The Best Racing Game You've Never Played: Enthusia Professional Racing 

As the famous saying goes, "Greatest minds are never felicitated until they're lost in time"

Ah, Enthusia, one of my favorite racing games. I really think that a title like this nowadays would be somewhat of a success. It was just way ahead of its time.

Konami Destroyed a lot of Good Games

The physics were excellent, I was a racing and stunt driver when it came out, and I was amazed about how realistic the drifting dynamics were, even on those early generation steering wheels. A true loss that the game never evolved past its first release.

Not only Enthusia and Konami challenged Sony and Gran Turismo 4 in 2005. At the same time Microsoft and XBOX were also involved and the first Forza Motorsport game in the same year. Konami, Sony, and Microsoft were in big competition in the gamers marketplace.

Those fade in/fade out taillight effects are crazy good for the time. GT4 didn’t even have that

I literally just bought this game from Amazon due to this video. Gets here Friday the 7th, can't wait to try it.

I bought PS2 only in 2010 and discovered Enthusia right away. I wasn't much into sim racing or racing games before, I did a few hours in LFS, but I was more into rallying with Richard Burns Rally if anything. This changed a lot with Enthusia, I was spending a lot of time in it pretty much until I switched to Assetto Corsa few years ago. I raced Project Cars 1 and 2 with friends before AC, but I always felt PC series weren't up to standard and so still drove Enthusia when I was gaming by myself. Even today I still sometimes do a lap or two in FD on Nordschleife in Enthusia before going to bed - the foggy greyish deep green atmosphere, combined with its music and sliding the easily controllable car... it all calms me down for a good sleep. It is not a perfect game, I always wanted to have a proper multiplayer in it, even just LAN, because split screen changed physics and wasn't fun anymore. Also a bit more conscious AI and some just a one or two more tracks (Mugello :P). Other issues weren't that big - a bit harsh black flag system (go off with 2 tires off track or get hit by AI and you wont get a car reward for winning), hardly believable drift at extreme high speed on the oval track, and rally cars just behaving like an UFO on tarmac tracks. PC remastered port with modern FFB wheels support could easily fix all of those, and I won't even ask for better graphics or anything.

This game has the best physic on a PS2. I played this before GT4, and after this I couldn't believe how bad the physics were in a GT game. Sure, the story mode lacks a lot. But the soundtrack is epic. Nothing like driving in the Nordschleife in a R32 listening awakening

To present day, Enthusia still have best physics on the market

Genki team was so ahead of the times, specially with Enthusia and Racing Battle C1 GP. Such good times playing those on LOGITECH DF PRO

I played this game a lot in childhood along with GT4, but the years passed and it fell into oblivion, but a while ago I decided to remember all the games I played in childhood, and music from Enthusia Life It stayed all these years in my head and I didn't know which game it was from, I thought so much it was from GT4 that I turned the whole game over but I couldn't find that song. So at some point I went to play the Enthusia to see what it was like and there it was, the song that spent my whole life in my mind and not remembering which game it was from. I swear I cried when I heard it because all the memories of the time came. I keep this game in my heart for the story of my childhood, and I give it more credit than GT4, a very underestimated game

Damnnn this sounds like the most ahead of its time ever, i hope it gets a sequel or a remake Also your videos are very high quality, keep making them :)

I discovered Enthusia in 2007, having never played a sim racing game at that point, not even any of the Gran Turismos. It's so crazy for me to say that this game actually introduced me to the "professional" racing genre that eventually led to my discovery of later sim racers. In a way, Manabu Akita did leave an impact on me ... kinda in the way he intended, although the same can't be said for almost everyone else. I have since shifted gears to Gran Turismo, but I'll forever have Enthusia to thank for introducing me to the infamous Nordschleife.

i had that back in the day, i loved the little intro vid, i think it was an mx5 in the game and in real life showing how the physics engine handled like real life. also was the first time i had seen someone on a wheel on a game that video it blew my mind and made me want a wheel. (you have that video in this)

Excellent video. Enthusia remains my favourite driving game, and for its time, had a number of groundbreaking features, such as a clutch, an indication of weight shift, an indication of steering lock, tire scrub, lift-off oversteer, scrub-inducing understeer, brake heating characteristics, weight “float” (the feeling of disassociation between the tires and road during high speed maneuvers and road elevation) and proper locking limited slip characteristics. It’s an incredible and overlooked achievement for its time, especially for PS2, and is ultimately a better game than many modern SIM racers.

