Racing games of late 2000s (2006-2010)

Racing games of the late 2000s had better physics engines which allowed for more realistic driving and some even had damage models so a car would look damaged if it hit something. Also off road racing games were introduced to the market. Off road games such as MotorStorm and Dirt  were released in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

MotorStorm was developed by Evolution Studios and was released exclusively for the PS3. In the game you have a choice of vehicle including dirt bike, ATV, rally cars, racing trucks, and big rigs. What made this game unique was that you raced against different types of vehicles instead of everyone having the a similar vehicle. Some vehicles are better than others under certain conditions so you have to choose the right vehicle for the track you are racing on. The dirt bike is able to accelerate and maneuver through spaces that a rally car or big rig can't. However it is easily damaged unlike a big rig which can take more damage but it can't accelerate fast like the dirt bike. Another unique feature that the game had was that the track would change from every lap since it was a dirt track. It made game play more interesting since you would have to doge obstacles left behind from the other racers. The larger vehicles have more traction due to their weight and would create larger holes on the track compared to lighter vehicles like the ATV.

Gameplay- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-UT7564phs


Dirt was developed by code masters for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2007. It was a rally focused game which much different from the games released prior. The single player mode consisted of three different modes career, championship, and rally world. The career mode had 11 tiers which had a varying amount of racing events and points were rewarded based on what position you finished in. Some events required a certain number of points to unlock. Events included rally, hill climb, crossover, rally cross, rally raid and championship off-road racing. The events also required you to have the right type of car for the race, and you had 46 cars available to buy.

Gameplay- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wPemD1f0J4 


Forza motorsport 3 was developed by Turn 10 studios and released exclusively for the Xbox 360. It was the Xbox counterpart of Gran Turismo which was exclusive to the PS3. It was a realistic game that gave you a choice between 400 cars from 50 different manufacturers including production and race cars. The single player mode consisted of 200 different racing events including drift, circuit, drag, oval and timed events. One differentiating feature of this game was the ability to rewind and correct mistakes you had made before. You could use this feature as many times as you wanted but you would have to wait 30 seconds after using it.

Gameplay- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew_qh1LT8AE


Gran Turismo released their fifth installment for the PS3 in 2010. It allowed you to choose from 1000 different licensed cars and allowed an unlimited amount of customization. It was the first game in the series to have detailed damage model. It featured 31 different locations and 81 different track layouts, the tracks were accurately modeled after actual tracks like the Nürburgring. One thing I liked about this game was the ability to buy and collect cars. It allowed you to experience a car that you would never be able to drive and experience in real life in a simulation environment. The graphics combined with the realistic tracks made the whole experience of racing around a track realistic.  

Gameplay- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bEqYlwMsNM