VIDEO: Famous game circuits recreated in ModNation Racers

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OutRun, Daytona and Mario get a PS3 make-over

As soon as ModNation Racers was announced at E3 last year, I knew I'd be making this feature. The thought of being able to recreate famous racing games in a kart racer sounded great - almost too good to be true. But it wasn't - it's real, it's here and it works better thanany of uscould possibly have imagined.

The 777 Speedway course on Daytona is one of the most iconic racing game circuits ever made. The huge open bowl, the cones around the pit lane that bounce down the track as you hit them... and that famous Sonic Wall at the end of the pit straight. Sadly, there's no simple way to draw on rock faces in MNR just yet, but that aside, this is pretty close for a first attempt. Here's the original in all its (emulated) Model 2 glory:

And here's our ModNation re-creation:

Adding boost pads around the outside of turn one not only makes it feel faster, but means the fork in the road for the pit lane is no longer the quickest route. Add in some weapon pads in the pit lane and you've got a reason for taking the short cut. Oh, and there wasn't a rotating dial scenery element, so we put in a satellite dish in its place. Hope you don't mind.


Above: It took longer to write 'Hornet' on the front than make the car

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast is a beautiful game and you can play it on PSN/XBLA in the form of OutRun Online Arcade. The first track is the classic sunshine beachside town - something that fits the Beach theme nicely in ModNation. Throw in a few speed-up pads to simulate the thrilling rush of the downhill section and you've got yourself a fun little track. Here's the original:

And here's our ModNation re-creation:

Liked that one? Wait until you see the one over the page...

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.