What racing games (emulated or PC) do people play?

[vidmouse]

Been thinking of upgrading specs for my racing cab (in process of
being built, not all the way built yet, but I have a PC already).  The
PC I have is just a AMDK6-2 333Mhz, nothing special, has to run
MAME v. 53 or so to get decent frame rates and thus only older classic
stuff.

Wonder if it's worth a $100 upgrade to an Athlon X2 system to play
some newer racing games... what do y'all play?

[pmc]

I too would be interested in what other racing games people play.

I have a 270 USB wheel and pedals. For some reason, all we seem to play regularly is Need for Speed Underground (PC) which does require a modest PC and video card. And Spy Hunter of course.

I'd like to hook it up to my Dreamcast for Daytona USA but haven't explored that possibility.

-pmc

[ahofle]

I'd love to build a driving cabinet some day.  My biggest issue is the 360 vs 270 degree/pot-based vs optical based steering wheel problem.  Ideally I'd like to play the most popular arcade game like Pole Position, Super Sprint, Super Off Road, Road Blasters, etc (which use 360 degree wheels) in addition to the good PC games, just about all of which are 270 degree wheel games.  I wish there was some solution or hack to switch between a 360 and 270 degree wheel.

[vidmouse]

I'm going w/ the design limitations of my cab, which is more of a restoration conversion than a new project... the SCI cab is a 360 and I'm just planning on a mouse hack.
I shoould still be able to play 270 games I think, it's just harder, right?

[DrumAnBass]

In a similar thread someone suggested Trackmania - which is a great driving game with very well done graphics. Plays pretty well with a joystick although I am sure it is much better with a wheel. One shortcoming - no visible damage to the cars after a crash. There is a downloadable free version - http://trackmania.com/

[jharris]

I really like Outrun 2006. The graphics look best on the PC version, though the xbox version is close behind. It also works great with a driving wheel.

If modern is what you are looking for I think investing in an original XBOX would be a very good idea. There are so many racing games for that system (and many of them still look good). For example, the whole Need For Speed series, Rallisport Challenge, Forza, XGRA, Spy Hunter, some motorcycle game I can't remember right now (but looks great), the EA NASCAR games, etc. There is plenty to choose for.

[patrickl]

I like games like Colin McCrae Rally or Formula 1 simulations (although lately I haven't seen any good ones of those.

At the moment I play Race Driver GRID. It's great. Just the right balance between arcade and simulation (not too easy with ridiculous grip or auto correction and still you can play it out of the box without the need to mess with every setting of your car first). I doubt it will run on your hardware though. Actually I play it on the PS3, but it's available for PC and Xbox 360 too.

[Turnarcades]

I only like a few 'simple' racing games in MAME. Out Run/runners, Super-Off-Road, Pole Position, Great 1000 Miles Rally come to mind, but my new cabinet will have multi-platform functionality with a detachable control panel that can be swapped for a few different steering wheel rigs for console use. Games that spring to mind are PC ports of 3d drivers like Crazy Taxi (love it!), Sega Rally and a few others, arcade racers like the Ridge Racer series (PS1+2), and great simulation racers like the Gran Turismo series (PS1+2).

I have several steering wheels appropriate for all situations; a TT2 spinner +mini-wheel for the occasional MAME blast, A Tevion wheel with seperate handbrake/gearstick unit for PC Racers, and a GT Force feedback wheel for the GT games.

[waveryder]

Just an idea:
Im in the planning stages of a racing cab myself. Bought a fantastic steering controller from miniwah for it. Not going the PC route this time. I'm going for an xbox 1 in mine. You can pick one up for loads less than the $100 upgrade. They are dirt cheap, easy to connect to an arcade monitor and  burnout revenge and outrun coast to coast on it yummy!!!

[vidmouse]

As always, it's not the hardware that gets me, it's the software...
I only just got a PS2, still having some non-cab fun with that, not ready
to turn it into a cab yet.

what buttons do you put on a cab witha  360 wheel?  The SCI cab
I have has a two position shifter, one button (player start?), the wheel,
and a 3-position pedal (not analog -- see my thread in project announcements
from back in May)

For some of the games being listed, do you need more buttons?
At this point I'm considering doing a gamepad hack to do some simple
button inputs plus the mouse hack for the wheel.

