For as long as I can remember, I've loved cars. Likewise, I have had a lifelong love for all sorts of video games. Naturally, I love a good car racing game, and I have recently been getting back into playing them during my down time. Lately I have been messing around with Forza Horizon 5 tuning cars and doing some races, and it is a lot of fun. The physics behind this game, in combination with the huge map, plethora of cars, sweet graphics, and extensive custimization options of the vehicles make for a fun time playing. It's surely an entertaining way to spend an afternoon, but my heart lies with older games- specifically those on the PlayStation 2 console.

My all time favorite racing game is Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, and I've easily spent thousands of hours of my life playing it. This may be a hot take, but there is no title from that era that even comes close to the perfection of this game, racing themed or otherwise. Gran Turismo's slogan is "The Real Driving Simulator," and it holds up to that. Unlike Forza Horizon, Gran Turismo is soley a track based game, without an open-world or offroad terrain. Additionally, GT3 lacks online competition, whereas Horizon 5 is a relatively current title which maintains that interactive element and promotes online features. Where GT3 wins out is in its splitscreen two-player compatability, and I love playing side-by-side with my friends. It's apples to oranges trying to compare these two games directly, but truly they are both great. 

I haven't played any of the newer Gran Turismos past 4 as I do not have a Playstation beyond the 2, but I'm sure they're awesome. Of course I have more advanced and visually appealing games than GT3, but they just don't hit the same. I would say it is the nostalgia factor, but I have consistently played this game for the last fifteen plus years, and it is unlike any other PS2 game I have. I just love it. 

I can't write a blog about racing games without mentioning Mario Kart. There are many iterations of the series, but the one that sticks with me was made for the DS. I vividly remember playing it on the bus with my classmates during long rides for fieldtrips and the like. I'm a Yoshi guy through and through. It's fun, but I consider it more of a party game, without much depth to it. A special shoutout has to go out to Crash Nitro Kart on the PS2. 

Apparently there is a new movie out called "Gran Turismo", and it seems pretty cool. If you remember the movie "Pixels," it involved translating video game skills into a real world setting, and this one seems to follow a similar general theme. The movie is based on the true story of a racecar driver, who beat the odds and rose from being just a sim racer to driving for a factory team professionally. Check out the link below if you would like to see the trailer for it, and game on! 

Gran Turismo: Official Trailer (2023) David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe - YouTube