Awesome free Windows racing games

March 24, 2009 4:49 PM

So there are a lot of free (as in beer) FPSes out there. Are there any free racing games of similar caliber?

(I don't mean the free Flash stuff on Kongregate, Newgrounds, etc. If it's there, I've almost certainly played it.)

posted by Plutor to Computers & Internet (17 answers total)

There's Trackmania Nations, which is very fun, but very arcade-y. If you want a hardcore sim, there's better options out there, I just can't think of any right now.
posted by CRM114 at 4:55 PM on March 24, 2009

I'm not picky. I generally lean more arcadey, just because I lean more casual gamer lately. But I'm for anything that allows me to make car driving noises.

(Holy cow that looks amazing. 500MB? Can't download fast enough. How is this possibly free?)
posted by Plutor at 5:00 PM on March 24, 2009

It was to drum up business for their larger retail game, Trackmania. If you're leaning towards more casual gaming, you're gonna love this, Plutor. You really get the most out of the game by hooking up with a group of friends and trying to beat each best times on the various tracks.
posted by CRM114 at 5:03 PM on March 24, 2009

I play both Trackmania Nations and Project Torque.

Trackmania is very fun, sometimes frustrating, and as pointed out above is a little arcadish.

Project Torque is real racing. Give it a try.
posted by johnvaljohn at 5:26 PM on March 24, 2009

Another vote for Trackmania Nations. Addictive, frustrating and nothing like reality.
posted by fire&wings at 5:31 PM on March 24, 2009

Be aware that Trackmania Nations is reported to contain the controversial (read: malicious) DRM software Starforce.
posted by ionnin at 5:40 PM on March 24, 2009

In fact, if you search the Trackmania forums for "starforce" you get the following error:

"The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: starforce."
posted by rhizome at 5:46 PM on March 24, 2009

Actually, my information seems to be out of date. According to Wikipedia, the current version of Nations, called Nations Forever, does not contain Starforce. My apologies.
posted by ionnin at 5:48 PM on March 24, 2009

Also, if you install Trackmania Nations via Steam, there's no Starforce.
posted by barc0001 at 7:47 PM on March 24, 2009

I dunno how pure you like your racing sims, but there's a TF2 mod called DIPRIP, which is oriented around vehicle combat.
posted by boo_radley at 9:09 PM on March 24, 2009

Need for Speed World Online has been announced, but probably won't be out for a while.
posted by juv3nal at 9:24 PM on March 24, 2009

Trackmania and Torque both look great - I see Trackmania is set for the DS. I suppose that means no Wii, eh? Bummer. Great thread.
posted by mwhybark at 9:56 PM on March 24, 2009

Trackmania tends towards crazy, physically-impossible tracks that are entertaining to play, but don't give a real "racing" feel.

Unless someone knows a server where the tracks don't look like Escher drawings?
posted by DWRoelands at 11:59 AM on March 25, 2009

Since the emphasis was on free, there's also Super Tux Cart. Normally Happy Penguin is a decent resource for these things, but there's no "racing" category. There's also TORCS, a simulator that should have a Windows build.
posted by pwnguin at 2:13 PM on March 25, 2009

I'm playing TrackMania Nations. And I'm leaning in my chair around the corners. And I know I'm doing it. But I can't stop.

That's the best measurement possible for a fun racing game.
posted by Plutor at 4:26 PM on March 25, 2009

This trackmania is awesome, I've had more fun with it than a lot of racing games I've paid money for.
posted by the bricabrac man at 7:04 PM on March 25, 2009

Awesome!
posted by CRM114 at 9:28 PM on March 25, 2009