Reading another thread here (https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/why-have-i-ignored-this-sim-for-so-long.10606/) it came to my mind how it was started everything in me to like those racing games. In the early 80s as a little child I ever wanted to play "Pole Position" on the good old Atari 2600. I think this is, where it all begins for me. After that I've switched to my brothers C64 and we played Test Drive and Test Drive 2 the whole time. Luckily our father takes us in holidays to a gaming room, where we could play Out Run a few times. Well, the story begun to roll faster and faster... Now sitting here with an Oculus Rift on my Head and driving league racing in Raceroom. If I've known that 35 Years ago (where it started...) WOW!!!! So these where the titles for me: Pole Position - Atari 2600 Test Drive - C64 Test Drive 2 - C64 Out Run - Gaming Room Lotus I - III Challenge Amiga Street Rod - Amiga (told me how to built a good streetracer, what a manifold is etc...) Stunt Car Racer - Amiga Jaguar XJ220 Challenge - Amiga Geoff Crammonds Formula One Grand Prix - Amiga (it get serious now!) Indy 500 - Amiga Nascar Racing - PC Indycar Racing - PC F1GP2 - PC GP3 - PC GP4 - PC TOCA - PC TOCA 2 - PC Colin McRae Rally - PC DTM Race Driver - PC (First Online Racing for me!) Gran Turismo - Playstation 1 ....long nothing.... Race Room Racing Experience - PC Assetto Corsa - PC Automobilista - PC There are a lot fun racers like "NItro" and ... wow, can't remember all I think it would be fun, if you could look in the dark areas in your brain and will be happy to see your Racing Career in the next posts. What have you driven
Midtown madness, need for speed, Gran Turismo. But I think my very first was Moto racer which is a motorbike game. My first sim racing game with a wheel other than arcades was GT5.
1982 area, pole position on an atrai 5200 gaming system, atari st computer a couple years later, I remember test drive on that. Than came a mac computer in the late eighties, back to pc mid 90's. Been racing many of the big names off and on since than. I wouldn't call myself fast by any stretch, but it's fun and a bit cheaper than club racing and more convenient.
My first computer was a Commodore Amiga 500+. I played: Monaco Grand Prix (with mouse steering!) Test Drive 2: The Duel Lombard RAC Rally After that I moved to a 486 PC and there are too many titles to mention.
I think my first was Revs on the BBC Micro Then moved onto 386 PC and have never looked back. Never owned a console. I am a PC snob Rough highlights include the Geoff Crammond GP Games, the Papyrus Indy 500 games (never did NASCAR for some reason), first couple of TOCA games, Colin MCrae and RBR, Midtown Madness (loved that for what it was, fave car was the Mustang). progressed to GTR and GTR2 (with a Logitech Formula Force wheel) but then Kids came along and the noisy wheel got stored and I didn't really touch any driving games for several years (played many other PC games though). Then in Dec 2016 my son got an xbox with Forza 6 and I had a dabble with the controller and I thought hmm, I wonder what PC driving games I can use with a controller (less noisy than a wheel). This took me to Assetto Corsa on PC and within a week I had ditched the controller and bought a G920 (acceptable noise levels!). 6 months later I picked up rFactor2, then Project Cars 2 and most recently R3E. These are now the 4 games I drift between depending what I am after at the time. Having a particular run at the moment with R3E having found some much better FFB settings the other day. R3E is the only game with a decent offline championship mode. Notable mentions over my time that don't quite come under 'Sim' heading are the original Carmeggedon, which I sunk many an hour into, and the Grand Theft Auto games, particularly the original top down ones. Can't beat drifting through a line of Hari Krishnas....
I wouldn't call it a career because I do not play regulary a sim but starting from 1979 I had several racing games on ATARI VCS 2600 (to be honest I do not remember anymore what I played there) ATARI 800 ATARI ST and then several PCs since now The Games I remember and I had true fun with are Geoff Crammonds F1 GP and GP 2 (which was the first which I've played against my son IIRC) TOCA and TOCA 2 (I enjoyed the split screen races against my son but it wasn't so easy anymore to win) Colin McRae 1 and 2 (here I couldn't catch up to my son anymore) Have a N.I.C.E. day and N.I.C.E. 2 (I do not know why but that was my game. Maybe the speed) There where more titels but I didn't spend much time with them. There was always watching real (touring car) racing and now following my sons career.
