Racing Into 2011

2010 was a great year for racing games. Gran Turismo 5 finally got released (and was pretty *** good in its own right), and between titles like Split/Second and Blur, the genre saw a much-needed infusion of new ideas and experiences. What’s in store for 2011? We take a look at some of the games on the docket and some of the questions of the genre that will help determine its future.

Here are some of the major racing titles scheduled to come out in 2011 so far:

Test Drive Unlimited 2 (February 8)
It’ll be interesting how race fans take to this series mix of lifestyle trappings, a variety of race types, and missions in what is essentially an open world racer. This relatively untraditional take could just thing for you if you’re looking for something other than a more traditionally structured racing experience.

NASCAR 2011 The Game (February 15)
All eyes are on Activision and developer Eutechnyx to see if they can fill the recent NASCAR void. Topping EA won’t be impossible by any means, but Eutechnyx has its work cut out for it – capturing all the ins-and-outs of the sport (on and off the track) won’t be easy. However, if this first installment is solid enough, that should lay the ground for a great long-term franchise.

Shift 2 Unleashed (spring)
The last Shift title was a solid sim-based racing experience, but it didn’t differentiate itself in any other way. Thankfully, Shift 2 is trying to make its mark on the genre by replicating some of the rigors of racing – the g-forces whipping your head around and the damage taken by your car. This could be just the thing to shake up the simulation sub-genre.

MotorStorm: Apocalypse (spring)
A year after Split/Second comes Apocalypse, another high-octane romp through copious amounts of destruction and rubble. Between the revamped online portion (including a game mode creator), story based single-player, and the level set pieces, here’s hoping that Apocalypse signals a triumphant return for the franchise.

Dirt 3 (summer)
Rally racing is back and at the forefront of the Dirt series – a franchise that first grew out of the old Colin McRae rally series. Add in the crazy setups of the new gymkhana events, and Dirt 3 looks to be an exciting refresher for a series that was already at the top of its game.

Rage (September 13)
It’s tough to categorize Rage. Is it an FPS? Is it a racing game? Is it about car combat? Yes on all accounts, actually. It’s also hard to say how Rage is shaping up since we haven’t seen it in a while. Hopefully for race fans, the actual in-car segments of the game don’t get lost in the shuffle.

Driver: San Francisco (TBA)
Although Driver: San Francisco isn’t a racing game, per se, developer Reflections has always been dedicated to telling its story via driving cars, and San Francisco is an attempt to return to the franchise’s roots. It sounds too crazy to be true, but the game lets protagonist Tanner switch between cars through some supernatural power he’s picked up while he’s in a coma. Now that that’s sunk in, this ridiculous ability actually has some cool in-game uses. It allows you to pick up missions throughout the city as well as continue epic car chases.

Forza Motorsport 4 (release TBA)
The game features Kinect support but we don’t think you have to worry about the game turning into Joy Ride, with an auto gas/brake or anything. At E3 this year you could use Kinect to walk around your cars, but who knows if this is the extent of Forza 4’s interaction with the peripheral. The game’s demo also included a passing challenge, so hopefully this means the upcoming title offers more just lap-based racing events.

Continue reading on the next page for a look at some of the questions for the racing genre in 2011.

Will Grid 2 Come Out This Year?
Codemasters’ Grid helped put the Dirt franchise on the map, but even though we’re already looking forward to Dirt 3 this summer, we’ve yet to see a follow-up for the original Grid. We know that Codemasters is working on Grid 2, but it seems unlikely that it would come out this year given that it would step on Dirt 3’s toes.

Is There Another Need For Speed Game Coming Out In 2011?
EA internal developer Black Box is reportedly working on an street racing-based NFS game in the vein of the studio’s previous Undercover title back in 2008 (shown below). Nothing’s been announced officially yet, but even EA executives have said they want a NFS of some sort every year come the holidays, and Shift 2 Unleashed doesn’t fit that description. This new Black Box-developed NFS is rumored to be based around characters and a storyline, which also fits the Undercover bill.

In the bigger picture, EA plans to continue its fragmentation of the NFS brand with multiple titles (action and sim-based) barring the name coming out continually.

So What About Criterion and the Burnout Franchise?
Criterion could be working on a Hot Pursuit 2, but nobody knows exactly what they’ve got going on. In an interview with Eurogamer, EA’s Patrick Soderlund said that Criterion as well as the Burnout franchise will continue to be in the racing mix.

What Is the Future of Bizarre Creations and Black Rock Studios (Pure, Split/Second)?
Activision appears ready to sell Bizarre Creations, so while we believe you haven't seen the last of the Blur developers, it’s not likely you’ll be playing anything new for them for a while.

Meanwhile, Black Rock owners Disney seem to be at a crossroads with their larger video game plans, and it looks like Disney is going to focus more on mobile and online games. This appears to leave the talented folks at Black Rock and their future in the console-based racing genre up in the air.

Will Black Rock deliver Pure 2?

What About Project Gotham Racing?
Although Bizarre Creations put the series on the map, publisher Microsoft that owns the rights to the franchise. The company is in talks with a third-party developer to bring it back, but that’s all we know at the moment.

What about PC racing?
While a lot of the games in this article will come out on PC, many specifically race on their PCs because they’ve got a sweet wheel and/or cockpit setup, and they like a more hardcore experience than most console racers offer. Enter iRacing.com. If you haven’t heard about iRacing and want a simulation experience, we suggest you check it out. It’s so hardcore, real-life racers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. use it as a training tool. Good luck.