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What are YOUR favorite PC Racers / Flyers

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First post, by BeginnerGuy

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Heya, so lately I've been on a bit of a kick with racing games after finishing through another season addicted to burnout paradise.

I've realized that in my youth and most of adulthood I have mostly played Adventure/RPG or FPS games e.g, sierra point and clicks, AD&D games, DOOM, System Shock, etc. I have played the early Wing Commander entries and I have played Twisted Metal, Carmageddeon, and Road Rash but not too much else. On consoles I always enjoyed the Star Fox series and a few other arcadey flight type games and space shooters but I can't remember many names.

I have a couple of Joysticks now and my father is sending me his old steering wheel / pedal setups (One modern Logitech USB and one old serial interface), so that opens me up to decades worth of missed fun.

I'm not asking for a "Top ten best of all time" list, but quite similarly, just asking you guys to spit out a random length list of your personal favorites. They can be Driving (this include motorcycles or dirt bikes) or Flying Simulators OR arcadey (burnout, starfox) style games.

I don't have insane amounts of time to game, so I'll average a few out of the responses to get started with. Shoot!

Addendum: I don't care about the years, it can be an 80s dos title like Test Drive, XP era game, or something somewhat modern. I don't care.

Games suggested so far:

Land
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Colin McRae Rally 2.0
Colin McRae Rally 1
Driver 1
Euro Truck Sim 2
F1 97
F1 Racing Simulation
Grand Prix Legends
Grid 2
Ignition
Mafia 1
Monster Truck Madness 1 & 2
Motocross Madness
Motoracer
Need For Speed Most Wanted
Need For Speed 1
Need For Speed II
Need For Speed Underground
Need For Speed Porsche
Network Q RAC Rally
Richard Burns Rally
Rally Trophy
Rally-Sport
Screamer
Screamer 2
Screamer Rally
Speed Haste
Whiplash

Air
Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War
Freespace 2
Everspace
Wings of Glory
Flight Simulator X
Rise of Flight

Last edited by BeginnerGuy on 2018-12-09, 00:30. Edited 2 times in total.

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Reply 1 of 26, by realnc

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Colin McRae Rally 2005. I still play it to this day.

Reply 2 of 26, by BeginnerGuy

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realnc wrote:

Colin McRae Rally 2005. I still play it to this day.

I think i've seen this one (or one of them) quite a few times in philscomputerlab lga775 build videos. It doesn't seem like this game really found its way into the US. Nothing locally on ebay, I'll try to find a digital download.

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 3 of 26, by gandhig

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NFS Most Wanted(2005) & NFS II for nostalgia(with its split-screen support)

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Reply 4 of 26, by Crank9000

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Never have been the biggest racer fan, but I really like Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and Rally Trophy on PC. Need For Speed Underground was pretty fun too.

And since you mentioned space shooters, you REALLY should check out FreeSpace 1&2 if you haven't already, both are on my best games ever list.

Reply 5 of 26, by realnc

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BeginnerGuy wrote:
realnc wrote:

Colin McRae Rally 2005. I still play it to this day.

I think i've seen this one (or one of them) quite a few times in philscomputerlab lga775 build videos. It doesn't seem like this game really found its way into the US. Nothing locally on ebay, I'll try to find a digital download.

It's not available any more digitally. It was sold on GOG years ago, but was pulled.

The physical copy uses the infamous Starforce copy protection, which is known to kill kittens. So the best way to get this game is to find the GOG version through... various means. I do have the physical copy of it, but I keep it as far away as possible from any computer due to the Starforce DRM. I play the GOG version. The GOG version also happens to be the updated one, while the physical copy is 1.0 which has some bugs.

If you decide to play it, there's a hidden command-line switch to enable widescreen support and the "advanced particles" option that was restricted by Intel to "HyperThreading" P4 CPUs back then. Use "WIDESCREENDISPLAY FORCEHT" as executable parameters. Most youtubers don't know about this and always upload these ugly 4:3 streched videos 😵

Reply 6 of 26, by vvbee

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Rally-sport, colin mcrae rally 1, grand prix legends, richard burns rally, rally trophy. The last three are sims. Oh, and euro truck sim 2, technically.

Reply 7 of 26, by BeginnerGuy

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gandhig wrote:

NFS Most Wanted(2005) & NFS II for nostalgia(with its split-screen support)

Ahh I have played NFS 2. My brother used to play the hell out of Most Wanted on the consoles but I never tried it. I definitely want NFS2, will try to get both 😜

Crank9000 wrote:

Never have been the biggest racer fan, but I really like Colin McRae Rally 2.0 and Rally Trophy on PC. Need For Speed Underground was pretty fun too.

And since you mentioned space shooters, you REALLY should check out FreeSpace 1&2 if you haven't already, both are on my best games ever list.

Is this Freespace made by the Developers from Descent? A quick google search brings me to Descent: FreeSpace

realnc wrote:
It's not available any more digitally. It was sold on GOG years ago, but was pulled. […]
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BeginnerGuy wrote:
realnc wrote:

Colin McRae Rally 2005. I still play it to this day.

I think i've seen this one (or one of them) quite a few times in philscomputerlab lga775 build videos. It doesn't seem like this game really found its way into the US. Nothing locally on ebay, I'll try to find a digital download.

It's not available any more digitally. It was sold on GOG years ago, but was pulled.

The physical copy uses the infamous Starforce copy protection, which is known to kill kittens. So the best way to get this game is to find the GOG version through... various means. I do have the physical copy of it, but I keep it as far away as possible from any computer due to the Starforce DRM. I play the GOG version. The GOG version also happens to be the updated one, while the physical copy is 1.0 which has some bugs.