The Cycles: International Grand Prix Racing - Video Indianapolis 500: The Simulation - Video Microprose F1 GP (a.k.a Grand Prix 1) - Video <<a big break, because we only had a notebook without a VGA, so we only played DOS games unitl the early 2000's!!>> Grand Prix Legends - Video Swedish Touring Car Championship (by DICE, it wasn't a hardcore sim though) - Video F1 Challenge '99-'02 GTR 1 rFactor GTR 2 Race Race 07 + Expansion Packs RaceRoom / Assetto Corsa / Automobilista / rFactor 2 (And of course I played every Codemasters, Need for Speed, Test Drive and FlatOut title along the way, but those are not really sims)
Started early/mid '80s and the list of race games is quite comparable with @FormelLMS. Also add Enduro. I;ve had most of the common platforms of that date. Also built my own PC's and understood MS Dos. Then a long period of 'race sabbatical' due to military services in Germany, work, wife, kids and my other passion of riding motorcycles. About three years ago bought a PS4 for AC, PC1 and F1 then upgraded to PS4Pro/PSVR and added GT Sport. More recently swapped to PC (PS4Pro moved upstairs to my 17yr son). Also upgraded Playseat to NLR motion v3, from T150/T300 to Fanatec CSL Elite. Now I primarly do leaderboard/hotlapping challenges and AI races in AC, PC2 and luckily recently found that hidden gem of RaceRoomRacing Experience. All three great and like me have their pros and cons. Because I'm addicted to (Oculus) VR these are my only race titles. Not tried Automobilista, Iracing, RFactor2 (yet?) Great time for us simracers PS Nice to read this thread. Good initiative!
I remember sitting in front of the TV monitor while driving pole position on the atari console system and envisioning a simulator like we see now. Took nearly 40 years, but we have it now. Gpl was the sim that really set it off to obsession for me, hours upon hours learning the craft of race driving, learning to setup the car, to drive the line of the track. I nearly was negative with my Gpl rank before I lost interest for a couple years. Came back, found gtr2, scgt... drove for hours in my favorite types of cars. Than around 2013 found r3 and according to the app here I have logged on 86 days of racing, and over 10000 laps. That is my very insignificant bio with sim racing nice to see others listing titles here, I have driven many of them, always was looking for the perfect sim.
Well, that's how it started off for me... and tbh this was the last time I was using a wheel for racing, afterwards only joystick and later controller. Probably going to forget a few games, but the ones worth mentioning(all time favorites in bold)for me are the following: Test Drive 2 (Amiga) Lotus ... whatever it was called (Amiga) Jaguar XJ220 (Amiga) I think this was the one with the awful tumbleweed flying across the street?!, or was it the Lotus game? Started my PC career with NfS, then NfS 2 ( I think there was something like a special edition of this one?) definitely one of the games I really, really played a lot. And even today I could probably drive around the Australia/Sydney themed track blind, of course in my beloved McLaren F1. Ubisoft F1 racing, think I got my first voodo 3d add on card at about that time Sports Car GT, well there was a McLaren F1 in the game, so I also spend a lot of time with this game Colin McRae Rally 1-x idk exactly In 200x I bought a PS 2 only to drive the Nordschleife in GT(that was also the only game I ever had for a PS) PC wise I went on with DTM, GT Legends and GTR1 I think. Then I remember playing Raceroom right after release, the P1 fantasy car at Raceroom Raceway (with all these "stylish" indicators showing where to go), but due to a sluggish PC and the quite small track and car variety I didn't play that much. That changed with the easter sale 2016, bought some cars and tracks and got totally hooked up.
Where to start, brief gaming history i guess, played a shed load of different types of games, gaming started on a Sega Master System with Alex Kid in Miracle World, my first, only and last console! From there Commodore 64\amiga500\600 then 1200 with my first ever hard drive 10mbs filled wtih Monkey Island and its wierd secrets. Eventually a 486 dx2 pc. Racing games, to be honest we used to collect games and had cases full of floppy disks if there was a game out we had it, a whole group of us would get together once or twice a month and spend an afternoon copying the games we didnt have, one from the other Played MonacoGp or whatever it was called, various Lotus Challenges very early. First game to be taken remotely seriously, Grand Prix followed by Gp2\TOCA1\2 the originals, Sports car gt in there somewhere. Not forgetting the various rally games. The original TOCA 2 was amazing online, all things relative that is, for its day, fantastic, 16 cars not overly laggy (even on dial up) and some fantastic racing against some really good guys, did bug out occasionally where you could be racing yourself off track on the wrong side of the barrier, Le Mans 24hr was also in there somewhere, pretty decent game but liked to crash on you if memory serves me correctly, indy 500, jeeze there are loads of different games ive wasted hundreds and hundreds (read thousands and thousands) of hours of my life on, i know reading this thread im not alone there, and thats just the racing games, no mention of Lara or Doom Quake, Unreal or the many other shooters, especially the games with snipers in them and wtf sports especially football games, im actually reading this as a life wasted, kind of sad looking back and thinking about it, because a lot wasnt even enjoyed (yeah)! Back to the racing with Gp3\4 then a break for a few years to Race 07 and it deriatives, played a little catchup after the break playing GTR2 GT Legends and another longer break to 2015, and being away from racing games for a while believed the hype and bought PCars pretty much on release, Doh, never again, but PCars did bring me to RR, night and day as racing games go, i know which i wish i found first Right now im having a hard time enjoying any game, mostly due to personal health and probably a little washed out and due another break. I know meant to be racing history but turned into gaming...........and i didnt even mention the.......and the and what about, lol, crazy batshit true but this thread alone would probably in wasted man hours put to proper use of convinced Hawking he was wrong thirty odd years ago, or there would be no need for SETI cause we know where the aliens are, we found them, years ago!
