Autoblog may receive a share of purchases made through links on this page. Price and availability are subject to change.
The crossover between gearheads and gamers is growing every day. Professional race car drivers digitally develop their chops before ever setting foot on certain tracks thanks to racing simulators like iRacing. Entertainers like T-Pain dive into both automotive and gaming ventures simultaneously. We even see the overlap firsthand during our own live streams, where car enthusiasts of all ages from all over the world join us to not just talk about their favorite cars. , but also their favorite racing and racing games. Because of all the hype, we wanted to create a place on Autoblog to talk about the gaming news of the week, and how it relates to the automotive world (and for all the parents out there, we’ll try and help you get rid of some of the madness. Enter: Autoblog’s Gaming Roundup. Let’s dive in.
Is there a new Nintendo Switch now?
Well, not quite yet, but according to this Bloomberg report, one is on its way. Currently there are two versions of the Switch: the regular version and the Switch Lite. The regular version is slightly larger and can be connected to your TV as well as used as a handheld. The Switch Lite is smaller and a handheld device. According to the report, the main difference for this new version of the console is that it will have a 4K display and possibly an updated CPU, although this is not confirmed.
The second part of the rumor is that several first-party (Nintendo-made) games will be announced next year to coincide with the launch. That got us thinking … It’s been 7 years since the last new Mario Kart game, and at the time of writing, ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’ is currently the best-selling game on the Switch with nearly 28 million copies sold . It’s an incredible racing game, but it gets a little long in the tooth. This could be an opportunity to introduce the next title in the franchise and release it in stunning 4K. Unfortunately, we’re not sure if the new console iteration will open many doors to more third-party racing games coming to the system in the future. The fact is that the Switch is lacking in power compared to its contemporaries, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and next year it will compete with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, further widening the gap. It’s possible to compress large, graphics-intensive games for the Switch – games like WRC 8 and V-Rally 4 work fine on the system – but that takes time, effort, and money and can result in a product that doesn’t comply the quality of the major releases. As such, those developers will be more likely to wonder if it’s worth going the extra mile to do a port, even if the rumors that the new Switch will support a 4K display.
With the advent of new consoles what’s going to be the new best way to play racing games?
How nice of you to ask! So far we only played on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on our live streams, Tuesdays and Thursdays 2pm – 4pm EST, join us and join a session! But beyond those two consoles, I’m also slow, secretly building a PC. It’s almost done so I’ll be sharing it on stream for the next few weeks. Everyone has different gaming needs, but for me none of the new consoles really thrilled and I wanted the superior performance of a PC, so that’s why I went this one. A PC also comes with the benefit of PC exclusive games like the hit ‘iRacing’, you know, the game all NASCAR racers switched to a few months ago? That game and other games like it can only be played on PC (for now), so in the interest of the best mediocre racing game out there, that’s where I’ll be. I’ll talk more about my particular build in later posts, but for now I’ve been amazed at how cool even the case looks.
The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will also be popular choices for virtual racing, in part because they each have a long-running flagship racing simulator series. On PlayStation, you have the Gran Turismo series, which has been around since the late 1990s. The latest installment, ‘Gran Turismo 7’, has been previewed for PlayStation 5 and returns to its roots with an in-depth career campaign. On Xbox Series X you have Forza Motorsport. The details of the latest version of the game are more limited as it is still in early development, but it still appears to be a showcase of the console’s graphics and should include a long list of cars and ways to play . Release dates have not been announced for either title. It’s worth noting that the next ‘Forza Motorsport’, like many Xbox releases from Microsoft studios, will also be available on PC. In a similar fashion, many titles, including racing games, will be available on all three platforms, including the one we’ll discuss in the next section.
I saw something about making your own tracks in ‘Dirt 5’ when it came out?
Yes! You can read all about the great new feature here in our article from earlier this week. We can’t wait to throw ourselves straight into a set of oversized bowling pins.
For the parents – What will happen to ‘Fortnite’ and Apple?
If you have a Fortnite addicted kid, you’ve probably heard all about the drama between Epic Games (developer and publisher of ‘Fortnite’) and Apple. We won’t be diving too deep into it, but if you want the details you can check out A Parent’s Guide To What The Hell Is Going On With ‘Fortnite’ over on Kotaku.com. The whole situation is a mess for players, but it’s mostly just billionaire companies bickering over who will be the billionth. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like Epic Games probably doesn’t have much ground to stand on here, so you may want to transfer your kid to another kid-friendly game like Splatoon 2 or Fall Guys.
Related video: