For those saying "this game is missing from this video" if I added every single game possible in here the video would be too long and probably repetitive in some areas so I'm sorry if certent games are missing but hope it was still interesting to watch 👍
As a Forza Horizon nut I will say that in terms of map designs the older ones stand out more than FH5 does, the map is a little bland visually. Not just in terms of that but also in terms of atmosphere, it doesn't feel like a Festival anymore. FH3's approach where you feel like you're a part of the festival feels better implemented than whatever FH5 was doing. I prefer having maps like FH4's UK where the map is tailored to the gameplay experience. The seasons in FH4 was always a blast to play through even though people hated the snow sometimes lol. It's small things like this that I miss in FH5, as much as I like playing it it doesn't capture that same gameplay feel or magic FH4 had. Great video as always Dove, props to you and Sharicite for putting together this interesting video! Quite lovely to watch through! ❤
i don’t know how true it is but i do hear a lot of people saying that the reason FH5’s map is the way it is is partly because it was designed with the Eliminator game mode in mind
@@Twiggo_The_Foxxo It's not that FH5 is bad, saying this as someone who's still been putting hours into the game as of late. I just want the game to capture what it had before, the atmosphere, the driving, the progression, proper ranked online races, I would like for them to work from this and make an even better game. I like FH5 and I like the Horizon series as a whole but it does have flaws.
Midnight Club's map design is my favourite. Condensed with loads of detail in most blocks, making sure numerous corners and streets are designed so that they will be interesting to drive on during different circumstances while also making sure the city actually feels like a city to get immersed in. It's something no other game has managed to do in my eyes. Need for Speed's maps for example are more like arcade racer roads snapped together to create an illusion of an actual place but rarely any streets are truly open. Modern NFS meanwhile doesn't really know how to make roads interesting, they just made maps more open but didn't make each and every corner interesting in some way, waiting to be contextualised differently by different track designs. Burnout Paradise had a fantastic map but due to lack of proper race design you had zero reasons to actually explore it, tackle same areas from different angles and such. Nothing took proper advantage of it.
I think what makes Midnight Club's maps so cool as well is the traffic density. Beyond making the map feel more lively, especially on the highways, it provides a greater driving challenge. Certain tracks require you to keep an eye on the next checkpoint, another on your opponents, and a third on the traffic, which shifts and weaves in a way that feels random but rarely unfair thanks to them indicating beforehand. It makes near misses and finding the perfect point to use nitrous or SST a case of skill on the part of the driver, one that is developed as we move to tougher road layouts and faster vehicles.
YES. I didn't like MCLA very much, but 3 and *especially* 2 had phenomenal maps and wonderful (and crazy) driving physics. then the sheer amount of traffic you could get just made them feel so damn alive!
Speaking of Festival, I think you should mention Motorstorm as well. That series was seriously underrated, especially when it release at the same time of PS3, which also the underrated Sony console
@@Nova_hdtv Apocalypse got banned in Several Countries, had to be Heavily Censored in Several More, and actually Fell afoul of the Anti-Terrorism Laws in mine.. That, Apocalypse falling afoul of the Law in Several Countries, which, inevitably, lead to extremely poor sales numbers, is Probably what ended Motorstorm.
@@CyanRooper I think it was more because of a Case of many People were Terrified at the time of our Cities being Destroyed by Terrorists or due to Nuclear Annihilation in a War against the Middle East (as all out Nuclear War with the Middle East seemed very likely in 2011 due to the, Ultimately Failed, Campaign in Afghanistan and the ISIS Attacks on Iraq) , and the Government were Worried the Game, due to its Depiction of a Clearly Western City in absolute Ruins and Devastation, could Fuel those Fears, resulting in Violence, not from the Game, but an Overload of Fear among the Populace, so not the Game itself causing Violence, but the Fear of Destruction of the Kind Seen in the Game causing a Panicked, Violent, Lash out from a Public that was, indeed, Living in Fear of Terrorism and possible Nuclear Annihilation, both from the Middle East! You need to Remember that the Government at the Time had, in its Ruling Party, an MP who Platformed on a Position of a *Complete and Total Ban* on *all* Videogames *without Exception* as he viewed them as a Societal Threat, so I think you can Imagine the Effects his "Videogames cause Street Racing, Violence, Terrorism, Gang Membership and R493" Propaganda had among other MP's who did not understand Games and were Frightened of them as a Result! Giving causing People to live in Fear is the Core Objective of Terrorism, the Anti-Terror Laws were the best Fit for ordering the Game Banned until it was Finally cleared for Release once it had been Rewritten (a change that was rolled out Globally) in such a way to make it Clear the Destruction had been caused by an Environmental Disaster (Pretty much in the same way "Fuel" was Re-Written to be about "Global Warming" and not a "Mad Max" Style Nuclear Holocaust!) and not by Terrorism (the "Crazies" could Easily be Mistaken for Terrorists after all without the "Environmental Disaster" Story) or by NATO (as the city was clearly western) losing an Armed Conflict with the Middle East (Again, the Mercenaries could also Easily be mistaken for the remnants of NATO, or as an Invading Force, without the "Environmental Disaster" Story) , its release was then Delayed even Further by a Terrible and Tragic Earthquake in Japan, which made Sony, Correctly, feel that the Game was Inappropriate to Launch at the originally planned Date with its Environmental Disaster Theme resulting in a Delay. As it is, the only Games that have so far been Banned in my Country are: Carmageddon (Note: Only the original version with Human Enemies was banned, the Version where they are Replaced by Zombies (which the Developers themselves consider the Cooler Version!) was passed with an 18 Rating, the Human Enemies Version was also Eventually cleared for Release after 10 Months of Intensive Lobbying from the Publisher (with a Patch allowing Players to Select Humans or Zombies), however later Versions Continued to allow the Player to chose between Either Humans or Zombies as the Developers themselves felt the Zombies were Cooler! so a Rare case of Censorship Improving the Product!) Manhunt 2 (Originally Banned, then passed with an 18 Rating after Heavy Censorship, then Re-Banned, then Finally Permitted for sale after a 4-3 Vote in Favor of Release (albeit with the Age Rating *Legally Enforced* ) , at the Government Level!) Omega Labyrinth Z (Banned due to an Interactive Scene involving unmentionable Acts with a Minor, so a *very* Justifiable Ban indeed and one that Remains to this Day, it is Illegal to own a Copy of the Game and doing so will Result in Prosecution and a Jail Sentence under Child Protection Legislation) The Punisher (US Version with Uncensored Interrogation Scenes and Execution Animations, it was Eventually allowed on Sale with an 18 Rating with the Interrogation Scenes Heavily Censored and the Execution Animations removed, there is a Mod for the PC Version that Restores the US Versions Uncensored Scenes and Animations, but only because Mod's are Legally Gray (The Government is unsure on if they are Legal or Illegal) and thus are currently Unregulated, if mods were Regulated, the Mod would most likely be illegal) Sex Vixens from Space (all Copies Confiscated and Destroyed by Customs under the 1984 Video Recordings Act, the Cartridge Remains Illegal to Own even to this Day, resulting in Prosecution and a Fine for Ownership.) Roblox (Temporary Ban after a US Expose Revealed it was not In Compliance with Various Child Protection Legislation, the Ban will be Lifted once the Game has been Altered to bring it In Line with the Required Legislature). So, Surprisingly Few!