You know if i had a lot of money and time i would do my best to find Akita and tell him that i want his help with making the greatest racing game ever. For me Enthusia was and still my favorite racing game ever no mattee how many racing games i played i will always come back to play it just to remember how good it was back in 2010 when i first got it and got my first Playstation 2.

Not hard to beat Gran Turismo on physics and realism, time proved him right.

Even looking back now, its amazing just how much the PS2 could do with just 32MB of RAM! Holy MOLY! And the thing that really gets me? Even today, the PS2's library of games when upscaled is just simply breathtaking.

This game really deserved better!

As an Assetto Corsa player, and old GT player, i confirm. Enthusia had the most enjoyable career mode i have ever seen : especially with the ranking and the way cars are unlocked. I would pay a fortune to have a modded AC with career mode like that. I remember the Audi R8 Japan Team GOH 2003/2004, the The Toyota GT-One and the Mazda 787b that was terrorizing me when i entered the Top100 or 200.

Enthusia is amazing and the only PS2 game that I still have physically. Back in the day I found NASCAR Dirt to Daytona (maybe one day you can review it) to be the console simulation king and some PC games to be unbeatable, but Enthusia had something that hold me... probably it was the street cars (that weren't a current thing in racing sims, specially on PC). I had some special attention on details, as the brake fade in R33 and R34 or the rev alarm in the RX7. Also, I found that the original tracks were amazing. It's unfortunate that besides some bad design choices (as the "dead" color palette or that sht intro) that made the game feel bad on every teasing, the overall marketing was barely existent and confusing... trying to sell an hardcore simulation to casual simcade public that really didn't care at all about realism, just to graphics and content quantity. Very nice video, mate. This and the Toyota 7 (the only two I watched by now) granted you a new subscriber. Please, keep this level of content coming. Cheers!

Enthusia was ahead of it's time, way too ahead, that people didn't liked It, what is a shame It still a game that I really like and really want to play one day, maybe with a steering wheel, make the immersion and realism of the game even better :)

I have fond memories of playing Enthusia. The biggest thing they got right IMO is penalties that no other sim has done since. If there was contact any more than a couple of mph diff anywhere on the front half of your car, that lap was voided. There was no penalty for contact to the rear of the car though. IMO a combo of this & one ~ to iRacing would be ideal. Eg 5 incident points for contact to the front half of your car & 3 for contact to your rear. The only reason I didn’t play it more is my lack of skill made it hard to progress past the middle stage of the game. For a couple modes u had to do a race w/ no contact but I was unable to get the required position w/o touching another car even just once. I would pref a points system like above where you could still progress but it’d be slower, more so the more incident points were acquired.

That menu music will live in my brain forever. Played the hell out of this game.

This was the first game I've ever got, chose it as a gift back when I got a brand new PS2. It left a deeper impression than any game I've got after that, and I say that as someone with a lot of fond memories from PS2 games. And after seeing this video, I can understand why every other racing game I played back then felt easier! It also makes me remember how impossible I thought it was back then to master the Cobra 427, and how much of a handful it was to push the Caterham Super 7 R500. Speaking of which, the Caterham was always a challenge to go up against, that thing could eat the rest of the supercars in the game. The Cobra was a top contender in its class too, as far as I remember. It was a hard game but felt so great to finally master all the faster cars one by one!

The menu music in this game brings back such good memories, one of my first racing games.

Great video Alessio, Alran and Nino. Definetly EPR is a hidden gem. GT4´s realism is overrated compared to EPR.

Dude your editing and motion graphics gives me Mirror’s Edge combined with Gran Turismo vibes. What a pleasure to watch. Thank you.

I absolutely loved this game and still have it. I need to hook my ps2 back up. Have you done a video on Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3?

Nice video! I completed this game last year and enjoyed it. Definitely lacked something in terms of the races could feel a little dry at times but the game overall so good. AI was especially impressive, leaving you space for example when you have the racing line.

One silver lining of the game is that some of the staff working on Enthusia ended up being hired by Polyphony to work on GT5. And you can feel it with how much better GT5's physics is compared to 4.

great video! i had heard of this game but it's good to be reminded and told the story in more depth.

That was an absolutely brilliant game back in the day. Played it until the disc got damaged too much.

underrated [ uhn-der-rey-tid ] adjective rated or evaluated too low; underestimated or undervalued "It’s an accomplished album from an underrated band, and will hopefully get them the recognition they deserve." verb the simple past tense and past participle of underrate

I've owned Enthusia at the time, but it was nowhere compared to GT4 imo. Finally I sold it.

