The worst PS1 racers

[DigitalSpace]

The PlayStation had its share of some great racers - there's the Gran Turismo series, Ridge Racer, Crash Team Racing, and Destruction Derby, to name a few. Then you've got the stuff that might not have aged too well, but still isn't bad by any means. And then you've got the crap.

What do you think is among the crap? Here are my picks:

-Racing - This was one of those Agetec-published "generic title" budget games. Naturally, one doesn't expect much from these, and sure enough, there isn't much here - it has slightly more offerings than a Gran Turismo 2 demo. Also, the more "advanced" cars just have crappier controls.

-Ford Racing - Here we have a third-rate Gran Turismo clone where it's almost impossible to get ahead of the car in first place, and the game can be pretty harsh on you if you don't finish as the victor. I'll stick with Ford Racing 3 on the PS2.

-Destruction Derby 2 - Uh, gameplay? Controls? Where are you? Talk about a disappointing sequel. There are a few new features that might have been fun if the developers had spent a little more time on the game. The Video Game Critic (http://www.videogamecritic.net/psde.htm#Destruction_Derby_2) describes it best: "the circular smash-up-derby arena from the previous game is back, but this time it's virtually unplayable. As soon as your car gets hit, it goes sailing into the air. Then you find yourself getting gangbanged against a side wall as cars relentlessly plow into you. You can never seem to regain control, and it feels frustrating and pointless." As for the racing, you might as well kiss any shot at victory goodbye once you get banged into something.

-Sno-Cross Championship Racing - I liked the track editor, but the poor controls ruin everything else on this snowmobile racer. Stick with Sled Storm.

[skaar]

Oh man.


.... no, nevermind.

[PapaStu]

San Francisco Rush

Lego Racers

Two of the crappiest games i've played on the PlayStation. Barnone.

[jdc]

You know what? I'm going to throw Sled Storm onto the pile of crap, just to keep Sno Cross company in videogame hell. I play racers and can hold my own...but I've never finished this damned game. It's the camera angle. It sits a wee bit too high or something. It's a weird 3rd person/top down angle. There is a large amount of pop-up at the higher sled levels....which makes the nighttime blizzard races brutal. This game sold an assload when it was released.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Miracle Space Race / Rascal Racers.

They're the SAME FUCKING GAME. I thought they would be different, but no, they even have the same goddamn data files!

[The 1 2 P]

Vanishing Point. Talk about your unresponsive controls. Plus it just wasn't fun.

[Gabriel]

There was this one, I think it was called Cyber Speed. where the track was a cable above you and your racer dangled down below it. You had to tilt yourself the right way during the turns or something. Gah, it was a piece of total shit.

[ubersaurus]

Cosmic Race.

Just look it up. It wins.

[staxx]

Chono Q, what a crap game

[theChad]

San Francisco Rush

Lego Racers

Two of the crappiest games i've played on the PlayStation. Barnone.

What the hell? :smash: I was gonna come in here and say no one had better say Lego Racers - I loved that game. I haven't played it in a few years, but I don't remember anything being wrong with it. I kicked ass, so maybe I'm biased.

[Haoie]

Was there an Antz racing game for the PS? Or maybe it was PS2.

[j_factor]

Hooters Road Trip wins two awards: worst racer, and stupidest license.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Was there an Antz racing game for the PS? Or maybe it was PS2.

PS1.

I could smell the crap from a mile away.

Then again, they also had Land Before Time Racing in the same booth...

[cyberfluxor]

Does Razor Racing count? I bought it a few years back for $1 or $2 at Game Stop just to see what the hell, terrible. I saw the multi-player on the back thinking, Oh a party game! It's turn based so the more players you have the more boring it becomes.

[Neil Koch]

Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home is pretty horrible.

[geneshifter]

Hooters Road Trip wins two awards: worst racer, and stupidest license.

LOL, I wonder how much they paid for that license? I've never heard of that game but I'm sure it was horrible.

[The 1 2 P]

Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home is pretty horrible.

I actually liked that game. I mean, you could only control your car when you were driving on the street(too bad 70% of the game took place on dirt roads) but it was ok. There was another game that I think was called Street Punks and it was the worst CTR clone ever. The controls were horrible and the weapons sucked. Google took me to Moby games and I still couldn't find the name, although I think it was Street Punks.

[josekortez]

I actually liked that game. I mean, you could only control your car when you were driving on the street(too bad 70% of the game took place on dirt roads) but it was ok. There was another game that I think was called Street Punks and it was the worst CTR clone ever. The controls were horrible and the weapons sucked. Google took me to Moby games and I still couldn't find the name, although I think it was Street Punks.

I believe the game you are referring to is Speed Punks.

And my vote would be for Wrecking Crew, the PS1 racing game, not the NES game.

[The 1 2 P]

I believe the game you are referring to is Speed Punks.

You sir are correct.

[Aussie Gamer]

F1 98

[roushimsx]

Chono Q, what a crap game

Oh no you didn't.:smash:

[DigitalSpace]

Hooters Road Trip wins two awards: worst racer, and stupidest license.

