Wreckfest without Wrecking 

A game that plays like this is a rare sight IMO If you race recklessly, it's a fun game If you race cautiously, it's a fun game Bugbear really outdid themselves again

This is actually how I race this game, I just enjoy it more.

Wreckfest is a really great game that manages to be fun to relax on a controller, and take seriously with a wheel, the way they managed the physics just feels so great

>"Not all modern racing games are bad !" Fittingly, it's the one modern game Raycevick paints in a wholly positive light in his latest "I love racing games, they suck!" video. The fact that I can hop onto a fully clean multiplayer server and get as much fun out of it as I do out of one with no rules where everyone goes wild is a big part of why I love Wreckfest, and that's a really common sentiment among racing enthusiasts of all kinds. I'd say it's, for lack of a better way to put it, the most consistently good modern racing game I can think of. Great to see you play it.

This is where an elderly Richie Axelson can race because he can't stand retirement.

Wreckfest has the best tyre model in sim racing. However it's the tyres stacked on the side of the track.

its a glorious thing getting a full lobby of serious clean racers. just don't find that much any more. I've got 3000 hrs in this game and most of that time was clean racing and many in an actual league. one of the things that make this game such a good clean racing game is the crash physics. gives you a sense of realism you don't get in other racing games. great video!

GPLaps, thank you so much for your content. You are like sim-racing's Bob Ross. It's so chill and relaxing to listen to your videos and you bring me back to the early days where I fell in love with sim-racing. Indycar 2 was my first sim and I was hooked from then on! Keep up the amazing work, I love your stuff!

Wreckfest is a treasure of a game. Probably my favourite racing game of the last decade.

This game really perfectly straddles the simcadish space. The force feedback is really immersive and weighty, and the dirt track physics are especially impressive. I definitely think it rewards defensive driving to an extent. It's nice to try to drive fast, but have no reprimand for leaving a little less room when it comes to the wire.

Wow! I love this type of video, fun and gentlemanly driving style! And it feels a bit like Rallycross, fantastic!

9:23 "theres once again the Corvette showing who he is and where hes from" LMAO that sent me.

Bugbear always deliver. I still play FlatOut2 regularly as well. The racing is great and the physics are believable, if simplistic. There's really not many titles out there that leave me with a happier feeling playing them.

I’d recommend looking at the workshop for some mods, I played it for quite a while as a straight up folk race using the less aggressive AI, custom grids to make the cars more thematic and more nordic style tracks

I regularly play this game in this exact way. I actually wish they had a setting/slider where you could turn down the AI aggression for wrecking (and maybe they do, haven't done a deep dive into the settings). But at times the racing in this game is an absolute blast!

The devs absolutely were making a semi-realistic banger racing game, posting photos of their sim rigs with proper handbrakes and all. Unfortunately, they marketed it with a destruction sandbox, so it really felt to me like they had to pivot hard on their game design. It's kind of a shame really, I pledged for the crowdfunding wanting what they were making, not what most people thought it was.

Great content as always. The 2023 Racefest mod in the Wreckfest Steam Workshop is worth a try. It provides custom offline ai sets tuned to go for the win instead of going after contact with you. Would also be great to see you try some of the longer circuits in The Very TrackPack.

that little Saab (Firefly) is easily the most fun FWD car i drove across all the sims.

5:36 It's a SAAB 96 8:28 That's a Toyota MR-2 222D

I play some clean online race servers sometimes and it's honestly a real satisfying, good rubbing n racing time

I don't have the memory or technical know-how to fully describe it but I remember hearing that Wreckfest's physics model is actually quite complex and detailed, on par with rFactor 1, but is tuned to feel more arcade-y by default.

You know you’re a good driver when you manage to win, or even run, a Wreckfest race without any damage on your car.

I tend to play like this. Smashing everything gets old pretty quickly but actually trying to race and avoiding big hits is super fun.

The Fiero/Honda looking car is actually a Toyota MR2. More specifically the 222D Group S (stillborn successor to Group B) prototype.

