There are quite a few subgenres that used to be very prominent and are now basically extinct. Snowboarding children, talking animals flying planes, strippers on BMX bikes, futuristic hovercrafts racing against each other, college basketball titles, and first person narrative games — things like that.
But games with cars have dried up. They used to come out all of the time! I liked having more options for racing games, like how there were dirt rally games, ATV/MX racers, and “Wipeout” style games. Now we have none, and that is a major bummer. So here are some franchises that really deserve to come back in some way but never will because we all live in hell.
‘Burnout’ (Last seen in 2008, or 2018 if you count remasters)
If there is a Mount Rushmore for racing games, I have no doubt that “Gran Turismo” and “Need for Speed” would be on it. As would this long dormant behemoth of cars smashing into each other. EA dug six feet of dirt, placed the Burnout games in their far too early graves, and buried them forever because… they hate money?
Not only are these some of the greatest racing games ever made, they still hold up; no one has come close to replicating their sense of speed or emulating their brilliant crash mode, and “Burnout 3” remains my favorite racer of all time. Just a GOAT video game from start to finish. The tracks, the music, the (fictitious) cars, and the amount to dig your teeth into. It’s all there.
‘Auto Modelista’ (Last seen 2002)
Is this the best game on this list? No. Quite the opposite, in fact. This flawed but lovable forgotten gem is most fondly remembered for the art style. For some reason, developers have abandoned cel shading in favor of the same Unreal Engine 5 assets, and I think we should go back to a time of worse looking games graphically, but better looking games aesthetically.
This hit at a time of Japanese street drifters, anime emerging into the mainstream, “The Fast and the Furious” being a hit, and Xzibit hosting “Pimp My Ride.” Were those good times? Not really, it was the early 2000s, but man was that a whole-ass vibe shift in this country for tricking out whips. God I felt so old typing that.
‘Full Auto’ (Last seen 2007)
On one side of the racing genre are games where you race… things. The other is battling in cars, like “Vigilante 8” or “Twisted Metal.” And sat between them squarely is “Full Auto,” a launch window game for the Xbox 360 that caught me off guard because of how much fun it was.
You’d think that someone would rip off “Rocket League” and just strap guns to the top of those cars and invent a bunch of different modes to get people competing in various fun ways, but what do I know? I’m only a man with great ideas and a platform to yell them into the abyss for no one to listen to them.
‘Lego Racers’ (Last seen 2002)
As the below YouTube video essay so poignantly illustrates, a game like “Lego Racers” cannot be made today. That’s because we are surrounded by cowards running major publishers, and the kinds of things you could do in these old ass games would break the puny minds of Gen Alpha children worldwide.
Upgrading weapons as you race around, piecemeal, so you can eventually teleport further up the track, is so fucking cool and broken that I’m upset I can’t do it in more games. Imagine an Olympics game that lets you shoot rockets at track stars, or warp through time to win a swim meet. I loved playing “Lego Racers” back in the day, with its offbeat characters, karts, and tracks. What I wouldn’t give for another.
‘Project Gotham Racing’ (Last seen 2007)
Kudos! You made it to this part of the article. Kudos! You made a really nice drifting turn around that tight corner. Kudos! You finished this paragraph without your nose bleeding profusely.
Basically replaced by the “Forza” games, “PGR” was a modestly popular Xbox series that I enjoyed. You’d get Kudos points for doing good things, and the cars were pretty. Could you slap a “mom gives you compliments” system into any game and make me like it? Yes, yes you could.
‘Midnight Club’ (Last seen 2009)
Back when Rockstar actually made games, this was one of their premiere franchises. Can you believe it? I can’t. An entire studio that’s too good to release something unless it’s perfect and the decades long wait props up an entire industry, it’s honestly astounding the entire thing hasn’t collapsed under the sheer weight of 2K’s hot air and horseshit.
Anyways, the “Midnight Club” games were very respectable, cool, slick looking racing titles that are beloved. Prestige was almost like the fuel the cars ran on, if you will. The production values and lamp-lit streets of the cities shined, as does my nostalgia for when Rockstar Games released things in a timely fashion or had actually good handling on its cars instead of bloated controls and bad feeling locomotion in its recent titles.
‘Need for Speed’ (Last seen 2022)
Remember when any “Need for Speed” was guaranteed to hit? Like it was a lock that these games were going to be great, innovative, fun, and hot sellers. And then they made a movie with Aaron Paul…
This was the crown jewel of the industry! This was the perfect blend of sim, arcade, casual, hardcore, and blockbuster. Whether it be choosing the most expensive cars imaginable, being a cop, or just adding neon parts to your spoiler, any version of a Need for Speed for nearly 20 years was peerless. And EA just kept shitting out worse and worse games to less acclaim and fewer sales, and now the franchise is as dead as a doorknob.
For shame, Electronic Arts. Rot in hell, and sell your IP to companies who are willing to make them again.
Image credit: “Need for Speed: Most Wanted”
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