This is gonna be a long so bear with me. Need for Speed experimenting with both closed courses and open worlds gives it the most interesting history of map/track designs in racing games. I loved how creative and silly the track designs were in the first 4 NFS games and I wish a developer recreated those tracks with modern graphics and sound design. Underground 2 did a good job in getting players to explore the map by using incentives such as free money, hidden text messages and hidden races as well as letting players unlock new customisation parts every time they discovered a new shop. I also liked the closed courses and I thought they added some much needed variety to tye game. The only issues were the the huge amount of races, especially in the final stage (a bandaid solution to Underground 1's criticism of not having enough races after everything gets unlocked), the story feeling kind of nonexistent (the final boss race was so disappointing) and the lack of cops (it's like that lyric from Shapeshifter: 🎶keep the cuffs enjoy your doughnuts, Sir, you ain't gonna find me🎶). Most Wanted 2005 did a great job of combining progression with the map design. You slowly unlock more Burroughs and the events needed to challenge Blacklist racers allow players to explore the map despite the lack of incentives for exploration outside of races. The way how races take place in multiple Burroughs in the halfway and final parts of the Blacklist also keeps the racing feeling fresh. By the time you get to the final 3 Blacklist racers you have seen everything the map has to offer and you have the fastest cars unlocked to really test how well you learned the map. Carbon had a nice map for racing but it wasn't a good map for pursuits. The map design worked perfectly with the different handling models of the three car types (Muscle, Tuner and Exotic) and the Canyon races were easily the best races (if only there were more of them). If the developers had more time then I think they could have easily fixed all the issues of that game. Prostreet probably did the best job of combining map design, progression and handling models. I especially like how most tracks were on street courses to reinforce the whole "legalised street racing vibe" that they were going for. If Criterion ever decides to go back to closed courses for Need for Speed then they *need* to use Prostreet for inspiration. Undercover was ass. The Shift games using real racetracks like Spa and the Nürburgring were nice but I preferred the tracks from Prostreet because they helped give Prostreet its unique identity that made it stand out from similar games like Gran Turismo, Grid and Forza Motorsport. Hot Pursuit 2010 did a great job of combining map design with the handling model and it's why people point to Hot Pursuit 2010 as an example of brake-to-drift working well in a Need for Speed game. Because the game was designed with both in mind. I personally think Hot Pursuit 2010 had the most beautiful map out of them all and Hot Pursuit 2010 and Forza Horizon 1 are the reasons why I would love to visit Colorado some day. The Run felt unique in how it was the entire US map but broken into separate individual tracks. I quite liked that and I think apart from Prostreet The Run had the best implementation of closed courses in a Need for Speed game. I wish that game had better customisation and car sounds, though. Most Wanted 2012 was the biggest example of handling model not fitting with the map design. The roads are simply too tight and narrow for brake-to-drift and the traffic and cops mean that crashes are inevitable, not because of skill issues but because of bad game design. That being said I loved the freedom that game provided with its car list and no story and I look back fondly on both Most Wanted 2012 and Gran Turismo 6 as the games that taught me that driving can be therapeutic and a good stress reliever. Rivals IMO had the best implementation of brake-to-drift and the map was also very good for its variety of different biomes like the snowy mountains, dry desert and lush forest areas. NFS 2015 had a nice map to explore and take pictures in but the lack of traffic made it feel like a dead city a lot of the time. The bad handling model and hilariously easy cops also left a sour taste which sucks because this game's vibe is still unmatched to this day. Payback IMO is kinda underrated in a way. I didn't like the off-road handling but I did like the on road handling model and there was actually some nice variety in the map despite being set in a desert. Heat and Unbound both felt like they were big maps just for the sake of being big. I like Unbound's map more than Heat but neither map particularly enjoyable to explore for me. Overall I'd say the series experimenting with both maps and closed tracks kept the series fresh for long time fans even if it didn't always work out. If I was in charge of EA I would hire multiple developers to release two NFS games where one takes place in an open world and another uses tracks similar to how Forza has both the Forza Horizon and the Forza Motorsport games. I think that's the best way to appeal to fans of both open worlds and tracks in racing games.
Kinda good review but I kinda disagree with the lack of cops in U2. It was the first open world NFS game so it's probably make sense why they tryna make people get used to the world first, and there are no supercars which is the main purpose of the game for using import turner cars instead. Having cops in that game would make progression become unnecessarily harder than it already is since you need to unlock most features by exploring (especially Jackson Heights, and with no fast travel) and the game would become 13+ instead of E. Also, can't agree more with Undercover tho
I think Split Second deserves a bit of a shout out, it has a few locations with a few linear tracks in each that overlap, then it has set pieces that can change the layout of the tracks or re-route onto sections of other tracks momentarily. It allows for linear thoughtful maps, but with variation each time a map is played, giving an experience that combines a little bit of both linear and open world.
Split second is so ridiculous and sooo much fun. And the overlapping circuits is also really cool, because you'll struggle with a new track and then come to a section you already know and nail that one and that is an amazing feeling
The video expresses something I really loved about that "golden age of racing games" Be it track or open world, there was lots of variety of various different takes of games. I love open world games, just cruising around, taking sights in, but when it comes to raw racing, it's rare to find an open world that can compare to a track racer.
The one map style that hasn't really been seen again was the Project Gotham Racing series. It fits into a similar space as the Tokyo Extreme Racer series. Taking the attention to detail of Gran Turismo's real circuits and applying it to city centers, it was up to the designers to create interesting circuits much like real-life road courses. The lack of an open world avoided some of the issues of the TDU series and instead added variety through using cities in multiple countries. By PGR 4, you had a great mix of low and high speed circuits in 8 cities and the Nurburgring and the multiplayer had many of the game modes carried forward into Forza Horizon.
Totally agree this is why I’ve be replaying Test Drive 2001 lately same approach with great attention to style, esthetic detail, atmosphere, and location with all the environments been based off of real life places. With a decent story and good music to tie it all together
The one thing that I love about the Burnout Paradise map is the variety of shortcuts and little paths you can take to reach the finish line, the world is all yours to take the longest route or the shortest one, the problem is that the difficulty after a while doesn't work
As part of the American audience, I never got to experience Racing Lagoon back when it first released. I tried it and just... WOW. I just LOVE the idea of parts and upgrades being attached to components: Engine, Chassis and Body. As well as their unique approach to the map in a racing setting! Racing as an RPG was such an unexpected idea that I immediately fell in love with. And perhaps more intuitive for me was the maps that they used was quite similar to Final Fantasy 9 when it came to its technicalities and the courses based on those very same maps was honestly such a genius idea. However, with closed circuits and open world often becoming the safest norms in racing... It's highly unlikely that we'll see developers trying their hand at more risks like Racing Lagoon did. And of course, great video as always. ^^
The crew one for me had the best map in all racing games, it truly felt like i was crossing around a country, it had a sense of wonder, relaxing and discovering that I've never felt equality in any other racing games.
The thing about open world, whether in racing games or not, is that it's only really beneficial when the game is designed to utilize the openness. When the open world is nothing but a glorified menu to select from linear tracks, then all that does is limit the linear tracks by forcing them to fit onto the open world map. Midnight Club is fantastic because the freedom during races capitalizes on the world design. Need For Speed Most Wanted works because the cop chases are open-ended. Burnout Paradise has great exploration, but the actual racing suffers a lot from it. But a lot of newer games just have mediocre at best exploration and still take the hit to the racing quality.
Racing around Willow Springs in NFS Shift or Infineon in Forza Motorsport 4 felt so bland without all the balloons and festival decor around the tracks in ProStreet!
I think fictional cities are best for open world racing games. Bayview City from NFS Underground 2 is the best in my opinion. Mountain, harbor, Highways, narrow streets etc. It defienitly makes you feel you never been a place like that before. The fact that this game is 20 years old is insane!
My favorite type of map designs in racing games are ones that take place in fantasy settings. Be it off the walls imaginative, or in a fictional yet realistic looking setting. Similar to why I prefer fictional vehicles over licensed counterparts, it makes the games even more iconic in my eyes as the experience is usually relegated to that specific title and you wouldn't get the same feeling from anywhere else. Games that come to mind in my head for this are: San Francisco RUSH 2049, WipEout, POD, Carmageddon, Motorstorm, SCUD Racer, Daytona USA 2 (Battle on the Edge), Ridge Racer, Revolt, Rollcage, and GRIP
For me the perfect racing game would have features from Need for Speed, Forza Horizon, Test Drive Unlimited, and the Crew. I want the customization, visual effects and sense of speed from NFS. The physics, performance customizations, atmosphere and progression system from Horizon 1. The open world, home buying and some progression elements from TDU. The diverse landscapes and vehicles from The Crew. Also the physics of BeamNG Drive although heavily toned down so that consoles can run it.
for how small the team was in comparison to others, flatout 2 was incredibly high quality, but regarding the video the track design in that game is top notch the game has large maps that are usually divided into three or so sections to form a track, and a singular track can have well over 5 thousand destructible objects, which makes it super fun to smash through things and litter the track with different objects on every run through a track, also helped that the objects do have weight so after a few laps it gets more difficult to weave around objects as for more conventional stuff, the tracks have a LOT of alternate paths/shortcuts, and said paths can have smaller routes and turns which makes a single track insanely replayable and different on every run sometimes there might also be hidden paths, like iirc one of the race circuit tracks in the campaign lets you drive under the audience seating, which trades the extra speed from going straight to giving you nitro from the jump it has at the end, and it's some really good detail :)
Somehow they even managed to downport it onto the PSP! The resolution and damage has been majorly turned down (basically just limited to parts breaking off the car, no deformation), but the destructible environments are still there!
As much as I loved open world, I think imo I wanna go back to closed track racing like Prostreet did. My favourites of it were indeed NFS Prostreet, Midnight Club LA and Forza Horizon 1 in terms of immersion and atmosphere.
Maps, tracks and enviroment is one of the golden pillars for making a game becomes relevant. It amazes me how cool is to be able to have oportunity on drive in realitic versions of famous japanese touges. And not only by the 1/1 replica, but also the study related to the atmosphere, enviroment sound caption, vegetation, background, details... its all so well done. The only thing i dont agree about what you said about Kaido Racer 2 is related to Rubber band. Theres no rubber banding in this game, unless you consider it when a driver starts to drive desperately. But doesnt happen all the time, every driver have his own driving style, some even give up in the middle of the race.
As world maps go in racing games for this era I think this nfs Unbound and Carx Street have the best open world maps but if were talking in general FH3, UD2, Carbon, FH2,TDU2, burnout pardise, Heat, NFS15, Toyko extreme racer 2, The Crew all had amazing maps
20:00 I just dont get why Pursuit Breaker have not made a return in recent NfS titles. Instead in NfS Heat the police just ram you to death and have three spots on the map you can " jump away" from them, Heats map would have had so many opportunities for Pursuit Breakers tho...