I've always felt the best way to play this was "almost clean" where you lean on each other a little and shove your nose in a bit, but none of the slams and full-on takeouts. The track design in the game is amazing for good racing as many corners have a few different lines and there is excellent placement of bumps and surface changes that reward trying out different lines. It's really a shame that so many take the "wreck" part of the name so literally. Sure, a no-brake can be funny, but it's funny for 1 corner and then you still have 3 laps left where it can be boring because the field is now spaced out. I'd much prefer 3 whole laps of good racing to 1 crash.

way back in 2015, a RU-vidr named Jeff Favignano used to do something like this back when the game was still called "next car game". he did something similar where he raced clean, and even then the AI seemed to race you clean if you race them clean (apart from the small car choosing violence). a league of this style of racing would be epic

I used to play wreckfest a lot. Because of the damage system it's great for touring car and folk style racing since it needs to be able to calculate contact well and have good netcode.

I join clean servers most of the time. This is simply a good racing game. Occasionally I play a little rougher, mostly on the wilder tracks (like Hellride). I left Wreckfest for a while to play a couple of Forza games, but I came back last night and realized again just how fun this game is. I like your presentation, especially interspersing the wide shots in with the driver's views.

On the Failrace channel they sometimes play and stream Wreckfest with a filming crew and some clean racing. They also do lots of silly stuff and often chaos ensues. Worth checking out, though.

Great video, love the concept! I've had Wreckfest sat on my hard drive for months now but never gotten around to firing it up. I think you might have just convinced me...

Oh man, thanks for this one!!!. I started sim racing in the late 90's with GPL and since then the joy has had lots greats moments. But this Wreckfest played as you just did is one of the funniest. I've done lots of the multiplayer races (clean ones and not so clean ones) there are "clean races" servers among the dirtiest ones. I laught so much in the craziest servers as I got "frustrated" on the clean ones cos there are really good talented drivers impossible to beat. I ended up liking this Wreckfest so much as some of the Assetto Corsa's Mods, Rfactor's... GPL leagues. Good to see you enjoying this chocolate diamond !!!

Nice to see someone playing Wreckfest clean :D If your Gremlin reaches the C 160's you should try out the Black Flag Server. Its "just" semi clean (leaning allowed) but you can have some very good and hard races there.

That little Honda/Fiero thing is a rally group S prototype Toyota MR2 222D lookalike, which is a mindblowing thing to include in a game like this, definitely takes the cake as the most out there car in the game comfortably beating Mk III Supra, R33 and C10 Skylines, 240Z and Manta 400 among others.

Wreckfest has one of the most impressive Switch conversions you'll see too... great fun to play on a handheld.

I loved that Jake, thanks. It was definitely a Saab 96. We used to see a lot of those in the UK

Your commentary is top notch dude! I don't know how you race and commentate so well, I feel like I can barely form a complete sentence without distractions. ha

I’ve found at least on my console the ai more-less race how you race, the more aggressive you run into them the harder they try to wreck you. Not a huge fan of the rubber band effect but it does keep the racing more contested for sure. Great game my kids and I enjoy playing it! Awesome video as well!

Would 100% run a league that takes this seriously

Wreck fest is the best fest! If they make a part two, it’s gonna blow other games away

Fun video Jake, always thought that if you keep it clean Wreckfest is a really solid racer. Probably the best-judged handling model of anything outside the proper sims.

Wreckfest is basically a folkrace/bilcross/rallycross sim with american demo derby cars in it. heck it even has unlicensed (accurate) versions of tracks like Valkenswaard, Kaanaa Center, Brekka, Konsmo Motorbane, etc, not sure you would ever see that sort of track show up in any other game

As someone who spent years playing Destruction Derby on the Playstation, there was no question I'd play it's spiritual successor as an adult. But once the game was actually finished, it's more than exceeded my expectations. It does everything better than I'd hoped, from the variety of cars, tracks, sounds, and game modes. But easily the biggest surprise of all was that the games physics are actually fairly realistic. My favorite thing to do in Wreckfest is set up a custom series of races with the most laps possible and the AI set at maximum. My favorite car is the Starbeast, which I think is based on an Oldsmobile 442. It sounds amazing.

