Features The E3 2015 Racing Game Preview

You can usually count on Need for Speed being a regular fixture at EA’s conference, and this year is no exception. Last year, Need for Speed was sorely absent however, as developer Ghost Games were allotted an extra year to develop the sequel to Need for Speed Rivals, taking the opportunity to  revaluate the core credentials of the franchise and deliver the game Need for Speed veterans have been nagging for. The result? The next Need for Speed game is called…Need for Speed.

Running on last-gen tech while Codemasters fine-tunes the next iteration of its in-house EGO engine for the current-gen, everyone knew that F1 2014 was a stopgap for this year’s entry. Indeed, F1 2015 marks Codemasters’ belated first foray into the current-gen, in what promises to be the most technically advanced F1 game yet.

Developed by a tiny team of four at Kunos Simulazioni, Assetto Corsa has become one of the leading PC racing simulations. It’s an interesting hybrid: the realistic physics are clearly pitched for hardcore PC players, and yet the road car-centric car list has made some people perceive it as the PC’s answer to Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo. Imagine our surprise, then, when it was revealed that Assetto Corsa is on course for consoles, with a PS4 and Xbox One release planned for next year. Suddenly, console sim racing has become increasingly crowded as the underdogs take on the established Forza and Gran Turismo, as new IP Project CARS is also shadowing their slipstream.

This year marks a new direction for Milestone, as the Italian developer is focusing on new IPs in addition to their annual licensed motorsport titles. First up was their bike racing IP Ride which had its fair share of issues, but Milestone’s hearts were in the right place, even if the execution was lacklustre in some areas. After releasing four annual WRC games, Milestone are now developing Sebastien Loeb Rally Evo, a new rally IP that will benefit from their extensive experience with rally games which have steadily progressed over the years into solid titles.

We’ll openly admit we were quick to write off WRC 5 when we found out that Kylotonn Games had taken up developer duties.  Not only does the French firm have no prior experience in the rally genre compared to Milestone who released four consecutive WRC games, but their back catalogue doesn’t exactly inspire you with confidence, to put it politely – take a look at Truck Racer 2 if you want to know what we mean.

Movie game tie-ins are traditionally terrible, so it’s probably a good thing that the Mad Max game isn’t a direct adaptation of Mad Max Fury Road. To be fair, it probably would have translated to a game pretty well considering Mad Max Fury Road was essentially one long car chase extravaganza – it was like watching The Raid with cars.

Who needs another incremental FIFA game when we have Rocket League?

Releasing Gran Turismo 6 on the ageing PS3 was a mistake, leaving the gap wide open to competitors on current-gen platforms. First up was Project CARS which has already snatched pole position having dominated the UK charts and shifted one million copies in just one month. Meanwhile, Forza Motorsport 6 is preparing to launch off the line later this year on Xbox One, not to mention the arrival of Assetto Corsa on consoles next year. The console sim racing market has never been more crowded, so Polyphony urgently need to show their hand and react to the increased competition by revealing the next Gran Turismo game for PS4 – otherwise the granddaddy is in serious danger of being left behind by the competition.

Remember how DriveClub PlayStation Plus Edition, i.e. the free-to-play, cut-down version of DriveClub, was originally meant to be launched with the full release? Yeah, that didn’t quite go according to plan. Eight months later, DriveClub PlayStation Plus Edition is still nowhere to be seen.

Whatever happened to Criterion Games’ Beyond Cars? After working on acclaimed the acclaimed Burnout series along with Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted which have gone on to be arcade racing staples, last year Criterion Games announced a brand new driving game that wouldn’t be confined to cars. Instead, Criterion declared Beyond Cars as a “vehicular action sports game” that lets you control a variety of vehicles, including off-road ATVs, boats, planes and even freefalling wingsuits.

In E3 2010, David Jaffe took to the stage with a surprise reveal of a Twisted Metal reboot for PS3, complete with a full size Sweet Tooth ice cream van on the stage. History could be about to repeat itself, as a new Twisted Metal trademark was spotted earlier this year.

Just when we all thought Logitech had pulled out of the console peripheral market for good, recent rumours suggested that they were making a console comeback with a follow-up to the fabled G27 wheel called the G29. And so no one was surprised when Logitech officially announced the G29 for PS4, PS3 and PC. What was surprising, however, was the news that the G29 is getting an Xbox One counterpart in the form of the Logitech G920.

This one is a bit of a long shot admittedly, but I think we’re overdue a new Driver game, don’t you? Ubisoft typically reveal a surprise new game in their E3 conferences – and it’s been five years since the criminally underrated Driver: San Francisco.