I think it must partly be about focusing on other things, and the new team intentionally distancing themselves from the previous creators. Whatever the case, the NFS series lost its way in my eyes.
It's a super forgotten game. A real shame, considering it's a shocker of a racer with the phasing in and out of cars feature and incredible destruction element. Love that game to deth.
@@yobrethren It's barely even a racing game, more of a "car action" game, where racing is simply one smaller event type. The highlight of the game for me was the story actually being fantastic, which is usually unheard of in car games.
Loved the game overall, but I actually found the map to be a bit of a disappointment compared to older Driver games. The city was big, but the most of it felt very samey. Driver Parallel Lines also suffered from this, maybe even more so, though San Fransisco doesn't even have a functional traffic system! (Seriously, basically all the lights are green with one road having straight/right turns and the other only having right turns).
Good video. I've always thought of open world maps to be better for online play, and although I very rarely play multiplayer in any capacity, I have preferred them to closed circuits in the past few years, but that might just be down to the games themselves and not where they're set. My favourite open world map would have to be Horizon 3's Australia. The four distinct biomes are the right size, they have quite a lot of detail, and the are designed really well. The fourth game's version of Britain comes in at a close second.
I loved the map of NFS Carbon. 4 gangs, each with their own car type, fighting for control. And even though you are taking terrotory, so is the AI. Not just your terrotory, but of the other gangs as well. you can just do the same event for a couple of times, and because the other gangs "take over' other events, you can see the terrotories change without you taking any.
3 best open world maps: 1: The Crew (original, not the newer jokes) 2: Forza Horizon 4 (well.. no words needed) 3: Test Drive Unlimited (first, for the shock it caused) Honorable mention: Need For Speed Underground 2 - map matched the game feel like none before or after.
One thing that wasn't touched upon, and not necessarily primarly a racing game, but would give good example of an open world game is Driver San Francisco. It's done a great job in mitigating the open world for the ability to shift between cars in a driving sandbox. Yet given the real life location, it does fall back in varierty, yet San Francisco still stands up for being a good playground. And as for the map used for races, it can fall short for sure, as the game's design does favour more towards movie spectable, rather than a racing game.
They aren't racing games, but both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 from SCS Soft have some of the best maps for driving. They are massive, taking hours to cross, completely seamless, and are the United States and Europe compressed to a 1:20 scale (and cities being 1:3 scale), with the exception of the UK being 1:15 scale, and attempting to retain as much accuracy as possible given those limitations. The only issue is due to that size, states and countries are regularly added to the games as DLC, on top of some parts being so old that they're being reworked to be on par with the later DLCs. Unlike practically every game listed here, it's all about obeying the law and following road rules (since they're simulation games), but they are open-world (but restricted to roads since the maps take on a tunneling system, and some roads are completely inaccessible either due to space limitations or not being a trucking route in real life).
I think and believe the fundamental problem is everyone is soooo obsessed with Graphics and Latest gen crap. I am tired of always pushing my hardware to limit or requiring to purchase another new console. Racing games needs more middle tier indie games, it needs more creative twists. problem is ofc not licensing real cars is always unappealing for most "car guys" and it's always has to look "Realistic" the obsession with graphics is what's killing modern games IMHO. bro if you want realism.. just get out and drive.
FH5's map has a myriad of reasons why people may have a lower opinion on it, but yeah it not innovating or bringing anything new (while also not having great or impactful implementations of what previous maps innovated) really adds to how mid it feels
Always felt that the driving physics have to be enjoyable regardless of whether the tracks/map are open world or not, at least then you can have fun with just a vehicle in any location.
I *Still* to this day go back and play Midnight Club 2 just because of the game's phenomenal map design. Cause no other game has come even close to being able to beat its entire map layout into my head like the way Midnight Club 2 has. It has honestly gotten to the point where I push my skills and map knowledge to the test and have done increasingly difficult challenge runs on Midnight Club 2, with my most recent being me beating the entire game up until Savo using *ONLY* the Jersey XS and still have fun doing it.
I miss when open worlds were more fantastical. Like driving in underground 2 and Carbon felt like you were in a theme park made for car racing. The layouts and placements of houses and other buildings were silly and impractical but the roads were racing heaven as a result.
5:03 Hearing Blue Smoke from TXR 3 kick in sent a cold shiver up my spine. Instantly I'm back in the autoshop tuning my 350Z. They really don't make games like they used to.
The Project Gotham Racing series, and its Dreamcast precursor, Metropolis Street Racer, still have my favourite streetscapes in any racing game even if the modular maps aren't quite open world. (Yeah, I know MSR had unlockable open world versions of each city submap as an endgame bonus but you couldn't really do anything on those maps other than drive around.)
Both TDU 1 (including the Platinum mod) and 2 did actually had a unique kind of map and they're among the biggest maps available in a racing game. Even with the addition of the islets and Maui, TCM was not as big as TDU imo. Missed playing TDU when I started to semi retired it just because of the map size.
Burnout Revenge will forever be one of the best racing games ever created for me, my dad has finished the game several times with almost 100% gold metals on each playthrough, this super high octane racing game never gets boring, it's like you're playing the game on crack, never felt like that during playing literally any other game, EA is so dumb for not ever remastering any of the Burnout games (apart from Paradise which was very different) for other generations or PC...
Personally, NFS Rivals is one of my favourite maps. It definitely needs more though. Despite all of Rivals’ problems it’s a good game. If the bugs and crashes were fixed, I’d still play it. The most frustrating thing about Rivals is when you’ll be out racing for an hour, making progress. Then the ground suddenly disappears and the game is left frozen, and all of your progress is gone. The gameplay of Cops vs Racers is awesome to me, despite the awful story. If Rivals were to get a sequel that takes the same map and expands upon it by adding a much larger city section and more backroads it. And were to improve vehicle variety, race variety, and improved story. It could be the best NFS game. I also love NFS Shift 2 Unleashed, the feeling that you get when racing is so intense. A good selection of tracks and amazing graphics, the presentation of the whole package along with the career mode is truly great. I wish I could get Shift 2 on pc, but it’s delisted everywhere.
It's funny to me because i wished there was an open world with Prostreet's driving physics because they were so fun to drive with, while simultaneously not liking Undercover's world that much simply because there was something off about the driving
well i played the wheelman has the real life barcelona map recreated in game with iconic landmarks like the The Plaza de Toros Monumental de Barcelona, Barcelona Cathedral in Sagrada Familia, and the Port Vell in Port Barcelona Midway Developped the Map where you can drive through some building and even metro rails also the game has taxi points to use as a both fast travel and mission zones like a taxi driver in spain also street races unlocking weapon caches stealing cars and surviving from enemy attacks its hard to tell this is midway's last game maybe one day we can see a sucessor but when?
MC1 was also hard asf in capture the flag against AI. You could hone in on someone half a map away, and they would somehow find a way onto the next street over by the time you got close. Alot of flag transfers happened in intersections lol.
To me open worlds are always desirable, in every game genre. I enjoy exploration and the atmosphere, vibe and 'sense of place' of somewhere, whether it's a game or a real place, and the process of building the map inside my head is way more rewarding than racing. A driving game doesn't need to be a racing game necessarily, I would much rather have a complicated map which demands knowledge and creative thinking to get ahead than a closed circuit where the only thing to do is find ways to go fast. That said, the perfect use for this knowledge in a driving game is either police chases or 'start here, go there, route is up to you' delivery missions, so NFS games with cop chases and cheeky shortcuts are my favourite; even pre-open world NFS had pleasingly detailed maps with shortcuts. I found FH5 (my only forza experience so far) to potentially have a reasonably interesting map, but the game set in that map intolerably safe and uninvolving. Ideally I want a game to procedurally generate driveable roads from real roadmaps, but failing that, I wish they'd start connecting the NFS maps and have linear-with-variation routes between them to provide a really big world which actually felt risky and involving. I loved the idea of The Crew games, but the handling was shockingly unfun and there was virtually no actual point in the immense world.
Need for speed undergorund 1 is also an outlier. It does not have an open world, but the tracks still share the same cityscape, with several overlapping places. But since they don't need to make the whole city consistent, they pretty much had the best of the linear tracks to play with, while also giving the vibes of getting to know the city and getting better at driving in those streets as you progress in the game.
Another old school racer open world is Vette! There's another game called Choro Q HG4 with towns that have a drivable overworld, and separate race tracks. Some races take place on the overworld maps too. I quite liked Heat. I don't need a change of scenery every 5 minutes. Games can have distinct settings, it's fine. They don't need to include others for the sake of.
My problem with Paradise is that the lack of barriers controlling your route also means 95% of the interesting shortcuts in Paradise City never see any usage... like at all because there's better options just going down main roads... As much as I enjoyed the game... it's always been a bit of a letdown for the maps' full potential. And saying UG2's map is too tight for the handling is wild... Those cars turn in way easier than any other racer I've ever experienced....