Thank you for this video, I really enjoyed it. Played lots of FlatOut 1 and 2 back in the day and bought Wreckfest in early access somewhere in 2014. Boy this game has come a long way! I hope you make some more of these, keep up the good work!

Oh man , love to see more of this ! your commentary was so cool !!! 😊

Love this random kind of racing stuff!

In my opinion, this is good racing game with excellent damage/collision physics. Fun stuff for sure.

This level of crash physics detail but in a more serious pro-racing setting would make a fantastic racing game, but the licensing stipulations mean most companies will never allow it.

I like the concept of doing some community events in this game. It's something that I personally can pick up and play with you and the others. It makes it more of the bomber class races I used to see as a kid in Oklahoma. They were essentially derby cars but raced around dirt oval tracks. It was pretty fun to see and the drivers didn't care about rubbing up against each other. I just wished that functioning mirrors could be added for the bit of extra immersion in cockpit view, but it was designed to be a fun arcade game first and foremost.

Wreckfest has awesome controls on an xbox controller, so when I don't want to take out the whole steering wheel thingy and play seriously, Wreckfest is the game. And indeed, clean racing is the most fun for me, too, even if the game isn't really meant for that.

A Clean Racing Wreckfest League would be something to watch

What's up Jake! Love your content man. If I could, I'd say play with the pretty basic tuning offered pre-race. I found it helped a lot in this game.

Ok, lad... you just sold me this game. The AI seems to race cleaner than in some full flagged simulators. Cheers!

I agree this has a fun car selection. The more serious sims need to have those breakaway tire bundles, too.

You have more experience in this then I do, I have about 5 hrs into it. Love this!

First time watching one of your videos. I like your editing and post production. Like this vid, I play Wreckfest on realistic and expert level. Nice work. You have a new subscriber.

Glad to see there are others who race clean(ISH) in Wreckfest

Clean racing in Wreckfest is great. Driving model is surprisingly good and you can properly lean on or push others without causing wrecks. You should 100% try out multiplayer on clean/semi-clean servers.

Funnily enough, Wreckfest is the game i've had the best races ever. ACC, iRacing or other sims like that have not been able to provide as good and clean racing as Wreckfest leagues. Even with high ping and the wonky server sided collision detection, there's been some intense bumper to bumper action for tens of laps in a row

Cleaner than a lot of BTCC races XD

appreciate the change of pace and tone of this somewhat broadbentian video!

The little one that passed you in the end was Fiat 850, rear engined little beast

After a few hundred hours I never went on a dirty server again. I switched to racing only on CLEAN racing servers (C class), where mods immediately kick/ban anyone who tries to spin/crash someone. It's still fkin chaos, but with REAL race crashes that are far more enjoyable than the notorious & boring cornerbomb/spin situations. Also it's where the real pros of this game drive. Very good competition. Getting #1 there really is a challenge!

Great video and nice driving! I'm a nutball like you, playing Wreckfest (1700 hrs) with a DD wheel. Yeah, mirrors would be nice.

Such a fun little video, nice twist on everyone's favourite arcade fun with friends game. And as always, if that is one take again I swear you are the luckiest sim racing youtuber haha

Great video and Wreckfest is still one of the best racing games with a really good balance of racing and crashing 👍

I've beem playing this game a lot lately, in this exact manor and I agree with you that this could be fun with a group of friendly players racing against each other. What's also amazong is this game was ported to mobile phones on the later part of last year, which is where I discovered it and it looks and sounds very similiar to the PC version. Right down to the menues in the game. So much so that I wonder if the mobile version is playable against the PC version in multiplayer. Anyway, great video on this fun little game!

