Recommend some good car racing game?

[Dimwhit]

My friend just gave me a nice steering wheel for my computer, so I'd like to pick up a nice racing game or two. I'd like one that runs native on Intel, but other than that, I'm fairly open.

Anyone have a good one to recommend?

[AppleWoW]

I dont know for Mac side...but i'd check out GTR2 if you havent already..its a really real racing game. Along with grand trismo....but their coming out with the #5 soon so i'd wait for that...but again im not sure if these will be PC only or both for mac and pc.

[hankolerd]

Originally Posted by AppleWoW

Along with grand trismo....but their coming out with the #5 soon so i'd wait for that...but again im not sure if these will be PC only or both for mac and pc.

The Gran Turismo series has been and probably always will be a playstation only game.
As for mac/pc racing games, there is not much out their, depending on if you are looking for arcade type or realistic. Race '07 is pretty good, i played the demo of it on steam for a while, on a keyboard, and it was fun, hard, and realistic. It is probably much easier with a wheel. Of course you will have to boot into windows to play, so it depends on if that is an option for you or not.
I bought Rally Shift for OSX, I don't know if it had steering wheel support or not. But you could check with the guys at codeblender to see. It is a pretty short game, but at least somewhat realistic.
There is of course the NFS series for pc with the exception of Carbon for both pc and mac.
Redline is supposed to be pretty good, but i haven't given it much of a try. I played the demo for a bit, but it seemed kinda weird to me. But it wasn't too bad.

Racing games our my favorite games, and of the games i have spent the most time with they would probably be Gran Turismo 2, Gran Turismo 4, Gran Turismo 3, Need For Speed Underground, Gran Turismo, Need For Speed Underground 2, and then probably the original Need For Speed.
I hear GTR2 is an amazing game, but I have never tried it.
I think your best luck is to stick with consoles. The ps3 will later this year get Gran Turismo 5, which is gonna be crazy good, for those that can afford the whole set up. And of course the Xbox 360 has Forza which is pretty good.

Hope this helps somewhat, I will be watching this thread to see what other people suggest.
Enjoy

[spyker3292]

For Mac go try the demo of Colin Mcrae Rally Mac.

http://www.feralinteractive.com/game/colinmcrae

and ya, Gran Turismo is ONLY Playstation. Don't know where you got the idea it was ever for PC.
Also, yes consoles do seem to have more racing games. I know that the PS3 has Ridge Racer, Motorstorm (and #2... sometime), and GT5 coming (with prologue in March). The Forza series for 360 is great too.

[theLimit]

My favorite at the moment is DiRT, the latest and possibly last in the Colin McRae Rally series. This one has a lot more than just rally racing, and it looks incredible. Assuming you're gaming under Windows.

[Consultant]

Need for Speed Carbon

[Dimwhit]

I guess I should have mentioned that I'm looking for Mac (Leopard) games. Though I may end up finding a copy of Windows so I can try some of these. Thanks for the suggestions!

[grailarbor]

need for speed carbon, ive been playing it on the wii and it was well worth the price tag.

i would highly suggest it

[R.Youden]

rFactor

A proper and true racing game.



Sorry I didn't see you said Mac only, oops. rFactor is a Windows only game, but it is well worth a trip over to the other side for.

[TheReef]

I second Colin Mcrae Rally Mac, I love it's car physics and stage design.
It's really designed for use with a wheel, so your in luck

[Dimwhit]

Originally Posted by TheReef

I second Colin Mcrae Rally Mac, I love it's car physics and stage design.
It's really designed for use with a wheel, so your in luck

I downloaded the demo and really like it. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work with my wheel. When I go to manual mode, the 'gear shift' on the wheel doesn't actually shift the car. I have to use one of the buttons. And the pedals don't work, either. The gear shift is actually works the pedals. Is there a way to program the wheel so it works right? If so, I might buy this game. It's a good one.

[Tom McMahon]

I remember ISI from SCGT days. This looks pretty good.

[R.Youden]

Originally Posted by Tom McMahon

I remember ISI from SCGT days. This looks pretty good.

Yeah it runs great under bootcamp. I am going to try it under VmWare but I think that maybe pushing it a bit!

[Consultant]

Originally Posted by Dimwhit

I downloaded the demo and really like it. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work with my wheel. When I go to manual mode, the 'gear shift' on the wheel doesn't actually shift the car. I have to use one of the buttons. And the pedals don't work, either. The gear shift is actually works the pedals. Is there a way to program the wheel so it works right? If so, I might buy this game. It's a good one.

There are a few apps that should let you map it to the right keys, such as
USB Overdrive

[TantalizedMind]

Originally Posted by grailarbor

need for speed carbon, ive been playing it on the wii and it was well worth the price tag.

i would highly suggest it

I highly disagree. I bought NFS:C for the Wii months ago. I traded it in a week later. Horrible graphics, boring races, and when you go "inside-car" view, you don't hear any noise except for a screeching noise. And it wasn't tires. It made no sense.

I actually brought it back because I thought it was defective, but that's just how the game is.

[NoNameBrand]

Originally Posted by hankolerd

Redline is supposed to be pretty good, but i haven't given it much of a try. I played the demo for a bit, but it seemed kinda weird to me. But it wasn't too bad.

Redline is a lot of fun (online*), but the built-in cars aren't used by any of the serious "sim" racers anymore, as with the exception of the 60's Charger, the built-in cars don't really handle all that accurately. The game's physics engine is up to snuff though, and the community developed cars are consequently very well done for the most part.

This unfortunately means that you don't get a really good idea of the game as it exists now from the demo, as you only get to drive the Mini, Golf, Delorean and Vette cars. You can install plug-in cars and look at them in the menu. If you're more interested in the "arcade" side of things, I suspect the demo is a better indication of the game than for the "simulation" side.

The built-in tracks are decent, and there are a number of good community developed ones.

*The AI in the game is a bit... lacking. It really is an online game with offline practice done without AIs in Time Trial mode.

[King t.]

trackmania nations is really tight, but can only be played on bootcamp

[riscy]

I would also recommend TrackMania - it is really cool!

And you can design and custom build tracks too

[QuantumLo0p]

I've tried demos for Total Immersion Racing and Ford Racing 2. TIR is more GP oriented and FR2 seems to be more of an "arcade" game. I think TIR has an arcade mode if realistic physics piss you off. I can't say for sure about FR2.

Be sure to check out steering wheel support before you buy.

[tominated]

Originally Posted by riscy

I would also recommend TrackMania - it is really cool!

And you can design and custom build tracks too

track-mania is awesome. Sunrise is really good, but united has a mix of all the other TM games

[hijacker2]

vDrift, or if you have the need to go small, try StuntMania!

[Mattww]

My current favourite is Virtual Grand Prix 3 (www.vgp3.com). It is still not quite at version 1.0 yet but the tracks available so far are very good and the way it simulates the handling and tyre wear is impressive. The free add on F1 2008 cars and 2009 Formula Fantasy series with KERS are great.

Looking through what else I have installed that is Intel native - Colin McRae Rally probably is the next most realistic feeling with a wheel. TOCA Race Driver uses a similar engine and has a huge number of types of car and tracks.

[Dont Hurt Me]

Flatout 2, you can try out the demo for free. great value and a game with tons of replay.

[Andy348]

Grid is good but it's very graphic intensive. Test Drive Unlimited is probably my favourite.

[ltldrummerboy]

I second Flatout 2. Great smash 'em up racer.