Source
r/simracing•
blindsight

My 5y.o. loves cars; just got him an XBox 360 steering wheel + attachments for my potato computer. What are the easiest/most forgiving games for him to play and learn?

:question: Question

TL;DR: Title.

More details:

I'm a complete racing game newbie. I've been a gamer for my whole life, but I never got into racing games. The last one I "played" was maybe F-ZERO for SNES? And I sucked at it.

My son loves his 6V ride-on car and loves pretending to drive our cars or helping us pull in and out of the garage. He's been obsessed with car toys since age 2. Cars is his favourite movie. I think he's going to love playing with a "real" racing wheel...

... but he's 5, so I'm looking for something that's easier than easy and incredibly forgiving, but that will still hopefully teach him some racing/driving fundamentals.

So, I'm looking for any/all suggestions.

Hardware I have:

  • 360 steering wheel + pedals (wireless)
  • Wireless adaptor dongle for Windows
  • A recent integrated-graphics Windows 10 laptop (i5-8265U)
  • XBox 360 S

I'm thinking a "Kart" racing game makes most sense. Like emulating Mario Kart 64, maybe? Or maybe Sonic All-Stars Racing? (These are the only two I know of, lol.) I doubt my potato computer can handle anything recent.

Or should I just figure out how to get into time-trial/practice/no-opponent mode(s) in a 360 racing game? (The only one I have is Project Gotham Racing 4, but 360 games are cheap, so I'm open to other suggestions!)

I have enough computer skills to do most things that don't require soldering (setting up emulators, configuring controls, googling and finding answers).

Any other suggestions? Any help or advice appreciated!

Posted Feb 12, 2023, 5:47 AM UTC

326
HowlingPantherWolf•

Wreckfest might be a good one, any 5 yo can appreciate smashing some care into each other

7
bruce_almightyyy•

If he’s going to be online multiplayer racing, monitor the chat for the rooms he is in, maybe a way to turn it off completely in the settings I’ve never looked. Some lobbies have almost 0 filtering, and he might come back with a new vocabulary if you don’t. But absolutely a fun game on controller or a wheel.

1
blindsightOP•

I'm only looking for single-player options for him, at his age, yeah.

2
bruce_almightyyy•

Wreckfest has a campaign mode as well to go through to unlock all the different vehicles at different difficulties and such. I’m sure it probably has custom AI races you could setup to, never tried to do that before but surely it’s an option.

2
Happy_Book_8910•

Google a game called live for speed. It’s over 20 years old but it’s free (for first part) it’s got great handling physics and you can run it on a toaster.

7
theNicAngeliRacing•

Good memories there, thanks.

1
Fulbie•

Have you considered games like Snowrunner? I found it to be a surprisingly great choice for children. It's a game about trucks and I've noticed kids like cars that do cool things like haul cargo or tow other cars. It has a huge variety of vehicles — around 50 different off-roaders, pickup trucks, tractors, long haulers, and those enormous metal beasts the Soviets designed just so they didn't have to build actual roads. The game features fun physics with mud and water and winches and trucks tipping over and falling off cliffs. The in-game economy is extremely forgiving so there's no way to waste all the money and play yourself into a corner. You can always recover from a bad situation and even getting stuck in deep mud just results in a fun new challenge of recovering your vehicle with a tow truck (and getting it stuck as well).

And there is also a lot of truck customisation with new tyres and parts and modules and cosmetic items, which kids seem to love. My 4y.o. has probably spent more time in the garage tinkering with the trucks than driving them around the maps. Oh, and there's also a lot of picturesque and detailed maps ranging from the flooded roads of the USA to the frozen mountains of Canada to tge flooded plains of Russia to the frozen lakes of Russia... okay, it's mostly frozen and/or flooded woodlands but they all look very pretty.

Now I should warn you that Snowrunner can be a challenging and frustrating game at times and you may have to be around to offer help out but it could become a great sandbox (more like snow-and-mudbox) for a car-living kid once they get the hang of it.

3
plumzki•

Absolutely stay away from trackmania with a wheel. There is a reason only Granady can play at a high level with a wheel, and that's because he's been doing it his whole life, even then he has to do stuff like completely turning off all FFB/center spring etc and running the wheel with a tiny turning radius like 270 or something. The game is exponentially more difficult with a wheel as it is not designed to use one.

2
wrobc•

My kids like City Car Driving. Or you could also try Trackmania.

2
Atze-Peng•

Trackmania united may not be the prettiest but thanks to the fun arcade racing and map editor it's still a blast to play.

1
Arandomyoutuber•

Straight into iRacing

/s

2
[deleted]•

You can definitely run an emulator and have him play older games that support wheels. You can run f-zero (cant remember which version)_ as an example with a wheel and it is pretty dope. Could maybe go through and pick up an emulator and some isos and go from there, they are also the best price range, free.

There are lists here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=164225.0 good luck.

1
blindsightOP•

Thank you! That list looks like an amazing starting point.

1
Mountain-Ad-9333•

Touring Karts would be a good one. It's kinda like Mario Kart with items and powers, and it supports playing with a wheel. It's on Steam for $20.

1
putzak•

Gran Prix legends probably

1
Unlikely_Welcome_666•

My kid loves : test drive unlimited

1
chillirosso•

1,2 or Solar Crown?

1
theNicAngeliRacing•

Solar crown is out??

1
Unlikely_Welcome_666•

no not yet

1
Unlikely_Welcome_666•

he said test drive 1 is fun

1
LameSheepRacing•

Forza for XBox (the series is long). Live for Speed for PC.

1
makeit95again•

my boys are 4 and 7 and they love BeamNG. Wreckfest, and Forza Horizon 5

1
scooter_1010•

See if teknoparrot works on tht pc and load up mariokart gx I got that on my pc with the Xbox 360 wheel for my 4 yo and 7yo

1
djfil007Plays Arcade Games with a Simucube•

Since you're fine with emulation, check out Teknoparrot. Emulate games such as Mario Kart Arcade GP DX (my kids love it, we have head to head setups) or more PC based arcade games like it.

1
blindsightOP•

This sounds like it might be one the best options, if my potato computer can run it. I'll do some testing before my son's birthday!

1
xGreenWorks•

For the 360. Forza horizon or forza motorsports 4. I played a lot of FM4 and ran through a couple of those old 360 wheels. This sub is more dedicated to the “hardcore” sims, so your answers are gonna be skewed towards the more realistic physics titles. However, if its the same old 360 wheel I had there is no actual ffb and just uses a centering spring. And the turning radius is very low. This lends itself to controller focused games like forza, which this sub doesn’t like much. But forza is the most popular and accessible series and I would definitely recommend for a child.

And Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4. Another classic from my childhood.

1