When A Awesome Realistic Racing Game Got Done Quick
The Richard Burns Rally exhibition put on by Johann is a milestone run, and the most fitting realistic racing title to be on a GDQ stage as Richard Burns died as a result of a brain tumor four years to the day after he became World Rally Champion.
The best event across the whole of video games isn't an esports competition, it isn't a event showing off new and upcoming games, and it certainly will never be an awards show. Twice a year people make the pilgrimage to a hotel convention center, one of them usually near Minneapolis, Minnesota, and come together over a common hobby and a common belief that a better world for all is possible. The week-long Games Done Quick charity marathons are highlight events for the year: raising millions of dollars for charities like the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders while showing off what's truly possible when you push video games beyond their normal limits for the love of the game. It is always a marvel to see what is possible in both facets when the broader community comes together.
Speedrunning itself is an art form in terms of the level of execution and understanding of the game that goes so far beyond what is normally intended, or what our collective inner child thought was possible with some of the hallmark titles of these events. The way games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker have been bent by the will and fortitude of those who've mastered the craft is worthy of such a massive exhibition for a such a good cause; but there will always be games that do get speedrun that seldom feel like a fit for such an event. Chief among which is the humble racing game.
Speedruns of contemporary racing games just don't work when it comes to such an event showcasing the best that the paradigm has to offer. Racing game speed runs are usually pretty dry, and all about the maximum of execution within the bounds of the game itself that lacks that little bit extra in the act of racing itself. The racing game campaigns that are speedrunable usually go way longer than one should for a marathon event, and are usually tough sells in terms of engaging commentary from those on the couch supporting the runner with the run effectively being set in stone early in the game. You can't really break a contemporary racing game the same way you can with, for instance, Mario Kart Wii. As such, you haven't seen most racing game franchises make it onto a GDQ mainstage. Need For Speed has been more of a mainstay at European Speedrunner Assembly events thanks to the work of KuruHS and Cousin, but it's been slim pickings beyond the stellar work they have put in.
The racing games that have historically been on the Games Done Quick stage have been kart racers or anti-gravity racing games, and are always a treat to see how far those games can be pushed beyond their usual limits. The story mode runs of F-Zero GX are always a personal highlight and have a storied history at these events: including a standing ovation at the completion of CrazyGameNerd's run at AGDQ 2014. I believe there is room for contemporary and realistic racing games to be on such a stage: Gran Turismo license test and driving mission speedruns tick a lot of the boxes with Cousin bringing GT4 All Driving Missions to ESA Winter 2026. But an actual hardcore realistic racing game? It may be the hardest sell of them all, but that glass ceiling got shattered in the best way with the run from the Awesome Games Done Quick event that wrapped up over the weekend.
How do you make a realistic racing game worthy of being at such an event? What would a run look like? In a paradigm that is all about execution: how do you make that captivating to such a massive, and more generalized video gaming audience? And how do you have it so that it rejects the norms of realistic racing communities which frown upon and gatekeep against more generalized gaming circles, and ensure that it's a inclusive, welcoming place?
The answer comes from the discipline of racing that naturally pushes player and driver execution beyond what should be possible, and does so without any outward distractions. It asks the driver how far are they willing to go knowing the fragility of the human condition if something goes wrong, and does so through a world and environment everyone can easily grasp. That environment being logging roads, twisty b-road highways, and carved paths through snowy forests and African savannas while driving through them at more than triple their posted speed limit. Rallying is the perfect racing discipline for a speedrunning event, and Richard Burns Rally was the perfect game to finally break through and have a realistic racing game at a GDQ. The exhibition put together by JohannVonVorst was everything it could possibly be in the best way.
With Johann as the runner and joined by Perk, Bryonato, and Sisu as his couch commentators, the quartet went on a journey through the history of rallying, discussing the in-and-outs of the sport as well as everything that just makes rallying cool. Johann hand picked the cars and stage combinations which showcased the sport's history and made sure to show all that is possible in rallying with the couch supporting and letting the game and rallying shine as bright as it can. That quartet with Johann behind the wheel, while racing in VR, shared that raw joy of getting the behind the wheel in a video game and being able to replicate the real thing. It is so easy for those of us who have this genre as their game of choice, which gets amplified for those who focus on the extreme realistic expression, to forget that to be able to do this with such an accurate replication of the real thing is a remarkable feat of programming and engineering. To be able to rally the Torsby stage in a Group A Subaru Impreza from the comfort of your own home will always be a marvel, and does get taken for granted by the community and far too often kept to ourselves.
screenshots by Johann
Richard Burns Rally will always stand as the best rallying game that focuses on the realistic expression, and Johann put everything he could into his run through ten of the most engaging car and track combinations the sport has to offer. There is no fault to him that some stages bit back, including early on in the Mineshaft stage, because that is the nature of a game that was built to fight back; his execution and driving on the stages was fantastic start to finish and captivated the live audience and those watching from home. The quartet of custom liveries made by Johaan for the event were all fantastic, and included nods to the Gamertini drink from previous GDQ events and a message of trans solidarity on the Porsche 911 that opened the showcase. The GDQ Subaru Impreza parodying the original 555 Cigarette livery is the only way to go with that design if one doesn't go for the Pleiades stars instead.
The highlight of the showcase was the penultimate stage, which was run at Wythop II using a Mk.2 Ford Focus WRC. Couch commentator Sisu is a co-driver for hire in the real deal: having co-driven for thirty different drivers in the American Rally Association and it was only fitting they would take a turn at showing the way for Johaan. Above all else, Rallying is a journey. It's you and another person going into the unknown, pushing you and your car to their limits with all the physical and emotional rollercoasters that come with it. A great co-driver makes that magic possible, and the work by Sisu in the one stage showed off to an audience, many who were getting their first real taste of sim racing in front of their eyes, why this subsection of one of the most diverse genres of all of video gaming is truly, truly special. It's a blip that I hope brings in new people and new faces to the world of virtual rallying and beyond, and focuses on having it be welcoming to people across all walks of life, gender identity and sexuality that the Games Done Quick events welcome with open hearts. It's how we make sim racing a better community for all; and it may have started with a Four Left into Hairpin Left, 250.
The Games Done Quick speedrunning marathons never cease to amaze, and always raise the bar with each subsequent event. Sometimes, to raise the bar is to simply set the bar at all. It took sixteen years for one of the most storied sub-genres in all of gaming to get it's shot on one of the best stages in all of video gaming, and it met the moment perfectly. The Richard Burns Rally exhibition put on by Johann is a milestone run, and the most fitting realistic racing title to be on a GDQ stage as Richard Burns died as a result of a brain tumor four years to the day after he became World Rally Champion. It was the best rolling tribute to one of rallying's all time greats, and a reminder to keep fighting for those who continue their battle against such a horrible disease.
You can always check out the runs from each Games Done Quick event on their YouTube page, including the hilarious American Truck Simulator race that was in the same block as Richard Burns Rally.
And as always, Trans Rights and Save The Animals.
