Gran Turismo 5 voted Racing Game of the Year at Golden Joysticks
Gran Turismo 5 was awarded Racing Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick awards on Friday, in a year which saw a record number of votes cast by the gaming public, with 2.06 million votes setting a new Guiness World Record for a videogame awards.
Obviously Forza Motorsport 4 wasn’t in the running, but to claim the award, GT5 still beat nominees including DiRT 3, F1 2010, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Shift 2: Unleashed. So although Sony’s flagship racer was always a clear favourite, it wasn’t a complete foregone conclusion.
DiRT 3, Gran Turismo 5 and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit were also in the running for the Ultimate Game of the Year, which was awarded to Valve’s first person puzzle game Portal 2, which we can understand, even if it’s not a racing game. Sega Rally Online Arcade lost out to Minecraft in the Best Downloadable category, whilst both Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Real Racing 2 were overcome by the phenomenon which is Angry Birds in the Mobile Gaming category.
Obviously it missed out this year, but from what we’ve seen so far, and what’s coming up in the next 12 months, we reckon Forza Motorsport 4 might continue the rivalry by taking top racer next year…
Vote for Best Racing Game in the 2011 Golden Joysticks
Best Racing Game is just one of the categories in the 2011 Gamesmaster Golden Joystick Awards, which are the longest-running awards in the industry, having started in 1982. And in 2010 it had a recorded 1.54 million votes from gamers, after being named as the world’s most popular videogame awards by Guinness World Records in 2009. So winning the racing category is quite an honour, and the shortlist for your votes is:
- DiRT 3
- F1 2010
- Gran Turismo 5
- MotoGP 10/11
- Motorstorm Apocalypse
- nail’d
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
- Ridge Racer 3D
- Shift 2 Unleashed
- Test Drive Unlimited 2
It’s a bit of a shame SBK 2011 didn’t make it into the shortlist, as we’d debate whether it’s a better motorcycle simulator than MotoGP, but on the other hand, there’s some good recognition for Codemasters, with two games shortlisted, and the reboot of the Need for Speed series has seen the awesome Hot Pursuit and pretty good Shift 2 both appear.
In terms of widespread support, Gran Turismo 5 has to be the favourite.
DiRT 3, Gran Turismo 5 and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit are also in the running for the Ultimate Game of the Year, facing the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops, Halo Reach, LA Noire and Killzone 3.
In the Mobile Gaming category, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit makes another appearance, alongside Real Racing 2, and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. Meanwhile, Best Downlodable includes Sega Rally Online Arcade
Forza Motorsport 3 wins Racing Game of the Year
Forza Motorsport 3 has won the Racing Game of the Year at the Golden Joytstick awards in the UK.
Second place went to Need for Speed: Shift, with Colin McRae: Dirt 2 taking third place in the voting.
The awards are the longest-running videogame awards, and this was the 28th year of prizegiving. Ultimate Game of the Year went to Mass Effect 2.
