July is always Racing Month for me. But when constructing that joke image about the Switch successor’s launch line-up, I wasn’t ever thinking I’d be making some concepts from it. Which does show just how much I love racing games if I put three of them on it. Since there were three on it, I felt it wise to save them all for Racing Month. So, for the third part in this series, here’s three racing game concepts. Two original, and one sequel.

The first of the games uses the cover art for Mini Desktop Racing. This was a pretty forgettable Micro Machines clone that featured nothing but Minis as the vehicles. And though it featured multiplayer, it was something that the second player would instantly regret asking to play. Namely because they wouldn’t be able to see their vehicle owing to the lower half of the split screen not being aligned correctly.

What I’m seeing for this concept of mine is a history of the brand type of experience. A car club who favour the Mini in all its forms. This car club would have a base location at an abandoned airfield, where they keep all the Minis not in use. The buildings of this airfield have been turned into garages, complete with all that is needed to tinker around with them. And customise them.

For events, the airfield gets used for testing, which also includes time trials. Various tracks around this fictional version of England will also be visited for races and other competitions. And not just regular asphalt ones, either. Those competitions include the standard time trials, but also non-standard ones such as accuracy challenges and obstacles courses. Since this is a car club, there’s no monetary reward for completing any events.

Instead, money comes from showing off these Minis via videos uploaded to the car club website. As one of the founders of this club, there’s decisions to be made and people who can do these videos justice to be hired. With a set amount of money to start and a small fleet of Minis, the aim of the game is to raise the popularity of the club and find people who know what they are doing when it comes to filming track-based action.

All the money earnt from the videos gets reinvested into equipment and buying more Minis to show off. And also for booking the tracks visited. And paying for ownership of the airfield and the general upkeep of it. For those who don’t want to deal with the logistics of the operation, there would be two other playstyles. One where you are not a founder, but instead just part of the club. And a free mode where everything is available from the start.

The second racing game used the cover art of Wheelspin, known as SpeedZone in the US. A futuristic racer that’s better left in the dust stirred from the speed its vehicles travel. It was not a fun one, and for some reason thought that eight player local multiplayer was a good idea. A feat only achievable by the Wii, and one which – rightly – every other developer stayed away from.

However, I’m not here to talk about Wheelspin (maybe one day). It was featured because it was a futuristic racer that’s not the usual F-Zero or Wipeout. And the cars are on wheels. Yeah, futuristic vehicles that don’t hover. Fancy that. But… where do such vehicles fit in a futuristic world? Answer that question, and everything begins to fit into place.

In a world of hover technology, there are going to be those nostalgic for things on wheels. After all, in a world of modern technology, present day still has people in love with the cars of the past. Wheels on vehicles start to become a popular thing again, to the point a company capitalises on that to create a range of vehicles that have wheels. But that also feature a few interesting additions that are inspired by the current futuristic vehicles.

Things such as thrusters for near-instant braking, the ability to swap driving models to make tighter turns or strafe, swapping the configuration of parts on the fly. And for those who really want to push the limits of these vehicles, that same corporation set up a competition to see who the best drivers of them are. Around the world, these vehicles are taken to the most dangerous of terrain to complete hill descents. Which had become too trivial with hover technology.

Using large hover vehicles, these wheeled vehicles are taken to the peaks of mountains. Each driver then tries to head down the mountain in the fastest time. There’s plenty to be aware of when taking the downhill drive. Too much thruster use will quickly reduce fuel. Parts of the vehicle will wear, reducing their effectiveness. Too much damage and you’ve failed the run. But succeed, and it’s onto the next challenge.

Between each challenge, modifiers and repairs can be done depending on how much money was earned from that previous challenge. Speed is key, but not so much that you end up a scrap heap at the foot of the mountain. With many mountains that are part of this event, can you complete them all? There’s no restarting, and you’ll be beginning again should the vehicle be destroyed.

And lastly, there’s no introduction needed, really. It’s Garfield. The kart racer based on The Garfield Show, Garfield Kart then got a sequel. That’s pretty much just the first game now working as intended. And available on more platforms. With the new Garfield Movie recently released, there’s more within the world of Garfield to take from for a third game. Though, there always was.

Throughout the history of Garfield, there have been many television specials that provide unique locations to riff on, such as a tropical paradise or haunted mansion and dock. Then there’s the films, including the live action ones to take inspiration from. Locations such as Carlyle Castle or the location of the Fun Fest. This also extends to the comics and various books, such as pulling characters from the likes of Pet Force.

Exploring the entire history of Garfield means the scope of the game is larger. As such, it would be nice to see something to make this a bit more than just a direct Mario Kart clone in how it presents itself. A story, and a few hubs with things to do other than just acting as a fancy menu, for instance. Perhaps such a celebration could really happen for Garfield’s 50th anniversary.

Three different types of racing game, all of which I feel would be fun to experience. Of course, of all three of them, I’m likely to enjoy the Mini-based one the most. Just because of my love of that brand. With the variety of each of them, they can all co-exist as launch games for the Switch successor. For the last two parts of this series, four concepts will feature in each of them.

Images Taken From:
How many MINIs? The MINI range reviewed | Auto Express
Top Gear | S14.6 [Amazon Prime Video]
Garfield Kart – Furious Racing | Steam