Lunchtime Discussion: Speed

Over the last week a lot of Split/Second: Velocity and ModNation Racers have been played in my flat. Whilst they’re both enjoyable in different way, in fact I may go more in depth into ModNation tomorrow, Split/Second is simply incredible in terms of the sense of speed you get. It really does live up to the Velocity sub-title, in my opinion even blowing away the Burnout series, something I didn’t think was possible.

To be honest a lot of racing games do just feel a bit slow. You get the sense of acceleration, but there’s just something about the way the world’s built that doesn’t keep the feeling of speed up once the initial surge of acceleration has passed. In comparison, the Burnout series has always managed to achieve a series of speed, possibly through the closeness you get from the track itself.

However I think what really changes it is the level of aggressive driving that you get from other players and the AI. Having to weave in and out of other racers whilst they try and ram you off the road some how alters your perspective of the car’s speed, possibly due to a mild adrenaline increase. Split/Second really takes a lot of this feeling from Burnout, but then adds to it with the bumper camera view.

Whilst Burnout and Split/Second completely embrace the sense of speed, other titles like Project Gotham Racing feel completely detached from any real sense of speed in the game. I do some aspects of PGR, but the lack of any sense of speed as you drive the circuit means I tend to grossly misjudge my timing on corners, and end up slamming into walls more often than not. If I’m drifting round a corner on an arcade racer I don’t really care if I sideswipe a wall, it’s part of the fun and it doesn’t really effect you that much. However nose diving into a wall because you were going a lot faster than you thought just isn’t fun at all.

So given the fun of Burnout and Split/Second, where speed is almost palpable, and the despair of titles like PGR, how do you like it? Do you want to feel the speed? What games handle it well, and who needs to be named and shamed?