I can't believe I forgot about that one when I made this thread. I still have an issue of Game Informer around here where, IIRC, they picked that as their worst game of the year.

[Dangerboy]

007 Racing

Had you been in #vbender when I was playing it, you'd know. :)

[Mr. Smashy]

My most recently-played awful PS1 racing game would be Speed Racer. A not-so distant second would be Chocobo Racing. It's a bit less terrible but I still don't like it at all.

[DigitalSpace]

Vanishing Point.

I just posted about Vanishing Point in the "Games that definitely suck, but you really want to like" thread and thought about this one. Here's what I posted there:

Before you know it, the difficulty gets so unforgiving that things get to a point where just one mistake - even a small crash - can screw you over for the entire race. It's pretty much impossible to get through a race without one of the AI opponents crashing into you and slowing you down - or worse. And the AI racers drive like it's Burnout. Nothing like finally getting through a tough first race only to get screwed over in the next one (or the one after that), forcing you to play through that first race again. Makes you wish you could pull a Burnout 3 and send your opponents flying off a cliff or into a guardrail.

There's no difficulty setting to make things a little bit easier. Would have liked to unlock that early 90s Taurus so I could race like I'm Conan O'Brien, but that won't be happening.


There was this one, I think it was called Cyber Speed. where the track was a cable above you and your racer dangled down below it. You had to tilt yourself the right way during the turns or something. Gah, it was a piece of total shit.

I made the mistake of buying this because it was cheap and I was on a longbox collecting binge at the time. The bonus futuristic product "commercials" were a nice thought, but they were too tacky for their own good.

[duffmanth]

Dukes of Hazzard: Racing for Home is pretty horrible.

I would have to agree with you here, what a piece of shit. I also found a lot of the Nascar games to be pretty shitty and boring after a while.

[Battlehork]

Cosmic Race is on the same plane (or would that be circle of hell?) as Big Rigs. Game Players magazine used to have 0 in their scoring system labeled as "Cosmic Race"

[Rickstilwell1]

Any Drag Racing game for a video game system seems somewhat pointless. The fun of real life Drag Racing is simply to show your car is faster at going down a straight track like a sprint because you built it yourself. I had a Drag Racing game on PS1 but forget the name of it, but what's the fun of it if you didn't build the car? Instead it's a fake car that the game automatically gives you from the start...

[MarioMania]

PS1.

I could smell the crap from a mile away.

Then again, they also had Land Before Time Racing in the same booth...

PS, PS1, PSone, PSX same god damn differences

[kupomogli]

My most recently-played awful PS1 racing game would be Speed Racer. A not-so distant second would be Chocobo Racing. It's a bit less terrible but I still don't like it at all.

Wtf? If you think Chocobo Racing sucks then Mario Kart must have been total ass in your opinion. Chocobo Racing should not be on this list.

Chocobo Racing is my favorite kart racing game. Mario Kart is just completely random when it comes to picking up abilities. Chocobo Racing allowed you to see in the distance what was there and you could try to get the one you wanted rather than hoping you don't get another banana peel. You also don't just start with a star, triple red turtle shells, or golden mushroom by luck you have to build up so you first get one materia, then another, then a third.

[scooterb23]

Wtf? If you think Chocobo Racing sucks then Mario Kart must have been total ass in your opinion. Chocobo Racing should not be on this list.

Chocobo Racing is my favorite kart racing game. Mario Kart is just completely random when it comes to picking up abilities. Chocobo Racing allowed you to see in the distance what was there and you could try to get the one you wanted rather than hoping you don't get another banana peel. You also don't just start with a star, triple red turtle shells, or golden mushroom by luck you have to build up so you first get one materia, then another, then a third.


Dude, you have heard of opinions, right? The guy doesn't like Chocobo Racing, and you spend an entire post beating the guy up...telling him why he's wrong. But he's not wrong, it's an opinion.

The worst PS1 racing game I've ever played may also be the IHRA Drag Racing game, as mentioned before. It's just not as in depth and as detailed as it needs to be to be a truly good drag racing game. I'm not sure if that kind of game has a market to be honest, but I would give it a shot for sure.

[Leo_A]

The worst I've played, and I have nearly every PSOne racer released in the US and UK that is based on real world racing (Indy, F1, British Touring Cars, NASCAR, rally racing, etc.) along with many arcade racers, has to easily be Mobil 1 Rally Championship.

I never played a console rally racer I didn't like until that game, and I have pretty much all of them released in the US and Europe.

[tom]

Here's some pretty bad racers on this CD:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=238983&g2_serialNumber=2

[Leo_A]

Here's some pretty bad racers on this CD:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=238983&g2_serialNumber=2

What's Rally Rider? Never heard of it and there are no YouTube videos and no DP entry in the database.

[megasdkirby]

Dude, you have heard of opinions, right? The guy doesn't like Chocobo Racing, and you spend an entire post beating the guy up...telling him why he's wrong. But he's not wrong, it's an opinion.

I personally loved Chocobo Racing, and the only fault I can see is that it's too easy. I don't think this should be a reason for hating the game, but like you said, everyone has different opinions.

