I've been looking for a less serious racing game for some time. Sometimes I don't feel like driving perfectly on an asphalt track. It turned out that I didn't have to look further than the next racing game by the Finnish developer Bugbear Entertainment. They are known for the Flatout series, which is known for destruction derby style racing, destructible cars and environment and crazy car sports where you fling your driver e.g. as high as you can.

And now they are back with Next Car Game! Currently it's on Steam Early Access. Right now you get access to a few racing tracks (gravel, mud, asphalt, a track shaped like "8") and some derby tracks where the goal is to be the last car standing. You get three different cars: an American muscle car, an American sedan, and a small European hatchback. At the moment you can tune them without any restrictions, meaning you don't have to spend any in-game money on it. Surely it will change in the full version.

I immediately switched to cockpit view and started racing. The American cars have a lot of power (especially if you change the 300 hp engine to a 500 hp one) and mass, but the handling isn't as good as with the European car. Even with the better engine the European car only packs about 200 hp, but it has more gears, it's lighter, and it's easier to drift through the corners. I liked it more than the two others. Although I always ended up off the track and finished almost last, it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately multiplayer hasn't been implemented yet. Wobbly and Taz also have the game, and I can imagine having fun in this different kind of racing game.

Yes I did, it even came with a "cool" livery.

I got 2:34 after seven laps... On the first laps I got a surprising amount of oversteering and even spun out a few times. Maybe with higher tire pressure I could shave a few seconds off, but 2:26 seems to be really far off.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 is now 75% off on Steam; it's 4,99 € until the end of June.

What kind of a controller are you using, Lambourne?

...And now for the actual summer sale!

The most important ones first:

Assetto Corsa 30% off: 24,49 €!
Day Z 15% off: 20,39 €!
Counter Strike: Global Offensive: 33% off: 9,37 €!

11/13 of my wishlist games are on sale. Here are some:
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut: 75% off: 6,24 €!
Space Engineers: 10% off: 17,09 €!
The Stanley Parable: 30 off: 8,03 €!
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. 40% off: 8,99€!
Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY edition: 40 off: 11,99 € !
Dirt 3 (will wait for GWFL removal) 50% off: 9,99€!


Wallets are going to explode everywhere. I think I'll buy Deadly Premonition, maybe Space Engineers and Batman: Arkham Asylum. I'd rather not build a huge backlolg of games waiting to be played, so the other ones will have to wait for the right mood/price.

Other ones (some of them are daily sales, so be quick!) Mirror's Edge 75€ off: 2,49!!
Hotline Miami 85 % off: 1,26!
XCOM: Enemy Unknown: 75% off: 4,99! (I think it was a good game, plus it got some nice DLC after I completed it. Haven't tried it though)
Far Cry 3 75% off: 4,99 €! (screw Uplay and Ubisoft, I'm not buying it)
Race 07: 50% off: 1,94 €, and Race Injection (Race 07 with many expansion, sadly not the GT one): 50% off: 4,97 €


Not surprisingly, the Steam Store seems to be lagging at the moment. Keep everyone updated for good finds!

Years ago when I was playing racing games with a keyboard, Race Driver: GRID was one of my favorites. It has cool cars, it's fun but not easy, and by far the biggest feature was the destruction. The cars would get damaged in various ways: if you went sideways into a wall, you'd have a dent on the side of your car, if you changed to 1st gear while going 150 km/h you'd bust the gearbox, damaging the axis would make the car constantly turn to one direction, damaging the engine would reduce performance, and best of all, driving too fast into a wall ends your race. So you can't drive completely recklessly. I thought it was cool how you could hire another driver for your team, who could win more money but who would cost you some.

I played it a bit with my G27 driving wheel when I got it, and I was excited. But the driving felt awful. It was closer to steering a boat, I guess. I didn't feel a connection between the steering wheel and the car. I stopped playing after a while and went on for a search for a better driving experience.

I doubt GRID: Autosport is going to be any better. The best non-simulation racing game I've played with the steering wheel is NFS: Shift with the Gran Turismo mod. It's not entirely realistic, but I think it's enjoyable. Maybe I should play it again sometime soon...

This sounds like an interesting game. It's on Steam Early Access for 15 €, if you don't mind getting a buggy version that's lacking features. I think I'll wait for the release version and buy it if I have the balls. This could get really good.

Big surprise: Enemy Front was released on the same week E3 was taking all the attention, and it's not a good game. While it sort of has a refreshing point of view (you're fighting for the Polish resistance...as an American), everything about is so bad it's not worth picking up even on a sale.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-18-enemy-front-review

What a shame.

I just got Gunpoint for 1,75 € and Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis for 4,90 € (that one wasn't on a sale). The Just Cause collection is 80% off right now, so if you're interested, you know what to do.

Let's keep the Spartans updated on the best sales!