I wanna mention this map design thing. Two games approach it very differently that i used to play a lot, Asphalt 8 and Rocket Racing Fortnite. Both very different in terms of philosophy but end up in the same feeling i have with both of them First is Asphalt 8, its a p2w mobile game but i can't deny that its earlier tracks are iconic. However this iconic design clearly contrasts with the more recent tracks they added over the years. Nevada is like a minute shorter than Transylvania. But more importantly it's routes are designed in such a way that tries to accommodate everyone. At least the recent tracks do. Earlier tracks don't have much variation other than 2. However later tracks add do much scale that it ends up being kinda bloat added to lengthen tracks. AKA there's an obvious and objectively shorter route that everyone uses so nobody else ends up using alternative route that was probably added for run time. Tokyo, Monaco and nevada being a victim to this problem. However some newer maps like that future city map, Transylvania and the moon, they seem to have prioritize that the alternative routes that can be taken will equally give you an advantage than the shortcut.
open world street racing games peaked at NFSMW 2005, everything else i played was just a chase for that type of high, what a wonderful game, someone should remake that game
Games not mentioned like Motorstorm, Project Gotham Racing, Out Run, Slipstream show how varied track racing can be (and they are easier to get good as the map is linear) My favourite one is Ridge Racer and I always thought of it as a competition mixed with the up-beat side of a festival, thus creating it's unique charm.
Dove that was a good video, as every other videos. I have a game request for you, the Racing Battle C1 Grand Prix, japanese game but you can translate to english with a english pack, its like gt4 and txr drift 2, good obscure game.
What i like about nfs the run is that while the world felt huge and you can't freeroam in it, the race types sort of helped keep the races fresh instead of it being a single race type, i wish it had customization.
The one big problem with Run as it goes on it repeates track layouts, now in an Open World game that is fine as obviously you will at times pass by same roads, but NFS The Run gets head scratchin when you do the same track back to back, except the next on is reverse, plus you start seeing same side areas and it does get Jarring.
To me the run has a very decent amount of vehicle customization if we’re talking need for speed with no customization HotPursuit is that. The run has enough customization to keep cars feeling fresh even when there was little reason to switch vehicles often
Burnout Paradise is the reason why open world is not always the best answer. Before this game I've been a good Burnout fan, from the very first toward Revenge, all on PS2. However, I never really cared about BP back then (mostly because I was bored or looking after other racing franchises). I tried the game once when it was relatively new, didn't like it. Retried again with the re-released HD version not long ago, and same thing: I don't like it. The open world is very possibly the main reason. First time I played this game, there was a race, and at some point there was a cross-section. I go straight, and all CPUs took left. I was wondering why? Then I look at the map, and figured I took the wrong route, and had to U-turn to get back into race. Unlike the previous games, there's no invisible barriers that help you stay on the main road. In a fast-paced racing game like Burnout, it's important to stay on the main road. There's the topic of Midnight Club in the video, but I think it's unfair to not talk about Midtown Madness.MM is the "father" of the MC series, with its large open cities, and most importantly its checkpoint system, which allow the player to go everywhere. I loved MC because of that, but "track" design got a bit worse about time (mainly starting MC3). They have a more "go straight" approach with their obvious shortcuts, and there's almost no "any order" races (like Savo race in Paris for example). MC issue is not the map, but how the devs designed the "tracks". I don't really remember how races were in MC LA as I don't played much of this game, but from memories I think it was like MC3. Good video in any case!
Midtown Madness 1 and 2 were developed by Angel Studios before Rockstar bought and made Midnight Club. Midtown Madness 3 is just a continuation of the name with Microsoft contracting DICE for the development (along with the RalliSport Challenge games) MM3 is good, but the Midnight Club series is better all around.
Paradise's problem was its use and not the Open World itself. Midnight Club has a few races just like Paradise City and at the start you can clearly map out routes by simply looking at the map, something the Paradise at many times cannot do. Races all end up at same points and you are only doing the same type. Which is bizzare as Online allows both different end points and even Circuits as well as Barriers. Again, MC avoided this, it has multiple types of races, with clearly laid out points, or if it does not, you recognize roads, because earlier in the game you have more focused and simpler race desings before the last few races where its more spaced out, but you start recognizing fastest ways of racing, even on different maps it cliks in your head because as the game progressed you were learning. Paradise cannot do this since you go to a crossroad, spin your wheels and the game tells you to go at and end point.
All imma say is that NFS Rivals is my favorite racing game, followed closely by NFS 2015 and FH2. IN MY OPINION, none of these games really had a true open world feeling (FH2 had a bunch but still a decent amount barriers and unbreakable objects) and yet the environments still really worked for me. By open world, I really mean something closer to FH3 and onwards were there weren't as many invisible walls or barriers keeping you stuck on the specified roads. Really hope they do a Rivals remastered cause of all the buggy crap.
I generally prefer linear track designs to open-world. Linear tracks allow devs to get creative and allow them to design tracks however they wish. You can see a variety of track designs and environments quickly, too. I think the only open-world racing game that I can kinda enjoy for its open-world aspect is Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2, but even then I end up using fast-travel as I do not want to spend 30-minutes driving across the map so that I can start an event.
Have you ever thought about playing the MotorStorm series on the channel? It's pretty fun and underrated, it's what Evolution Studios worked on before Driveclub.
i think racing games and strayed so far from their golden age that we need to go back to close track racers again for a decade, so developers can relearn how to make a good car game at its core. the last decade of arcade racers boils down to a mindnumbing formula of; map with road + car = ship it.
I’m a Collector so. Gonna build a Gaming PC. Buying every PlayStation Console. I’m gonna have a little Museum in my own home. Showcasing PlayStation History to my Kids, Grandkids, Great Grandkids. Xbox will be my Streaming Device, trading each Xbox for the newer version. Lol I’m gonna Main PlayStation because I don’t like Cheaters. PC will be my secondary. I wanna Mod etc & play Emulators.
For those saying "this game is missing from this video" if I added every single game possible in here the video would be too long and probably repetitive in some areas so I'm sorry if certent games are missing but hope it was still interesting to watch 👍
100%! Great stuff man
What's that racing game from 1999 with the overhead view that you start talking about at 27:57?
@@deanchur racing lagoon
No Hate! But Still probably had to add The Crew 1, clearly the KING Of Open World Racing Game With An United States - Like Map.
@@THE_BERNAT I get not adding every game, but yea; The Crew should have definitely been the most noteworthy title that is missing IMHO too.
As a Forza Horizon nut I will say that in terms of map designs the older ones stand out more than FH5 does, the map is a little bland visually. Not just in terms of that but also in terms of atmosphere, it doesn't feel like a Festival anymore. FH3's approach where you feel like you're a part of the festival feels better implemented than whatever FH5 was doing. I prefer having maps like FH4's UK where the map is tailored to the gameplay experience. The seasons in FH4 was always a blast to play through even though people hated the snow sometimes lol. It's small things like this that I miss in FH5, as much as I like playing it it doesn't capture that same gameplay feel or magic FH4 had. Great video as always Dove, props to you and Sharicite for putting together this interesting video! Quite lovely to watch through! ❤
i don’t know how true it is but i do hear a lot of people saying that the reason FH5’s map is the way it is is partly because it was designed with the Eliminator game mode in mind
@@eddieruit would make no sense, FH5 eliminator is far worse than 4's in terms of balancing
@@Sharicite so they did a terrible job is what you’re saying
Fh5 bad gib lieks
@@Twiggo_The_Foxxo It's not that FH5 is bad, saying this as someone who's still been putting hours into the game as of late. I just want the game to capture what it had before, the atmosphere, the driving, the progression, proper ranked online races, I would like for them to work from this and make an even better game. I like FH5 and I like the Horizon series as a whole but it does have flaws.
4:07 I can't believe I haven't seen this before, HOW DID NO ONE TELL ME YOU CAN DRIVE ON THE MOON?
You know, I always suspected that you didn't know about that.
_The more you know_
You can but it was for a few challenges iirc
After playing the game for a bit, you unlock moon, goodwood, the aryton senna challenge and the sierra time rally, They are all insanely fun on gt6.
@@dawidchlebek3251 One of these is not like the others...
"Open world is a must for racing game is minimum" scoffs in Dirt Rally, Gran Turismo, WMMT, F1, WRC, InitialD, Asseto Corsa, Ridge Racer, and Grid.
And any TXR game tbh
(i love the TXR series)
Driveclub, juised, old burnouts, motorstorm(s)
Dont forget racing lagoon, it doesn't have your usual conventional open world but it is one of the most fun racing game i ever played
People think a game is only good if it is open world, meanwhile, a lot of good games out there are not open world.
BurnOut
Midnight Club's map design is my favourite. Condensed with loads of detail in most blocks, making sure numerous corners and streets are designed so that they will be interesting to drive on during different circumstances while also making sure the city actually feels like a city to get immersed in. It's something no other game has managed to do in my eyes. Need for Speed's maps for example are more like arcade racer roads snapped together to create an illusion of an actual place but rarely any streets are truly open. Modern NFS meanwhile doesn't really know how to make roads interesting, they just made maps more open but didn't make each and every corner interesting in some way, waiting to be contextualised differently by different track designs. Burnout Paradise had a fantastic map but due to lack of proper race design you had zero reasons to actually explore it, tackle same areas from different angles and such. Nothing took proper advantage of it.
