How Would A New Daytona USA Fare? WTF?

This is Part 2.  Please read Part 1 first if you haven't already.  The second part appears before the first so you have to scroll around, I apologize.

Now, let's play pretend for a second.  Let's say that, in the near future, Sega announces a new "Daytona USA" game.  It'll have content from Daytona 1, Daytona 2, Scud Race, and Virtua Racing in it.  The game is released.  How will it do?

Part of the reason I say this is because games NEED to sell well to be worthwhile.  It's not just about good reviews from Gamespot, Giant Bomb, etc.  People need to like it.  Now I remember a while back how in that IGN Crazy Taxi review where he slammed the game because there exists the stark contrast between it and "ten years of real racing innovation."  I know this is IGN we're talking about, but still, I can tell that more people feel the same way about this game.  Also, look at OutRun 2.  Didn't sell well.  OOA is getting taken off XBL in 2012.  Sega Rally Revo is a bust.  Et. al...

About this new Daytona game, there is VERY LITTLE CHANCE that Sega's going "all-in" and revamping the whole entire game (much less add new cars/tracks) so it's going to look outdated.  Sega just can't exert that much energy on anything nowadays (unless it's Sonic).  Look at all the Sega ports on XBL--bare-bones or rushed.  Consider that OutRun 2006 didn't have that much more content than the original arcade cabinet and Sega rode OR2 for such a long time (many re-releases).  Like here's what Daytona 2 really looks like under the hood:

Please bear in mind that this game is 13 years old.  This isn't like taking a NFS game from 2010 and rehashing it in 2011, this is old ass crap we're talking about.  Now Daytona 2 has managed to defy modern-day graphics for a long time because of its framerate and other slick, innovative designs (thanks to the Model3 board), but you're starting to notice the difference these days.  Like compare this 13 year old game to this 1 year old game (Forza 3):

Let's compare Daytona USA to the big boys now, shall we?  Here's the good:

* FORZA 4!!!  OH MY GOD, take a look at all 400,000 polygons in each car!!!  Such realistic driving physics!!!  You can now use the Kinect to drive the car (just like that piece of crap Kinect Joy Ride)!!!  OMG THIS IS THE FUTURE OF RACING PEOPLE!!!

* MOTORSTORM: APOCALYPSE!!!  8.5 REVIEW ON GAMESPOT!!!  So awesome to drive around an earthquake-ridden city--never mind the fact that people have died in real-life earthquakes like those in Japan, Chile, Haiti, and New Zealand!!!  Run over those foot soldiers!!!  Kill, crash, and scrape your way to the finish line!!!

* NEED FOR SPEED...MY GOODNESS, CRITERION AND ELECTRONIC ARTS ARE GODS!!!  Now they're coming out with another NFS game called "The Run(s)!"



No way, I've never played a game like this before!  You run from the cops and drive cross-country, just like in Cruis'n USA or, better yet, OutRun 2: SP!!  Story mode galore as you flip over on railroad tracks and try to avoid getting killed!!!  BRILLIANT!!!  Just like Ridge Racer: Unbounded where you get to crash into stuff in exotic sports cars too!!!

EDIT: * MARIO KART!!  It's Super Mario.  And It's Nintendo.  No debate there, folks.  Overpowered Bikes and Snaking?  No worries cause haters gonna hate.

* TRACKMANIA 2!!!  Uh, it's looks kind of cool, not gonna use my sarcasm on this one cause it reminds me of San Francisco Rush.

* SPLIT/SECOND!!!  BURNOUT!!!  FAST AND THE FURIOUS!!!  Oooooooohhh yyeeeaaahhh!!!!

And now for the bad:

* These niche racers that have come out that try to retain some sanity--oh man, these suck.  NASCAR 2011?  Crap.  F1 2010?  Crap.  Test Drive Unlimited?  Mega crap.  Days of Thunder?  No one cares.  Hey, blame it on gamer bias or the devs stinking it up, but that's just the way it is.

* DAYTONA USA...eh...what the hell is this.  Now I remember playing this in the arcades once, but damn, what the hell's going on here.  Game is too bright and the cars slip and slide too much.  Why am I driving a stock car?  NASCAR sucks cause all you do is turn left!!  The graphics suck!!  This game is too hard and you can't even die in the game!!  Boooo!!!  Don't you people at Sega know that racing games have undergone great innovation in the last ten/fifteen years?  GET OUT OF HERE!!!  Now, where's my Mountain Dew...

So here's how Sega should improve Daytona USA:

* Tone down the color saturation a few notches.  Colorful games are BAD, remember?

* You do drifts to get NITROUS boosts, just like in Ridge Racer.

* Add cool hip-hop/punk music and funky announcers.

* Make it so you can total cars (yours and others) to the point they can't drive anymore.  When you blow up, you respawn back on road.

* Increase the car's skidpad ratings so you can take every turn at full speed--no skill required.  Hey, it defeats the purpose of drifting, but who carez?!?!?

* Get rid of the race timer!!  We want to drive forever and don't want to be held back because we were sucking so bad.

* Add police cars/chases.  Add a monetary counter to display how much money's worth of damage you've dealt to yourself and your environment.  Add explosions.  Add oncoming traffic.

* Get rid of all stock cars--remember, NASCAR sucks and is redneck garbage.  Replace them with generic sports/luxury cars (not like Scud Race's ones, but over-the-top Burnout stuff).

* Add a story line.  You're a cool dude who's trying to avenge your father's death or win an underground race tournament to make some money and pick up chicks.  You must compete against snotty Europeans and witty Asian guys as they try to set up death traps to take you out.  Hire a bunch of Hollywood writers to churn out the next big Spike VGA's winner!!

* Trash the whole entire game together and just get EA/Criterion to make another Burnout.

...

...

Screw it.  I know that there's a sleeping giant out there who wants a good wholesome racer that has variety, intensity, and brings something new to the table.  Graphics be damned--look at this GameFAQs poll on 4/28/11 about graphics: 48% say story/gameplay is much more important; 38% it's somewhat important; and 14% say it makes or breaks the game.  So what is it?  You are stoked about highly-detailed environments and rich cutscenes, but when it comes to the gameplay, you can't help but grieve over every minute detail.

Hopefully, the success of Sega Rally Online Arcade will be just a start.  We can do it, guys.

Now, I said this on the OOA board, and I'll say it here.  We're getting a new Daytona USA game in 2014.  Why?  Cause it's the 20th anniversary of the original (1994).  And if Sonic can get a special release every anniversary, why not Daytona USA get at least one?  I'm going to prod Sega with a stick until they do.  The end.