I was playing Midnight Club: Los Angeles and I noticed something about that game that I wish was more prevalent in all racing titles. Most racing games today have checkpoints and they tell you "you have to go this way". There are modes in Midnight Club: LA, where they give you the ending destination, and they let you go wherever you want to get there. It provides much more value because then you can find shortcuts, hidden entrances, and it's more of a thrill to finish in first. Another great reasoning is you wont have 30 cars piling up all together because they'd all be going a different way.
I don't know how to feel about that, wouldn't you face issues when someone simply finds the shortest path and everyone rushes it? I'm not sure how fun it would be if they gave you so much freedom, but if you could change the paths via destructible environment that would be something else.
^^Very true but that's not to say they wouldn't have multiple routes that you could take, and part of the fun would be finding them. I don't know, I've just grown very tiresome of the same old bland checkpoint system, because you have the same problems there, if not more so.
I wish they could make a game where they can map out the whole entire world and you can race right by your house and everything! That would be sick and depending on how many people can play, would be really sick as well! Especially with today's ultra capacity HDDs, it can be possible!
That is the aspect I enjoyed about GTA and some of its racing missions. Some of the missions had checkpoints where you had go through, but some of the missions allowed you to take any route you wanted. I have to check out Need For Speed Midnight Club: LA.
They could make the game where there are multiple paths that are close to equal distance to the finish line. Destructible environment is also a great idea. I'd like to see the map to be complex enough for multiple paths that are equally viable paths to the finish line.
Such a feature actually is present in Burnout Paradise, you race others from Point A to Point B with no fixed route. Downside is you must know the map well.
That will be really interesting. A route to my home in a racing game would be really amazing. Is there any way to do it?
While it does sound interesting, when I've played games that have say [two possible routes] and a number of the opponents go the other way leaving you all alone on one track, it gets to be pretty boring after a while. Unless it's an open world game where I'll tour the city, I prefer just one track for all the players.
I think this is fun and this would be a great option to have as an extra mode but admittedly I'm not that great at this because I have trouble concentrating on both the race and finding the best route. Maybe with enough practice I can get better but personally it's not as relaxing to me as just following a path though it is definitely also fun and a breath of fresh air.
Some racing games have implemented it in the way of shortcuts. It's not the same sense of freedom you got from Midnight Club, but it gives you an option to change your route to get a faster time. Not all games will work well with that format, but there's ways to give the player a sense of freedom without complicating the game too much.
That sounds like a very interesting concept, that more games SHOULD have. In so many racing games you are given bright orange or yellow arrows to follow to make sure you are playing right, this sounds like a lot more fun.
I actually quite like the idea of a racing game that doesn't dictate to which way you have to go, and while I think it could pose a few problems, it's definitely a novel idea and one that I think can work. This kind of thing can only work on the free world types of racing games of course, as the track based games wouldn't really give you much of an option as to the way that you go, as you can only really go one way or another.
There are games where you're allowed to go your own route, but most people try all the shortcuts so you really don't have any advantage.
I agree. Especially these days when racing games and just most games in general becoming more homogenized I think features like the is can really do a lot to break the monotony.
I think that finding the fastest way to a checkpoint yourself, can be a quite fun experience. It's something I've done in GTA quite often with friends. If more games implemented that type of checkpoint system, I'd be totally okay with it. It can actually be more fun than the normal racing style.
I don't think this feature is equipped in any racing game but I would love to see this feature. It would be interesting to make the route. I think this is the most demanded feature of any racing game. I hope that the developers will work on the racing games in which the users can their own route.
The burnout paradise was one of the most impressive games I have ever seen. I don't think it was equipped with this feature. I have played this game many times and I can say you that this feature is not available. Is it possible to implement that feature with some extension or patch?