I think what makes Midnight Club's maps so cool as well is the traffic density. Beyond making the map feel more lively, especially on the highways, it provides a greater driving challenge. Certain tracks require you to keep an eye on the next checkpoint, another on your opponents, and a third on the traffic, which shifts and weaves in a way that feels random but rarely unfair thanks to them indicating beforehand. It makes near misses and finding the perfect point to use nitrous or SST a case of skill on the part of the driver, one that is developed as we move to tougher road layouts and faster vehicles.
@@0uttaS1TEyup. It’s the only time I feel like I’m going too fast if I’m doing 120 and it’s rush hour traffic on FWY 10 (MCLA) for example.
YES. I didn't like MCLA very much, but 3 and *especially* 2 had phenomenal maps and wonderful (and crazy) driving physics. then the sheer amount of traffic you could get just made them feel so damn alive!
Speaking of Festival, I think you should mention Motorstorm as well. That series was seriously underrated, especially when it release at the same time of PS3, which also the underrated Sony console
Motorstorm was so awesome!!!! I wish the series would come back...
PS3 isn't underrated, it's perfectly fairly rated
@@Nova_hdtv Apocalypse got banned in Several Countries, had to be Heavily Censored in Several More, and actually Fell afoul of the Anti-Terrorism Laws in mine.. That, Apocalypse falling afoul of the Law in Several Countries, which, inevitably, lead to extremely poor sales numbers, is Probably what ended Motorstorm.
@@simeonyves5940 lmao this is one of those rare instances where people think that violent racing games causes violence in real life.
@@CyanRooper I think it was more because of a Case of many People were Terrified at the time of our Cities being Destroyed by Terrorists or due to Nuclear Annihilation in a War against the Middle East (as all out Nuclear War with the Middle East seemed very likely in 2011 due to the, Ultimately Failed, Campaign in Afghanistan and the ISIS Attacks on Iraq) , and the Government were Worried the Game, due to its Depiction of a Clearly Western City in absolute Ruins and Devastation, could Fuel those Fears, resulting in Violence, not from the Game, but an Overload of Fear among the Populace, so not the Game itself causing Violence, but the Fear of Destruction of the Kind Seen in the Game causing a Panicked, Violent, Lash out from a Public that was, indeed, Living in Fear of Terrorism and possible Nuclear Annihilation, both from the Middle East!
You need to Remember that the Government at the Time had, in its Ruling Party, an MP who Platformed on a Position of a *Complete and Total Ban* on *all* Videogames *without Exception* as he viewed them as a Societal Threat, so I think you can Imagine the Effects his "Videogames cause Street Racing, Violence, Terrorism, Gang Membership and R493" Propaganda had among other MP's who did not understand Games and were Frightened of them as a Result!
Giving causing People to live in Fear is the Core Objective of Terrorism, the Anti-Terror Laws were the best Fit for ordering the Game Banned until it was Finally cleared for Release once it had been Rewritten (a change that was rolled out Globally) in such a way to make it Clear the Destruction had been caused by an Environmental Disaster (Pretty much in the same way "Fuel" was Re-Written to be about "Global Warming" and not a "Mad Max" Style Nuclear Holocaust!) and not by Terrorism (the "Crazies" could Easily be Mistaken for Terrorists after all without the "Environmental Disaster" Story) or by NATO (as the city was clearly western) losing an Armed Conflict with the Middle East (Again, the Mercenaries could also Easily be mistaken for the remnants of NATO, or as an Invading Force, without the "Environmental Disaster" Story) , its release was then Delayed even Further by a Terrible and Tragic Earthquake in Japan, which made Sony, Correctly, feel that the Game was Inappropriate to Launch at the originally planned Date with its Environmental Disaster Theme resulting in a Delay.
As it is, the only Games that have so far been Banned in my Country are:
Carmageddon (Note: Only the original version with Human Enemies was banned, the Version where they are Replaced by Zombies (which the Developers themselves consider the Cooler Version!) was passed with an 18 Rating, the Human Enemies Version was also Eventually cleared for Release after 10 Months of Intensive Lobbying from the Publisher (with a Patch allowing Players to Select Humans or Zombies), however later Versions Continued to allow the Player to chose between Either Humans or Zombies as the Developers themselves felt the Zombies were Cooler! so a Rare case of Censorship Improving the Product!)
Manhunt 2 (Originally Banned, then passed with an 18 Rating after Heavy Censorship, then Re-Banned, then Finally Permitted for sale after a 4-3 Vote in Favor of Release (albeit with the Age Rating *Legally Enforced* ) , at the Government Level!)
Omega Labyrinth Z (Banned due to an Interactive Scene involving unmentionable Acts with a Minor, so a *very* Justifiable Ban indeed and one that Remains to this Day, it is Illegal to own a Copy of the Game and doing so will Result in Prosecution and a Jail Sentence under Child Protection Legislation)
The Punisher (US Version with Uncensored Interrogation Scenes and Execution Animations, it was Eventually allowed on Sale with an 18 Rating with the Interrogation Scenes Heavily Censored and the Execution Animations removed, there is a Mod for the PC Version that Restores the US Versions Uncensored Scenes and Animations, but only because Mod's are Legally Gray (The Government is unsure on if they are Legal or Illegal) and thus are currently Unregulated, if mods were Regulated, the Mod would most likely be illegal)
Sex Vixens from Space (all Copies Confiscated and Destroyed by Customs under the 1984 Video Recordings Act, the Cartridge Remains Illegal to Own even to this Day, resulting in Prosecution and a Fine for Ownership.)
Roblox (Temporary Ban after a US Expose Revealed it was not In Compliance with Various Child Protection Legislation, the Ban will be Lifted once the Game has been Altered to bring it In Line with the Required Legislature).
So, Surprisingly Few!
This is gonna be a long so bear with me.
Need for Speed experimenting with both closed courses and open worlds gives it the most interesting history of map/track designs in racing games.
I loved how creative and silly the track designs were in the first 4 NFS games and I wish a developer recreated those tracks with modern graphics and sound design.
Underground 2 did a good job in getting players to explore the map by using incentives such as free money, hidden text messages and hidden races as well as letting players unlock new customisation parts every time they discovered a new shop. I also liked the closed courses and I thought they added some much needed variety to tye game. The only issues were the the huge amount of races, especially in the final stage (a bandaid solution to Underground 1's criticism of not having enough races after everything gets unlocked), the story feeling kind of nonexistent (the final boss race was so disappointing) and the lack of cops (it's like that lyric from Shapeshifter: 🎶keep the cuffs enjoy your doughnuts, Sir, you ain't gonna find me🎶).
Most Wanted 2005 did a great job of combining progression with the map design. You slowly unlock more Burroughs and the events needed to challenge Blacklist racers allow players to explore the map despite the lack of incentives for exploration outside of races. The way how races take place in multiple Burroughs in the halfway and final parts of the Blacklist also keeps the racing feeling fresh. By the time you get to the final 3 Blacklist racers you have seen everything the map has to offer and you have the fastest cars unlocked to really test how well you learned the map.
Carbon had a nice map for racing but it wasn't a good map for pursuits. The map design worked perfectly with the different handling models of the three car types (Muscle, Tuner and Exotic) and the Canyon races were easily the best races (if only there were more of them). If the developers had more time then I think they could have easily fixed all the issues of that game.
Prostreet probably did the best job of combining map design, progression and handling models. I especially like how most tracks were on street courses to reinforce the whole "legalised street racing vibe" that they were going for. If Criterion ever decides to go back to closed courses for Need for Speed then they *need* to use Prostreet for inspiration.
Undercover was ass.
The Shift games using real racetracks like Spa and the Nürburgring were nice but I preferred the tracks from Prostreet because they helped give Prostreet its unique identity that made it stand out from similar games like Gran Turismo, Grid and Forza Motorsport.
Hot Pursuit 2010 did a great job of combining map design with the handling model and it's why people point to Hot Pursuit 2010 as an example of brake-to-drift working well in a Need for Speed game. Because the game was designed with both in mind. I personally think Hot Pursuit 2010 had the most beautiful map out of them all and Hot Pursuit 2010 and Forza Horizon 1 are the reasons why I would love to visit Colorado some day.
The Run felt unique in how it was the entire US map but broken into separate individual tracks. I quite liked that and I think apart from Prostreet The Run had the best implementation of closed courses in a Need for Speed game. I wish that game had better customisation and car sounds, though.
Most Wanted 2012 was the biggest example of handling model not fitting with the map design. The roads are simply too tight and narrow for brake-to-drift and the traffic and cops mean that crashes are inevitable, not because of skill issues but because of bad game design. That being said I loved the freedom that game provided with its car list and no story and I look back fondly on both Most Wanted 2012 and Gran Turismo 6 as the games that taught me that driving can be therapeutic and a good stress reliever.
Rivals IMO had the best implementation of brake-to-drift and the map was also very good for its variety of different biomes like the snowy mountains, dry desert and lush forest areas.
