Top 9 PS2 Racing/Driving Games

[Sut1]

Yeah I know it's a strange number but I've set myself up a display cabinet for my PS2 games and in a nutshell it has 12 compartments each can fit 9 PS2 games. So as I'm a bit anal with these sort of things I'm going to try and have each compartment represent a genre.

So first up if you had to choose 9 racing/driving games for my compartment which would you choose ?

[Leo1]

Assuming we're limited to North American NTSC releases (Europe got some nice racers on the PS2 that didn't make it West), here would be my personal top 9.

-Gran Turismo 4
-Outrun 2006: Coast to Coast
-Le Mans 24 Hours
-Ferrari 355 Challenge
-Motorstorm Arctic Edge
-Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
-Grand Prix Challenge
-World Rally Championship
-TOCA Race Driver 3 (Edit: In retrospective, I'm tempted to kill this one especially if you own a Xbox where I suspect it's better)

I've largely eliminating games that were also available on the Xbox and/or GameCube (Including the Midnight Club and Burnout franchises). The list does contain two Dreamcast ports which were slightly expanded for their PS2 rerelease and a PSP port, games you might prefer on their native systems. And Outrun 2006 was too good not to include despite appearing on the Xbox and PSP as well (I bought all three versions ). 

Someday I'll have to figure out what percentage racers represent in my collection. Easily is my favorite genre.

[ZetaX1]

[QUOTE=Leo]Assuming we're limited to North American NTSC releases (Europe got some nice racers on the PS2 that didn't make it West), here would be my personal top 9.

-Gran Turismo 4
-Outrun 2006: Coast to Coast
-Le Mans 24 Hours
-Ferrari 355 Challenge
-Motorstorm Arctic Edge
-Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
-Grand Prix Challenge
-World Rally Championship
-TOCA Race Driver 3

I've largely eliminating games that were also available on the Xbox and/or GameCube (Including the Midnight Club and Burnout franchises). The list does contain two Dreamcast ports which were slightly expanded for their PS2 rerelease and a PSP port, games you might prefer on their native systems. And Outrun 2006 was too good not to include despite appearing on the Xbox and PSP as well (I bought all three versions ). 

Someday I'll have to figure out what percentage racers represent in my collection. Easily is my favorite genre.[/QUOTE]

That's a good list. Would have suggested the Burnout games, as well as Wipeout Fusion. Maybe Ridge Racer as well (not great, but interesting example of early PS2 games.)

[rift1]

Wipeout Fusion is awful and a disgrace to the Wipeout name

[ZetaX1]

[QUOTE=rift]Wipeout Fusion is awful and a disgrace to the Wipeout name[/QUOTE]

Wow, I have better memories of it than that. I remember that not all of the tracks were traditional "city" courses, some almost seemed like rally tracks, but I remember liking it at the time. Guess I need to pull it out and give it another go.

[ZetaX1]

[QUOTE=ZetaX][QUOTE=rift]Wipeout Fusion is awful and a disgrace to the Wipeout name[/QUOTE] Wow, I have better memories of it than that. I remember that not all of the tracks were traditional "city" courses, some almost seemed like rally tracks, but I remember liking it at the time. Guess I need to pull it out and give it another go. [/QUOTE]

Well, I pulled Wipeout Fusion out last night (as well as Wipeout, Wipeout XL, and Wipeout 3, for comparison.)  The game-save I had for it was dated December 2004...guess it had been a while since I played it (or at least saved anything!)  Playing it now, it probably is the weakest entry in the series and almost seems like it was made Sony Liverpool's "B-Team".  Even the soundtrack is a little meh.  It's not horrible, it just seems sort of slow and looks kind of blah.

I'm almost afraid to go back and try Ridge Racer 5 now, it probably looks/plays like crap...

[Sut1]

[QUOTE=Leo]Europe got some nice racers on the PS2 that didn't make it West[/QUOTE]

Well I'm in the UK what European racers are you referring to ?

I'm ok with multi-format as I don't have an Xbox and my Gamecube is for exclusives only I use my PS2 for multi-plats.

I defo want to include:
Gran Turismo 3
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2
Need For Speed Underground 2
OutRun 2006

Which of the Burnout series is best ? I've played the first one and wasn't that enamered about it, but I presume they improved.

Also I like the look of Auto Modellista - what do you think of that one ?

[Leo1]

Are you sure about Gran Turismo 3? While a fine game, Gran Turismo 4 is essentially a more polished version with a lot of additions and is also quite cheap over here. 

And I had fun with Auto Modellista. I wouldn't nominate it for this list, but it's a decent game. I'd probably give it a C+ if I were to pinpoint a score like the Critic used here. 

[QUOTE=Sut]OutRun 2006[/QUOTE]



[QUOTE=Sut][QUOTE=Leo]Europe got some nice racers on the PS2 that didn't make it West[/QUOTE] Well I'm in the UK what European racers are you referring to ?[/QUOTE]

Europe got some nice racers that North America didn't, but the stand outs are Sony's WRC franchise. Out of five games, we just got the first. They're all excellent, but the newest was probably the the best and that would be WRC: Rally Evolved. So since you're in the UK, I'd substitute that in if you want a representative from this franchise included. 

Europe also got the Colin McRae franchise, limited to the Xbox over here in North America that generation except for Colin McRae 3. Both Colin McRae 04 and 2005 are excellent, but 04 takes the win for me since 2005 eliminated night rallies. Switching to cockpit mode in heavy rain on a narrow rally course at night was one of my favorite experiences of that generation and I'm sure it's an entertaining experience as well on the PS2. 

Sony also had a F1 franchise of their own that largely stayed in Europe and was decent, although I wouldn't consider any of them as must have titles. Then there was the simulation titled Richard Burns Rally that remains one of the most realistic racers yet seen on a home console which is somewhat to its detriment since you almost need a wheel and pedals to enjoy it. Lastly, I've enjoyed F1 Racing Championship from Ubisoft and a unique Japanese game that Europe also got where you raced trains called X-Treme Express. 

But none in that last paragraph are in contention for this list as far as I'm concerned. 

[QUOTE=Sut]Which of the Burnout series is best ? I've played the first one and wasn't that enamered about it, but I presume they improved. [/QUOTE]

Not including them was sort of a cop out on my part. Not only did eliminating multiplatform releases for the most part make it easier to cut down this sizable genre on the PS2 that I love, but I'm not much of a Burnout fan and all three Midnight Club's, beyond a couple of hours, have long been part of my backlog. 

So it was an easy way to not get pinned down by a Burnout fan for not including one of them. But if you're like most, you'd definitely want at least one of them.

[Sut1]

[QUOTE=Leo]Are you sure about Gran Turismo 3? While a fine game, Gran Turismo 4 is essentially a more polished version with a lot of additions and is also quite cheap over here[/QUOTE]

It's a nostalgia pick, it was my pack in game for my long deceased original PS2 and I 100% it and obtained all the cars (never got gold for all the licences though). I just didn't have the stomach to do it all again for GT4.

Thanks for the heads up on the WRC series will look out for them.

[Weekend_Warrior1]

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
Motorstorm: Artic Edge
Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast
Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Sprint Cars: Road To Knoxville
Star Wars Racer Revenge
TOCA Race Driver 3
Splashdown
Kinetica
Shox