I really love the level design of Need For Speed II. It’s at the same time intentionally unrealistic, but still feels “realistic” at the same same - as opposed to the cartoony feeling of the likes of Mario Kart.
So, what more modern games reach that atmosphere? Burnout Paradise to some extent, but even that loses by far to the track scenery design of NFS II. I’ve seen all tracks on NFS II SE so many times that something more would be good to find!
Metropolis street racer for the more underground vibe…an awesome game regardless. Dreamcast
Newer version of it, night runners is pretty damn cool
Hah, I hadn’t even remembered the self-created obstacle I have, that I’m trying to stop buying anything from the US-based Steam and buy all new games from (Polish?) GOG instead.
And Forza Horizon is not available there.
But, I’ll mention here under this post that my brother gave me a good recommendation: The Flatout series. Flatout 2 is available on GOG, and looks like something I’ll surely be playing a salary day or two! I already tried Flatout 4, (or: “Fl4tout” 🤣), which ran as a very beatiful slideshow on my computer. Flatout 2 might be what I’m looking for.
Oh, and I do need to give props to Screamer 2, another game I used to play as a child! It has very similar track scenery design to NFS II, although I do like that of NFS II better. It has secret passages, after all! What is a realistic racing game with 100% real cars if it has not shortcuts, enabling you to comfortably use your McLaren F1 car to caress sand roads going through woods?
I think the game style I am after should probably be called kitsch racing game.
NFS 1, 2, 3, Porsche Unleashed. excellent track design. The early parts of the series were the gold standard in track design for me.
I haven’t played NFS - ai have one of the new ones though.
However, I find myself playing PS2 Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 as a true street racing sim in Tokyo.” if that interests you.
The new ones are extremely different in level design. They are just cities where you drive around.
What I like is when a racing game is built in a way that the scenery around is placed so that it conveys a specific atmosphere, even if the resulting composition doesn’t really make much sense. You cannot do that if you also want to give a sandbox atmosphere of “drive freely wherever you will”. As the races force you to drive along specific ways all the same, I feel that the player loses more than gains in that kind of “freedom”. A “roam freely in the city” kind of game has more realism, but less fun.
The Forza horizon games are more unrealistic than the Forza motorsports games and might be what you’re looking for. Also the horizon games have great scenery although you see much less of the urban areas.