I hate...and what many would consider blasphemy...is Gran Turismo. I despise the series, usually calling it "Gran Crapismo". I can't deny that the game looks and plays awesomely, but I for one despise it's mechanics/realism. I've tried several times to enjoy the game, and every time I end up hating it more.

[Emuaust]

To Aussie Gamer, If you pick F1 98 you have a distinct lack of playtime regarding Psx Racers.

[ConsoleAddict]

I never played the game but Bug Riders has to be among the worst PS1 racers around. A game where you ride bugs and use a crop to whip your steed in order to gain acceleration? Sounds like a bad game to me.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

There was this one, I think it was called Cyber Speed. where the track was a cable above you and your racer dangled down below it. You had to tilt yourself the right way during the turns or something. Gah, it was a piece of total shit.



WHAT?! lol i must be the only person alive that must have enjoyed the shit out of this game, lol mostly because of the fmv's, and partly because i was like 12 when this game came out and nostalgia is factoring in, but i loved that game


my vote for worst ps1 driving game? Test Drive Off Road, tbh, i cant give too many examples why as i dont remember ever getting past the 2nd race as the game sucked that bad, but i do remember me buying this alongside jet moto 2 and both games were reason enough to beg my parents to go back to the store and exchange my playstation for a saturn, thank god they didnt listen, but those games still fucking sucked tho :(

[Demon_Attack82]

Cosmic Race.

Just look it up. It wins.


I have the GamePlayers issue where they review it....want to play it but can never find it on eBay

[dreamcaster]

I have only played the Saturn version, but Hi-Octane is unplayably terrible.

[kupomogli]

Dude, you have heard of opinions, right? The guy doesn't like Chocobo Racing, and you spend an entire post beating the guy up...telling him why he's wrong. But he's not wrong, it's an opinion.

I didn't spend an entire post, just a short first paragraph. The second paragraph was how Chocobo Racing was better than the luck based Mario Kart.

[Snapple]

Ctrl+F: Speed Racer

One return. Mr. Smashy wins. Everyone else loses, because Speed Racer is the worst driving game I have possibly ever played.

[Compute]

NASCAR 98 was ok if you enabled 'paintball' mode.. for about 10 minutes.

[tom]

What's Rally Rider? Never heard of it and there are no YouTube videos and no DP entry in the database.

Sorry, since my outer box is opened, but my inner CD case is not, I haven't got a clue what this game is like. Enjoy the picture anyway.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/thomasholzer/PSRacing.jpg

[j_factor]

Why is it in a huge box if all the games fit in that one case?

[Leo_A]

Yeah, I was under the impression it had 5 different games.

From the 1 YouTube video I found of the game, it appears to be playable and better then most of the late budget releases the PSOne saw.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Holy crap, Phoenix Games! You know it's got quality!

[Ryaan1234]

Holy crap, Phoenix Games! You know it's got quality and blatant Disney ripoffs!
Fixed.

[Xtincthed]

i don't often play racers.. but i had a real hard time controlling the car in Rollcage, it's all over the place with the slightest touch of the controller

[tom]

Why is it in a huge box if all the games fit in that one case?

Yep, the rest in the box is air (and more cardboard).
There were a few like that in Germany:
http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=239007&g2_serialNumber=2

http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=309717&g2_serialNumber=2

[Robocop2]

Test Drive 5 was def. the worst racer I played on PS1. Fun to just mess around with with the secret cars but to actually race the computer....I don't think I've ever seen the CPU cheat so much

[Smashed Brother]

http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=309717&g2_serialNumber=2

Sometimes after work, I get a hankerin' to play some 'Shoot Games'!

[Hawksmoor]

i don't often play racers.. but i had a real hard time controlling the car in Rollcage, it's all over the place with the slightest touch of the controller

*****
Oh no you didn't.:smash:

[Coptur]

I can't remember if it was on PS1 or N64 but Star Wars Pod Racer was horrible.

[DreadIsReal]

I picked up a copy of Gotham City Racer yesterday and it isn't very good.

[chrissylas]

I can't remember if it was on PS1 or N64 but Star Wars Pod Racer was horrible.

Aww... I love Episode 1 Racer :bawling:

[DigitalSpace]

I can't remember if it was on PS1 or N64 but Star Wars Pod Racer was horrible.

N64 and Dreamcast. And I disagree. I didn't care much for the 2D GBC version, though.

[AbnormalMapping]

Sled Storm? I've never had any trouble with it. Imaginative level designs, controls that are so responsive they might as well be wired directly to my brain, and a sense of speed that makes a joke out of the low speeds you'll achieve - it's a classic.

Episode One Racer doesn't deserve to be on this list either.

Has 3xtreme been nominated yet?

[PSony]

I have Tokyo Highway Battle. It's pretty bad. If you bought/installed any upgrade parts then switch to another car, you lose all the upgrades you spend time/money on. The menu is also confusing. Tokyo Xtreme Racer is a huge step up from this game.

How is the PS1 version of Test Drive Le Mans? It's one of my favorite racers on DC.

[AbnormalMapping]

Shaky polygons and pop in work with simple environments to defeat the presentation, but otherwise it's good enough to hang with the best racers on the system.