Sports games have always had a difficult time coming across as “real.”  Sure the graphics have improved, but using sticks and buttons to control somebody swinging a bat and then running hasn’t evolved much.  With motion control we can use a “waggle wand” or even just our bodies to make actions happen in games, but not necessarily have direct control over them.  I guess the best way to really capture the feel of playing a sport is by actually getting a group of friends together and going outside.

One “sport” has the perfect opportunity to have a great sim made for it, and that’s racing.  I know what you’re thinking, that there are already games like Gran Turismo and Forza, but that’s not exactly what I’m getting at.

First let’s look at the problem.  Right now the majority of racing games that come out, good or bad, have some gimmick attached to them.  Burnout is all about crashing cars, Blur has crazy power-ups, and in Stuntman: Ignition you’re, of course, a stuntman. 

A lot of these gimmicky racing games are good, but it seems like we’re missing the opportunity for a great simulation.  Unlike other sports where you need equipment like bats, balls, tennis racquets, and so on, racing is a sport where you have a controller (the wheel) wired into a machine (the vehicle) and you look through a screen (the windshield) to see where you’re going.  Obviously that’s why this style of game would translate well inside the home.

Going back to Forza and Gran Turismo, these are great games that can be a foundation for a better sim-style racing game.  Even though GT likes to tout itself as the “Real Driving Simulator,” they certainly don’t present themselves that way when you play.

When you start a race, the default view is outside the vehicle.  This is as far from being a sim as you can get.  Sure, it’s pretty to see the car, but you might as well be outside racing RC cars if you’re going to play this way.  The strange part is that other similar “gamey” features are turned off from the start, like any sort of assists or lines.  I have no issue with anybody playing the game this way, and trust me; I need that line because I am horrible at racing games.  I always think there should be options, but it’s almost as if the developers conceded to the fact that it’s still a game by having the default view be outside the vehicle.  It’s nice to see that the cockpits are starting to look just as real as the actual vehicles; hopefully encouraging players to try driving from the view you’d see when in the car.

Another problem is the input.  While Gran Turismo put it’s stamp of approval on third party wheels, and Forza was designed to run with the now discontinued Microsoft Wireless Racing Wheel.  In both situations, neither was specifically made for the wheel or vice-versa.  Also most wheels are typically just a wheel, with maybe some pedals and occasionally a gearbox or “flappy paddles” as they say on Top Gear.

Call it going overboard, but I’d love to see a wheel that give you all the info that you’re used to seeing when driving a vehicle and glancing down at your dash, like your speedometer.  Of course the game would have to be designed with the wheel in mind, and possibly included in the box.  Now again you might think that’s going way overboard, but let’s not forget that Capcom packed in a gigantic controller with a game from a way more niche genre than racing:  Steel Battalion. 

Finally with our gaming devices wired up with cameras now it could be much easier to institute a “head tracking” feature in these games.  Turn your head, and your driver’s view turns.  This has been shown off for Gran Turismo 5 so it’s tech that is possible.

Maybe this whole idea is a little crazy and overboard.  I still welcome all the gimmick racing games – trust me, I got giddy when Hot Pursuit was announced – but I do think that the racing sim is not necessarily overlooked, but could be much improved upon.