You tell me! Why do you play racing games?

• Tweet

• Tweet

I love videogames – and I’m open to just about every genre. While I’m not particularly fond of first person shooters (I played way, way too many of them on the PC in the 90’s) there’s really only one genre I  can’t stand; racing games. to be clear, it’s not all racing games – just the hyper realistic, serious simulation sort of racers.

It’s why the fanboy war between Polyphony Digital’s PlayStation exclusive GT5 and Xbox-bound Forza Motorsport from Turn 10 means nothing to me; they’re both rubbish, as far as I’m concerned – and are like mildly interactive screensavers. Where I usually end up staring at a wall. I’ve enjoyed the odd racer like PGR – and I have a Mario Kart induced love of competitive, combative racers – so I enjoy things like Blur, Split/Second, and Wipeout. I love things blowing up – so I’ve had a lot of fun with Criterion’s Burnout games – but give me something with 500+ “realistically” modelled cars, real tyre physics, genuine axle simula…and OH MY GOD I’M FALLING SLEEP AT MY DESK.

I know I’m mistaken in my belief that simulation racing games are just about the most boring thing on the planet  – and that racing games offer an incredible gaming experience, but I just don’t get it.

Tell me why I’m wrong!