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The story
The simple question “What’s the greatest racing game ever made?” failed to reach a consensus in a 5ch thread. Candidates ranged from realism-focused titles like Gran Turismo 7, iRacing, and Forza, to arcade classics like Ridge Racer and OutRun, fantasy-flavored entries like F-Zero and Racing Lagoon, and even the party game Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The disagreement comes down to the fact that racing games are structurally bound to the “time attack” format, and what counts as “the best” shifts entirely depending on what you’re measuring — realistic handling, the thrill of head-to-head racing, worldbuilding, or just so-bad-it’s-good fun.
What people said
This one gets brought up a lot even though it's not really that fun
Depends on the car's performance and grade too
Probably not for perfectionists
That's basically no different from reality
GT7 strikes the best balance between realism and casual play
Especially Spec III — or really, right now is peak masterpiece territory
Other than Shining Scorpion
Let's set aside whether Shining Scorpion actually counts as having RPG elements
Racing Lagoon…
Shutokou Battle 0 (aka Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero)
It's Rage Racer
The vibe feels kind of medieval European too
The fantasy racing path set in fictional worlds?
The path chasing the thrill of head-to-head competition?
The totally unhinged joke-game path?
Or the story-driven path built around the drivers' off-the-wall scenarios?
It all depends on which of these you're judging by
For pure racing competitiveness, it's GT7
There's a more hardcore one, not that casual thing
Has to be iRacing
Once you learn the tracks and how to drive them, it's fun
If you like driving cars, GT7 is a masterpiece
Because you actually get to drive cars
You can even build itasha too lol (cars wrapped in anime-character liveries)
This
But I'm Team F-ZERO…
I don't love racing seriously only to get wrecked by a spiny shell
It's honestly just the right fit
Not being too hardcore is what makes it good
If it were Assetto Corsa's GR3 class, I couldn't even finish a lap
Atmosphere aside, the soundtrack is legendary
Love it so much
Lost count of how many times I've listened to "night fight"
Apparently it's some anniversary thing — four years in and they're still adding courses
They keep adding cars too, they're really putting in the work
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Racing games broadly split into four camps: “sim” titles that faithfully reproduce real car handling (GT7, iRacing, Forza); “fantasy” titles built around course design and worldbuilding (F-Zero, Racing Lagoon, Shutokou Battle 0); “party” titles chasing the thrill of competitive play (Mario Kart); and “arcade” titles that preserve that classic arcade feel (Ridge Racer, OutRun). The thread’s failure to settle on one “greatest of all time” isn’t really about which game is better made — it reflects the fact that these genres are being judged by completely different criteria to begin with. As one poster pointed out, “it’s been four years and they’re still adding courses” — GT7 keeps getting new tracks and cars long after launch, which as a live-service racing title makes it a moving target that resists a fixed verdict. Meanwhile, the recurring praise for older titles like Ridge Racer and OutRun points to an appeal that has nothing to do with driving precision — the pure rush of a time attack, the soundtrack, and so on.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanidemo Jikkyou G) thread “[Sad News] The Greatest Racing Game of All Time Cannot Be Decided wwwwwwwwww.”
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