The One That Got Away: A Racing Game Kid Without a Racing Game
I haven’t played a racing game seriously in over a decade, and I think about that more than I probably should. Lately, it’s been creeping back into my head: maybe I want that again. Not in the hyperrealistic sim-racer way, but in the old-school, sun-flared, cops-on-your-tail kind of way. The kind of game that felt fast, even if it was just smoke and bloom lighting.
When I was a kid, Need for Speed: Most Wanted was my jam. That gritty mid-2000s energy, the angsty rock soundtrack, the blacklist rival system — it hit all the right notes. It was fast, flashy, and had enough attitude to keep 12-year-old me hooked for hours. I didn’t care about realism or car brands. I just wanted to slap a ridiculous body kit on a Supra and hit the highway at 200mph while evading the world's most committed cops.
Now, as I prep to pre-order a Switch 2 and think about what kind of experiences I want on it, I keep wondering: where did the fun racing games go?
What Happened to Need for Speed?
To be fair, Need for Speed never technically disappeared. EA's been keeping the brand alive with a release every few years: Heat, Unbound, and the like. But the magic hasn’t stuck. The formula that made Most Wanted and Underground 2legendary has been diluted with open-world bloat, weird monetization attempts, and just a general lack of identity.
Some games leaned too hard into realism. Others tried to force style without substance. And in the age of Forza Horizon(which is great, but still not that kind of arcade racer), NFS feels like it's still searching for what it wants to be.
Even Unbound, which had that cool graffiti-art visual style, didn’t quite recapture the old energy. It tried something new, which I respect, but it didn’t grip me the way I wanted it to. The handling felt floaty, the world felt... flat. It was missing the punk spirit, the tight structure, the feeling of clawing your way up a hierarchy of street racers with something to prove.
What Could the Switch 2 Bring to the Track?
Here’s where my hope flickers: the Nintendo Switch 2. If the rumors are even half-true, it’ll have the horsepower to run something closer to PS4-era games, maybe better. That opens the door to more ambitious racers, or even remastered classics.
Imagine a re-release of Most Wanted (2005) with modern visuals and tight controls. Or better yet, a spiritual successor built with that same mindset: arcade physics, an iconic map, a curated soundtrack, and just enough narrative flair to make it personal. Not too serious. Not too simmy. Just fun.
The portability of the Switch also makes it a great home for bite-sized racing. Jump in for a quick pursuit or a drift challenge, then pop it back in sleep mode. Feels like a no-brainer, and yet... nothing's been announced. Yet.
The Road So Far (and the One Ahead)
Honestly, I’ve tried a few recent racing games — Wreckfest, Horizon Chase Turbo, even dabbled in Gran Turismo 7 — and while they’re technically good, none of them scratched the itch. I wanted that youthful chaos. The desperate, "last lap and I still might make it" kind of tension.
Part of this might be nostalgia goggles, sure. But part of it is that racing games, in chasing realism or polish, forgot how to be loud and dumb and glorious. They stopped being about the feeling and started being about the frame rate.
Trevor Score: 7/10 — Nostalgia-Fueled but Still Looking
This isn’t a formal review — it’s just how I felt thinking back and dipping into some of these newer titles. A gut-check from someone who actually used to love this genre.
Trevor Score: 7/10 — The dream's still alive, but I'm waiting for the game that remembers how fun it used to be.
Final Verdict: Give Me a Reason to Floor It Again
Racing games used to be about the thrill. Most Wanted made you feel like you were in it — rebellious, fast, unstoppable. I miss that. I want to care again. And maybe, just maybe, with new hardware and a little creativity, we’ll get a racing game that brings that energy back.
Until then, I’ll keep watching the horizon. And maybe dust off the old PS2 for one more run from the cops.
Big shoutout to my younger self, who knew exactly how to tune a fake BMW for max style points.
Also, huge thanks to Zenkai Goose for the inspiration — their brand-new video where they play every Need for Speed reminded me why I fell in love with these games in the first place. Absolute must-watch.
