Comments on: Awesome free Windows racing games

Question: Awesome free Windows racing games

Plutor — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:49:23 -0800

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.)

By: CRM114

CRM114 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:55:06 -0800

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.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:00:49 -0800

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?)

By: CRM114

CRM114 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:03:03 -0800

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.

By: johnvaljohn

johnvaljohn — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:26:22 -0800

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.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:31:49 -0800

Another vote for Trackmania Nations. Addictive, frustrating and nothing like reality.

By: ionnin

ionnin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:40:59 -0800

Be aware that Trackmania Nations is reported to contain the controversial (read: malicious) DRM software Starforce.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:46:03 -0800

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."

By: ionnin

ionnin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:48:10 -0800

Actually, my information seems to be out of date.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.

By: barc0001

barc0001 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:47:18 -0800

Also, if you install Trackmania Nations via Steam, there's no Starforce.

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:09:43 -0800

I dunno how pure you like your racing sims, but there's a TF2 mod called DIPRIP, which is oriented around vehicle combat.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:24:50 -0800

Need for Speed World Online has been announced, but probably won't be out for a while.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:56:58 -0800

Trackmania and Torque both look great - I see Trackmania is set for the DS. I suppose that means no Wii, eh? Bummer. Great thread.

By: DWRoelands

DWRoelands — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:59:50 -0800

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?

By: pwnguin

pwnguin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:13:38 -0800

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.

By: Plutor

Plutor — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:26:46 -0800

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.

By: the bricabrac man

the bricabrac man — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:04:22 -0800

This trackmania is awesome, I've had more fun with it than a lot of racing games I've paid money for.

By: CRM114

CRM114 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:28:02 -0800

Awesome!