If you decide to play it, there's a hidden command-line switch to enable widescreen support and the "advanced particles" option that was restricted by Intel to "HyperThreading" P4 CPUs back then. Use "WIDESCREENDISPLAY FORCEHT" as executable parameters. Most youtubers don't know about this and always upload these ugly 4:3 streched videos 😵

Thanks, I'm on the hunt for it now. My XP rig is hooked up to a 4:3 monitor but maybe I'll give that a try on my newer rig 😁

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 8 of 26, by BeginnerGuy

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vvbee wrote:

Rally-sport, colin mcrae rally 1, grand prix legends, richard burns rally, rally trophy. The last three are sims. Oh, and euro truck sim 2, technically.

Is this what you mean by Rally-sport ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA5NO--pXHw

This one looks a little silly to me, kind of looks like the "map" view on Super Mario Kart 😜

--- Where's all the airplane / spacecraft games guyz!

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 9 of 26, by realnc

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BeginnerGuy wrote:

Thanks, I'm on the hunt for it now. My XP rig is hooked up to a 4:3 monitor but maybe I'll give that a try on my newer rig 😁

The GOG version runs wonderfully on modern rigs. I'm playing it at 1440p 165Hz with g-sync, and with 4xSGSSAA through nvidia inspector. Which means it's basically 10240x5760 supersampling. Behold, 10K gaming! 🤣 It feels pretty awesome to play that way. This is on Windows 10 64-bit and a 980 Ti.

Reply 10 of 26, by BeginnerGuy

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realnc wrote:
BeginnerGuy wrote:

Thanks, I'm on the hunt for it now. My XP rig is hooked up to a 4:3 monitor but maybe I'll give that a try on my newer rig 😁

The GOG version runs wonderfully on modern rigs. I'm playing it at 1440p 165Hz with g-sync, and with 4xSGSSAA through nvidia inspector. Which means it's basically 10240x5760 supersampling. Behold, 10K gaming! 🤣 It feels pretty awesome to play that way. This is on Windows 10 64-bit and a 980 Ti.

🤣, I have to try that. Does the game have an uncapped frame rate? My modern rig (Vega64) has both 144hz 1080P or 4k@60 to choose from. I would typically play racing games at 144 fps if I could

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 11 of 26, by vvbee

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BeginnerGuy wrote:

Is this what you mean by Rally-sport ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA5NO--pXHw
This one looks a little silly to me, kind of looks like the "map" view on Super Mario Kart 😜

If you want hc sims, go for the richard burns rally, rally trophy, grand prix legends triad. Then play rally-sport to relax.

Reply 12 of 26, by realnc

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BeginnerGuy wrote:

🤣, I have to try that. Does the game have an uncapped frame rate? My modern rig (Vega64) has both 144hz 1080P or 4k@60 to choose from. I would typically play racing games at 144 fps if I could

Yep. Completely uncapped. You need to select the correct refresh rate in the in-game options though (it detects all of them here, up to 165Hz.)

Reply 13 of 26, by Procyon

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At the moment (for the last couple of years) my favorite racer is Grid 2.
As for my favorite flyer I would say Everspace, though I haven't played it in a while, it's a fun game but nothing spectacular.

Reply 14 of 26, by Crank9000

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BeginnerGuy wrote:

Is this Freespace made by the Developers from Descent? A quick google search brings me to Descent: FreeSpace

Yes, they were created by ex Descent people. The first one is called Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War and the sequel is simply FreeSpace 2. They are both at GOG.com, the first one is called Descent: Freespace Battle Pack in there and it comes with the Silent Threat expansion, which isn't as good as the base games. The sequel never got any expansions, but while the first FreeSpace is great, FreeSpace 2 is AWESOME imho.

Reply 15 of 26, by KCompRoom2000

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Currently, my favorite PC racing games are Speed Haste and Monster Truck Madness (both 1 and 2).

I haven't played a lot of PC racing/flight games, so I might add more games to this thread later on.

Reply 16 of 26, by badmojo

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I've flirted with countless racing games over the years but Network Q RAC Rally (1996) is the only one I still play. It's SVGA so runs best on a PIII or so, and I use a steering wheel too which increases the fun factor.

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Reply 17 of 26, by clueless1

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Wings of Glory. One of the most entertaining flying games I've ever played. It's from Origin, and uses the same formula as the older Wing Commanders, but set in WWI. I love the flying mechanics and the creaking sounds during sharp turns. The storyline is good too. Plays well on a fast Pentium and sounds great with General MIDI.

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Reply 18 of 26, by Almoststew1990

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badmojo wrote:

I've flirted with countless racing games over the years but Network Q RAC Rally (1996) is the only one I still play. It's SVGA so runs best on a PIII or so, and I use a steering wheel too which increases the fun factor.

Easy left... easy right... HAARDD LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!... medium right...

Driving games have been my favourite for the longest time, but I have only recently got into flight sims, largely due to modern ones supporting a 360 controller.

My favourite "driving" game is Mafia 1, using a 360 controller for analouge gas, brakes and steering. I have fond memories of Driver 1, Ignition, Need for Speed 2, Need for Speed Porsche. In terms of flight games the only I have really played is FSX and Rise of Flight. The WW1 planes do make it interesting.

Reply 19 of 26, by meljor

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Dos: nfs1, svga: screamer
Dos 3dfx glide: screamer2 and screamer rally are very nice games

Windows 98 : f1`97 and f1 racing simulation, also nfs2, Driver and motocross madness comes to mind (lots of others!)

Windows XP and later: where do i begin.....

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