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[RetroGamingUK]

Yesterday PS1 celebrated its 30th anniversary in the UK and to celebrate, I thought I'd do something a little different.

Last week we had a thread about the best selling games with Gran Turismo topping the list. Now everyone remake how great the graphics were but I think there are better looking racers.

Here's some picks from me…

Ridge Racer Type 4

Lovely use of trackside Gouraud shading, lighting and even tail light trails





WipEout 3

Hi-res, 16:9 widescreen, blisteringly fast with no draw-in





Formula 1 99

Check out the heat haze coming off the cars on the starting grid, runs smoothly while handling a huge amount of cars with barely any draw-in

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

wipeout 3 to me

 

[IAmRei]

i can't choose between R4 and GT2 :,/
both are my fave racing in PSX
both UI design also influence me in graphic design since beginning

 

[AGRacing]

Wipeout 3
Or XL / 2097

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

Ridge Racer 4, but shout out to Gran Turismo 1's secret unlockable 60fps mode.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

F1

 

[Ishma3L]

Motor Toon Grand Prix

 

[RetroGamingUK]

F1

Compared to Studio 33's games from later in the generation visually it doesn't hold up.

Formula 1 97 is arguably the best playing in the series though.

 

[Lokaum D+]

 

[Durin]

Wipeout 3 for me as well, especially for the sense of speed you get blazing through the tracks, and how the system had to handle that.

Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit also impressed me back in the day.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

GT2 for me but Ridge Racer Type 4 was also incredible back then.

 

[Alexios]

WipEout 3

Hi-res, 16:9 widescreen, blisteringly fast with no draw-in

Um, why say stuff like that when it's clear as day there is plenty pop in like 14 seconds into your own video (so, as soon as the racing starts)? The game looks absolutely great, there's really no need to flat out lie and/or show you know absolutely nothing about it while (making a thread about) praising it. Very few games made a real point to try (and then managed on top of that) to hide virtually all of the pop in back then, like Vanishing Point, because it was preferable to up the quality and detail of stuff closer to the camera and no platform could handle doing both without obvious compromise even years later, never mind that gen... RR4 has less frame drops (if any) than GT 1 & 2 and equally great and stylish art direction so it probably wins overall. Plenty other contenders doing other cool stuff like Motorhead or even less highly regarded stuff like Speed Freaks though.​

 

[Drew1440]

wipEout 3 becuase it was one of the few titles to make use of the high resolution video modes the PlayStation supported. Ridge Racer Type 4 comes close from it's art direction and use of gouraud shading.

 

[mclaren777]

It's definitely GT2 for me.

 

[MDSLKTR]

 

[SuperC]

Vanishing Point

 

[metareferential]

This, OP.

 

[diffusionx]

I voted GT2 because of the insane amount of detail and scale and high quality of the assets but RRT4 and WO3… it's really tough to decide.

 

[RoboFu]

Other: Sega Rally






I actually loved how RR type 4 looked.

 

[PeteBull]

Motor Toon Grand Prix

That was actually first game i played from polyphony, w/o knowing how legendary that studio gonna be, i maxed game out including discovering secret op car, game was really good, basically sony's mario kart

 

[PeteBull]

Yup, came to post this, back then durning psx times it looked "close to" photorealistic to our eyes

It looked crisp, ran smooth and had that realistic feel to it

 

[SpiceRacz]

GT2 imo, but Ridge Racer 4 has the best OST.

 

[Thanati]

wipeout 3 to me

Same here. I play it to this day and it still holds up. Also one of the best racing games out there.

 

[Senua]

I liked this game but GT2 looked better, PD always had top tier artists

 

[Holammer]

Ridge Racer gets my vote.



Honorable mention to Toy Story Racing. Kart racer made by Traveler's Tales...

 

[PaintTinJr]

Colin McRae Rally 2.0, with full car damage and physics handling so far ahead of the curve that it still played superior to any other rally game until Codemasters released a successor, it even holds up today IMO



edit: In case people think I'm getting confused about gameplay or looks. McRae 2.0 looks the best IMO because the vehicle damage makes the visuals the most natural and believable

 

[Senua]

Colin McRae Rally 2.0, with full car damage and physics handling so far ahead of the curve that it still played superior to any other rally game until Codemasters released a successor, it even holds up today IMO

This is one of those games that looked a lot better on PC. Still looks decent today at higher resolutions

 

[Magik85]

For me its Motorhead. It was super atmospheric with mist being lit by streetlamps etc. Ridge Racer 4 is 2nd.
I never liked GT1/2 look on PS1. Cars had nice reflections but it always seemed low res for me. It had that grainy look.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

For me its Motorhead. It was super atmospheric with mist being lit by streetlamps etc.

Decent pick, lovely lighting and runs really well.

I think it released the same month as Gran Turismo and got overlooked

 

[ljubomir]

 

[crazyriddler]

I imagined that it would win Grand Turismo without seeing the survey because it was exclusive to PlayStation, but objectively speaking, it isn't. The first one was spectacular for its time, but it was later surpassed by other games of the genre on PSX (such as Ridge Racer 4), and the second one was much broader but graphically very similar to the first.

 

[deriks]

Gran Turismo is a landmark in every generation

 

[MaxwellParrish]

I voted RR4. I think that other games, like GT2, are probably more ambitious or technically accomplished, but they tend to show much more clearly the limit of the hardware, while RR4 is able to unite style and technic in a more timeless look

 

[Insane Metal]

Wip3out is the best graphics on PS1. RR4 follows.

 

[Sledge]

No argument against Wipeout 3 -- it's one of my all-time faves and I still boot it up to fill the grid (all tracks, all teams, all leagues... maybe) from time to time. I'd've been tempted to vote 'Other' thinking of Rage Racer though, as it has very nice art direction and communicates a distinctive sense of place. Maybe I should finally get into GT2?

 

[nkarafo]

Technically: RR4. Seems to push more stuff graphically than any other racing game on the console.

Aesthetically: Gran Turismo. The lighting and color choices make it look more photo-realistic.

My choice: Wipeout 3. Looks almost as good as RR4 graphically but also has the Wipeout art direction which i always loved.

Honorable mention to Toy Story Racing. Kart racer made by Traveler's Tales...

It looks better than both Crash Team Racing and Diddy Kong Racing.

And Toy Story 2 on both PS1 and N64 legit looks more impressive than pretty much every other 3D platformer IMO, except the ones made by RARE.

Traveler's Tales were no joke.

 

[Caio]

I was in love with Wipeout

 

[nkarafo]

Actual PS1 version (still good looking)

 

[roosnam1980]

vanishing point for me

 

[PlayStaytion]

It's a trick, you can't comprehend the specs of the console and how it's delivered on the screen.

 

[radiant_ch]

Lots of good looking racing games on PSX.

Some bangers are already mentioned here. Let me add two more:





Killer Loop (aka MagForce Racing) released alongside Wip3eout and was therefor overlooked as well, if I remember correctly.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

wipeout 3 is the closest thing on the ps1 to a next gen experience.

 

[Parazels]

Gran Turismo 1 and Rapid Racer

P.S. I don't get why people often prefer GT2. It felt less polished, probably because Polyphony Digital were already busy working on Gran Turismo 3 for the PS2.