[extendedplayarcade]

For Console Gaming.  I think Burnout Series where awesome.  Very innovative with the crashing and the damage to your car.

For Mame.  I really liked Hard Driving.  That was a fun game.  Also Off Road and Outrun was fun to. 

But I don't have a steering wheel.  If I had the whole set up with pedal, gear shifter and Steering wheel.  It would be a lot more gooder.

The Kids always seem to love the Driving games.  Maybe because they can't drive real cars.  I drive a total of 2 hours a day for work so the last thing I want to play is a driving game  hahahhahah

[extendedplayarcade]

ugg I keep forgetting to have the forum responses email to me so that is why i am fixing it now with this post

sorry about that

[patrickl]

ugg I keep forgetting to have the forum responses email to me so that is why i am fixing it now with this post

sorry about that

Click on notify?

[vidmouse]

Been playing a few MAME racers you all have recommended, plus
some recommended off of MAWs..

really liked "Hot Chase"

For Great 1000 Miles Rally, I was confused by something
I saw on KLOV... seems like this game was either controlled
by a wheel or a joystick?   Seems kinda wierd, I figured
the company would've standardized on one control or
the other... anyone know the history behind this?

[u_rebelscum]

For Great 1000 Miles Rally, I was confused by something
I saw on KLOV... seems like this game was either controlled
by a wheel or a joystick?   Seems kinda wierd, I figured
the company would've standardized on one control or
the other... anyone know the history behind this?

There's a dipswitch on the MB to switch between a wheel or a joystick.  I think the joystick option was there so it could be sold as a kit to go on normal joystick cabs.  I guess it worked: the sequel can choose between 270 wheel, 360 wheel, or joystick.

[pmc]

In a similar thread someone suggested Trackmania - which is a great driving game with very well done graphics. Plays pretty well with a joystick although I am sure it is much better with a wheel. One shortcoming - no visible damage to the cars after a crash. There is a downloadable free version - http://trackmania.com/

I didn't know about this. It looks awesome. I'm downloading the free TM Nations Forever right now. Here's a place to get it. Is it generally cabinet friendly?

For the OP:

      Minimum:
          o Supported OS: Windows 2000/XP/XP-x64/Vista
          o Processor: Pentium IV 1.6GHz / AthlonXP 1600+
          o Graphics: 3D accelerator 16 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card
          o DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c or better
          o Memory: 256 MB (512 MB with Vista)
          o Sound: 16 bit DirectX compatible sound card
          o Hard Drive: 750 MB free disk space

-pmc

[DeLuSioNal29]

Just an idea:
Im in the planning stages of a racing cab myself. Bought a fantastic steering controller from miniwah for it. Not going the PC route this time. I'm going for an xbox 1 in mine. You can pick one up for loads less than the $100 upgrade. They are dirt cheap, easy to connect to an arcade monitor and  burnout revenge and outrun coast to coast on it yummy!!!

I bought a used Xbox locally for mere $25!  I softmodded it, threw MAMEoX on it and was considering on using it in my next cab.

A nice cheap alternative!  (Plus it can play Xbox games as well)

[extendedplayarcade]

Just an idea:
Im in the planning stages of a racing cab myself. Bought a fantastic steering controller from miniwah for it. Not going the PC route this time. I'm going for an xbox 1 in mine. You can pick one up for loads less than the $100 upgrade. They are dirt cheap, easy to connect to an arcade monitor and  burnout revenge and outrun coast to coast on it yummy!!!

I bought a used Xbox locally for mere $25!  I softmodded it, threw MAMEoX on it and was considering on using it in my next cab.

A nice cheap alternative!  (Plus it can play Xbox games as well)

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-softmod-your-xbox...for-FREE/


Here is a good softmodd tutorial for anyone that has an xbox laying around.  I wish I still had mine.  I was dumb and traded it in for money on the new xbox 360.  I love my 360 but wish I had both.

