Undoubtedly common among racing and driving game developers is the dilemma of where to take their next creation’s physics engine. This is probably the single most important decision they’ll make, regardless of it being a new title, sequel or just another number in a series.

The prior statement is especially true for racing-oriented titles and less so for driving / cruising games like Forza Horizon or Test Drive Unlimited. We’ll be focusing more on the former as it seems to be the more prolific style, especially as of late; think Assetto Corsa, Project Cars, GRID, Drive Club and Forza and Gran Turismo series.

When we call a game a simulation, we mean it’s aiming to allow the player to experience what it would take to control the real thing. The opposite end is what is known as arcade, which is basically a reduced emphasis on exact physics and more push towards fun and achieving ridiculous speeds around corners.

To give you a few examples, titles like Grand Thef Auto, Forza Horizon 2 or The Crew have credible-looking physics, but it’s nowhere near realistic. If you look at Project Cars, Dirt Rally or Assetto Corsa, they require far more skill from the player; oh, and you can’t really play them properly on a keyboard.

Developers need to know whom they’re addressing, but with the onslaught of social media and people sharing their opinions online, the lack of communication that caused many older titles to flop is not as big a problem as before. Each important game has its own community which contributes ideas and even tries out the game before anyone else.

Through early access open betas, developers give a handful of (sometimes selected) players the chance to play, then give feedback that is far more valuable than anything an in-house quality assurance guy could muster. A great example of how this can work out to the benefit of both parties is Robocraft – it may not be a racing or driving game, but you can, if you want, create a car so it technically qualifies and falls somewhere in the middle of the arcade-simulation spectrum.

Recently, the release by Codemasters of Dirt Rally brought the real danger of making a game too difficult to play to players’ attention by turning it into as close a simulation of the real experience as possible. Players are having real issues keeping the cars on the road, a situation which never cropped up in any of the studio’s older Dirt series releases, as they were in the middle of the spectrum – car movement, suspension and the rest of it looked realistic, but it was nowhere near as challenging as controlling the real thing.

For developers this is a dilemma because they want to make their game fun to play, obviously, but also giving a sense of realism, of mimicking the real deal. Otherwise it’s basically Mario Kart wearing a different hat.

Codemasters’ recent foray into the simulation world is unusual, as large developers will often steer away from the idea after a board meeting or two with the marketing department…

Live for Speed offers one of the great simulation-style experiences, but in order to enjoy it you at least need to master the art of mouse steering – it’s really not hard at all, and once you do you start wondering why it isn’t more widely used; Omsi the bus simulator has a similar steering system as well, and it too strives to offer a full-simulation experience, although you’re evidently not going to go very fast in it.

This brings us to the topic of control methods. Everybody should be aware that a keyboard is not the correct instrument to smoothly and realistically drive a car. A console-style controller is obviously better, and mice can work too, but what you really want is a wheel, especially if you have a console.

It’s up to you how much you’re willing to pay, but with the kind of stuff you can buy off the web these days, you really could realistically attempt to build your own. People are putting actual brake master cylinders in the pedal sets to mimic the real feel of braking, to give you an idea of one way to go.

So after this significant wall of text we ask you: which style of racing / driving game do you prefer? If you have trouble distinguishing between these kinds of games, we found a short motocross racing video to illustrate the difference.

Poll: Which style of racing game do you prefer?

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