My girlfriend is over World of Warcraft and wants to try some different games. She likes her memory of the old Need For Speed games, that is starting with a basic car, doing races to earn money to improve the car and get faster/better cars etc.
She tried a modern NFS game, NFS Heat, but didn’t like the open world, she just wants the race, earn money, improve the car loop without all the story crap. Any suggestions?
We have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and an Xbox Series X, plus she has a good gaming PC.
Since you already have access to it through GamePass, you should try Forza Horizon 5. It recently released and the force feedback controls with the new Xbox Series controllers is pretty good. The gameplay loop isn’t actually the same as the older NFS titles, but maybe it’ll do anyway since unlocking and advancing is a big part of it
I picked up Grid 2 (from 2012) as a free game years ago and it’s pretty much exactly as you describe. I enjoy it a lot. Googling, it looks like the one you would get now is Grid 2019.
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered is a graphical update to the Xbox 360/PS3 Need for Speed Hot Pursuit which itself was a remake of Need For Speed Hot Pursuit on Xbox/PS2/GCN
As a result it’s the only racing game on the market at the moment that comes close to scratching the classic but simple arcade style racing itch for me. I dislike Forza because even if you turn all the setting down you still don’t get a simple arcade style racing experience that I like.
It’s a different kind of racing game. There is some car customization and basic mechanical upgrades and a gradual progression like those other games, but unlike most other racing games, this one encourages crashing and dirty pool. Has destruction derby events and cars are fully destructible. DNFs due to mechanical failure is a constant danger. There is a Steam Workshop and they are still adding official content to it regularly even though it’s years old. It’s ridiculously fun. Should be on Xbox game pass too.