Hello ladies, gentlemen and those of a non-binary nature, my name is Daibhi and this is the Gamerhub. This isn’t a review, but more of an op-ed, as I have something to say which might be a bit controversial. Racing games are great. I love them. In fact, I genuinely think I might have reviewed more racing games than any other genre of game. I’m not alone though. Outside of Soulslikes, EA Sports games and platformers, racing games dominate the sales of games in both physical and digital gaming. I could wax lyrical about how much I like kicking people’s ass at MarioKart DoubleDash at The Bobbin in Aberdeen, but I’ve already done that on here. I adore WipeOut: The Omega Collection, and play it every time I get a chance. I swear profusely every time someone uses a lightning strike on Mariokart 8, and I could spend days racing across Scotland and Mexico in the two Forza Horizon games that you can play currently on the Xbox family of consoles. It’s fair to say that I feel the need: The need for speed. If I’m not drifting at a safe distance in front of my opponents, am I really gaming? But there’s an issue.
Using my Thumb Soldiers, I’ve got very good at racing through games, both of the racing variety and not, but I’m having an issue. I thought it was just an overdose of nostalgia, but it’s not. With the rise of retro games being available on current consoles, there’s a real issue with how I’m perceiving modern racing games. I’m not talking about the insidious commercialisation of racing games, turning every modern racing game into an extended car advert. Nor is it these extended car advertisements not promoting electric cars to promote environmentally friendly driving. It’s that I no longer feel breathless when racing at high speed. Well, almost. The F1 games get a pass as they seem to have not fallen into this trap.
Let me ask you a question. When you last raced in a modern racing game, when was the last time you felt it. When was the last time that you raced at breakneck speed, the hairs standing on the back of your neck, your posture leaned forwards, your knuckles white and your heartbeat racing? I’ll give you my answer: last night. Literally, last night. I fired up my Xbox Series S and started playing Burnout Paradise Remastered, and my eyes were opened. Gone was the safe blackout when I crashed. Adios to the lack of motion blur in favour of realistic haptic feedback and driving lines. Instead, I had a completely brilliant racing experience. It got me thinking about it? Why don’t we have that these days?
In today’s world, we live in a society that constantly tells us that speed kills. It does, make no mistake. That’s why we developed immersive racing games enabling us to get the kick of driving at high speed in safety. However, I’m not entirely sure racing games got that memo. Last time I raced down a highway in Mexico at high speed in Forza Horizon 5, I didn’t get that feeling. Ditto Need For Speed Heat. So why is Burnout Paradise Remastered so good? Why is it that I got that adrenaline kick from this game but not more modern ones?
The answer is the design of Burnout Paradise Remastered. Firstly, there’s no speedometer in this game. You have to gauge the speed levels yourself, and the motion blur and graphics aid greatly in that. On top of that, having to bob and weave through traffic as you race through is stressful but fun at the same time. There’s no barrier designed course and neither is there a compass. This game relies on you to make your own way and navigate Paradise City yourselves.
Then there’s the music. Like the Forza Horizon and Need For Speed franchises, this game uses licensed music, but the gulf of difference is astonishing. This game doesn’t give you a wide variety of radio stations, but the music is better. The game has a semi-helpful DJ playing the music to keep your pulse pounding, but the choices of music really matter. Don’t get me wrong, CHVRCHES and Dua Lipa are great artists who frequently appear on my Spotify playlists, but I wouldn’t call them racing music. Burnout Paradise Remastered has hard rock music and Drum’n’Bass to keep you going. From Junkie XL’s cover of “Cities in Dust” by Siouxsie And The Banshees to “Fake it” by Seether, this game keeps you focused on racing whilst playing some amazing music along the way.
Finally, there’s the variety. From taking down opponents in Road Rage, to escaping the Mafia in Marked Man, to even crashing and making the most damage to public property, there’s a raft of events other than straightforward racing to complete the game, with the map resetting each event as you go through the ranks. To get new cars, you have to find them free roaming and racing around the city and make them crash. This will keep you occupied for hours on end, and getting that specific Burnout license will be very difficult. But the grind is 100% worth it.
Which brings me on to the final point of this little essay: completion. When was the last time you completed a racing game and got a completion bonus that felt worth it? Yes, Forza Horizon has wheelspins and the like to keep you entertained, but when was the last time you completed a racing game and felt that the grind was worth it? Burnout Paradise Remastered did just that. Having that sweet, sweet license and the cars that go with it feel 100% worth it as you try to rule the roads. This is because the road times, crash scores and events are far easier to complete once you have them with your license, and it makes the Big Surf Island post-game a lot easier to complete.
So, where do we go from here? Well, here is my plea to the geniuses who make my games. Stop with the realism, and focus on what makes racing gaming work. A thorough, single-player campaign which rewards you incrementally is required. A soundtrack that keeps the pulse pounding as opposed to popular music wouldn’t go amiss, and a focus on the motion blur to help players race through the game would be amazing.
Racers, it’s about time we demanded a game good enough to reflect our market share of the gaming economy. Demand a game where the judgement of your speed is decided by how tightly your butt cheeks clench. A game where there is more to be done than single, barrier/compass regulated courses. We should be doing this because without us, we wouldn’t have half of the cool gaming stuff, both software and hardware that we do today.
So, if you liked this, please let us know via our Facebook and Twitter, and I hope to see you for my next review coming up on the 4th of March. Alternatively, if you spot me playing Gamecube Games at The Bobbin in Aberdeen, you’d be more than welcome to talk to me about it.
For the Gamerhub, I’ve been Daibhi and you are all legends.
See you at the finish line.