NFS 2015 had a nice map to explore and take pictures in but the lack of traffic made it feel like a dead city a lot of the time. The bad handling model and hilariously easy cops also left a sour taste which sucks because this game's vibe is still unmatched to this day.
Payback IMO is kinda underrated in a way. I didn't like the off-road handling but I did like the on road handling model and there was actually some nice variety in the map despite being set in a desert.
Heat and Unbound both felt like they were big maps just for the sake of being big. I like Unbound's map more than Heat but neither map particularly enjoyable to explore for me.
Overall I'd say the series experimenting with both maps and closed tracks kept the series fresh for long time fans even if it didn't always work out. If I was in charge of EA I would hire multiple developers to release two NFS games where one takes place in an open world and another uses tracks similar to how Forza has both the Forza Horizon and the Forza Motorsport games. I think that's the best way to appeal to fans of both open worlds and tracks in racing games.
If you actually read through this entire comment then have this cookie as a reward 🍪
I appreciate you're dedication to writing such a long and thoughtful comment 👍
@DoVe_7 your essay videos are my favourite so I hope you keep making more of them
Your review about Undercover's map is highly appreciated. 👍🏼
Kinda good review but I kinda disagree with the lack of cops in U2. It was the first open world NFS game so it's probably make sense why they tryna make people get used to the world first, and there are no supercars which is the main purpose of the game for using import turner cars instead. Having cops in that game would make progression become unnecessarily harder than it already is since you need to unlock most features by exploring (especially Jackson Heights, and with no fast travel) and the game would become 13+ instead of E. Also, can't agree more with Undercover tho
I think Split Second deserves a bit of a shout out, it has a few locations with a few linear tracks in each that overlap, then it has set pieces that can change the layout of the tracks or re-route onto sections of other tracks momentarily. It allows for linear thoughtful maps, but with variation each time a map is played, giving an experience that combines a little bit of both linear and open world.
Split second is so ridiculous and sooo much fun. And the overlapping circuits is also really cool, because you'll struggle with a new track and then come to a section you already know and nail that one and that is an amazing feeling
The video expresses something I really loved about that "golden age of racing games"
Be it track or open world, there was lots of variety of various different takes of games. I love open world games, just cruising around, taking sights in, but when it comes to raw racing, it's rare to find an open world that can compare to a track racer.
The one map style that hasn't really been seen again was the Project Gotham Racing series. It fits into a similar space as the Tokyo Extreme Racer series. Taking the attention to detail of Gran Turismo's real circuits and applying it to city centers, it was up to the designers to create interesting circuits much like real-life road courses. The lack of an open world avoided some of the issues of the TDU series and instead added variety through using cities in multiple countries. By PGR 4, you had a great mix of low and high speed circuits in 8 cities and the Nurburgring and the multiplayer had many of the game modes carried forward into Forza Horizon.
Totally agree this is why I’ve be replaying Test Drive 2001 lately same approach with great attention to style, esthetic detail, atmosphere, and location with all the environments been based off of real life places. With a decent story and good music to tie it all together
One element that i love on the 3 Rush games and Midnight Club games are the amount of shortcuits.
A bit surprised The Crew wasn't even mentioned
Being no longer available is a technical issue. Until a WIP mod (The Crew Unlimited) is released.
The one thing that I love about the Burnout Paradise map is the variety of shortcuts and little paths you can take to reach the finish line, the world is all yours to take the longest route or the shortest one, the problem is that the difficulty after a while doesn't work
As part of the American audience, I never got to experience Racing Lagoon back when it first released. I tried it and just... WOW. I just LOVE the idea of parts and upgrades being attached to components: Engine, Chassis and Body. As well as their unique approach to the map in a racing setting! Racing as an RPG was such an unexpected idea that I immediately fell in love with.
And perhaps more intuitive for me was the maps that they used was quite similar to Final Fantasy 9 when it came to its technicalities and the courses based on those very same maps was honestly such a genius idea.
However, with closed circuits and open world often becoming the safest norms in racing... It's highly unlikely that we'll see developers trying their hand at more risks like Racing Lagoon did.
And of course, great video as always. ^^
The crew one for me had the best map in all racing games, it truly felt like i was crossing around a country, it had a sense of wonder, relaxing and discovering that I've never felt equality in any other racing games.
Nailed it 👍
Yeah, and also story progression make long trips and explorations more rewarding
Although have many cons aspects, TC 1 is always be remembered
The Crew 1 was definitely impressive at its time, its likely we'll never see something like that again
*The crew before the tragicly bad Wild Run update
@@horvathr95wild run ruined so many things in the game its insane
The thing about open world, whether in racing games or not, is that it's only really beneficial when the game is designed to utilize the openness. When the open world is nothing but a glorified menu to select from linear tracks, then all that does is limit the linear tracks by forcing them to fit onto the open world map. Midnight Club is fantastic because the freedom during races capitalizes on the world design. Need For Speed Most Wanted works because the cop chases are open-ended. Burnout Paradise has great exploration, but the actual racing suffers a lot from it. But a lot of newer games just have mediocre at best exploration and still take the hit to the racing quality.
To this day i can't find a track racing game with better atmosphere or tracks than Prostreet it was peak design right there
been tryna tell nihs
They made willow springs look better than it does in real life lmao
Racing around Willow Springs in NFS Shift or Infineon in Forza Motorsport 4 felt so bland without all the balloons and festival decor around the tracks in ProStreet!
Yeah, the visuals and sound of Prostreet is amazing. It actually feels like a fun festival I would want to visit, even just as a spectator.
You kid, game was trash.
I think fictional cities are best for open world racing games. Bayview City from NFS Underground 2 is the best in my opinion. Mountain, harbor, Highways, narrow streets etc. It defienitly makes you feel you never been a place like that before. The fact that this game is 20 years old is insane!
My favorite type of map designs in racing games are ones that take place in fantasy settings. Be it off the walls imaginative, or in a fictional yet realistic looking setting. Similar to why I prefer fictional vehicles over licensed counterparts, it makes the games even more iconic in my eyes as the experience is usually relegated to that specific title and you wouldn't get the same feeling from anywhere else. Games that come to mind in my head for this are: San Francisco RUSH 2049, WipEout, POD, Carmageddon, Motorstorm, SCUD Racer, Daytona USA 2 (Battle on the Edge), Ridge Racer, Revolt, Rollcage, and GRIP
For me the perfect racing game would have features from Need for Speed, Forza Horizon, Test Drive Unlimited, and the Crew.
I want the customization, visual effects and sense of speed from NFS.
The physics, performance customizations, atmosphere and progression system from Horizon 1.
The open world, home buying and some progression elements from TDU.
The diverse landscapes and vehicles from The Crew.
Also the physics of BeamNG Drive although heavily toned down so that consoles can run it.
for how small the team was in comparison to others, flatout 2 was incredibly high quality, but regarding the video the track design in that game is top notch
the game has large maps that are usually divided into three or so sections to form a track, and a singular track can have well over 5 thousand destructible objects, which makes it super fun to smash through things and litter the track with different objects on every run through a track, also helped that the objects do have weight so after a few laps it gets more difficult to weave around objects
as for more conventional stuff, the tracks have a LOT of alternate paths/shortcuts, and said paths can have smaller routes and turns which makes a single track insanely replayable and different on every run
sometimes there might also be hidden paths, like iirc one of the race circuit tracks in the campaign lets you drive under the audience seating, which trades the extra speed from going straight to giving you nitro from the jump it has at the end, and it's some really good detail :)
Somehow they even managed to downport it onto the PSP! The resolution and damage has been majorly turned down (basically just limited to parts breaking off the car, no deformation), but the destructible environments are still there!
As much as I loved open world, I think imo I wanna go back to closed track racing like Prostreet did. My favourites of it were indeed NFS Prostreet, Midnight Club LA and Forza Horizon 1 in terms of immersion and atmosphere.
No fucking way you just used a track from VA-11 HALL-A as BGM for a video essay! OMG you made my day
2:21 i have a plan, we need money
Harvesting mangoes
You need to have some god damn faith!
Maps, tracks and enviroment is one of the golden pillars for making a game becomes relevant. It amazes me how cool is to be able to have oportunity on drive in realitic versions of famous japanese touges. And not only by the 1/1 replica, but also the study related to the atmosphere, enviroment sound caption, vegetation, background, details... its all so well done.
The only thing i dont agree about what you said about Kaido Racer 2 is related to Rubber band. Theres no rubber banding in this game, unless you consider it when a driver starts to drive desperately. But doesnt happen all the time, every driver have his own driving style, some even give up in the middle of the race.
As world maps go in racing games for this era I think this nfs Unbound and Carx Street have the best open world maps but if were talking in general FH3, UD2, Carbon, FH2,TDU2, burnout pardise, Heat, NFS15, Toyko extreme racer 2, The Crew all had amazing maps
20:00 I just dont get why Pursuit Breaker have not made a return in recent NfS titles. Instead in NfS Heat the police just ram you to death and have three spots on the map you can " jump away" from them, Heats map would have had so many opportunities for Pursuit Breakers tho...
I think it must partly be about focusing on other things, and the new team intentionally distancing themselves from the previous creators.
