In a few months, The Crew: Motorfest will be released on current- and last-gen consoles, as well as PC. It appears to be a promising game for fans of open-world racing games that have a more lighthearted approach. However, what if there was a racing game that took a different approach?
Imagine a racing game where you have the ability to build and race your own cars. This concept has been explored before but hasn’t been executed to its full potential. Take Sega GT from 2000, for example. Sega attempted to capitalize on the success of Gran Turismo, offering numerous cars, tracks, and improved graphics. Unfortunately, the driving physics were terrible, which overshadowed its other positive aspects. Sega GT is now more well-known for copyright infringement than anything else.
But Sega GT did introduce an interesting feature, the Carrozzeria. This was the game’s car building mode, allowing players to create their own fictional vehicles from scratch. You could select the preferred drivetrain, choose from various pre-designed bodies, and customize the engine placement, type, size, and aspiration. While not the most extensive editor, it was unique for its time and would still be unique today.
The Carrozzeria cars in Sega GT actually looked quite impressive for a game from the 2000s. For instance, there was a car that resembled a mix between a Dodge Viper and a Mitsubishi 3000GT. Interestingly, players could select headlights, taillights, and other details independently of the body shape.
Unlike management simulation games, Sega GT’s Carrozzeria focused on building one car for the player to drive with the money they had. Today, a game like Automation on PC takes this concept to new heights, although it’s less of a traditional racing game and requires exporting vehicles to Beam.NG Drive for testing.
Imagine a racing game that combines Sega GT’s car building with Apex’s storytelling approach. Milestone’s Racing Evoluzione from 2003 had players start their own car company in an abandoned garage and compete in championships to earn funds for further development. Unfortunately, players didn’t have much control over the vehicles, as they were limited to selecting from proposals and racing against real automaker’s offerings. However, the racing aspect was enjoyable, with responsive handling and impressive graphics.
A game that merges Sega GT’s creation tools with Apex’s concept would be incredibly fun. Even within a single-player experience, there would still be opportunities for publishers to incorporate microtransactions for additional components like car bodies, engines, and suspensions. Although I understand the reluctance towards microtransactions, I’m trying to highlight the potential appeal of this game in the hopes that a talented developer will take on the challenge rather than working on another generic open-world title.