Best Intro-Movie to a Racing Game?

There aren't that many around these days (oh woe), but what's your favourite intro-movie to a racing game? There's nothing like a craftily-edited video full of roaring engines, high-speed shunts and gleaming paintwork to get your pulse...ugh, I sound like that Drive Club guy (or was it Forza?). I'll stop before this heads into vaguely phallic territory. You know what I mean. Racing games seem to nail (hurrah!)introductions better than most other genres--or at least used to--so I thought it time to praise the best around, and engender some nitroglycerine-fuelled nostalgia trips, made psychedelic by the exhaust fumes.

I was inclined to put forth the original Gran Turismo's intro initially, but in the interests of relative obscurity and unpredictability, I'm throwing this little number into the hat. Total thrill.

Any takers?

Always appreciated the R: Racing Evolution intro.

Pretty similar to the first game's intro which you already mentioned, but I like the intro to GT3.

Megarace hands down

@zlimness: I never played R Racing, but I can feel how goddamn nostalgic that intro must be to watch now. Man, even I can feel it glooping all over me and I hadn't even seen it before now! Was it a good game? I was hugely dependant on magazine reviews back then (I was barely an adolescent), so perhaps it had middling reviews that consequently swayed me against picking it up.

@keres: It's definitely up there. The EU version of A-Spec used Feeder's "Just a Day" to accompany the movie--I hugely prefer it to the NA one you posted, but I'm from the UK, so I'm naturally biased. Great nonetheless.

@skelington_ said:

I actually posted the JP version.

@zirilius: Dude. DUDE! I have never seen anything like that. It was like a combination of Ridge Racer Type 4, Wipeout, F-Zero, G-Police and an '80s Wheel of Fortune or Family Fortunes. Way to wildcard. I do not regret watching that whole thing at all. Amazing.

You kids with your fancy graphics and full motion videos.

For the music alone this is the runner up.

Woops. Apologies! I think I've always assumed that was the NA version for some reason.

@pete0r:

Kickin'. Geoff Crammond, please return to salvage Formula One video games from the ruins. That is a cracking version of 'The Chain'.

Right, Polyphony, you'd better use that Lotus Challenge music as menu music in GT6. So many sepia wonders I've never seen before!

I've really enjoyed the Kaido Battle intros:

@skelington_: No, it was a failed attempt at taking on Gran Turismo. R:RE is actually a Ridge Racer game. Physics were completely awful. But it had a story, which is unheard of in a racing sim and I adore how it looks and sounds. Very Japanese '90-'00 Initial D/Gran Turismo-style, but more of it!

Also, I completely forgot about the Project Gotham Racing 4 intro. Very cool intro with in-game sounds from every car and a custom remix of The Prodigy's Shadow of the Devil by Liam Howlett himself. PGR4 is, in my mind, still unsurpassed as best arcade racer. RIP Bizarre Creations.

Edit: Oh man, this is another great intro. I don't remember intro itself, but Enthusia from Konami is the best racing sim for the PS2 this side of GT. This intro is intense as fuck though! I'm pumped! I'm stoked! The ending is just... whaaaat! You have to watch this intro. Seriously.

I feel like the GT series has always had fantastic intros as should be expected out of a group that loves cars and racing as much as they do. Of course I love the NA versions, not sure about the music they used in the Japan version that was posted above. Seemed pretty off to me.

Both of the GT5 intros are fantastically ridiculous. The first one is building a car and is mostly comprised of factory shots and then a little driving around in Japan. The first time you boot up the game, immediately following the lengthy building-a-car intro movie, there's a racing montage that goes on for another few minutes. R: Racing Evolution was also great, but Polyphony Digital seems to pull of a great and memorable intro for every game they put out.

Speed Devils: Online.

Oh. Oh no.

@subwayd: OH LORD KILL IT WITH FIRE WAIT IT'S THE DEVIL KILL IT WITH HAPPY WATER. Jiminy Cricket, what on earth am I watching. Remixed cars? Mental.

@winsord: GT5's intro is the very definition of epic, I agree. I'm pretty sure I managed to eat an entire bag of crisps whilst watching that play out the first time. Your description is wholly accurate, but it begs the question: how on earth do Polyphony intend to top that hilariously overinflated intro in GT6? One can only imagine...

@zlimness: I completely agree with you regarding PGR4. I second your notion that it is unsurpassed in terms of sheer arcade brilliance. I think the fact that, upon reading your feelings, I very briefly felt a surging desire to purchase another 360--years after my original broke--just to play through that game again says a lot regarding my appreciation of it. I wonder if it still looks as technically stunning today as it did when it was released? I imagine it largely does. I always drove the Noble M12 when I could, as my experience with that car in both 3 and 4 is unforgettable. I loved that thing. Bizarre left behind one hell of a footprint on the racing genre.

Oh boy, that Enthusia intro! Hah, what a micro-drama! The life story of a budding photographer: she rises to stardom and lives out her dream of excitedly snapping Mitsubishis from behind an armco to pounding Japanese techno, until, one day, disaster strikes.

Oh, and this is straight out of the standard-fare can, but what the hell. For sheer style, class and poise, who can argue with...

Childhood! FUCK YEAH!

A bit off-topic but still on topic, British racing game developers pick the best licensed music to trailers and intros.

The Gadget Racers intro will always hold a very special place in my heart for how it manages to be both run-of-the-mill and completely ridiculous at the same time. Even if it isn't my favorite game from the series.

Need For Speed II. Those cars goes so fast, they turn into fire balls!

@Gnubberen, @jacetwice: Both cracking contributions, guys. That nostalgic rush is addictive, and time can start to pass by very quickly if you fall down that rabbit hole--don't get too sucked too far in!

@zlimness: Oh maaaaan the original GRID intro. I had forgotten all about that! That's the nostalgic roller-coaster ride I created this thread in search of. Codemasters (or whatever companies they choose to collaborate with) have a good track record with sound and video editing (The IndyCar Series intro I posted was made by them). That Blur one is all kinds of Wild West crazy.

@believer258: Gotta love the guy who decided Metallica should soundtrack that intro (at least, I think it's them?). I want to travel back in time and be a fly on the wall in that meeting.

@keris: I really like the serene, almost melancholic quality to those intros. I hadn't heard of the Kaido Battle series before now--I'm guessing it was a predominately JP-focused series? Reminds me of the original GT intro in some ways; lots of natural imagery and a gentle ebb and flow before the eventual RAWR noise overload.

@skelington_: It is Metallica. But I really loved that intro as a kid, and I still think it's pretty cool in a cheesy sort of way. Also, I like that song, even if it is off of Reload.

I think F1 2010 has the best opening.

Pack it up guys, we have a winner.

I remember really liking that intro, I think it's mostly the music. It's crazy looking back at how bad that game looks now, given the other two have been on the same hardware.

I do not regret spend endless hours in the 90's playing this on my Pentium Packard Bell. If you think that's amazing you should see the FMV's for Megarace 2 and 3.

Although I love most of the Gran Turismo intros with Moon Over The Castle, GT5 Spec 2.0's intro with 5oul on D!splay had excellent direction.

Completely over the top and awesome!! First game I bought for my launch PS3 and still one my fav games of the generation. Still the best entry in the series as well.

I always loved this game, and it was the first thing that popped into my head when I thought about racing intros. Watching it now just makes me want to play it again.

I really like the wipeout 2048 opening

@zudthespud: I played it on the PC and the game still looks great but I know what you mean if you compare it to the newer ones now.