Whatever the case, the NFS series lost its way in my eyes.
Driver San Francisco capitilizes on open world greatly, interestingly you missed this game here
It's a super forgotten game. A real shame, considering it's a shocker of a racer with the phasing in and out of cars feature and incredible destruction element.
Love that game to deth.
@@yobrethren It's barely even a racing game, more of a "car action" game, where racing is simply one smaller event type.
The highlight of the game for me was the story actually being fantastic, which is usually unheard of in car games.
@@lemonov3031 i know, played it through like 20 times. That's why I pointed out great destruction.
Loved the game overall, but I actually found the map to be a bit of a disappointment compared to older Driver games. The city was big, but the most of it felt very samey. Driver Parallel Lines also suffered from this, maybe even more so, though San Fransisco doesn't even have a functional traffic system! (Seriously, basically all the lights are green with one road having straight/right turns and the other only having right turns).
I'm a simple man, i see TDU2, i cry, thinking of the absolute horror that is its sequel
Good video. I've always thought of open world maps to be better for online play, and although I very rarely play multiplayer in any capacity, I have preferred them to closed circuits in the past few years, but that might just be down to the games themselves and not where they're set. My favourite open world map would have to be Horizon 3's Australia. The four distinct biomes are the right size, they have quite a lot of detail, and the are designed really well. The fourth game's version of Britain comes in at a close second.
The graphical leap from GT2 to 3 is still absolutely wild to me
4:43 Brat spotted
海外の動画で首都高バトルが取り上げられてこれほどうれしいことはない
……road trip adventure……
I loved the map of NFS Carbon. 4 gangs, each with their own car type, fighting for control. And even though you are taking terrotory, so is the AI. Not just your terrotory, but of the other gangs as well. you can just do the same event for a couple of times, and because the other gangs "take over' other events, you can see the terrotories change without you taking any.
There are also 6 minor crews in the game
3 best open world maps:
1: The Crew (original, not the newer jokes)
2: Forza Horizon 4 (well.. no words needed)
3: Test Drive Unlimited (first, for the shock it caused)
Honorable mention:
Need For Speed Underground 2 - map matched the game feel like none before or after.
1:47 except one, kinda
The PS1 era Test Course is just unlicensed Yatabe, which afaik only appeared in Wangan Midnight PS3
One thing that wasn't touched upon, and not necessarily primarly a racing game, but would give good example of an open world game is Driver San Francisco. It's done a great job in mitigating the open world for the ability to shift between cars in a driving sandbox. Yet given the real life location, it does fall back in varierty, yet San Francisco still stands up for being a good playground. And as for the map used for races, it can fall short for sure, as the game's design does favour more towards movie spectable, rather than a racing game.
va-11 hall-a soundtrack mentioned‼️
They aren't racing games, but both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 from SCS Soft have some of the best maps for driving. They are massive, taking hours to cross, completely seamless, and are the United States and Europe compressed to a 1:20 scale (and cities being 1:3 scale), with the exception of the UK being 1:15 scale, and attempting to retain as much accuracy as possible given those limitations. The only issue is due to that size, states and countries are regularly added to the games as DLC, on top of some parts being so old that they're being reworked to be on par with the later DLCs.
Unlike practically every game listed here, it's all about obeying the law and following road rules (since they're simulation games), but they are open-world (but restricted to roads since the maps take on a tunneling system, and some roads are completely inaccessible either due to space limitations or not being a trucking route in real life).
Idk, but ATS and ETS at times feel so lifeless to me. Like if all the roads had just been built before you started driving on them.
I think and believe the fundamental problem is everyone is soooo obsessed with Graphics and Latest gen crap.
I am tired of always pushing my hardware to limit or requiring to purchase another new console. Racing games needs more middle tier indie games, it needs more creative twists. problem is ofc not licensing real cars is always unappealing for most "car guys" and it's always has to look "Realistic" the obsession with graphics is what's killing modern games IMHO. bro if you want realism.. just get out and drive.
FH5's map has a myriad of reasons why people may have a lower opinion on it, but yeah it not innovating or bringing anything new (while also not having great or impactful implementations of what previous maps innovated) really adds to how mid it feels
Always felt that the driving physics have to be enjoyable regardless of whether the tracks/map are open world or not, at least then you can have fun with just a vehicle in any location.
0:52 ayy nice auto modellista is one of my favorite games
Deckembowls
You and some other UA-camrs made me play gt4 again. Cheers
I *Still* to this day go back and play Midnight Club 2 just because of the game's phenomenal map design. Cause no other game has come even close to being able to beat its entire map layout into my head like the way Midnight Club 2 has.
It has honestly gotten to the point where I push my skills and map knowledge to the test and have done increasingly difficult challenge runs on Midnight Club 2, with my most recent being me beating the entire game up until Savo using *ONLY* the Jersey XS and still have fun doing it.
I miss when open worlds were more fantastical. Like driving in underground 2 and Carbon felt like you were in a theme park made for car racing. The layouts and placements of houses and other buildings were silly and impractical but the roads were racing heaven as a result.
As far as track design goes, something about FH1’s Rally Expansion version of Clear Springs just speaks to me.
the garage in midnight club 3 wasnt a fast travel it was a way to switch maps without using traditional menus
6:57 Inorganic Soul, the most peak song in the entirety of Wangan Midnight 😤😤😤😤
10:28 Burnout 2's theme!!! :D
Don't forget TDU also had one of the all-time greatest soundtracks ever in a racing game!😅
5:03 Hearing Blue Smoke from TXR 3 kick in sent a cold shiver up my spine. Instantly I'm back in the autoshop tuning my 350Z. They really don't make games like they used to.
FH4 atmosphere is another level🧡
Please make a part2 to this!🔥
The Project Gotham Racing series, and its Dreamcast precursor, Metropolis Street Racer, still have my favourite streetscapes in any racing game even if the modular maps aren't quite open world. (Yeah, I know MSR had unlockable open world versions of each city submap as an endgame bonus but you couldn't really do anything on those maps other than drive around.)
Both TDU 1 (including the Platinum mod) and 2 did actually had a unique kind of map and they're among the biggest maps available in a racing game.
Even with the addition of the islets and Maui, TCM was not as big as TDU imo. Missed playing TDU when I started to semi retired it just because of the map size.
Burnout Revenge will forever be one of the best racing games ever created for me, my dad has finished the game several times with almost 100% gold metals on each playthrough, this super high octane racing game never gets boring, it's like you're playing the game on crack, never felt like that during playing literally any other game, EA is so dumb for not ever remastering any of the Burnout games (apart from Paradise which was very different) for other generations or PC...
I FUCKING LOVE NFS CARBON
7:53 The Devil C "Tuned by Mr. Xbas"
Personally, NFS Rivals is one of my favourite maps. It definitely needs more though.
Despite all of Rivals’ problems it’s a good game. If the bugs and crashes were fixed, I’d still play it. The most frustrating thing about Rivals is when you’ll be out racing for an hour, making progress. Then the ground suddenly disappears and the game is left frozen, and all of your progress is gone. The gameplay of Cops vs Racers is awesome to me, despite the awful story.
If Rivals were to get a sequel that takes the same map and expands upon it by adding a much larger city section and more backroads it. And were to improve vehicle variety, race variety, and improved story. It could be the best NFS game.
I also love NFS Shift 2 Unleashed, the feeling that you get when racing is so intense. A good selection of tracks and amazing graphics, the presentation of the whole package along with the career mode is truly great.
I wish I could get Shift 2 on pc, but it’s delisted everywhere.
It's funny to me because i wished there was an open world with Prostreet's driving physics because they were so fun to drive with, while simultaneously not liking Undercover's world that much simply because there was something off about the driving
Great video by the way, the comments don't say that enough!
Man, Midnight Club 3 was such an incredible game back in the day. We seriously need a remaster or a new installment.
2:21 TaHiTi?!?! Arthur I have a PlAn!
well i played the wheelman has the real life barcelona map recreated in game with iconic landmarks like the The Plaza de Toros Monumental de Barcelona, Barcelona Cathedral in Sagrada Familia, and the Port Vell in Port Barcelona Midway Developped the Map where you can drive through some building and even metro rails
also the game has taxi points to use as a both fast travel and mission zones like a taxi driver in spain also street races unlocking weapon caches stealing cars and surviving from enemy attacks
its hard to tell this is midway's last game
maybe one day we can see a sucessor
but when?
What’s the last game from 1999 in the video? I don’t think he mentioned the name but it looks very interesting.
Racing Lagoon, its japan only so look for the translated version that came out recently
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think he actually ever says it in the video, so the RPG-like top down game is called Racing Lagoon
MC1 was also hard asf in capture the flag against AI. You could hone in on someone half a map away, and they would somehow find a way onto the next street over by the time you got close. Alot of flag transfers happened in intersections lol.
