Why Racing Games Feel Slow

Italian dude complains about a non issue Alternate Title

There's something else. In real world when You drive a car, You look generally forward. But our brain also see, less detailed 180 degrees FOV. That's makes us feels like we are drive fast without even look at speedometer. In games it feels like You are driving with binoculars

The Netherlands has roads that purposefully put trees almost right at the road's edge to give a heighted sense of speed to drivers, and thus naturally makes them want to drive slower and more cautiously. They do not reduce the speed limit, rather use human fight or flight instincts to have people drive better. The jungles in Forza Horizon 5 and the eastern ocean front city are almost like this, where the trees and buildings + objects are really right off the side of the road. besides the canyon, this area is my favorite to make maps in and drive hypercars through. It feels like Sunshine Keys in Burnout Revenge.

One point that you forgot to mention: More variation amongst the decorations that line the track. If you keep going down a forest of deciduous trees for the whole duration of a certain straight, then you don't get a feeling that your surroundings actually change. Whereas if there's different types, heights, and colors of tree coming into view in quick succession (and maybe some buildings as well as openings in the trees), then you'll feel much more like you're making progress.

The motion blur part also highlights my issue with motion blur in games. i hate it when im playing on foot and the world turns into a literal blur just because im turning the characters head But i love the blur when im going fast like racing a horse or , yes, driving a car fast

Burnout 3 is in my opinion the best example. It has small lanes, lots of traffic and need incredible reaction times to avoid everything

There is a quote in the NeedForSpeed franchise that said: "If you feel like you're under control, you're not driving fast enough"

I work as a software engineer for a motorsport company, developing a full immerson 6-DOF racing simulator. The biggest impact on speed for me was the peripheral vision. We use a 180 degree wrap around projector screen which fills your peripheral view. I guess this sort of falls into the realm of FOV, but it's more about the physical viewscreen rather than the in-game projection.

Lotus Esprit turbo challenge on Amiga was one of the first car games where you could feel the speed. What we can learn from that game, is that dashed lines on the road that flickers faster and faster can be enough to create a great sense of speed.

"Gran Turismo 6 was my first racing game." Thanks for making me feel older than dirt, bro.

The camera height (distance above the ground) plays a huge role in how fast a racing game feels. Burnout Paradise has one of the lowest cameras, which is why that decades-old game still feels terrifyingly fast.

i think one more aspect to consider is the surrounding map itself, aside from the road, but what's beside it. on a race track you have the border and samey trees beyond that. No matter how fast you go, the environment stays mostly the same. but if you're in a city like GTA5, then you have other cars, pedestrians, street signs, buildings and more all wizzing past you quickly one after another. Speed can only be measured in relation to other objects, so its important to give players a frame of reference, how much ground they're actually covering in any given time. That is best shown by rapidly changing scenery

I saw a thing a while back about parabolic fov being more natural (steeper fov toward the sides, shallower toward the center) and giving you a better sense of distance and speed than traditional fov.

And I think BeamNG feels scary because the transition from gripping to sliding is still abrupt like a light switch being flipped from on to off, so it’s legit hard to push it. Seems like there’s not much sliding *only a little” in Beam.

the 'scared' part is one of the huge reasons why the sense of speed in NFS Pro Street's speed challenge events is so good, especially at Nevada Highway. You're on edge 95% of the time, hoping you don't lose control and total your car.

1:23 that transition was so clean I love it.

Contrast patterns on the track, like marks on the Nürburgring or light and shadows when going through some trees (Sarthe), will greatly convey the sense of speed. Taking inspiration from Real Racing, one key sound is how realistic the game reproduces the sound of going over the red-and-white rumble strips at the inside of a track corner. This really adds to the sensation of cornering at a race track.

NFS Shift 2. I remember one review calling it a Survivor Racing game and they were right. That game had such good feeling of speed that it was scary.

Actually the speed that objects, buildings, cars are moving next to you makes a huge difference. That's what need for speed does, when you drive past an AI in nfs it really makes you feel youre going fast or when you flash through the city the buildings are moving so fast next to the car you can't even really tell what they look like. It's the same when you're driving a car in real life. Going 50 miles an hour on a highway will feel really slow because you're not passing anything but 50 miles an hour through a small street with houses will feel fast.

Good solid soft-body physics collisions help sell the speed too. Not in the moment of course, but after the fact. If your car goes tumbling around more or less intact it feels like you're watching kids play with Matchbox cars. On the other hand if you can wrap a car around a pole like a noodle, or better yet split the car in half and send it flying in two directions while the pole itself breaks and topples, that's magic.