Why do today's rally games sux?

The latest review on Dirt 3 revealed that some of the newest features will be classic rally cars. Guess what, that is old news! It is already available in Forza 3 Legend download. You can buy Forza 3 for $30 everywhere where video games are available.

The sneak preview of Dirt 3 also revealed the Finland track. It sorts of reminds me of the Australian landscape. Is our planet turning into a dirtball?

At least there are some good alternatives. The remake of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit that I prematurely blog badly about in another blog. By combining elements from the burnout series, they added life to this dying cops and racers game. You can play dirty by taking down other racers as well as the heat. To unlock new levels, you must win a gold medal in that challenge!

For PC gamers, Sega Rally is pretty challenging with it realistic traction on different road surfaces.

The Xbox 360 is an evil spybox

Kinect system update for the xbox slows down your system. According to Alex Jones, the Kinect can monitor and record your voice and image. I think that the update just activated its spychip. Its firmware prevents cheaters from cheating online. So anything is possible these days.

Still like the xbox?

Why today's racing games sux

When comparing the top 2 racing games of 2009, I discovered some similarities between them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fhYU3WU46k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5xZ6dXTykQ


I do not like hard core racing simulations because they bore me. Neither arcade titles such as burnout and ridge racer. I like something between such as Project Gotham 4 and NFS Shift. You can start off by giving each a car realistic performance but exaggerate its handling to make it more playable and fun. Remember Test Drive 6, the developers made the cars too realistic and was unplayable.

Shift 2 Unleashed is a better simulator. [no excessive sliding, no excessive over steering, and realistic collisions] Realistic engine sounds make cars like the Honda Civic SI sound more like racing machine vs a whining piece of crap as preview in the 1st installment. VW Golf GTI still sound like a POS.

Simraceway.com gave 2 great reviews on 2 racing games, the underrated NFS Shift and Grid. They scored low points on the driving physics but got high points for their sim elements.
That is one of the main reasons I turn away from sim racing.

Update: The release of the 2010's remake of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit took on a new low in racing game genre. Don't you love it when uninspired game developers take the worst Need for Speed game and combine it with fancy graphics, effects and elements from another half decent game, Burnout Paradise. Then market it as a new game with the same name. How lazy can you get get?