NFS Hot Pursuit 2 (ps2) is soo good and the amazing diverse tracks are down to being not open world
"Carbon is like Most Wanted but the crews are cool"
*doesn't even mention the canyons*
To me open worlds are always desirable, in every game genre. I enjoy exploration and the atmosphere, vibe and 'sense of place' of somewhere, whether it's a game or a real place, and the process of building the map inside my head is way more rewarding than racing. A driving game doesn't need to be a racing game necessarily, I would much rather have a complicated map which demands knowledge and creative thinking to get ahead than a closed circuit where the only thing to do is find ways to go fast.
That said, the perfect use for this knowledge in a driving game is either police chases or 'start here, go there, route is up to you' delivery missions, so NFS games with cop chases and cheeky shortcuts are my favourite; even pre-open world NFS had pleasingly detailed maps with shortcuts. I found FH5 (my only forza experience so far) to potentially have a reasonably interesting map, but the game set in that map intolerably safe and uninvolving.
Ideally I want a game to procedurally generate driveable roads from real roadmaps, but failing that, I wish they'd start connecting the NFS maps and have linear-with-variation routes between them to provide a really big world which actually felt risky and involving. I loved the idea of The Crew games, but the handling was shockingly unfun and there was virtually no actual point in the immense world.
Need for speed undergorund 1 is also an outlier. It does not have an open world, but the tracks still share the same cityscape, with several overlapping places. But since they don't need to make the whole city consistent, they pretty much had the best of the linear tracks to play with, while also giving the vibes of getting to know the city and getting better at driving in those streets as you progress in the game.
Another old school racer open world is Vette! There's another game called Choro Q HG4 with towns that have a drivable overworld, and separate race tracks. Some races take place on the overworld maps too.
I quite liked Heat. I don't need a change of scenery every 5 minutes. Games can have distinct settings, it's fine. They don't need to include others for the sake of.
My problem with Paradise is that the lack of barriers controlling your route also means 95% of the interesting shortcuts in Paradise City never see any usage... like at all because there's better options just going down main roads... As much as I enjoyed the game... it's always been a bit of a letdown for the maps' full potential.
And saying UG2's map is too tight for the handling is wild... Those cars turn in way easier than any other racer I've ever experienced....
Remember FUEL and his 14.400Km² postapocaliptic "empty" world... according to the press XD
I wanna mention this map design thing.
Two games approach it very differently that i used to play a lot, Asphalt 8 and Rocket Racing Fortnite.
Both very different in terms of philosophy but end up in the same feeling i have with both of them
First is Asphalt 8, its a p2w mobile game but i can't deny that its earlier tracks are iconic. However this iconic design clearly contrasts with the more recent tracks they added over the years. Nevada is like a minute shorter than Transylvania. But more importantly it's routes are designed in such a way that tries to accommodate everyone. At least the recent tracks do. Earlier tracks don't have much variation other than 2. However later tracks add do much scale that it ends up being kinda bloat added to lengthen tracks.
AKA there's an obvious and objectively shorter route that everyone uses so nobody else ends up using alternative route that was probably added for run time. Tokyo, Monaco and nevada being a victim to this problem.
However some newer maps like that future city map, Transylvania and the moon, they seem to have prioritize that the alternative routes that can be taken will equally give you an advantage than the shortcut.
open world street racing games peaked at NFSMW 2005, everything else i played was just a chase for that type of high, what a wonderful game, someone should remake that game
Horizon 3 has the best map(s) of all time for me
based use of fate extra ost at the beginning
Games not mentioned like Motorstorm, Project Gotham Racing, Out Run, Slipstream show how varied track racing can be (and they are easier to get good as the map is linear)
My favourite one is Ridge Racer and I always thought of it as a competition mixed with the up-beat side of a festival, thus creating it's unique charm.
Mainly weren't added cause the video would be too long and maybe repetitive at some point
@@DoVe_7 yes, forgot to say that anyway a great video covering the well-known games and some obscure ones
Dove that was a good video, as every other videos.
I have a game request for you, the Racing Battle C1 Grand Prix, japanese game but you can translate to english with a english pack, its like gt4 and txr drift 2, good obscure game.
i'm surprised you didn't touch on map size, because FUEL with its 14,000km2 would've been a good example as to why bigger maps isn't always better
What i like about nfs the run is that while the world felt huge and you can't freeroam in it, the race types sort of helped keep the races fresh instead of it being a single race type, i wish it had customization.
The one big problem with Run as it goes on it repeates track layouts, now in an Open World game that is fine as obviously you will at times pass by same roads, but NFS The Run gets head scratchin when you do the same track back to back, except the next on is reverse, plus you start seeing same side areas and it does get Jarring.
To me the run has a very decent amount of vehicle customization if we’re talking need for speed with no customization HotPursuit is that. The run has enough customization to keep cars feeling fresh even when there was little reason to switch vehicles often
Burnout Paradise is the reason why open world is not always the best answer. Before this game I've been a good Burnout fan, from the very first toward Revenge, all on PS2. However, I never really cared about BP back then (mostly because I was bored or looking after other racing franchises). I tried the game once when it was relatively new, didn't like it. Retried again with the re-released HD version not long ago, and same thing: I don't like it. The open world is very possibly the main reason. First time I played this game, there was a race, and at some point there was a cross-section. I go straight, and all CPUs took left. I was wondering why? Then I look at the map, and figured I took the wrong route, and had to U-turn to get back into race. Unlike the previous games, there's no invisible barriers that help you stay on the main road. In a fast-paced racing game like Burnout, it's important to stay on the main road.
There's the topic of Midnight Club in the video, but I think it's unfair to not talk about Midtown Madness.MM is the "father" of the MC series, with its large open cities, and most importantly its checkpoint system, which allow the player to go everywhere. I loved MC because of that, but "track" design got a bit worse about time (mainly starting MC3). They have a more "go straight" approach with their obvious shortcuts, and there's almost no "any order" races (like Savo race in Paris for example). MC issue is not the map, but how the devs designed the "tracks". I don't really remember how races were in MC LA as I don't played much of this game, but from memories I think it was like MC3.
Good video in any case!
Midtown Madness 1 and 2 were developed by Angel Studios before Rockstar bought and made Midnight Club. Midtown Madness 3 is just a continuation of the name with Microsoft contracting DICE for the development (along with the RalliSport Challenge games)
MM3 is good, but the Midnight Club series is better all around.
Paradise's problem was its use and not the Open World itself.
Midnight Club has a few races just like Paradise City and at the start you can clearly map out routes by simply looking at the map, something the Paradise at many times cannot do. Races all end up at same points and you are only doing the same type. Which is bizzare as Online allows both different end points and even Circuits as well as Barriers.
Again, MC avoided this, it has multiple types of races, with clearly laid out points, or if it does not, you recognize roads, because earlier in the game you have more focused and simpler race desings before the last few races where its more spaced out, but you start recognizing fastest ways of racing, even on different maps it cliks in your head because as the game progressed you were learning.
Paradise cannot do this since you go to a crossroad, spin your wheels and the game tells you to go at and end point.
All imma say is that NFS Rivals is my favorite racing game, followed closely by NFS 2015 and FH2. IN MY OPINION, none of these games really had a true open world feeling (FH2 had a bunch but still a decent amount barriers and unbreakable objects) and yet the environments still really worked for me. By open world, I really mean something closer to FH3 and onwards were there weren't as many invisible walls or barriers keeping you stuck on the specified roads. Really hope they do a Rivals remastered cause of all the buggy crap.
"x game is better because it's open world"
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune: "Bet."
I generally prefer linear track designs to open-world. Linear tracks allow devs to get creative and allow them to design tracks however they wish. You can see a variety of track designs and environments quickly, too. I think the only open-world racing game that I can kinda enjoy for its open-world aspect is Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2, but even then I end up using fast-travel as I do not want to spend 30-minutes driving across the map so that I can start an event.
NFS MW 2012 literally forced you to explore the map to unlock the cars. And the map was good so it was good. Thats also sth i rarely see.
You missed the canyon battles of carbon and its own set of drift tracks.
Have you ever thought about playing the MotorStorm series on the channel? It's pretty fun and underrated, it's what Evolution Studios worked on before Driveclub.
Eventually yea
Even though everyone hates the game its from, i really love Fairhaven from NFSMW 2012.
Whats the game at 0:40 PGR?
ye
Midnight Club 2 maps are so much fun.
i think racing games and strayed so far from their golden age that we need to go back to close track racers again for a decade, so developers can relearn how to make a good car game at its core. the last decade of arcade racers boils down to a mindnumbing formula of; map with road + car = ship it.
I’m a Collector so.
Gonna build a Gaming PC.
Buying every PlayStation Console. I’m gonna have a little Museum in my own home. Showcasing PlayStation History to my Kids, Grandkids, Great Grandkids.
Xbox will be my Streaming Device, trading each Xbox for the newer version. Lol
I’m gonna Main PlayStation because I don’t like Cheaters. PC will be my secondary. I wanna Mod etc & play Emulators.
How did you know I was searching for this exact topic?????????
Thank you for this work!!
I love asphalt 8's og maps (including sector 8 yes.)
27:55 what game is this? i swear i never heard you say it
Racing lagoon and I have a video on it already lol
So happy TXRD2 got representation
Heya like your racing game content and stuff lol, what's the game called at 0:39
Thanks a bunch :D
Project Gotham Racing 4