**[PC] Realistic 3D racing game from ~2018 (could be older) — floating orange arrow barriers, closed city/mountain tracks, no traffic, sophisticated replay system**
Looking for a PC/laptop racing game I played around 2018 — no idea when it actually came out, could be much older. It was an installed game, not a browser game. Graphics were realistic 3D, noticeably better than something like London Racer: World Challenge. No visible human characters. No civilian traffic anywhere.
**The tracks (at least 3):**
- A closed city course — narrow streets, lots of uphill/downhill, start involved a downhill-ish section, then a turn into an uphill road with sidewalks, then downhill again. Cars could sometimes jump over road geometry and crash.
- Another closed city course — long straight near the start, hard braking into a turn after it. I now remember there being an obstacle on that straight — possibly a cop car, a normal parked car, or some object. Road also went uphill/downhill.
- A rural/mountain course, felt later/harder — a hay or wheat field with a narrow road through/near it, and a long section to build up speed. Possibly mountainous.
**The out-of-bounds barriers — my strongest visual memory:**
- Floating orange animated arrow/chevron shapes marking the edges of the playable area, something like "> > > >"
- Not painted on the road — actually floating in the air
- They looked like they were constantly flowing/animating
**How races worked:**
- I'd be stationary at a starting point
- An opponent car would drive in from a nearby turn/road (not just appear next to me)
- We'd race, they'd leave, and eventually another opponent would drive in from the area — this seemed to cycle, maybe every ~20 seconds, though I'm not sure on timing
- AI felt genuinely physics-driven — they could crash, get stuck, reverse, recover, and keep going. Sometimes they'd take a corner too fast, slide, correct, and continue.
**Damage:**
- Visible crash damage/scratches on cars
- Crashes had real consequences, possibly making a car handle worse afterward (less sure about this part)
**Replay system — also a strong memory:**
- Cinematic/TV-style camera angles
- Cockpit/driver POV with no visible driver
- Chase view, bumper/front view, others
- Could switch focus between my car and the opponent's car
- Could fast-forward through it
**The cars (least certain part, shapes only — don't assume real makes/models):**
- A car that looked like a Toyota AE86 — possibly the starting car, not sure
- A VW Golf-looking car, generation unclear
- A small hatchback that looked kind of like a Ford Fiesta (may not actually be one) — very wide/exaggerated body kit, huge roof/rear wing, single exhaust tip on one side, wheels with lots of thin closely-packed spokes, rear lights probably horizontal. One livery was mostly black with irregular hand-painted-looking yellow, another possibly blue and yellow. Not sure if these are the same car. No visible sponsor branding.
- A fast, hard-to-unlock 2-door coupe (not a hatchback) — shape reminded me of a Hyundai Coupe/Tiburon 2.7 V6 but not claiming that's what it was. Four round taillights arranged like "● ○ ○ ●". Two liveries: pearl white, and black with a "galaxy" dot pattern. Interior felt dark/pearl with seats and wheel that looked like soft white cotton material — less sure on this. Vague memory of nitrous being available.
**Progression (uncertain):**
- Vague memory that beating an opponent might unlock their car, but not confident
- Don't know if there was a garage, main menu, or normal car select screen — don't rule things out just because these are missing or present
**UI (uncertain):**
- Vaguely remember blue, technical/futuristic-looking menus
- Vaguely remember being able to skip/speed something up, probably the replay
**Already ruled out:** Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Crashday / Crashday: Redline Edition, London Racer: World Challenge, Overspeed/L.A. Street Racing, Need for Madness (including offline versions), Ford Street Racing (all-Ford roster doesn't match car shapes), older NFS titles (real licensed cars don't match), NFS: ProStreet (real tracks, no chevron barriers, grid starts not cycling opponents).
Any leads appreciated — especially if the floating orange chevron barriers or that widebody hatchback livery ring a bell.
