5 Racing Games We Want Remastered

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Racing games of years past always bring a smile back to those who experienced them. So that got us thinking, which driving games do we really want to see remastered?

Whether touring car racing or stuntman driving, playing classic racing games is sure to re-ignite a wealth of happy memories. Racers all around the world were brought up on a range of iconic driving games.

Many titles across various genres have gotten remastered for more up-to-date hardware. Therefore we began wondering, which iconic racing games should get the remastered treatment?


TOCA 2 Touring Cars Remastered​

Supertouring cars, big names and Tiff Needell on commentary. What more could you ask from a British Touring Car game from the late nineties? Whilst the audience for a British Touring Car Game would be assumed to be small, TOCA 2 Touring Cars sold brilliantly across the world.

TOCA 2 also included support championships with Fiestas and Formula Ford on offer. The Fiestas were perfect for learning the physics of the game, whereas the Formula Ford's required a lot more precision to master.


TOCA 2 had a fully licensed career mode with all the tracks, drivers and cars from the 1998 British Touring Car Championship season. Tiff Needell lent his voice to the pre and post-race menu screens. Alongside the commentary, your pit chief would be in your ear telling you when to pit in the feature races, a revolutionary concept for 1998.

Motorsport Games currently holds the British Touring Car Championship licence. A remaster is almost impossible. But, there is always hope for the future that the 90s supertourers will once again return to our screens in the form of TOCA 2 Touring Cars: Remastered.

Burnout 3: Takedown Remastered​

There is an argument that the entire Burnout series deserves a remaster. Burnout 3: Takedown is the jewel in the Burnout crown and a remaster would certainly revitalise a series that holds a special place in a lot of sim racers hearts.


Players had to speed, drift, crash and force their way through traffic and hazards whilst racing a grid of other highly tuned street cars. The well-loved split-screen aspect of the Burnout series would be a welcomed return to a remastered version of this iconic racing game.

Released on PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. Burnout 3: Takedown's remaster would emphatically re-ignite the passionate fanbase. Additions such as the iconic 'CRASH' modes would be a welcomed return to the franchise.

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With Burnout Paradise's remaster missing the mark with fans, would you want a Burnout 3 remaster? Could it just be a cash cow and seen as recycling content? Let us know in the comments below.

Driven To Destruction/Eve Of Destruction​

A blissfully simple, and severely underrated title that defined the future of destruction racing games. Consequently, Driven to Destruction was a smash hit on the PS2 as well as the PC. A realistic view into the USA derby racing scene was a fresh view of the genre. Driven to Destruction was a ground-breaking title that paved the way for modern titles like Wreckfest.


A comprehensive and individualistic campaign mode defined this title as iconic. Buying scrap cars and repairing them gave the most realistic derby experience fans had seen back in 2004. The ability to spray paint and customise your cars created endless opportunities to decorate your derby car collection.

Modes like trailer racing and figure eight racing made Driven to Destruction a stand-out title that, if remastered, would fly off the shelves with the popularity of modern destruction games like Wreckfest.


Stuntman/Stuntman Ignition Remastered

Stuntman and Stuntman Ignition created a new outlook on racing games. Their clever point-to-point mission-style campaign was revolutionary. The incredibly unrestrictive map editor mode and engaging campaign have created a vibrant and active community, even in 2023.

The Stuntman series was designed around the base of a movie stuntman perfecting driving stunts like handbrake turns and jumping through various moving objects like a train carriage and a burning building. The AI in the chase sequences are basic, but with a remaster; there's so much potential for a truly great title.


FlatOut 2 Remastered​

Bugbear Entertainment's second instalment to the FlatOut series is the most recognisable. AI-controlled characters with their individual personality traits revolutionised the destruction genre on PlayStation 2, PC Xbox and PSP.

Flatout 2 defines what an arcade racer should be. A fun, fast-paced and rewarding game with plenty of progression and challenge as you progress through the rankings in the career mode. The upgrade system is basic but necessary and the gameplay is dynamic and provides hours of fun past just the career mode, even in 2023.


FlatOut 2 had, at the time, ground-breaking online multiplayer capabilities at release. Sadly, the servers have been shut for over a decade. Splitscreen multiplayer was a big selling point of FlatOut 2. The ability to play with up to four other people played beautifully into the 'Living room' style of games that ruled the market in 2006.

The ability to unlock hidden cars through cheat codes, such as the Batmobile-style car and a school bus, is a firm pillar of mid-2000s arcade game magic. Unfortunately, FlatOut 3 and 4 were disappointments at release, with FlatOut 3 being among one of the worst-reviewed games on Steam.

FlatOut 2 was the runner-up in E3's best PS2 racing game of the year in 2006. A title many believed it should have emphatically won. FlatOut 2 will forever be one of the greatest racing titles the PS2 ever had, but a remaster with all the original characters would be immensely popular.

