The Problem With Stories In Racing Games
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ธ.ค. 2024
- With the Braking Point story mode returning for F1 23, I take a look back at previous attempts at incorporating stories into racing games. GRID Legends, MotoGP 22 and F1 2021 have all attempted it in recent years with their own unique take on the idea, and there's been loads of others that have attempted it in the past. But have any of them ever been that good?
Twitter: / pslracing
I think the idea that Moto gp had would work best for the f1 games.
If I were to implement something it’d be a mode where you run through historic moments in f1, you can either recreate history or change history with a introduction cutscene/movie, then depending on how you do have a different reaction video. At the end of all the scenarios have a summary screen with how f1 changed or stayed the same in your play through and what percentage of players got the same outcomes. They don’t have to be linked with a crazy complex storyline or anything but they still have replay ability to get all of the other scenarios.
I think that's the best approach and the idea of choosing which side of history would be fun. I liked the scenario mode in the older F1 games so that but with F1 footage before and after each challenge would be great.
It's sad that the Pixar Cars movies have a better understanding of the technical side of motorsport than Braking Point did. Any of the scenes where Jackson or Akkerman are talking about setup work were pretty laughable; especially when Jackson tells his team boss: "Oh, I'm losing power down the straights, but it's not a massive issue. I can handle it." This is at Monza which is 90% straights...
That's before we get into the characters; for me the character switch halfway through was a misstep, (One which I believe F1 23 is set to repeat with the inclusion of Devon Butler's sister Callie Mayer as a playable character) since we didn't get to know either of the main characters well enough at all to really care about them. I agree with what many people have said about Aiden Jackson; a dull rookie with no personality or anything unique about him. And the big shame is, one of the phone conversations Aiden has with his Mum mentions that Silverstone used to be Aiden's Dad's favourite track, and she's sad that she has to go on her own this year, and Aiden just brushes it off saying that he'll be there so everything will be fine. What happened? Because the implication from the writing and voice performance is that Aiden's Dad either disappeared or died pretty recently, but this is hidden away in an optional conversation and the game never brings up Aiden's absent father again. THIS should have been a far bigger focus and character motivation for Aiden; losing his father, the man he always looked to for guidance and support. So he tries to get it from his teammate, Akkerman, another hero of his, who instead rebuffs him and sees him as more of an annoyance. Then him listening to Devon Butler lying and gaslighting him makes a lot more sense, because he's grieving and vulnerable and looking for support in all the wrong places. Akkerman to me felt like the Poundland version of Kimi Raikkonen but the scenes with his wife Zoe and young daughter worked a lot better; him being jaded with F1 and the media/corporate side of things after being in the sport for so many years and wanting out; his motivations throughout the story felt the most fleshed out, and they did a good job of showing how well Akkerman and his wife knew and supported each other; it was well-acted overall and you bought their chemistry as a married couple who'd been together for many years. I don't love the dinner scene, mainly because it begs the question "Why did the team manager not do this earlier?" but it serves its purpose, and I agree that we need more scenes away from the track especially if the game wants us to care about the personal lives of these fictional characters.
By far the biggest issue though I have with the story modes in the F1 games is the over-reliance on Devon Butler as the villain, and I think it's only been done because after F1 2019 the community elevated Butler to meme status; not because he is in any way a compelling character in his own right. I actually think a story about motorsport does not need a villain at all to be compelling: Look at Rush and how Peter Morgan's script resisted the temptation to make Hunt or Lauda into the film's villain; it certainly shows many of the flaws of both characters, but you are given reasons to root for each of them at different points in the film, and towards the end you want both of them to win. (And they both do in different ways) I would argue Rush is a much better story than it otherwise might have been because of this decision. There doesn't seem to be anything that motivates Devon Butler as a character; he is just an OTT arrogant and self-conceited dickhead because that's how he's always been and people responded well to it, so now they don't have to try anything different. He is a stereotype of a few different real drivers, but an incredibly reductive and one-note one; I wish there was some sort of purpose to writing him this way, as maybe some sort of commentary about how F1 can often promote people who are incredibly unlikeable but are quick behind the wheel, but no, it's all for the memes. I'm not sure if introducing the sister character will change this; maybe it could show off a more human side of him that actually does care about something other than himself, but what's far more likely is that he'll be just as much of an arsehole towards her and the game will be about Jackson and Mayer teaming up to take him down. Codemasters have made a big deal about how the choices you make along the way will affect the story; I suspect all it will change is who gets promoted into the fictional F1 team; so maybe 1/2 cutscenes and whether you play as Jackson or Mayer after a certain point.
