How come there are so few racing games coming out lately? Feels like it’s just codemasters doing their thing, some struggling indie games and a truckload of shovelware. I’m not saying it’s dead but wasn’t racing games one of the primary genres?
Another thing that bugs me with the few games that come out is the lack of progression and immersion. NFS Unbound impressed me slightly with actually starting you out with a low spec car and having slow (by modern standards) progression. However halfway through when you have fast and “cool” cars you really felt the games mediocrity.
Dirt rally 1 and 2 has economy systems, but after a single championship you can basically buy whatever car you want. The rallies are immersive but everything between is just boring menues.
Why do you think the state of racing games is so poor? The industry being shit? Audiences not playing them anymore?
I don’t think the state of racing games is poor, it’s just that they aren’t as popular as they once were. And that’s ok, I don’t think we need a bajilion racing games coming out every year if they’re gonna be shit. But to answer your question, I think right now, there aren’t a lot of new games coming out that are new IPs, they’re mostly a continuation of established franchises, and are mostly simulcade or full-on simulation racing games. I’ve been having tons of fun with Automobilista 2, for example.
But if you want to go a bit more in-depth:
On the arcade side, yeah, I suppose there aren’t a lot of recent releases (maybe The Art of Rally? I think there was an Outrun-style game too?). But you still have Wreckfest, GRIP, and Redout 2. Oh, and Trackmania.
In the simulcade side of things (think Forza and Gran Turismo), there’s Forza Horizon, Forza Motorsport, Gran Turismo 7, WRC 24 (could also be put in the simulation racing, to be honest), and the F1 games, which are yearly releases as someone already mentioned.
As for simulation racing games, there’s Le Mans Ultimate, from the rFactor devs, and a new Assetto Corsa coming out. Automobilista 2 is getting updates pretty consistently, and iRacing is still going strong and getting new content. Oh, and BeamNG, which apparently turned into a full-fledged racing game?