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Which racing games would you want to see remastered? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
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Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

Comments

GTR2
Indycar racing
Rally Trophy
GTL (although many will complain that the cars are modernized)
GPL
RBR
Stunts may be a good idea for nostalgia but I wonder whether someone has been using the tracks creation tool from Dirt5. Not sure creating tracks is something players are waiting for (remember a game which promised unlimited tracks creation with openwheelers a few years ago? Never came out and no one really complained). Players are generally more passive than before. Is the Crew track creation tool a huge hit?

Also mentionnes before, Street Racing Syndicate. I would add its fellow NFS Underground 2.
Sebastien Loeb Rally remade under UE5 and proper wheel support would be nice.

TOCA Race Driver 1, 2 and 3, with the same cars and tracks, would be great. The physics in the first game were just... not physics. In the second, they were ok with awful base setups, and they were absolutely great in the 3rd game. This one was less arcadey than its spiritual sequel, Grid. Grid Autosport quiet went back to better physics but it is not the most popular game in the Grid series ; the target most probably except something else, fully arcade.

Rallisport Challenge 2 has been mentionned, I knlyvolayed the first one and it was impressive visually, awfully sound designed, it needs a remake.

Sega Rally Revo just needs a rerelease, it still looks good imo 1nd if remember well, the first racing game with dynamic track surface.
A modern Scud Race would be great ; I think the stages are available in one version of Outrun2 though. But the cars... F40, McLaren F1...

Mentioning the F40, my last addition in the arcade genre : the first Screamer on PC.

More seriously, I doubt any of these games will be remade just because most of the nostalgia comes from the car models themselves, which are now consider classic cars by the youngest, who probably want to enjoy cars from their generation.

GTR2? Its modern counterparts are ACC and the Le Mans game. Rally Trophy? There are tons of classic cars in modern games and most of us is probably not interested in very wide fictious tracks. By the way one track have been brought in Wreckfest (same developpers) for the nostalgia.

GTL? This real championship doesn't exist anymore and we have more classic content in all sims. And people got more interest in converting the models tonmake proper classic ars in other games than in the game itself. It would.be a better idea to make a game with a specific classic championship like GPL does.

GPL? With its classic tracks, it could have a chance as we still wait for more classic modded tracks in other games to enjoy the cars, which are available in those games.

RBR? No, because it will be a game with modern cars. We just need a good successor to this game. The same with Indycar Racing, we just need a good Indycar game.
NFSU2 and SRS? Well, their open worlds are better than most of the current ones, as absolutely irrealstic. But, again, the old cars... at least we can put modern cars in these worlds. SRS with the chicks is impossible nowadays, but the game with proper wheel support would be good. If done right, TDU Solar Crown should fill the need for a NFSU2 remake (except the tuning with neons, maybe it is still a thing nowaday, justifying a NFSU game).

TOCA Race Driver games have just become Grid Legends, there is no place for this series anymore. A simple rerelease on Win11 without DRM, zt a small price, would be probably sufficient. Rallisport Challenge games : there aren't many competitors in the genre (Dirt 5 and the already old Gravel), so why not? Sega Rally Revo, a rereleas would be sufficient and welcome imo. Scud Race and Screamer are pure nostalgia, not sure there's a place for this type.of game anymore.
Sébastien Loeb Rally, maybe selling a graphical upgrade and proper wheel support would be a good idea, as this forgotten game has been praised for its physics for a long time. We know at least that Milestone is able to do quiet a good job on UE4 (Gravel). I would pay for such an upgrade.

At the end, lmo, potential reasonable remakes, nolstagia aside, are GPL and the Rallisport Challenge games. All the others have been replaced or are just outdated in their gameplay. Nostalgia is good but sometimes things have to stay in the past because they are not relevant anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I would buy a GTR2 remake, but in fact it would be a game like GPL, a classic championship game, not a remake game. And everyone has his own idea of classic series he wants to experience. I do agree we lack this kind of racing games in general though, not remakes.
 
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Fatal Racing / Whiplash ... How I need a new version of that game, the suspension work, engine, sounds and the combined race style!! :(
Try Wreckfest is one of the most funny and complete i really enjoy and a lot of laughs too, i love it
 
Toca saga was something amazing could be great a remastered versión now with wheels support, i have 1, 2 and 3 still on It's original CD
RBR could be something great for those who love rallies still on my BEST games i've ever played
 
Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix Series. If that was ever remastered, EA would have to step up their game big time with their f1 series.
Yes i had the 1992 Game on a Amiga 500. And F1 Grandprix 3. I got it in a store in a boxete for Windows for $6.00 The other games where not very good but the price was way below market so i binned the other games.
 

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