Driver San Francisco is a really great example of a driving game where the story and gameplay work hand-in-hand to complement each other. I think what works really well is that the player is able to figure out pretty quickly that the main character Tanner is obviously in a coma, but from Tanner's POV he carries on after the accident and initially doesn't realise that anything is wrong, he just suddenly gains this "shift" power to possess other people and explains it away as some sort of freak supernatural incident; if it was a film then the fact that he's in a coma would be this big reveal hidden from the audience until late in the story, but instead it's made super obvious. (I.E. The case board is actually on top of an X-Ray of Tanner's skull, if you zoom out on the map enough you can hear the heart monitor beeping in the hospital, billboards in the world read "shift", songs like "The Sleeping Ignoramus" by the Heavy play on the incar radio) There's a great sense of gameplay and narrative progression: The more missions Tanner completes, the more of the map he unlocks (since Tanner's brain is effectively recreating San Francisco from memory) and the more cars he can unlock, which shows his memory getting stronger and his condition improving; we keep playing because we want to see Tanner wake up and stop the plot that he's been solving in his comatose mind. Pretty much everyone that Tanner meets in the coma/dream world is actually an extension of himself; for instance Jericho - the villain of the game - is Tanner's nemesis in real life, but in the coma he represents Tanner's own nihilism and violent tendencies; he can do everything that Tanner can do (including "shift" into other cars in the coma world) but bigger. I.E. Throwing cars at Tanner from across the freeway. The coma setting allows the story to have a surprising amount of introspection on top of the creepy/surreal missions like "Frozen" which shows the coma world come to a complete stop when Tanner goes into cardiac arrest; so you have this unique mission where you have to follow closely behind an ambulance and dodge stationary cars, but it also serves as an allegory for what Tanner is going through in the real world, with him reliving the ride to the hospital post-accident and slowly realising that he may actually be in a coma and that none of what he's done in the game so far has actually been real. Now, you could do something similarly surreal and creative in the F1 games even with the limits of the official license; imagine Aiden Jackson has a nightmare about driving against a field of 20 Devon Butlers all out to crash into him for example; corny idea but it would be a unique and fun scenario to play that you couldn't do anywhere else in the game. I think Driver San Francisco really shows just how lacking the story modes of pretty much all racing games over the past decade have been in their creativity; people remember Driver SF because it was innovative, took a lot of risks and was also a lot of fun to play. (Seriously, why has nobody else picked up the Shift idea since?) I don't think anyone will ever look back at Braking Point in years to come and say the same thing.
I loved the first braking point was the deciding factor for me to try f1 21.glad I did, a big f1 fan now, and I can't wait for braking point 2.
That's a good point and the only reason I can see for including it. If it tempts new players in then maybe it's worth it for EA and Codemasters
Whenever there's a new video from you it's just instantly a highlight for the day
I love a good story just as much as a good racing game. But in the end of the day it's still a video game through and through, as long as you enjoy playing them that's all it matters.
Okay so I understand that that people tend to complain about a story for a racing game where all they want is to just race. But at the same time there's people like me who thinks that a story helps keeps things just a little interesting, or perhaps give the player a bit more purpose?? Give Test Drive Unlimited 2, NFS Most Wanted (2005), or the first Forza Horizon for example; those games don't have a blockbuster storyline, however it's enough for the player to go on their purpose and it flows accordingly throughout the game.
Now I also understand that not every racing game needs a story, some of the best racing games that I've played didn't had a storyline. Of course I welcome a racing game that at least TRIES to get a story to the campaign mode. But you also make a decent point that a GREAT fictional storyline of a racing game is pretty tough to do, especially if the producers don't not know what does the racing game audience wants to leave an impression.