I played it when it came out and just replayed thru it again last year, the physics have held up astoundingly well even on gamepad. The modeling of and emphasis on the importance of weight transfer were exceptional, which games like GT and Forza still struggle with a lot.

greetings from Portugal congratulations on your excellent RU-vid channel I loved this video for me it was one of the best games i still play this game to this day I subscribed to your channel

One of the thing that is undoubtedly way better in Enthusia than GT is the off-road physics, none of the GT games came close (not even the newer games).

I played this on ps2 i remember and yes it was so amazing, it also has a clutch button

4:14 HEARING THAT JUST MADE ME CRY MAN!! 😢😢 AWW I MISS THOSE DAYS!!

This is a great game honestly, I like the ranking system of this, as well as the enthusia point mechanic of it, making you drive more competitively and less of a maniac. There's also cars in here that you won't see in GT4 like those kei cars such as the quirky nissan moco and a few suvs like the subaru forester and the Estima (or Toyota Previa) which is a good addition to the game if you want like a daily commuter driving on a city course like the hiace in WMMT6. Too bad it got overshadowed by GT4, I guess.

Enthusia was an ambitious game, it was ahead of Gran Turismo 4 in the physics department. But it had a few questionable choices that doomed the entire project all together. First off, these brilliant physics were offered in a game with a very simple racing structure which feels more fitting for an arcade racer. There's no tire wear or fuel consumption which already makes endurance racing pointless, a waste with the way cars feel. But the biggest letdown is the career mode. Cars are unlocked at random by a roulette at the end of each race which means you'll never get the cars you truly desire. On top of that, once you do get a car that you want the game decides to punish you, how? Since upgrades are unlocked by racing, switching cars has the unfortunate side effect of forcing you to race in lower-class events to get the first upgrades and be competitve in the higher classes. It wouldn't be a problem if this didn't affect your ranking - but it does. You can count the number of cars you'll drive through Enthusia's career with your hands, which is a shame because the game has a brilliant roster, there's something for everyone. I think this direction was taken out of fear of being called a "gran turismo clone" similar to the way Saints Row kept taking left turns in fear of being called a "GTA clone" - truth is, if the game had a more traditional career they could have focused in events which showcase the strengths of Enthusia. In any case, Enthusia is a great game. Better enjoyed with a complete savegame. Emulate it and play with all the cars with an FFB steering wheel, you won't regret it!

iRacing should hire this guy and give the respect he deserves,. He was so far ahead of his time; I’m sure he could be a valuable asset to the premier sim racing development team.

Enthusia has better driving physics than GT4. And this is coming from a GT fanboy. Can't wait to get a Fanatic CSR Elite to play this with.

And ether way, I have still an original physical copy of this fergotten racing gem! Great Video!!

I'm not sure what you're talking about limited hardware. The driving force pro wheel was everywhere

If just konami makes like a "new" enthusia nowadays it would be enough to satisfy the simracing public

Really good sim, you can actually feel the weight of each individual car

did anyone noticed, that since PS2 era only Gran Turismo left among serious Japanese driving games

One of my favorite games. Great list of cars, tracks, and a killer soundtrack. Time to boot up my ps2 again

I hated the black flags when you touched a car or even when it was the rival's fault. It was very frustrating indeed.

*my retro game store had this in store today, had to grab it !! It is amazing.*

I read it wrong and thought it said "Euthanasia Professional Racing"...

I bet it's enthusia

Ahh I remember playing this game and loving it. Left a lasting mark on me as a racing fan. ❤

Great Job!

I used to play this game many years ago, and try to get my hands on an original copy. Compared to GT4 was Enthusia a big joy to play, with a complete different line up with cars you couldn't race anywhere else. Also it was beautifully made back in the day

I finally got this not long ago having vaguely heard about it, such an underrated driving game and I'm loving it. I've been playing it most nights for weeks/,months now but I'm still on the career mode, have only tried the academy/license mode one time as I'm not so keen on that. When I first started playing it I absolutely hated the handling and uncontrollable cars and no matter the drivetrain type I kept going off track or hitting the walls. But if you stick with it and persevere it will grow on you and the physics will click and you'll be amazed how great this game is. Most of the cars can be driven controllably after modifying but I've yet to try to tame some of the rwd monsters like the Dodge Viper and TVRs. At the time this was one the few games to have the E30 M3 which took forever to come to GT. I can safely say this is my most played racing game since maybe GT6, I gave up on the GT series after that as they stupidly demand an online connection and as they're also pushing micro transactions they may as well make them free to play rather than charging full price for a drink coaster. Copies can be found for not too much money now however patience and perseverance is key to learn how drive well but the reward is well worth it, it's the only reason I got out my PS2 again and am playing it more than my PS5 after all GT7 is useless without internet.

