u/Which-Building5483

I really wonder how many of you relate to this.

What happened to street racing games?

If I only had millions of dollars... and got to make my own game, I would make it:

1. Very deep and rich story

• In which you would care about characters and things that are happening.
• More subtle tone for the most part, not the later F&F space/Avengers shit.
• I would also involve some love story/stories in there. Gamers are still just people and have emotions. That would amplify the shit out of that game (the first thing that relates to this which comes to my mind is the Mass Effect series. This alone gave so much more to the overall story in the sense of emotional attachment.)
• Getting back to the game aching with wonder about what will happen next in the story. Late-night drives, texting characters, rivalries, trust, betrayal, garage conversations, road trips, dangerous races, car meets, random side stories, hard choices.

2. Very slow or at least slower progression

• You get an ultimately better sense of reward and achievement, and you would care more about cars you win/get and get to know them better. Not like these days where they will hurl supercars at you after the first race BECAUSE you played it and probably crashed through the whole race... the cost of cars would be MUCH higher so you would have to do a little grind to save money and buy them.

3. Harder overall

• Meaning you don't get to win every race, at least until the time you get a very good hang of it, and not like in many games like The Crew 2 where the AI opponents are soooo garbage that after 3 seconds in the race you are "racing" alone...

4. Thinner lanes

• I mean in the last Forza and Crew games the lanes are so wide that you could literally fit two and a half of your car in there... and when you add the opposite direction you get an airfield runway, not a road.
• That way you would have to drive more carefully and be aware of your speed and cornering or you would easily end up in a lamp or a ditch, which would add TENSION.

5. Damage to the cars

• It would not have to be so realistic that when you bump a curb you lose a wheel and you are finished for the race, but at least some sort of damage to the car so you would have to be more cautious, as every damage would cost you repairs and give you a disadvantage in performance if you hit something critical.
• Most importantly it would add more TENSION to every race. (The GRID series came to my mind just now.)

6. **** the festivals...

I don't know who wanted it or why. But I'm disappointed with this approach. You start as a tourist but:

"HEY THERE NEWBORN STAR! Let's give you a 68k car BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IN YOU! And you can keep it of course because we are all millionaires here and really don't know what to do with our money! --- fast forward 5 minutes after the first race --- OH MY GOD YOU NAILED IT! You definitely earned these 3 supercars worth 2.7 million for free and in addition let's give you 100k credits so you have some coffee money! ALSO spin this wheel of fortune and have a chance of winning a skin/parts!"

• Don't really remember if it was Forza or Crew that did this but I remember in that moment I was looking at the monitor and was like "what in Christ is happening here?". My opinion on the future progression system and motivation to go on after the first race felt like "WHAT progression". If they pushed it a little more I'm afraid I would get a car for free just for going to the main menu...

Screw the argument that these days the player base is different. What do you say to, for example, Elden Ring? It's hard but in the end people love it. Maybe not the whole globe but enough that it got Game of the Year. Not to mention survival games. People end up loving the game even if in the beginning it's frustrating and hard. And I know not all of them would like a game like this, but if at least tens of thousands of people loved it I would be happy. It would not be the first time where a not-so-accessible game wins the hearts of many players and this alone would create marketing for itself so then more simple players would give it a chance.

I say let's get back again to underground culture, dirty streets, police, not the festivals, influencers, instant rewards and constant positivity vibes.
Optional, but no FAST TRAVEL. If you want to get somewhere, DRIVE.

I'm writing this here firstly to know if there is anyone who relates to at least something from this.
And lastly maybe in a naive hope that maybe someday this will get to the right developer or millionaire and it will become reality 😃

And it would be game from the heart and not business.