But hey like I said, a racing game is still a racing game. And I'm still going to enjoy them whether or not if it has a decent storyline. You made a great video! Keep it up and race on! 👍🏎
Brilliantly put together video and message. I wholeheartedly agree and am not expecting a much better story than Braking Point. But I'm hopeful that maybe we will be surprised. As someone who has been playing the F1 games since F1 2016, I'm dying for a good fictional story in an F1 game. I wish they'd create a seperate "Story Career Mode". Where the story actually takes a backseat and is instead an addition to the career mode. Where the story is handled by the base career mode itself not the other way around. There could be multiple endings and for example, Devon Butler could move teams during the career but its non scripted. So Devon could be fighting for the championship one season, but his failure to win it, could see him put in a worse team the next, taking the possibility of winning the title away from him organically without the control of the story itself. And they could play a dramatic cutscene of him frustrated each time that happens.
And i'd love a more in-depth regular career mode. One thing i want from it is PLEASE actually let us struggle to get into teams, maybe we'd have to have a good enough sponsor to bring with us for a team to accept us. Because nowadays, you could be cranking that soulja boy in 20th every race in a williams but then you somehow get accepted into Ferrari the next, for whatever reason.
Good to have you back!
Great video! As a writer, I've always loved stories and motorsport, and winding them together in racing games is something I always love to see. I think a lot of players (myself included) love to create fictional narratives surrounding their own gameplay, in the F1 driver career for example. I agree that the main problem is the lack of characterization and off-track exploration. Braking Point felt incredibly formulaic in this regard, being little more than a cutscene-driven objective quest with a poorly executed premise. I thought GRID Legends was a solid improvement in this regard, especially with the characters, but again it still lacked that special something. Racing movies often dip into romantic subplots, which is great for a film but I highly doubt it'd work for an F1 game! I think the driver rivalry angle is probably the best way to go about it, but you have to flesh out surrounding characters.
The original Braking Point was dominated by the relationship between Casper Akkerman, the jaded ex-champion facing retirement (best character IMO) and Aiden Jackson, the stereotypical naive rookie with the personality of wet cardboard, and thus the story mode felt a bit one-note with the lack of variety. Devon Butler and Brian Doyle were barely more than cameos and plot points, who could've really helped establish the Akkerman v Jackson dynamic - have more deep discussion scenes with Casper and Brian, or develop the Butler/Jackson rivalry on the side, spend more time with both characters. I agree with the team dinner scene being the best and I also liked the scene with Akkerman's wife Zoe comforting him - his interactions with his wife and daughter really humanised him as a character.
GRID Legends did this really well, with Yume Tanaka, Ajeet Singh, Marcus Ado, the Ravenwest crew and Valentin Manzi: however, the 'Driver 22' viewpoint felt a bit flat because the player, unlike Aiden Jackson, wasn't a concrete character, and thus the story feels very wooden and secondary. It's as if you're just a spectator who occasionally races with the teams rather than a character in your own right, and I think that's the most important part of a racing game story, or indeed any gaming story - you need to have the player empathise with the character they play.
Anyway, sorry for typing such a massive essay into your comments, and I look forward to your next video! I'd love to do an in-depth analysis of racing game stories myself at some point, and if so I'll definitely credit you for inspiration!
Completely agree with all of that. I hadn't thought about the essentially spectator perspective you get in GRID Legends and I get what Codemasters were going for with it, I don't think it quite worked though.
Anyway I'd love to see that racing game story deep dive if you get around to it.
simulation games are, by definition, not able to have story modes.
F1 is not a simulation
So you're saying that F1 2022 is realistic?
Simulation are simulation. Games are games. Gran Turismo implemented this 'simulation' handling to players best, and GT7 fell off on that hill.
Even if Gran Turismo have sim handling, at the end of the day, it's still a game. GT7 almost had a perfect narration of a story to it with the cafe menu, but only if it was never implemented as the main progression of the game. A 10/10 simulation in a 5/10 game.
Assetto Corsa can have a story mode. Automobillista, Project Cars. These are as much a racing game as well. Story mode is to tell a story within the context of the game. Of course, not every racing game has to have it, but it's not impossible to make one in any racing game, even the simulation.
Hell, simulation is a type of handling physics. We're talking racing games. Even "simulation" games are games. If the game focuses on 100% on simulation, where's the game? And look at those games that's marketed with 100% on simulation. Does it look realistic everytime it bugs the shit out of your game? What's the point of playing a simulation game if it's not 100% accurate and groundbreaking in racing physics anyway?
