I do not have a clue as to what a good arcade racer is. Basically I want something that my 5-1/2 yr old twins and their friends can use in the cockpit I made. They are my target audience. What I can think of off hand would be one that would have all sorts of driver aids (steering, braking, no damage, auto shift, etc). Preferrably one that keeps you at least facing forward or one that when you do spin automatically resets you forward.

Basically something where they could enjoy the feeling of speed and passing some cars without really needing to know too much and not get frustrated by it. Good graphics is a plus as well. Any insight is appreciated, and please my target audience is 5yr olds :-)

Whats wrong with rFactor with all the aids turned on and the AI turned down?

Brett,

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/list.cfm?cat=Cars&type=Novel

Several of these would be great for kids that age. Miniville is very well done. Plus they're all free downloads as add-ons to rFactor.

Hi Brett,
Not sure if this is entirely what you are looking for but my 4 year old boy and my 7 year old girl both love "Cars" (as in the Pixar film).

Admittedly they play it on the Wii with those silly in the air steering wheels but i also know that it has been released on the PC. However what I am not sure of is whether it is compatable with a steering wheel on the PC.

Thinking about it i can't recall many racers aimed at kids that come with wheel support so Dougs suggestion may be the way to go.

Cheers
Marcus.

My son (who will be 6 this Tuesday) occasionally plays my copy of rFactor with all the driving aids turned on. He likes to run F1, Indycar, and NASCAR mods.

As long as you put them on an oval it works out pretty well. On road courses it's not quite as good, but it can be done.

I don't know if they support wheels but if you can track down a copy of Midtown Madness 1 or 2 those had some pretty decent gameplay. Graphics are dated but my kid loves playing MM1 on his computer and sometimes we even link up via LAN.

My kids enjoyed Grid with all aids on. A little much for my 5 y/o daughter, but that was also her first time to try something other than Mario Kart. For a real treat, try the stereoscopic 3D if you've got a newer nvidia card(maybe ATI does it too?). No special monitor needed and Grid looks pretty good with it. You can get some cyan/magenta 3D glasses cheap at Amazon. I got a bag of 3 for under $10. Turn on the stereoscopic 3D and they'll really get a kick out of it, even if it's not cutting edge 3D.
Info for nvidia here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-discover-main.html


Flatout Ultimate Carnage is a lot of fun. You can put them buses in a demolition derby to bash it out. Auto resets in races but the derbies are all arena style. No cockpit, but a better hood view than most.