The best car games for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, Mac and PC played and reviewed.
NEED FOR SPEED: THE RUN
PLATFORM: X360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, PC
The Run is the latest and best racer to come out of the Need For Speed garage. For the first time in the franchise’s history you play as a character: hardcore underground racer Jack Rourke. The game starts with you buying into a high-stake, 25-million- dollar race from San Francisco to New York, a race you might not make it out of alive! There are no rules, no allies, and winning is the only way to survive; you either win the race or lose your life. With a determined police force out to stop you by any means necessary (including lethal force) you’ve got to use all your skills to survive.
FORZA 4
PLATFORM: X360
Hold on to your helmets! The highest rated racing game in the history of rating is back, and we’ve celebrated with a full three gun salute – BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! Yep, with 80 manufacturers, 500 cars, epic online clubs, radical Kinect play and the most stunning graphics ever seen on the 360, you won’t be seeing much of the outside world this October. Now, let me have another look at my one million polygon Ferrari 458 Italia.
GRAN TURISMO 5
PLATFORM: PS3
We waited a looooonnnggg time for GT5 and were pretty chuffed with the high def extravaganza that Sony brought us. With 1,000 rides (200 of which are the jaw-dropping premium versions) you can get behind the wheel of some of the most legendary cars in motor racing, from the past to cutting-edge present including the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce, the Lexus LFA and the McLaren MP4-12C. You can go head to head on famous GT circuits such as the Autumn Ring, Deep Forest Raceway and the Grand Valley Speedway, plus renowned real-life circuits such as the Nurburgring and Laguna Seca. It’s massive, immersive and challenging.
DiRT3
PLATFORM: X360, PS3, PC
Fronted by the king of hooning himself, Sir Ken Block, DiRT3 is the X Games of the racing game world. It even features Kenny B’s gymkhana stages, where you get to drift around an obstacle-filled course and basically razz the fap out of your rally motor. DiRT3 is still a rallying game at heart so if your idea of heaven is sliding sideways down a snowy Finnish road, but in complete control, then this game is definitely for you!
DRIVER SAN FRANCISCO
PLATFORM: X360, PS3, PC, Mac, Wii
If you’re a fan of full-on car chases then you’d better ride shotgun with Driver San Francisco. You play the legendary copper John Tanner whose relentless pursuit of bad boy Jericho leads to some of the most fun chases this side of Smokey And The Bandit. In fact, there are plenty of references to classic car chases in the game, which we fappin’ love! Bullitt, Gone In 60 Seconds, Blues Brothers, Smokey And The Bandit, Vanishing Point, Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, Starsky and Hutch, French Connection – they’re all in there.
F1 2011
PLATFORM: X360, PS3, PC
For all you Button and Hamilton fans, here’s the brand new F1 2011. Developed with an exclusive worldwide agreement with old Bernie ‘The Stone’ Ecclestone himself, F1 2011 comes complete with all the official drivers, teams and circuits featured in the 2011 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (notice how we stress the importance by writing in capitals?). With a new focus on multiplayer gaming, including co-op championships and split-screen mode, F1 2011 invites players to “Be the driver, live the life, go compete” with a range of innovations, improvements and enhancements on and off the track. Our resident F1 nutter Jules says: “It’s just like being a real racing driver”. So there.
NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT 2
PLATFORM: X360, PS3, PC
Shift 2 was released earlier this year and had some pretty innovative features, such as night racing, Autolog and the excellent helmet cam. But one very important part of the game no one mentions is the AI. Drive up the inside of a couple of cars before a corner, and they’ll realistically give you room to do it. Most other games will have the AI clumsily bang into you or try and push you off ‘their’ line. This gives Shift 2 a real racer feel, especially on the harder settings. Pick it up cheap and enjoy.
WRC 2
PLATFORM: X360, PS3, PC
Rallying is still one of the most exciting forms of motorsport ever invented and the latest WRC goes maximum attack for the adrenaline rush. The official game of the championship features 15 locations, 25 terrain/weather conditions and nine car categories. Cars range from 1960s retro cool to the WRC models of the current championship. The game contains new game modes, a 16-player online mode and a completely revamped career session. Good stuff!
TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED 2
PLATFORM: X360, PS3, PC
Bit of an oldy now, but there’s no better game for immersing yourself in the playboy lifestyle of Roman Abramovich. Once you’ve won a few races and championships you can buy yourself a mega penthouse, a shed load of supercars and blat around the party island of Ibiza, or the Pacific island of Oahu. The racing can be pretty frantic, but simply cruising around pretending to be Billy Big Bollocks is just as fun!