DeLuSioNal29: did you put a bigger hard drive in your xbox mod?  If so how many gigs?   I heard some guys putting 1 terrabyte in there but It might be urban legend. 

B

[DeLuSioNal29]

I have two of them.  My first has a 200gb drive on it.  I use that for MAME, emus and Xbox games.  That one has a X-ecuter mod chip in it so the hard drive swap was pretty much painless.  The other is softmodded using the Splinter Cell Savegame exploit.  I use that one for XBox Media Center and it's set up in my family room on the big TV for Divx movies, streaming from the web, etc.   

~ D

[DrumAnBass]

I didn't know about this. It looks awesome. I'm downloading the free TM Nations Forever right now. Here's a place to get it. Is it generally cabinet friendly?

Yah it is actually very cab friendly. I use it with a GP-Wiz and you can easily navigate the game. Works great on my AMD Semperon 2800+ with a GeForce 6600 in it.

I have two of them.  My first has a 200gb drive on it.  I use that for MAME, emus and Xbox games. 

Yah I also have a couple of modded original Xbox's and they are great for driving games; bought a couple of cheap steering wheels to use with them. And of course XBMC is amazing as a media center.

[pinballwizard79]

Forza, PGR & MotoGP

That reminds me, I need to play MotoGP

[G1zm0]

i have a old racin driver cab (konami 94), the pcb has error and monitor requires repair, but when i get it done i will play old games.

its not a  360 wheel so will set it for

powerdrift, roadblasters,outruns,chase hq and the modeler emu and games, sega rally

[vidmouse]

Just an idea:
Im in the planning stages of a racing cab myself. Bought a fantastic steering controller from miniwah for it. Not going the PC route this time. I'm going for an xbox 1 in mine. You can pick one up for loads less than the $100 upgrade. They are dirt cheap, easy to connect to an arcade monitor and  burnout revenge and outrun coast to coast on it yummy!!!

Didn't realize these could run MAME...
might have to revisit this option for an "upgrade".

[Loafmeister]

They do, and mame runs well, but keep in mind it's an 800mhz cpu (I think) with 64 megs of ram so some games don't perform as well obviously.  Still, a great solution.

[shmokes]

It's a helluva compromise, but maybe you could mount 270 wheel in the normal place on the driving cab, and then mount a spinner down by the gear shifter.  That way you could use the 270 wheel for all the best (modern) racing games, but you could still play the classics like pole position with the spinner.  It's not authentic, but at least you can still play and enjoy the other games.

[evil homer]

i play Trackmania on my PC, its free to download from the official Nadeo site

http://www.trackmania.com/en/

i have Trackmania Nations Forever and if you do play on it you can add me as a friend if you like, my name is evil_homer, i'm at rank 2,500 in the world (out of more than 1.5 million players worldwide, 42nd in England, 9th in NW England)
playing online is the best way to play, there is a chat bar at the bottom of the screen so its a great community, usually around 20 racers and your car does not crash into the other cars, it drives through them (er hard to explain). if you do check it out i highly recommend the "mad laps pro" server

edit: make sure if you add me you put evil_homer

[HairyDVD]

I downloaded trackmania last weekend and had a blast on it with my son.

The 3D feature looks amazing when racing.
Will add you to my buddy list, but you will probably leave me standing .....   

[evil homer]

on the subject of Trackmania Nations Forever, when you start playing you can only choose a stadium car (like an F1 car-ish) with whichever countrys flag on it you are from.

however if you go on Trackmania Carpark
http://www.trackmania-carpark.com/
you can download 3D models or 2D skins of LOTS of cars (you must have pop-ups ON or hold ctrl when you select the car or it won't give the option to save)
once you've downloaded as many or as few as you want you must place them still zipped in
my documents/trackmania/skins/vehicles/carcommon
you will probably have to create the carcommon folder yourself.
then when your on the game click on profile then vehicle and you'll see them

the confusing part of doing this is that unless you have bought a copy of Trackmania United (about a 5er off ebay) only you can see your Ferrari or whatever car you've selected, all the other racers see a stadium car.