Any (non race) Driving Games?

U

uzor

Supreme [H]ardness
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Why aren't there (or are there and I just don't know about them) any MS Flight Sim-style driving games out there? Many people greatly enjoy being able to virtually get in a plane and fly around the country/world - enjoying true to life looking airports, roads, and scenery. Has there ever been a driving equivalent to this? Went camping with my family last weekend, and while driving through some of the more windy mountain roads, it occurred to me that it would be kinda fun to be able to hop into a virtual sports car, truck, road car, or motorcycle, spawn somewhere, and just go for a drive. Go exploring on little mountain roads like I did, tour the countryside in another city, stuff like that. There are plenty of road-racing games, but those are fairly closed in track-wise, and if you drop below 350mph, you lose, and can't drive around anymore. Am I alone in thinking this would be fun to "play"?

 
Yeah, click - wait - click - wait - click - wait doesn't quite have the same sense of immersion and excitement as driving through the Bradshaw Mountains at night on a motorcycle would (even a virtual one).

However, points for the lol!

 
Test Drive Unlimited.

Drive around Hawaii and dont partake in any races unless you choose. If I remember rightly, even cops will bust you if you run red lights, so you get the full authentic experience!
 
I remember one of those old DOS games back when I was in school where you were a truck driver. Can't remember the name of it, though...
 
probably the closest youd get to what you want is a Train Sim.. you don't get to drive but you do get to see the country.

There is also the option of just making a map with cars in Arma II or something like that, the island is big enough to enjoy some recreational driving.
 
checkout burnout paradise, not exactly what you want but you don't have to partake in anything but you do if you want all the cars.

when you were describing your mountain adventure, I was reminded of Alan Wake.
alan_wake_1.jpg


Your not alone in that I think it would be cool. I'm semi into FS, don't use it as often especially but now that I'm thinking about it, I'm kinda interested in going for a flight. Most annoying thing is having to take out all the special controls in order to start it up.
 
uzor said:
Why aren't there ... any MS Flight Sim-style driving games out there?
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I thought the whole appeal of these games is that they let you try something that would normally be beyond you reach. Not everyone can become a 747 pilot, but if you feel like going for a drive in real life there's not a lot stopping you.

Anyway, there are a few trucking simulators around which might be pretty close to what you're after. I think 18 Wheels of Steel (not to be confused with the hilariously awful TV series 18 Wheels of Justice) is one of the more popular ones. You might be able to find a car mod for it if trucks really don't do it for you ;) .
 
LuminaryJanitor said:
I thought the whole appeal of these games is that they let you try something that would normally be beyond you reach. Not everyone can become a 747 pilot, but if you feel like going for a drive in real life there's not a lot stopping you.
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Explain the sims
 
Kelv said:
Explain the sims
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Not everyone can become Super Spies or Movie Stars! Or have sex with many different men and women in a matter of weeks! Or buy whatever you want just because you had a code!
 
Alai said:
Not everyone can become Super Spies or Movie Stars! Or have sex with many different men and women in a matter of weeks! Or buy whatever you want just because you had a code!
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Or lock all the neighbours in the garage and watch them starve to death curled up on the floor in a pool of their own urine...
 
uzor said:
Why aren't there (or are there and I just don't know about them) any MS Flight Sim-style driving games out there? Many people greatly enjoy being able to virtually get in a plane and fly around the country/world - enjoying true to life looking airports, roads, and scenery. Has there ever been a driving equivalent to this? Went camping with my family last weekend, and while driving through some of the more windy mountain roads, it occurred to me that it would be kinda fun to be able to hop into a virtual sports car, truck, road car, or motorcycle, spawn somewhere, and just go for a drive. Go exploring on little mountain roads like I did, tour the countryside in another city, stuff like that. There are plenty of road-racing games, but those are fairly closed in track-wise, and if you drop below 350mph, you lose, and can't drive around anymore. Am I alone in thinking this would be fun to "play"?
Click to expand...

I always thought that a game like that would be really neat, too. A totally open-ended world where you could just drive anywhere. Something like the original Need for Speed for PC/3DO/PSX, except in my game you wouldn't have to race and there wouldn't be invisible walls keeping you from leaving the road.

Someone mentioned GTA: SA and that's a similar concept...after I finished the game I thought it was fun to drive around and see what kind of crazy stuff I could do. Saints Row 2 offers this ability but the driving model is even less realistic than GTA: SA from what I remember.

What would be cool is if they could make a system that would transform satellite data into a virtual world that mimicked real life roads, bridges, detours, buildings, etc. Obviously you'd have to use streaming since it would be unfeasible to have the entire map of the United States contained on one disc, or even several.

