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[nkarafo]

Not the first 3D racing game, obviously, but i don't remember any other before this one where the cars looked as photorealistic.

And even though arcade games still looked better, even something like Sega Rally or Daytona USA on Model 2 hardware had boxy looking cars that looked very fake in comparison. Maybe Scud Race then? Was that before Porsche?

After this game the Gran Turismo series made photorealistic cars the standard. But i still remember how impressed i was the first time i saw Porsche because i thought the cars looked like real life.

 

[theStartupSound]

I cannot answer your question, but I need to say, how good Porsche Challenge was back then. The feature with the dynamically changing track layouts was nice. I played it many times as a child at the local game shop and when I had enough money, I bought a used PlayStation and this game (also used ).

 

[Parazels]

The Need for Speed

 

[drganon]

Only ever played the demo disc version that came with my ps1. I remember it looked nice but controlled awkwardly.

 

[nkarafo]

The Need for Speed

Nah, they still look too low poly and fake.

I think Porsche is the minimum level for game like this to look realistic.

 

[Unknown?]

Porsche Unleashed was great but I liked High Stakes much better. Were the cars modelled better in Porsche Unleashed because I don't remember it being better than High Stakes.

 

[winjer]

One of the racing games I played the most on the PS1.

 

[SaturnSaturn]

I loved Porsche Unleashed for the PC, felt so cool to just test drive the cars in an alpine village with traffic.

 

[SweetTooth]

Edited: didn't read properly

 

[SScorpio]

Are we limited to 3D games? Because Test Drive 1 and 2's 2D models looked really good a decade before Porsche Challenge was released.

 

[Fahdis]

Destruction Derby 2 was quite realistic with physics too. Lol, it was hard as shit. I loved it.

 

[nkarafo]

Destruction Derby 2 was quite realistic with physics too. Lol, it was hard as shit. I loved it.

Well the cars looked very boxy and not nearly as photo-real as Porsche.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Not sure I’d say yes, but at the time it looked like a big jump in terms of consoles racers.

Was very impressed with the following

- Gouraud shading on the cars
- Lighting on cars (eg: passing the casino lights on the USA track)
- Driver models
- Transparent windscreens and shadows
- 3D modelled trees

As a Saturn owner on release I was quite envious

 

[Ammogeddon]

Test Drive 2 The Duel aimed for as accurate a representation possible for home computing at the time.

 

[Von Hugh]

I'm going to say no since this game came out in 2000, and Gran Turismo 2 looked better in 1999.

Edit: I thought this was about NFS: Porsche 2000

 

[intbal]

NASCAR Racing 2 had realistic looking cars on PC in 1996.
The cars do look somewhat "boxy", but that's because Nascar bodies look like that, being just shells over a racing frame.

 

[Corporal.Hicks]

Cars in PSX racing games usually had black windows, but in some games cars finally had transparent windows and some fake reflection texture that made them look way more realistic.

NFS Porshe and NFS High Stakes had transparent windows, but I also remember CMR2.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Porsche challenge =/= Unleashed.

Challenge was released by SCEE and is a PS exclusive. The game looked absolutely amazing. I played that demo a lot, it was a looker in 1997. Well above anything released on Saturn by then.

The game itself wasn't that spectacular to play. Honestly the demo was sufficient for me. I think i did own the game at some point but i didn't care much anymore.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

The Need for Speed

This is probably correct, though there were PC titles with “realistic” cars before it. The technology was obviously not as good as 1994 though.

 

[diffusionx]

Nah, they still look too low poly and fake.

I think Porsche is the minimum level for game like this to look realistic.

by your definition - Porsche Challenge being the minimum in terms of realistic looking cars - then yes of course it is the first racing game with realistic looking cars. It's tautological.

Older games were either 2D like Test Drive or on hardware like 3DO that were not as good in terms of 3D as the PSX. They did try to portray realistic looking cars though.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Scud Race was way ahead of all the games by the way, also it released in Japanese arcades in December 1996…

…but yeah, graphically Porsche Challenge was king of console driving graphics on release.

 

[EviLore]

Paging F Fafalada !

 

[nkarafo]

Scud Race was way ahead of all the games by the way…

Yeah, the Model 3 hardware being like 2 generations ahead of consoles at the time helped.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Destruction Derby 2 was quite realistic with physics too. Lol, it was hard as shit. I loved it.

Agree with this. I thought Destruction Derby looked amazing back then.

 

[MadchesterManc]

Cars in PSX racing games usually had black windows, but in some games cars finally had transparent windows and some fake reflection texture that made them look way more realistic.

NFS Porshe and NFS High Stakes had transparent windows, but I also remember CMR2.

VRally 2 was another with transparent windows that I remember on PS1 (also has an awesome Dreamcast port), but its not quite as impressive on the car detail as CMR2. Rally games were really starting to come into their own towards the end of that gen, few things get me nostalgic for the following gen quite like rally games. We were eating good back then.

 

[nkarafo]

by your definition - Porsche Challenge being the minimum in terms of realistic looking cars - then yes of course it is the first racing game with realistic looking cars. It's tautological.

No it's just my opinion.

I played a lot of racing games at the time, it was one of my favorite genres. But This game was the first that gave me the impression of photo-realistic cars. Anything that looks a bit less advanced (in poly count, modeling, colors, etc) doesn't, so that's why i concluded it sets the minimum standard for me.

 

[Crayon]

It was a high watermark along the way.

 

[GladiusFrog]

Cars in PSX racing games usually had black windows, but in some games cars finally had transparent windows and some fake reflection texture that made them look way more realistic.

NFS Porshe and NFS High Stakes had transparent windows, but I also remember CMR2.

