a few annoying bugs that caused me to lose quite a few races. One example was respawning my car at a hairpin turn with no chance to recover and it does it over and over. Another is some random objects that stop you dead while the game keeps going. It doesn't respawn you nor can you force it. I had to replay that entire section all over again.

The Run is still fresh out the gate but slumping sales thanks to some bad timing (Skyrim, Uncharted 3, and many other big titles) have already dropped the price on this one, I just hope EA gets patch out to fix a few problems.

Overall, I feel The Run is a decent racer but it doesn't have the replay value of Hot Pursuit or Burnout Paradise. Both of which I recommend highly

Happy racing and Merry Christmas!
 

actripxl

macrumors 6502
Aug 24, 2002
309
65
Chicago, IL
Easily NFS: Hot Pursuit, a close second would be Split Second even with the rubberband A.I..

GT5 is good if you're really into car's, I'm not so that's why I prefer the more arcady racers.
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
I like GT5, I'm not heavily into cars but I appreciate the realism.

Burnout Paradise is way too much fun, I rarely get addicted to games but I spent around 30 hours on this over this summer (PC version, which for once is worse than the console version!). It's brilliant.

I like FUEL because I like to drive around desolate terrain. I just set the GPS locator guide and head on out :). The game itself is pretty poor.

Shift 2 is awful. I won it in a competition so I don't have to be nice to it. It's got a horrible voice over/tutorial system, it's just poor all round. Half way between a silly arcade racer and GT5, but lacking the fun and elegance of either.

Wipeout HD I got for free because of the PSN outage and it's a high quality, adrenaline racer that I keep coming back to.


Other great PS3 racers are Burnout Paradise (already been mentioned as well) and it has been the single most supported game by a developer that I have ever seen.
Never played a Valve game, have you :D.
 

Ungibbed

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2010
765
198
USA
I like GT5, I'm not heavily into cars but I appreciate the realism.

Burnout Paradise is way too much fun, I rarely get addicted to games but I spent around 30 hours on this over this summer (PC version, which for once is worse than the console version!). It's brilliant.

I like FUEL because I like to drive around desolate terrain. I just set the GPS locator guide and head on out :). The game itself is pretty poor.

Shift 2 is awful. I won it in a competition so I don't have to be nice to it. It's got a horrible voice over/tutorial system, it's just poor all round. Half way between a silly arcade racer and GT5, but lacking the fun and elegance of either.

Wipeout HD I got for free because of the PSN outage and it's a high quality, adrenaline racer that I keep coming back to.



Never played a Valve game, have you :D.

Despite being horribly dated, I still love the original Half Life which was based on a heavily modified ID Tech 2 (Quake II) engine. I still have a dinosaur PC around with a 3DFX board to play the oldies. Even then, the more modern offerings I can grab from Steam are great and I had the awe factor the first time Half Life 2 was fired up on my old gaming rig. The Source Engine is very flexible and has been proven time and time again. GlaDOS approves this message as I enjoy my cake...

In my original post, I was referring to console based games, no other game has seen so much support after it's initial release than Burnout Paradise with free updates and major content.

Other console games that have had major support (despite the game killing bug or two) have been from Bethseda. Fallout 3 comes to mind when the level cap was raised but the best value was the GOTY edition with all the download content stored on the BD (on the PS3).
 

fireshot91

macrumors 601
Jul 31, 2008
4,721
1
Northern VA
I'm actually playing NFS: Undercover right now. Had to dust it off. My friend let me borrow it a long time ago in exchange for Oblivion, but I never really cared for it. So, I started a new Career, got a few achievements, but back to the shelf it goes.



My favorite NFSs were Underground 1 & 2, and Most Wanted, and Hot Pursuit 2 (For PS2). Carbon was alright, not completely bad. Underground is...alright. There's no legit order (Or at least that I can see) like there was in Most Wanted. Feels like you're just completing race after race, without any choice, and winning.

Those are pretty much all the NFS games I've played.
 

Nuck81

macrumors regular
Oct 15, 2009
142
0
Western Kentucky
I like GT5, I'm not heavily into cars but I appreciate the realism.
It's probably the best all around Racer with plenty of depth and variety. It's updated weekly with Free content and races, as well as patches and DLC. It had a significant update Dec 22 over a year after launch

Burnout Paradise is way too much fun, I rarely get addicted to games but I spent around 30 hours on this over this summer (PC version, which for once is worse than the console version!). It's brilliant.
I think it;s the best Arcade Racer on PS3. TONS of content, will keep you busy for months, looks great, awesome sound. And can be found for $10

I like FUEL because I like to drive around desolate terrain. I just set the GPS locator guide and head on out :). The game itself is pretty poor.
Never played Fuel but I'll insert my recommendation for Midnight Club LA it's an arcade Racer based on Street Racing. It features the real streets and lay out of LA although condensed for the Video Game, has a lengthy single player with good variety, and lots of real world cars.

Shift 2 is awful. I won it in a competition so I don't have to be nice to it. It's got a horrible voice over/tutorial system, it's just poor all round. Half way between a silly arcade racer and GT5, but lacking the fun and elegance of either.
I'm going to Disagree about Shift 2 although admittedly I'm probably in the minority. Shift 2 is not really a Race game for casual Race fans. Physics wise it has more going on under the hood than any racer on consoles for better or worse, and in doing so can be quite unforgiving and frustrating for those looking for a pick up and play experience. The Cars are set up rather soft Stock so they don't make for good track Racers, and in order to get the most performance out of your cars you need to have at least a basic understanding of how to tune and setup your cars. Also in order to get good performance out of your Wheel (I have a DFGT) it takes a good but of tweaking and testing. Shift 2 is my favorite Racer on PS3, but it took a significant amount of investment of time before the game came into its own. Definitely not for everyone

I also like Split Second for another take on the Arcade Experience. Dirt 3 is another really solid Racing game, although I got a little bored with it after a few weeks.
 
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