I remember playing this when it was new, now time to try it out again on the steam deck

Konami destroyed too many amazing games ever since 2006! Sad... But Enthusia Professional Racing's Legendary legacies will never be forgotten. Even Setsuna Yuki and Coco Hayashi played Enthusia as well.

Was the first real racing game I played in my life and I loved it! It's also the racing game that I played the most, after GT7 which even came out last year.

EXCELLENT, especially with a wheel. Cheers!

Used to play with with Logitech Driving Force Pro... luved it more than GT. Most striking visual thing I remember was how the waterdrops behave during rain driving.

Im playing this game and is awesome, i have a ford gt and there is a track that has a corner like Eau Rouge - Radillion (Spa) , god, i love that circuit. I never had this beatiful experience since nfs porsche , that game kinda had that same concept (quality over cuantity and realism in physics, and beatiful scenearios)

Yeah im glad i got a ps2 copy still i love enthusia

Wow it must be good - I didn't realise how difficult it would be to get a copy.

i bought and played this game on my PlayStation 2 a few years ago. as difficult as he was, I loved his playstyle and soundtrack.

I played this and loved it. Gutted they didn't make another

I still remember watching gt3 commercial with jaguar/aston martin speeding and then stopping at the straight at time trail mountain and words coming to the screen something like are we amazed at the games graphics, but I cant find it anywhere can somebody send me a link if they remember what im talking about

Never heard of it, but since seeing it so often as an overlooked amazing game that challenges gt, I just had to order it form ebay. Really excited to see how it is!!

Amazing channel

2005 was also the year of Richard Burns Rally (a rally simulator). The game had a late success and the community is still really Active

nice work

I played enthusia a few months ago for a few hours and to be honest it has some good concepts but it lacks in other areas imo. I would recommend playing this on a ps2 emulator

Ah yes, I remember when Konami made games.

Gonna grab this game. Does anyone know if it has proper steering wheel support?

I played this a lot back then. I played it recently on a PS2 emulator on my PC. Works perfectly with modern ffb wheels! Feels surprisingly realistic and still looks good considering it was made for PS2

Never knew of it. I will definitely check it out.

Not everyone is trying to shave a fraction second to perfect driving skills. After all, playing with a dual shock controller wasn't realistic, so it was a bad business decision. However, with his determination, well, we have this game that are leaned towards more realistic physics

One of my favourite from my childhood

Ive had a pleasure to play it. Really good game.

This game is my childhood! I love this game sooo much! 🤩🤩🤩🤩

Me farming new cars and going up in the rankings by spamming races at SPEEDIAPOLIS RING. Those were the days 👌

Was my favourite racing game on PS2. It was awesome

Still have the game. The only things about this game i didn't like about the game was the car upgrading, no modification and car unlock system.

I didn't even know this game, but it looks very very interesting

very cool video.. I wish I had known this back in the day, I would have been all over it.. Might need to grab a ps2 just to try it out 🤔

This would've been great to have I got my ps2 that year

Pretty decent game - except for the rather frustrating experience when trying to acquire new cars (beg that a desirable car shows up as opponent car -> win the race without any slight mistake -> pray for good luck with the prize car gacha).

Thankfully when gt4 took a big ol turd on the fun and realism of simulated physics this game was here to bring the fun back to sim driving. It’s menu and campaign and presentation was not as polished as gt4 but who cares. The game was actually fun. The music was great at times too.

F to pay respects Great video man

How about NFS shift?

i wanna try that game

have played it and i have the physical version...very good game

I played it a lot but it looked like GT's clone. Gran Turismo in that era had by far the best gameplay so it was the king in racing games.

Okay, so give this guy a budget and team to make a game for the modern Market 😞 Ahead of his time, sim racing probably owes a ton to him failing but opening the door.

after learning PGR4 and xenia wont work on steam deck, naturally i stumble across this game for pcsx2 THANK LORD

Stop telling me that I have never played Enthusia Professional Racing!

The right game in the wrong place