Couple years ago, I got a PlayStation 2 as a gift, but was very disappointed how ragged and hery jerky race car games were. Unlike PC games, NASCAR racing just didn’t cut it - in my unskilled hands.
I could put on a PC NASCAR game and race it smoothly from the go. But I never did master the art of car tweaking, and often wondered if this was just plain bullshit. Or, it demanded altogether too much time and study to get a car to top performance parameters.
So, my questions:
Has the raggedness of racing improved in new versions game consoles (assuming it’s the game’s fault)? If yes, what’s the best one?
Is the car tweaking for real - in PC and Game Consoles? If yes, are there web sites that help you along?
I’m not actually sure what you mean by raggedness, but I can tell you that current racing games are very smooth. I’m not a huge racing fan, but my favorite is the Burnout series for the X-Box, which has you traveling at something like 200 miles an hour through traffic coming both ways, and the game’s controls are slick enough that it’s little trouble to weave in and out of obstacles.
As for car tweaking, that’s up to the game itself. Some go for hyper-realism and have you fuss with every aspect of the car, while others don’t worry so much about it. Burnout, for instance, doesn’t have any kind of car customization; you pick the car, the paint scheme, and whether it’s manual or auto, and you’re off.
Like I said, I’m not a big racing fan, so I can’t give you a full lowdown like some will probably be able to, but that should answer your question well enough.
If you’re looking for a driving* simulation * game as opposed to the aforementioned Burnout, then you can’t go wrong with Gran Turismo on the PlayStation consoles and Forza Morotsports on the Xbox 360.
Yes, tweaking your car, unfortunately, does make some pretty drastic changes. Some of them are personalization (you like to mash the brakes late, turn tight into corners, etc.) and some are performance-based. As to what they actually DO, I’d refer you to forums that discuss the very things in video game boards. They should be able to have calcluators (Forza boards I found were rather helpful; I imagine that the Gran Turismo ones are as well) and such to help you from there.
Personally, I didn’t screw with that stuff. Sometimes I should have, and I’d have an edge. Some times I was able to spend more than the opponent and win that way.