GT Cube/GT Pro Series - Gamecube (Dolphin)This is a racing oddity I was curious about - released only in Japan on the 'cube but in the west on Wii as GT Pro Series, this is actually a continuation of the GT Advance series from the GBA; a series of great but very niche Mode 7 racing games:
The jump to full 3d and pseudo cel-shading hasn't changed the core formula - race japanese cars around winding tracks, unlocking new cars and upgrades as you go. It is pretty janky in some regards - the game is hardly a graphical powerhouse but has a nice pseudo cel-shaded look:
Unfortunately it brings with it the same problems as its handheld forebears - you have to manually apply upgrades to each car, however there is no choice or decision making as each upgrade is a linear improvement, meaning any time you chose a different car you have to go through and reapply everything each time. I quite enjoyed it, but then I like janky b-tier niche racing games which many people don't, and may explain why this (and the Wii rerelease) were the last we saw of it, which is a shame as with some refinement this could have become a decent arcade series in the vein of Ridge Racer but with real world cars, including some that are rarely seen in games like the profoundly ugly Mitsuoka Orochi:
GT Pro Series is bargain bin fodder at this point so can be found for very little, and might be up your street if you also appreciate slightly janky and niche racers.
Burnout - Gamecube (Dolphin)I've wanted to start going back through classic racing series from their beginnings, seeing how they've changed over time, so started with this. It's very different to later games in terms of tone and setting, taking a much more reserved approach which, when considered on its own, doesn't really make it stand out - the cars are generic, the tracks in European and US environments are alright but nothing special and the soundtrack is a marked contrast from the mainstream hits and DJ Atomica seen later on (HEY HEY YOU YOU I DON'T LIKE YOUR GIRLFRIEND) The traffic-dodging gameplay makes it stand out from stuff like Ridge Racer etc., however if there hadn't been a Burnout 2 etc., this would probably have been remembered as a minor curio among the many racing games at the time, an interesting arcade racer that just didn't have enough of a distinctive personality to make a name for itself. However it clearly did do well enough to justify one then many sequels, so I'll be interested to see how things began to change going into 2 and then into 3, where the series really hit the big time. The singleplayer isn't particularly long, about 8 or so series of races and a couple of 1 on 1 face offs to unlock some extra vehicles including a bus and tow truck. Burnout is worth trying if you want to see where it all began, but I wouldn't rank it as a must-play/vital arcade racing game in its own right.