Wii & PS3's Motion-Controlled Racing Games Face Off

With Wii being largely based around motion-sensitive controls, and PlayStation 3's Sixaxis controller featuring slightly less full featured motion sensing tech, developers across all genres are trying to figure out ways to build their games around motion controls, or at least pay lip service to it. One genre that settled upon a motion control scheme fairly early on is the racing genre. Some of these new racers, such as Monster Games' Excite Truck for Wii, rely exclusively on motion controls. Others, such as MTO's GT Cube for Wii, Namco's Ridge Racer 7 for PS3, and Evolution Studios' MotorStorm for PS3, offer both motion control and traditional d-pad or analog stick control. All of them, however, treat motion control essentially the same basic way: hold the controller horizontally, and tilt it left or right to simulate turning the steering wheel in the corresponding direction. Of course, like any new control method, it takes some time on the part of developers--not to mention some trial and error--before all the kinks are worked out. I've taken a look at the four games mentioned above in an attempt to determine who best nailed motion controlled racing. Here, in no specific order, are my impressions, followed by the final verdict. Excite Truck (Wii) Developer: Monster Games; Publisher: Nintendo
Release date: November 19, 2006 Excite Truck, from NASCAR Heat series developer Monster Games, was one of the first officially revealed Wii games from Nintendo, and for months this loose spiritual successor to the classic Excitebike been a showcase for the hold-the-remote-sideways-and-tilt-it control method. Fitting with its name, it is by far the most extreme racer of the four covered in this article; it makes no pretense of any kind towards realism, instead choosing to focus on big trucks getting huge air off of steep dirt ramps that are suddenly created out of the earth in real time after hitting terrain deformation powerups. Tilting the remote mid-jump will actually give you a pretty good amount of in-air control, which makes little sense from a physics perspective but which fits in Excite Truck. You can even tilt the controller forwards and backwards to pitch up and down for more or less air. Like everything else in Excite Truck, the tilt control is exaggerated, so it takes some getting used to as you're flying all over the place. Perhaps deliberately given this aspect of the controls, the game features many opportunities for shortcuts and alternate routes, many of which you may discover completely accidentally after a turn that was just a little sharper than intended. All in all the controls work well, but they lack a certain amount of precision; in part, this is simply due to the over the top nature of the game itself. MotorStorm (PS3) Developer: Evolution Studios; Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Release date: Q1 2007 Evolution Studios' MotorStorm is understandably being pushed as one of the PlayStation 3's most graphically intensive games. While it will not be released until some time early next year, it has been playable at various press events and is currently downloadable in demo from from the PlayStation Store. MotorStorm is an off-road racer that is more comparable to Excite Truck than the other games covered here in its basic gameplay elements, though it is not quite as over the top than that game, and feels at least somewhat more grounded in reality even though it is itself by no means a realistic game. By default, MotorStorm steers like most other modern racers: with the left analog stick. However, you can also choose to activate motion sensing. Control is fairly straightforward, in that it acts quite similarly to other games using the same control scheme. Though the game was probably not designed for motion control from the ground up--the steering using an analog stick is touchy enough as it is that it needs a few more tweaks in the motion department to be really robust--it works surprisingly well. Racing with a motorcycle, you can shift your weight in the air by tilting the controller, which seems like something that should naturally happen. More than the rest of the games on this list, MotorStorm's motion control is incredibly finicky at first but is rewarding once you have mastered it, as there is a fair amount of subtlety. That said, given how little leniency the game offers in general with either type of control, this one is largely down to personal preference. GT Pro Series (Wii) Developer: MTO; Publisher: Ubisoft
Release date: November 14, 2006 Before I say anything that might imply otherwise, let me just get this out of the way: GT Pro Series is a bad game. It is entirely indicative of the quick-port mentality that publishers have employed for the Wii launch to take advantage of the hype demonstrated at E3. GT Pro Series is essentially GT Cube, a cel-shaded GameCube racer from developer MTO, with added motion control. As far as I can tell, nothing has been done to improve the game's look in any way, despite the original GT Cube being woefully low tech even when it was released only in Japan several years ago. Frankly, if somebody told me that this game was the work of some clever and industrious PlayStation (that's Playstation 1) developers, I would believe it. So, with the money that publisher Ubisoft wasn't spending on making the game any good, they must have spent at least some getting somebody to implement new motion controls for the game. Hilariously enough, Ubisoft also contracted Thrustmaster to design a molded plastic steering wheel into which you place the Wii remote, allowing you to hold the controller in a more natural way while driving. Since it is simply a shell, the wheel can be used with any Wii racing game, and in addition to bundling it with GT Pro Series and its fellow crap port launch title Monster 4x4: World Circuit, Ubisoft sells the wheel separately for $19.99. GT Pro Series is a very standard drift racer type of game, essentially in the vein of something like Ridge Racer but with a whole lot less polish (and fun). There is really no point going further into the game, as besides the fact that it somewhat surprisingly has a long list of licensed cars, it is as typical a racer as they come. It must be noted, however, that, against all odds, the motion control works very well, particularly with the wheel. I found myself playing it more than I really should have, simply because the well implemented control plus the wheel actually improved the lackluster experience significantly. If you choose standard non-motion control, this game becomes utterly worthless. So, please don't buy this game (particularly not for the full retail price currently being demanded), but consider buying the wheel if you plan to buy other Wii racing games such as Excite Truck. Ridge Racer 7 (PS3) Developer: Namco; Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Release date: November 13, 2006 Riiiiiiidge Racer! Okay, we've got that out of the way. We all know Ridge Racer (it's Ridge Racer! Okay, I'm done). You do a lot of drifing, you drive really fast, and it usually looks pretty good. Ridge Racer 7, which continues the tradition of supplying PlayStation consoles with a new iteration of Namco's venerated racer, is no exception. It is unlikely to please those looking for a hardcore sim, but as usual it's a good bet for those who would rather take corners at excessive speeds, while going sideways. Like MotorStorm, Ridger Racer 7 defaults to standard analog stick steering, but offers an option for tilt sensing from the main menu. As you know if you have played a Ridge Racer game, you do a lot of extremely hard turning on the wheel in order to pull of drifts. This has odd implications on motion steering, as it means you are constantly rotating the controller around in up to 90 degree angles. As a game with very few necessary buttons, Ridge Racer 7 can be entirely controlled from the right half of the controller with tilt sensing enabled. This, combined with the violent steering, means that you may very well find yourself letting go with your left hand entirely, as it makes it less cumbersome to tilt the full sized Sixaxis controller. Ridge Racer 7's control is somewhat forgiving, but the enormous oversteer required with motion control may make the experience a little too demanding for some. It is likely that the designers implemented the scheme on a limited schedule--after all, Sony only announced the feature this May, and it can't have been a top priority for a launch game--so if Namco decides to crank out a Ridge Racer 8 for PlayStation 3, they should be able to make some improvements here. In Conclusion With the shameful exception of GT Pro Series, the games examined here all offer good fun in very different ways, with surprisingly different takes on motion control. That said, GT Pro Series does offer what seems like the most promising take, in no small part due to its included wheel. This can be confirmed by playing the game sans wheel, which feels like an enormous waste of time. There's still a lot of room for improvement across the board, but it's nice to see developers taking different approaches. If you plan to pick up any racers for Wii--and right now, your best bet is Excite Truck--consider the racing wheel if you find yourself feeling disoriented. On that note, this bizarre article is a wrap.