For me my first game was: Daytona usa After i owned sega rally championship Gran turismo 1,2,3,4,5,6 Rally Trophy Gtlegends Gtr2 Race 07 (with all dlc) F12012 F12013 Nascar the game 2013 WRC4 Dirt rally And the extraordinary R3E My dream i would love to have a GTLegends 2
First game was GP2, downloaded. Was impressed, so went out and bought it. Never installed the bought version because of ease of use issues. It also got my interested in real motor racing as a spectator sport, as I saw the changes that different set ups made.
It all started with that on PS1 during Christmas 97 with a lotta Redbull and other substances - leased a Playstation One : by Psygnosis "Firestarter" will be forever burned into my braincells. After that I was a speed addicted adrenaline junkie...but was also looking for more realism. Selection (most influencial): PS1 : V-Rally (incl. Sequels) F1 by Psygnosis for PS1 Toca Touring Car Championship 1+2 CMR 1 PC: CMR 2.0 GP by Geoff C. Mobil One Rally Championship (Longest RAC Stages ever !) Michelin Rally Masters Toca 2 PC (just for the fun of it plus wheel, better performance & gfx) F1 99-02 by ISI as Mod Base for Simbin Mod Development Team (GTR) Virtua LM (various Mods like Group C) SCC Mod by RSDG Rally Trophy CMR 4 RICHARD BURNS RALLY (incl. RSRBR Mod) GTR 1+2 (incl. tons of mods) GT Legends Until 2009... ~ pause ~ Since 2014 Race Room Racing Experience Dirt Rally Dirt 4 (don't drive Dirt Rally right after, but apart from that, it's surely better than previous Dirt or CMR titles. I like it and would appreciate if Dirt Rally 2 would present some of that features in terms of a more lively atmosphere, better animations,better cockpit immersion and a well simulated carreer mode - incl. well detailed surroundings - cause CM are actually really good at that).
Single Player from 1995 PC GP1, 2, 3, 3 2000, 4 F1 Racing Championship GTR 1, 2 GT Legends Grid 1, 2, Autosport F1 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 Collin McRae Rally DiRT 3, 4, Rally, Showdown WRC 5, 6, 7 Multiplayer from 2016 F1 2015, 2016 Assetto Corsa Raceroom rFactor2 PCars 1, 2 Automobilista
Evolution of my "Simracing" Need for Speed (1994) (Fun offline) Collin McRae Rally 1-2 (Serious offline) STCC & BTCC 1-2 (Fun offline) Richard Burns Rally (Fun offline) GTR 1 & 2 (Serious & First online game) GT Legends GTR Evolution rFactor (Serious Online) iRacing (Serious Online) rF2 R3E (Serious Online) There where more "games" that I tried but can't remember them as "racing games" as I never got that "feel" for them. I remember I got "Destruction Derby 2, Scorched Planet, and Mech Warrior 2" with a Matrox Mystique GFX card ... yikes wish I never tried DD2 or had installed that GFX card in my first owned PC 96
When I was a child, it was F1 2003 & 2006 on PS2 IIRC (both lacking Spa-Francorchamps!). Afterwards, I had the XBOX 360 period with Forza 2. Then, serious business begun. GTR2 Race 07 (and add-ons, don't really remember which or which order) RaceRoom Racing Experience Then, I fall back to Race 07. Then, I fall back in love with R3E. (I also tried Project Cars & Assetto Corsa). Never played online multiplayer (except yesterday for first time).
My first racing game was : followed by: - Need for Speed I by Electronic Arts - IndyCar Racing I by Papyrus Design Group - NASCAR Racing I by Papyrus Design Group ... and so on. PS: Old loves never die ...
Console : Gran Turismo 2,3,4,5,6 Forza Motorsport 2,3,4,5,6 Forza Horizon 1,2,3 DTM Race Driver 2,3 Test Drive Unlimited 1,2 Colin Mcrae Rally 2,3 Need For Speed Porsche 2000 Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 Need For Speed Underground 1,2 Need For Speed Most Wanted Need For Speed Carbon Enthusia Professional Racing Race Pro Dirt 1,2,3 Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo Project CARS 1 Assetto Corsa .... PC : Assetto Corsa Dirt Rally, 4 Automobilista Project CARS 2 Raceroom Racing Experience Wreckfest