Imagine a game like GTA: IV without missions, and you had access to an entire virtual road map of the US (not just Liberty City). You could buy or steal a car in Liberty City and then drive anywhere you wanted to. I think it would be awesome to be able to drive from a virtual New York to Los Angeles! You could grab a dirt bike or quad in one of the mid-western states and go off-roading, or run your car over the edge of the Grand Canyon lol. Maybe stop to do some base jumping at the New River Gorge Bridge or ride a boat off of Niagara Falls. :)

I guess what I really want is virtual reality, heh. But a driving game where you could drive anywhere in the US would be a good start!
 
Nate_MachV said:
There was that Sim City add on that you built cities and then could drive around in them... It's ancient now though http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streets_of_sim_city
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I had Sim Copter, and it was much line Streets of Sim City. I really wanted Streets of Sim City when I was a kid, but our computer didn't have enough RAM. I was totally bummed.

Of course that was back when RAM was expensive as hell (intel P1 75megahertz days).
 
Why aren't there (or are there and I just don't know about them) any MS Flight Sim-style driving games out there? Many people greatly enjoy being able to virtually get in a plane and fly around the country/world - enjoying true to life looking airports, roads, and scenery. Has there ever been a driving equivalent to this? Went camping with my family last weekend, and while driving through some of the more windy mountain roads, it occurred to me that it would be kinda fun to be able to hop into a virtual sports car, truck, road car, or motorcycle, spawn somewhere, and just go for a drive. Go exploring on little mountain roads like I did, tour the countryside in another city, stuff like that. There are plenty of road-racing games, but those are fairly closed in track-wise, and if you drop below 350mph, you lose, and can't drive around anymore. Am I alone in thinking this would be fun to "play"?
Click to expand...

I would really like a game like that as well. But with good graphics. I think bad graphics would kill a game like this.
 
imyourzero said:
What would be cool is if they could make a system that would transform satellite data into a virtual world that mimicked real life roads, bridges, detours, buildings, etc. Obviously you'd have to use streaming since it would be unfeasible to have the entire map of the United States contained on one disc, or even several.
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Yeah, I imagine they'd have to start with something like GIS topo data and then figure out a way to procedurally color and populate it. Then splice in some custom designed locations like the grand canyon and whatnot as mentioned above. Anyone know what MS Flight Simulator does for terrain? Is it realistic, or is it random/generic until you get to a known location?
Mr. Pedantic said:
I would really like a game like that as well. But with good graphics. I think bad graphics would kill a game like this.
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Yeah, stellar graphics would definitely be a must in a game like this.

 
Sabre said:
Test Drive Unlimited.

Drive around Hawaii and dont partake in any races unless you choose. If I remember rightly, even cops will bust you if you run red lights, so you get the full authentic experience!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no.

Cops only care if you are crashing into others cars. Speeding, running red lights, etc., I learned quickly they don't care.

And if the cops are after you, it only takes mere seconds of you driving properly for them to call off the pursuit.

Otherwise, awesome awesome game. Just that law enforcement ain't there unless you're crashing into others.
 
THere are the Hard Truck series or Bus Simulator if you not want a race game -but give me old time Test Drive over any modern game - perfect damage model. You hit anything, you were seeing fragmented windshield and "you have one less lives left" message :)
 
@ OP: The perfect answer to what you're looking for is Test Drive Unlimited.. check it out, and you'll realize it's exactly what you're looking for. :)
 
Test drive unlimited was very nice to cruise in. Midnight Club LA is fun to free roam in. Though there is so much adrenaline in that game it´s hard not to get into race mode.

That there isn´t any game that is totally dedicated to cruising is understandable. Cruising in an airplane means much more workload if you are taking it seriously and it takes more skill. Any sunday driver can keep it´s car between the two white lines and there is not much to keep attention to. Scenery from a car is not at all the amazing bird eye view you get from an airplane either.

But TDU. TDU 2 is under development very much looking forward to it. Burnout Paradise you should avoid like plague... I can´t see what people find in that game??? You don´t have any nice settings to race in, there is no physics at all and you are supposed to be amazed by the damage modelling???
 
Another vote for TDU from here. Game was gorgeous and I really did enjoy cruising around Hawaii in it.

I wonder if that had any influence over me moving to Guam a couple months ago. Now to get that sick house, sweet sports cars and supermodel girlfriends. lol
 
The Midnight club games offer a free mode that I always enjoyed. Its an urban environment though, which seems like that isn't what you're overly interested in. But i loved the music in the original and just cruising around the city. Trying to find like little jumps, running into things, just chillin. Good times. I haven't played one since the original so I have no idea how the series has progressed.
 
WhiteZero said:
I remember one of those old DOS games back when I was in school where you were a truck driver. Can't remember the name of it, though...
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I played one called Cross Country Canada, damn those were the good old days! 486's that had Windows 95 installed, but we had to launch (as an app, lol) Windows 3.1 to play the games ;)

EDIT: Yea:

Usquabach said:
you may be thinking of Crosscountry Canada?

crosscountrycanada3.gif
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