Top 10 of Best Racing Games for the Xbox 360

OverTake.gg · May 16, 2013

Bram Hengeveld submitted a new blog post:

Top 10 of Best Racing Games for the Xbox 360

It’s no secret that the Xbox 360’s lifespan is coming to an end, meaning we’ve got an extensive library of games to sort through and possibly trade-in to GameStop or EBGames. Because of this, used Xbox 360 games are incredibly cheap, and a lot of people might be spending this summer adding those last few games to their collections.

You’re here at RaceDepartment because you like racing games, so while we wait for the release of Grid 2, and the community-driven Project Cars to be possibly...

Continue reading the Original Blog Post

David O'Reilly · May 16, 2013

Nice work guys. This fills in some blanks for me as I haven't gone near trying them all.
I purchased Race Pro to see what PC sims would be like.
At first I missed the point a little and was put off by the lack of eye candy and game scenarios.
Now however having got a gaming PC and spent much more time understanding setups on RF1 and RF2 I have come back to Race Pro and applied what I have learnt.
The sim-like physics are as you say straight from Race 07. If you have an Xbox and are wanting to get right into setups and understand them this is the game.
If I dont want to do a big session on Rf2 its straight to Race Pro
Best £5 I ever spent.
Go Race Pro!

Carl Demetrius · May 16, 2013

while, personally, I don't really agree with the list of games chosen or even the the order of the chosen games, I do think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with many of comments made on each of them. Enjoyed reading, cheers.

Travis · May 16, 2013

A very nice list you've made. I too pre-ordered Race Pro having played the demo on an official Xbox magazine DVD (I never read a preview or review of RP). Based on the demo I knew it would be average to look at but featured excellent physics. SimBin's PC heritage really shone through. Despite its flaws and lack of publisher support, I loved RP, bought all the DLC and I decided to buy all the entire SimBin back catalogue and build a gaming rig after not bothering with PC gaming for many years.

For me PGR 3 and 4 would be much higher as PGR is my favourite series ever. Interestingly PGR 3 had sim like handling until MS told Bizarre to tone it back as to not compete for Forza 3 and PGR 4 still looks great 5 years after release.

Glad to see you mention the DLC strategy of Forza games although Turn10 aren't alone as Dirt 3 was even worse with CM ripping content out of the main game to sell as DLC. Expect the same with Grid 2.

Marcin Siewierski · May 16, 2013

Race Pro? Awfull port from PC, ugly graphics, bad framerate and online this game is dead. In my opinion nothing is really close to Forza Motorsport 4. Where is F1 2012? Where is NFS Shift 2?

Justin Swan · May 16, 2013

Totally agree. Race pro deserves the no.1 as a racing game. Through its faultsand lack of "pretty graphics" it's the only real racing SIM to grace the 360. Forza is simply a dumb blonde in comparison.

Justin Swan · May 16, 2013

Totally agree. Race pro deserves the no.1 as a racing game. Through its faultsand lack of "pretty graphics" it's the only real racing SIM to grace the 360. Forza is simply a dumb blonde in comparison along with the shift series

Marcin Siewierski · May 16, 2013

I bet U never drove a real car Justin and never used a proper steering wheel as well.

Rupe Wilson · May 16, 2013

If it wasn't for Race Pro I would never of converted over to a pc for my racing, Yes it had a few flaws but it out shined all in the physics department in my opinion. very good dlc also.. Glad to see Baja up there at the top also..

Well done SimBin for being brave enough to do it, its just a pity you didn't update it, and get rid of the little bugs..

Chris Cronshaw · May 16, 2013

For realism physics and handling Race Pro is king on console.
For pretty graphics, and falsified tuning, and a handling sketchy handling model then Forza is the one.

For me Race Pro hands down, as others have said, were it not for Race Pro I would not be playing R Factor.

Marcin Siewierski · May 16, 2013

Hi, Cris that is the whole problem U look at Race Pro thru PC not Xbox. Forza Motorsport 4 is very demanding and accurate racing game plus it was really nice supported by Turn 10 untill crappy Horizon came.
Race Pro should NEVER appear for Xbox 360 in that form. It was worst spended 15 euro ever by me. Anyone wants to buy it

Andrew Ford · May 16, 2013

Marcin Siewierski said:
I bet U never drove a real car Justin and never used a proper steering wheel as well.

You would be surprised Marcin. He' pretty good on SIMS e.g. race 07 and rfactor 2...whilst you have been playing "real sims" such as f1 2012 on the xbox

. You should retire like schumacher!

Chris Cronshaw · May 16, 2013

Yeah Marcin. Forza is so accurate pit crews can repair an engine running on 3 cylinders in 30 seconds but can't swap a rear wing. Lol

Andrew Ford · May 16, 2013

forza is the only game i've come across where, when you put ffb on, the wheel gets heavier and harder to turn as you speed up and turn in the corners. the opposite should hold true due to reducing grip. looks good but isn't the best

Chris Cronshaw said:
Yeah Marcin. Forza is so accurate pit crews can repair an engine running on 3 cylinders in 30 seconds but can't swap a rear wing. Lol

Chris Cronshaw · May 16, 2013

Andrew Ford said:
forza is the only game i've come across where, when you put ffb on, the wheel gets heavier and harder to turn as you speed up and turn in the corners. the opposite should hold true due to reducing grip. looks good but isn't the best

Yeah true that. The wheel gains weight through corners on Forza, especially when you get a slide on. This is so people can think their diving gods and go nuts about doing a drift.

Justin Swan · May 16, 2013

Marcin Siewierski said:
I bet U never drove a real car Justin and never used a proper steering wheel as well.

As opposed to? http://img.dxcdn.com/productimages/sku_122211_5.jpg

Majuh · May 16, 2013

World Racing 2 by Synetic is definitely missing on that list.

nandorock80 · May 16, 2013

I partly agree with Marcin. FM4 is the best xbox racer. This list lacks the F1 series (2011 is the best to me) and Shift2U is the best NFS ever.

Justin Swan · May 16, 2013

Chris Cronshaw said:
Yeah true that. The wheel gains weight through corners on Forza, especially when you get a slide on. This is so people can think their diving gods and go nuts about doing a drift.

Hey Chris

how goes it?

Austin Ogonoski · May 16, 2013

Good to see this article getting a lot of buzz lately, so I'll add in a few other tidbits.

The F1 series did not make the list because the games have included a fair bit of bugs, to the point where I ended up putting down F1 2012 for good. It's also very hard to recommend for non-F1 fans. Yes, Baja Edge of Control is in the same boat, but off-road racing is much easier for a newcomer to understand than the technical aspects of Formula One racing.

Neither NFS Shift games made the list because the games were intentionally sabotaged by SMS shortly before release, and purposely given atrocious driving physics as a way to "rebel" against EA. A friend of mine physically snapped his Shift 2 Unleashed disc after only a few races.

A few people have asked why Criterion games haven't made the list, and that's because they are entry level racing games and I feel they don't really belong on the same list as games that actually force you to drive the car, rather than just lay on the boost. button.