Also, since when did anyone defined "simulation GAMES = no stories"?
@@roka3611 It simulates the sport... Simulation is a broader term, you know. Doesn't mean the physics are not sim, that the game isn't a sim... You can turn it the other way around as well. Gran Turismo is a driving sim, not a racing sim. The racing is terrible and it simulates no full championships.
Thats why i wish f1 would just put emphasis on presitation such as showing the commentators in game, and more voice overs. More animation options like how you celebrate when you win or DNF little things like that can go a long way
In the older Codemasters F1 games you had various little cutscenes when you dropped out or missed your objective. There were interviews etc. This has all been removed in the last 2-3 years and that's not exactly good for the atmosphere.
if you want to see a great motorsport-driven movie, watch Speed Racer 2006. A live-adaptation of an old anime tells the story about a driver who's driven to drive to be like his late brother, who was killed in an accident related to the shady corpo's work. The movie has a great plot and visually on bars with Into The Spiderverse, all back in 2006, and my top recommendation for anyone who's into racing films, with second being Rush 2013.
That said, even stories in racing genre can be tough, as it may be stuck with "story goes like this and car goes vroom" and not having a balance between the 2. Real life-inspired stories are harder, as not only does it have to stick with the source material, but also have to adapt it to entertain audience. But it doesn't have to be. EA is a good story execution away from being the talk of the decade, and they're special cuz no one had done it, nor had explored the true potential of a story in a racing game before. Hell, imagine something like Metal Gear, with gameplay mechanics and features being aids for story narrations, characters having deep involvement to the main story, and 4th wall breaking just to mess with the players because it's a game.
It's quite ironic, one of the fastest-growing genre of game about being the fastest to win is now the slowest.
Speaking of rally documentaries that you mentioned near the end, have you seen the Queen of Speed, which is about Michelle Mouton and her rally career?
I'm ashamed to say I haven't, but I'll definitely seek that out
I dont comment a lot on TH-cam, but this video was put together excellently. You really do have something great going for you as you continue. And as an F1 and rally fan, excited to see what you do next :)
A really well assesment the problem is with the idea its like so randomised that its really hard and love the video
Story modes don't belong in sports games, period. It didn't work in FIFA, it won't work in F1. The stories told in sports games comes from modes like Career/MyTeam mode or Management Mode like in FIFA, or in the online communities people participate in, with lobbies or leagues, etc.
I think that there’s a space for story modes in sports games, but the expectations of them should be much lower as they aren’t the intended way to ply the game. That’s why career mode and multiplayer are for
Why do u say it didnt work in fifa???
Bro it worked perfectly in fifa
bro what it works fine tf
I also noticed some inconveniences in Braking Point 1, for example if we choose Haas, then how exactly Haas contracted Uralkali without Nikita Mazepin?
But that has ALWAYS been the case. For example, if you start your F1 2012 career with Sauber, you will be placed next to Kobayashi. Yet the car has "Visit Mexico" plastered all over it, which was the sponsor of Perez.
Those minor things have always been "inconveniences" in these games.
Fifas The Journey was fantastic, Thanks for reminding me to play it again
RAHHH LIFE OF MARS MENTIONED
I don't necessarily need a story in a racing game. I would be happy if there were at least more well thought-out and satisfying career modes with proper progression.
2:44 Thank you for unintentionally proving why true fans of sport despise the way it ended in 2021
I mean, if you play career mode or my team, you're essentially playing 'story mode'. You're creating your own story. Of you want a more immersive experience that just, next race, next race, next race, championship, you can just roleplay yourself. I mean through the game you literally become an F1 driver or team owner.
Whenever Nathan uploads on TH-cam, you know it’s worth the watch
Very controversial opinion that i have, The Grand Tour games have the best stories,(ik that is not really a story)
Completely forgot about that game but, in a weird sort of way, I think you're right!
I thought the concept of the game was great. But what spoilt the game for me was the handling. I wish the game had been made by an experienced racing game developer. Unfortunately, in this way it leaves the bad aftertaste of a quickly cobbled together licence game. But the idea was fantastic.
Sim racing is the future of racing games
Not everybody likes sim racers