Good stuff, thanks for the content.

Brilliant fun, great to watch. I like to be safe also :)

Entertaining. Looks like great fun.

Had it on my PS4 Pro and really enjoyed the game for a long while. Offline against the ai only, tried to race clean but to no avail. I messed with the settings but was never able to tone the ai down enough. I was just after some good honest banger racing, lots of hip and shoulder expected, instead race after race the ai would turn themselves and my car into unrecognisable lumps of metal which I grew tired of and I ended up shelving the game.

I have a few derby setup cars in this game, but otherwise i strip the cars down to the point where they have no strength and i race it like a proper race. It's a lot of fun

Must try this👍. I've only ever driven round smashing everything up😄

What a fun game! I can't imagine doing dirt track racing irl but I'm into this.

I race it just like this...mostly. 😜 As always a great and inspirational video!

This is a great video. Fun!

Man .. all you need is cars with great speed. But, what is the fun of not wrecking? Hahahahaha but still awesome video xD

I had a good laugh watching this. Thank you man👍

IMO Wreckfest can be a pretty enjoyable game for door-to-door racing in the style touring cars, where there is some door banging and nudging but overall the goal is to race not to completely destroy everything. Unfortunately, neither the AI nor the majority of the online populace provide that. Online especially is a complete mess, with people driving the wrong way in buses trying to take out as many vehicles as they can before they get annihilated.

That was the most fun video in a looong time. Do it again please.

Found that racing relatively clean is the best way of winning the races in this game. With each hit resulting in permanent damage that can impact your vehicle's performance, why ram into the other racers? Different story for demolition derbies, obviously, but even those benefit from careful driving because you can limit the damage you take and keep the contact timer off your back while everyone else wrecks themselves. Safe to say, I don't do that in demolition derbies and just switch to ramming with my backend when the front is getting too damaged.

As one of the morons that likes to drive wreckfest with my Fanatec Wheel I really miss the rear mirrors. There are in fact many clean racing servers, but as I really enjoy the wrecking. Anyway, the force feedback is quite good (but too heavy, especially in crashes) and the cars and even tracks are close to real ones sometimes. For example the "Rosenheim Raceway" is a slightly modified version of the Estering WRX track in Buxtehude.

Can't wait to see Need for Speed without speed next

Race 2 little car. No 3 is saab 96, race three, the fiero is toyota mr 2 from the 80’

So good, Extreme damage is great fun.

Great video!

Gremlin is very close to a German Ford Taunus from the early 70s...

Great video, even better commentary

This is actually me if my car get dented or damaged id better restart. I like to keep my car looks nice until the finish line.

There are actually clean racing servers that provide you with tons of fun. Like American V8s against Volvo Station wagons and CRXs all fighting with their different advantages. I can remember having a slow Saab (firefly) and being faster in the tight corners due to FWD while others overtook me on the big straights

This kind of reminds me of the GTA V online races. ;-) But this wreckfest actually looks like a great game. I am tempted to get it and try it myself.

Just got the game a couple days ago and I love it! Im on xb and there are still plenty of servers at any time of the day, I try and race clean which is hard to do in multiplayer and the AI bits are basically the same as Forza Motorsport…they are just out to kill you from the jump 😂

You're preaching to the converted here - if you think Wreckfest is this great, you should try pinball mode and moon gravity a la Eddie Soundhead. Pure automotive anarchy at its finest.

Fun video🤟🤟

absolutely gold

The "blue little car" is a SAAB

It's like playing Road Rash without punching other riders, which I sometimes do to win the race.

car at 8:25 seems to be based on a toyota 222d an unraced group s rally car based on the mr2

I really enjoyed the "serious" racing.

Mods for Wreckfest are amazing! "Sound of Thunder" Is fantastic! 90's NASCAR with DD2 Drivers! Also some F1 Mods and more! Tracks too! Talladega, Pocono, Michigan, a great mod scene!

Love the editing!, it’s very snappy. Also beamng video soon?