Might Have Found The Game of Jeff's (and my) Dreams

It's called Drift Stage. It's directly inspired by games like Daytona USA, Super Hang-On, and Outrun. It aims to fall right in between the skill needed in simulator games and the accessibility of arcade racers. Did I mention it has drifting? How much drifting you may ask?

This much:

Straight from the devs:

Those classic arcade racers (mentioned above) were simple immediate fun from the second you started playing but also offered a lot of challenge for those interested in shaving off seconds. That's not really the way most racing games are made now. These days, you typically either get something like Forza Horizon that has one foot in the sim racing world and a learning curve to match or you get something that swings hard in the other direction like Mario Kart 8 that maybe eschews a bit too much depth for the sake of being accessible. There are definitely some amazing games in both of those camps, but I want to give the middle ground some more attention with Drift Stage.

They are aiming for PC and Mac, but hope to put it out on as many platforms as possible. No release date yet, but boy does this have me excited!

Here's a bit of (early) gameplay:

Link to original article

Isn't this being worked on by Giant Bomb's very own community moderator @chaser324? And yeah, I'm pretty excited for this too.

Saying that this is inspired by Daytona is a bit far fetched. It looks like the bastard child of Rad Racer and Ridge Racer. I am a sucker for these kinds of arcade racing games but I cant get behind anything that plays like Ridge Racer.

Love the look of that car.

Oh my god that soundtrack, I NEED IT.

It seems more inspired by Initial D than any of the games you listed though.

I thought this was an obscure old game and not a modern one :(.

There's been arcade like games using drifting done before. Take this Initial D racing game for example. Not sure it's been release to consoles though, or maybe the Need for Speed Underground series.

@chaser324: Screenshots in the article look awesome. Love the car models/texture and overall color palette in this level (rather than the one in the video).

Edit: Don't wanna sound like a jerk.

Saw this on Kotaku today. Amazing concept for a game, hope it ends up being a fun racer. Cool 3D as 2D style.

@corruptedevil: those were the games the dev's cited as inspiration

Woah. Thanks for the heads up. If this is Outrun with drifting, I'm definitely on board.

Make the car red, and name this thing "Magnum P.I. : The Video Game". I'd definitely buy it.

@oldenglishc: Ha ha ha that's a great idea! Wouldn't you want the ROBIN 1 vanity plate as well?

That video is an incredibly early prototype, so please be kind. We still have a lot of work to do.

That music. MAN.

Sick Giorgio Moroder sounding music, Ferrari Testarossa car, pastel colours. IT'S PERFECT

@chaser324: It still looks rad.

@chaser324: Are the drifts on rails?

@chaser324: Whatever, it looks way better than any of my "early prototypes".

I wish you luck. Everything about this looks great.

Racing games aren't really my thing, but damn, I'm really into that aesthetic

But seriously, it's not on rails. I'm trying to make the drifting feel like Outrun 2 without that pull it gave you to get through the corners.

@chaser324: You coulda fooled me!

@chaser324: Game looks super rad man!

Good luck!

Thanks for the encouragement, duders. We'll have something resembling a proper trailer in the next week or two - we really had no clue that video in the OP would end up getting a bunch of eyeballs on it.

If anyone is wondering the song in that video is Exclusive Coupé by MYRONE. It's pretty damn amazing (and free).

@chaser324: Well glad to hear its not going to be autopilot. Do you know yet were the pivot point for steering will be? Im not trying to be a pest, this stuff is actually super important to me.

@chaser324: I apologize if you didn't want me to post the video, I just thought since it was in the Kotaku article it would be okay. I just got so excited about the game I wanted to share it with all the duders. Sorry! I can't wait to see a proper trailer!

@71ranchero: That's something I'm still experimenting with a lot in addition to general limits on turn radius. In that video, I think it's closer to the center, but I've moved it forward a bit since then. This isn't a sim game, so I'm not super concerned about realism or simulating different weight distributions for front/rear engine or anything like that. It's largely just based on getting the feel right.

@straightgrizzly: No, I certainly don't mind you posting the video. It's out there, and there's no taking it back now. The feedback has been largely positive anyway, so it has actually been a huge positive for us.

that track is not a donut and the car is not drifting forever. zero stars.

DRIFT FOREVER!

Yup, that prototype looks pretty damned amazing. Especially for someone like me who missed out on Outrun. Really excited to see that trailer and get to play it someday!

That game looks pretty cool. Has anyone played Overlander before? That was a great game, albeit a classic old hard game.

Looks great Chaser. Only nitpick is it's 3D. At least it looks 3D. It is 3D right?

Dang, I like that palm tree level.

The days of Forza and Gran Turismo are behind me, but I have enough fond memories of Outrun and Cruisin' USA that I can totally get behind this game.

Yeah guys? why not just play this? can't see any good reason why you can't just play this.

That sounded way douchey, I know. Edited that part out.

Was not the way I meant that to sound :)

I can get behind everything about this.

Holy shit I'm way into the look of that prototype. Looks almost cyberpunk. And that music.

Good luck with development @chaser324, I'm totally now looking forward to this (no pressure!). Nice to see 4-player split screen in there as well.

Looks rad, should itch that nostalgia vein pretty well.

But holy shit that video of that Initial D game... Mind blown!

haha I wish I could just play like that. holy fuck.

@chaser324 So I was checking out the tumblr of the game and I noticed you had a picture of a kickin rad tshirt for the game. I was wondering if that shirt was available for purchase (or if I could have the image and order my own).

This looks like what that dodgy Kavinsky game should have been.

@corruptedevil: It isn't available right now, but it will be at some point.

They have but only in Japan, I have an imported copy of Special Stage for PS2.

Dat Hachi-Roku.

sweet early concept @chaser324, loved me some Outrun back in the day. looking forward to seeing more.

Yeah. There's several drift focused racing game franchises that never or rarely get western releases. Battle Gear is another one.

@guanophobic: And your point? We all know there have been arcade drifters before. The point was that they are fun and it's cool that there is a new one being developed that looks like a throwback to older racing titles.

@straightgrizzly: ok, cool.