Forza Horizon 4 has all sorts of cars available to drive. Even a Reliant Robin three wheeler. Fairly certain there are a couple of taxi games kicking around on Steam. The biggest difference with car simming rather than trains, is that people don’t want to drive a mundane Toyota Yaris Hybrid or Kia Sportage. They want to rag up and down in high performance kit, whether in a rally or other setting. And to do it justice, DTG would need multiple licences many of which may be exclusive to already existing motor titles.
What would your suggestion be for what a "Car Sim World" looks like? Buses? Trucks? Cars only? Would it be set up narrowly like TSW is in that you can only take certain roads in narrow corridors? Cars are so unlike trains, I'm not sure what you'd be asking for. There are no private vehicles like "cars" in TSW so they're entirely different playstyles. Like ETS/ATS? Truck and Transport Simulator? City Transport Simulator? I'm gonna guess this was a 3am "I can't sleep" or "I'm drunk" thought that didn't go beyond the question itself. But, we can toss it around a bit anyway.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1551360/Forza_Horizon_5/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/2440510/Forza_Motorsport/ https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/gran-turismo-7/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/244210/Assetto_Corsa/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/805550/Assetto_Corsa_Competizione/
Plus the new Assetto Corsa Rally in early access, but sadly looks as if it needs a NASA super computer to run on!
I’d drive a car sim with a complete map of, say, London. There are similar driving sims based in European cities (the Barcelona taxi sim for instance) but not in the UK. Midtown Madness had a London version back in the day which was OK but the map was not comprehensive. I think I’d like a sandbox mode so that you can while away a few hours just casually driving around.
Interesting because I’ve been planning a game of a similar concept in my mind for years. This came from playing NfS on PS1. Not the tracks but the open world routes or stages. Obviously I’m not going to share those ideas, however I will say this. The closest anyone will get to a simulated experience is by playing GT. And that’s that. Most driving games that are mostly open world tend to be more arcade than simulation. Ie driving into a wall at 200 mph would probably leave a small scratch only. If it was simulated tho or an open would game aimed specifically towards a driving simulator NOT a racing or driving game then real world situations would have to be part of the whole simulated experience for users to actually find interest in. Plus most people own a car. Therefore if a person was interested in driving then it wouldn’t be a real scenario that is lived over and over each day by car owners. Driving cars can be very stressful, a pain even so why would anyone want to experience that as away to relax or wind down after work. It would be one of mindless fun like GTA. No waiting in traffic, and someone cuts up you up then simply get out and slap them. Stress reliever by having mindless fun. Adults have a real car, maybe a little Ford or something. Go on The Crew Motorfest and one can drive or race around Hawaii in some real exotic cars. Any child wanting to drive would be more inclined to use these games over a boring driving simulator. Two markets that have little room for creativity or innovation and thus why there is no huge demand for something people can already afford and experience just driving to work. And others that don’t drive play the games that already cater towards that particular demographic age group. It’s not everyday one drives a Train, Planes, but they do Automobiles And why we have fun driving games offering a simulated driving feel not a simulated real world where hitting wall at 200 mph would mean game over or,,,wasted Plus anything that would be remotely of interest has been done or being done with city driver sims or Taxi Sims. Very low budget games done by developers with very limited resources looking to make a quick buck from a very small market share looking for a car to drive like Mummy or Daddy. That’s not cool in a child’s world. Booting around in Bugatti with ya mates online is. And adults can’t wait to lock the car door, grab a bite to eat, TV and then bed. We don’t have one because there’s no need for one. No money in it. Something else that should be brought to mind is this. I was driving quite young and so were my mates. Cruising around before hanging around on MCDs car park. My son will be doing the same and so will hits mates. Why because playing a game at 16 or 18 just isn’t what youths do when real cars and car scenes brings something no console or PC could Admittedly player have the VIP clubs but somehow they don’t feel the same as the real deal. Unless someone wants to try and simulate that 18 theme. I’m sure theres more of market for that than driving automobiles. ✌.
A few photos of a game that I play. It’s not London but you can still chill and go for a cruise. Or take a boat, Plane or Helicopter. Chillin while the sun goes down. ✌.
