Posted October 13, 2010
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First time you go through the wind-shield, you have to laugh. ;) (And the mini-games are truly fun and fairly easy to play.)
Anyway...might depend on your setup, I guess.
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What made me really like Trackmania back when I initially got that was actually mostly the feel of it like the old 4D Stunts game. First release even had 8-bit chiptune style music to go with the menus.
My personal favourites for racing games, not really available on Gog sadly: Crazy Taxi 3, okay not point to point racing but still a to b as fast as possible.
Mashed was a bit like Death rally but a bit updated compared to it.
Outrun 2006 is nice to just hop into for a few races, and when you're tired of stage races you go for a ride with your girlfriend and do silly tasks like avoid aliens or count cars.
XPand Rally, likely the most entertaining Rally game I've played. Okay obviously I prefer fun arcadey controls over simulation, DiRT was frustrating to me. XPand Rally used the same engine as the FPS Chrome did. Unlike the Colin McRae games you feel like you're plopped into a world, rather than on a track with some area to the sides. The alterations to your car can be very easily felt, and the engine does sound different depending on transmission settings, tuning kits and such.
And for violence. Carmageddon. Any of them but the 2000 one does actually feature a story. Not a particularly good one, but a story nontheless.