I never "really" played a Need For Speed game before Criterion took the reins with NFS in 2010, so I recognize that my opinion is based on a smaller sample size than most of you. Even so, that and Hot Pursuit were the only two I found fun. Hot Pursuit less so but I did get my monies worth. I have tried to play some of the others that have released since then on either PC or PS3/4 and I just can't get into them. I prefer arcade racers to sims and even I find it a bit much. I just came to the conclusion that the target audience for NFS was teenagers or younger and leave them alone now.

jdreyer wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 17:56:
I just expect them to go the way of flight sims any year now.

Well, see, that's different. Flight sims aren't as popular as shooters, but they never went away. They're still made and bought by millions of people, even in the absence of Microsoft's mainstream entries (which are returning soon). Racing has never been the top genre, either, but it's similarly steady, and the options actually are endless the same as they are for other genres in this fictional medium. Biggest example of fantasy racing of course being Mario Kart, which out-sells Forza by a large margin. Easiest excuse why you dont see more fantasy racing is that more realistic racing is still plenty interesting for a lot of people.

I LOVED Porsche Unleashed, but it was also this game that stupid Porsche let the E fxxking A locked Porsche license for DECADES (16 years!!). Then E fxxking A just wasted all the legendary Porsche after Porsche Unleashed. And this was the reason why PS's Gran Turismo use Ruf instead. MS was able to license from E fxxking A for Forza series until E fxxking A not happy that MS could make a racing series better than themselves. So no more Porsche after Forza 3. Now everyone (Forza, GT Sport, PCARS..) get Porsche since exclusive license expired in 2016.

Now E fxxking A is doing the same thing for Star Wars!! And look at how many GREAT Star Wars games had been made by E fxxking A?!

Porsche was indeed a Gem of a game. Altho the serie was still very fun through underground 1-2 then the 1st most wanted. After MW1 it went downhill fast except for Shift which was a decent attempt at something better, but now the serie is just a joke.

jacobvandy wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 16:30:

jdreyer wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 15:55:

SirKnight wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 14:14:

jdreyer wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 12:51:
I wonder if there will ever be a time when people stop buying racing games.

Of course not. Why would they?

Eventually there won't be anything new to build. Everything will have been done.

"Racing games" is a genre like shooters or RPGs. Would you say the same about those other types of games? The tech for graphics, physics, and world simulation will have room to grow until quantum computers are streaming petabytes of data directly into your brain and it becomes indistinguishable from reality. But even then, there will still be room for fantasy settings and other artistic twists. And that says nothing of new cars constantly releasing, new tracks being built or popularized, new characters and stories being integrated for dramatic effect, etc...

Sure, I guess. With shooters and RPGs, the options seem endless. When people get tired of high fantasy, we get something like Kingdom Come: Deliverance or Cyberpunk 2077. Potential for variety is endless. Ditto with shooters: tons of variety. We just got Battle Royale recently as an innovation. For racing games, I don't see that. I just see more of the same. I'm surprised that iterations of the same game like NFS and Forza keep selling. And I say that as someone that like racing games. I just expect them to go the way of flight sims any year now.

jdreyer wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 15:55:

SirKnight wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 14:14:

jdreyer wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 12:51:
I wonder if there will ever be a time when people stop buying racing games.

Of course not. Why would they?

Eventually there won't be anything new to build. Everything will have been done.

"Racing games" is a genre like shooters or RPGs. Would you say the same about those other types of games? The tech for graphics, physics, and world simulation will have room to grow until quantum computers are streaming petabytes of data directly into your brain and it becomes indistinguishable from reality. But even then, there will still be room for fantasy settings and other artistic twists. And that says nothing of new cars constantly releasing, new tracks being built or popularized, new characters and stories being integrated for dramatic effect, etc...

Burrito of Peace wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 11:31:
Countdown to suckage here.

The last good Need for Speed was Porsche Unleashed.

NFS3 on Playstation.

SirKnight wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 14:14:

jdreyer wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 12:51:
I wonder if there will ever be a time when people stop buying racing games.

Of course not. Why would they?

Eventually there won't be anything new to build. Everything will have been done.

SirKnight wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 14:14:
NFS has always been more of an arcadey type of game

No, it hasn't. It's never been a SIM, but it didn't start out as this bastardized ARCADE fantasy garbage for console players.

It originally started as a game that's somewhere in between, and that's when it was at its absolute best. But that was back in the 90s when EA cared about their audience.

Bah! If it doesn't start with Road and Track Presents and have delightfully bad 90s postage stamp videos with stiff narration, it's not a true Need for Speed game!

Porsche Unleashed is probably the best driving game in the NFS series, but on the whole it's always landed on the side of "arcadey bullshit", and at this point half a dozen developers have had their go at the series, to varying levels of success. GRID or Assetto Corsa have a similar "real, but softer" feel that PU managed to a magical degree.

On balance I like the 2010 Hot Pursuit best out of the series. It's Criterion (of Burnout fame) laser-focusing their brand of vehicular violence on a pretty open world, now with shiny licensed cars and more focus to the main progression (DJ Atomika was taken out back and shot). It hadn't yet been taken over by the wannabe-RPG stat creep of every modern open world game, instead it was a game that let you just drive but also gave you plenty to do when you wanted to evade (or take part in) a pursuit with spike strips, EMPs, and helicopters.

jdreyer wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 12:51:
I wonder if there will ever be a time when people stop buying racing games.

Of course not. Why would they?

Bumpy wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 13:27:
If this game used the BeamNG.drive engine then I would be excited. But since it will most likely not and be arcade crap, a total pass from me.

Not every racing game needs to be a sim. And I'm glad they're not. Sims generally are boring most of the time. NFS has always been more of an arcadey type of game and it should stay that way.

I'd not only rather see NFS stay more arcade style, but go back to long tracks rather than race tracks where you make lap after lap. That's extremely boring, unless you're doing it in real life of course. But very long highway races with segments and traffic...now that's NFS.

If this game used the BeamNG.drive engine then I would be excited. But since it will most likely not and be arcade crap, a total pass from me.

jdreyer wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 12:51:
I wonder if there will ever be a time when people stop buying racing games.

As soon as Star Citizen is ready.

I wonder if there will ever be a time when people stop buying racing games.

Avus wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 12:25:
why the fxxk i want a RACING game with "surprise mechanics"??

Because the term "loot box" is no longer politically acceptable?

why the fxxk i want a RACING game with "surprise mechanics"??

Need For Speed is dead, let it rest in peace.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Aug 12, 2019, 11:31:
The last good Need for Speed was Porsche Unleashed.

I came here to say this. High Stakes before that. Back when Need For Speed wasn't this dumb arcadey bullshit. I still have both of those games in their boxes.

Countdown to suckage here.

The last good Need for Speed was Porsche Unleashed.