CMR2 still holds up, I wish it could be re-released on PSN as a classic title.

 

[Team Andromeda]

SEGA Rally set the standard for others to follow. The way each tyre individually reacted to the surface was unmatched back them and just looked awesome in the replays




I had to say Porche Challenge was the 1st game I remember that had polygon drivers mind and will also like to give credit to Tocca on the PS1 not only did the car models look awesome it had a full damage system too

 

[sachos]

Was about to say NFS3HP and TOCA but both are from 1998!

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Gran Turismo 1 came out 3 years earlier so absolutely not.

EDIT:

I too thought we talking about the NFS title and not a totally different game lol.

 

[Don Carlo]

Oh this brings back some memories.

 

[IAmRei]

never know that game,
in my place people only play GT, or RR, or Vehicular combat games, if we talked about cars.
I can't recall which one is popular, but definitely still GT in my place. soon after, nascar rumble got some fans here as well.

my favorite at the time is GT since it had lot of domestic cars similar in my place. even some of my cars are there

but this topic interest me.
will try to find some clues about it.

i'm into game history as well btw

 

[Spukc]

Not sure I’d say yes, but at the time it looked like a big jump in terms of consoles racers.

Was very impressed with the following

- Gouraud shading on the cars
- Lighting on cars (eg: passing the casino lights on the USA track)
- Driver models
- Transparent windscreens and shadows
- 3D modelled trees

As a Saturn owner on release I was quite envious

lol that looks like a ps1 game

 

[RoboFu]

Idk maybe Porsche unleashed was great though.

 

[bundylove]

I would say need for speed was out prior so i would say no.

But it was a good looking game for sure even if everything was very static.

Starting my playstation carrier with destruction derby i was already spoiled enough when it came to car models in games. We also had by then nascar racing and formula 1 as well as test drive etc.

 

[RAIDEN1]

The Need for Speed

Exactly this, this game was legendary for me back then (playing it on the PC) Porsche Challenge doesn't come close

 

[nkarafo]

Exactly this, this game was legendary for me back then (playing it on the PC) Porsche Challenge doesn't come close

Just to be sure we are in the same page, this topic is about the visuals only and specifically how photorealistic the car models look.

 

[Alexios]

I would say need for speed was out prior so i would say no.

But it was a good looking game for sure even if everything was very static.

Starting my playstation carrier with destruction derby i was already spoiled enough when it came to car models in games. We also had by then nascar racing and formula 1 as well as test drive etc.

Yeah that and even Rage Racer (despite not using licenced cars but fantasy designs instead) already had pretty great for the era car models. Idk, I guess as a small kid he was easily impressed by a few photo sourced textures or something (and somehow hasn't evolved past that after some decades).

by your definition - Porsche Challenge being the minimum in terms of realistic looking cars - then yes of course it is the first racing game with realistic looking cars. It's tautological.

Basically.

To me Sega Rally 2 arcade is the first that gave photo realism vibes (just because Scud Race & others had a stylized look) without just some photo textures (like the faces in GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64 but for cars, lol) and on home systems probably F355 Challenge (as SR2's port wasn't as good).

Then we got games that further enhanced the look with new shader-like effects, whatever method or hardware was used to achieve them before real pixel shaders, like Le Mans and GT3 and 4. Then normal mapping and tessellation or whatever else to seal the deal and since then it's all incremental.

 

[PSYGN]

Porsche Unleashed was great but I liked High Stakes much better. Were the cars modelled better in Porsche Unleashed because I don't remember it being better than High Stakes.

Porsche Unleashed sucks ass on PS1. I heard it played much better on PC? Or maybe it was a different NFS game. High Stakes was really good. Probably my favorite NFS game alongside Hot Pursuit (PS2) and Underground (haven't played any others past that).

 

[GladiusFrog]

Porsche Unleashed sucks ass on PS1. I heard it played much better on PC? Or maybe it was a different NFS game. High Stakes was really good. Probably my favorite NFS game alongside Hot Pursuit (PS2) and Underground (haven't played any others past that).

Yea, it wasn't a great game on PS1.

 

[PSYGN]

I totally forgot about Porsche Challenge and mixed up with NFS: Porsche Unleashed.

I agree with OP Porsche Challenge was ahead of its competition when it came out. I would play that at the PS1 kiosk and be amazed at the graphics.

 

[Unknown?]

Porsche Unleashed sucks ass on PS1. I heard it played much better on PC? Or maybe it was a different NFS game. High Stakes was really good. Probably my favorite NFS game alongside Hot Pursuit (PS2) and Underground (haven't played any others past that).

Didn't seem any worse than 3 or High Stakes to me but I'm sure PC was better because PS1 was old by that time. Also came here thinking Porsche Challenge was the same as Porsche Unleashed, I guess not?

 

[SGRU]

The first game I bought with my PlayStation, love it!

 

[nkarafo]

Idk, I guess as a small kid he was easily impressed by a few photo sourced textures or something (and somehow hasn't evolved past that after some decades).

Why are you in this thread?

 

[Forsete]

I played this a lot. Very impressive visuals.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Pretty arbitrary question, I thought this was pretty realistic back in the day.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Thread is a sad reminder of times when we had good new racing games of all types all the time, now we’ll get a few each gen it seems.

 

[sn0man]

The Need for Speed

I showed up to avenge this thread but you got us!

 

[SScorpio]

Thread is a sad reminder of times when we had good new racing games of all types all the time, now we’ll get a few each gen it seems.

We're not doing too bad this gen. We have a mix of arcade to simulation, and the bot that made the list didn't even pull up the non-racing driving simulators like Truck Simulator and the like.

DLC brings new cars and tracks to existing games, so a single Gran Turismo a generation isn't really a bad thing.

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