New to PC gaming

I'm new to PC gaming, and have been having trouble finding a decent game. I'm looking for recommendations.

I want something that is top of the line in terms of graphics. I tend to like racing games over anything else but am open to suggestions.

The most important thing in addition to something that's top of the line in graphics is that I do not want something that is dependent on the internet for constant functionality. I keep getting racing games like need for speed and find out that they consist of playing others online rather than against the machine. I don't always have internet. I also don't want to have to be worried by endless updates.

I have Battlefield 3 and I find Origin software to be a pain. I also have Medal of Honor, and every once in a while it tells me if I want to play the game I have to update it. If I'm not playing against others online, and everything is working just fine, I don't want to be bothered by this type of thing.

I remember growing up playing playstation, and could buy a game and could play it as long as the disk didn't get scratched there was not any issues. I want something like that for my PC without the BS of constant updates or anything requiring an internet connection aside from the initial purchase and download.

If you want a good racing sim, Assetto Corsa is pretty good. Project Cars will be releasing very soon also. If you want some fun arcade racing... try the Trackmania games.

GTA 5 is releasing soon. If you haven't already played the PC versions of FarCry 3, Tomb Raider, Metro Redux, Batman Arkham, I highly recommend those. Skyrim with mods can look pretty sexy too. The Witcher 3 is also coming soon.

The GRID and Dirt games are pretty fun if you want something arcadey, and they all have great graphics. They've got real singleplayer components and I believe they only require you to activate and update the games on Steam when you first purchase them. Once you've done that, you can just put Steam in offline mode and play the games whenever.

@KHAndAnime: Thanks KHAndAnime, that's the type of thing I'm looking for with the single player component. I was kind of mad to find out on a trip recently when I went to play something for the first time in six months that I couldn't play because I had to do an update, I didn't have an internet connection, and was a 12 hour car trip, smh . Once I got to where I was going I did the update, and purchased need for speed, but found out need for speed is solely online and couldn't do anything with it during the 12 hour trip back.

and @BassMan, thank you, do you know if any of those games have single player components like KHAndAnime had mentioned without constant updates and required internet connections?

All those games (possibly not GTA 5) should be able to be played in offline mode once they have been activated. All those games have great single player campaigns.

@BassMan: @Thanks again BassMass, I'm checking them out now

The Crysis series has amazing graphics. Even the original Crysis from 2007 still looks better than most other games. If you want to see what PCs are capable of, that's where I'd start.

@bigfootpart2: Thanks, I just downloaded tomb raider, and I'm checking out Crysis 3 videos on youtube. Games have come a long way since the days of playing Metal Gear Solid on my old PS1 when it first came out.

Could all ways emulate PS2 Grand Torismo. I'd recommend it actually as those games have more content then 2 or 3 of the modern racing games combined. Weird how that happened. Though the industry seems to be going in that direction as a whole so what can ya do...

A racing game that doesn't require internet connection? hmm I wouldn't say go pirate, but sadly companies think that if you'll require constant internet connection that will prevent piracy.

Aside NFS Rivals and NFS Most Wanted which are awesome, I would suggest you to try Blur and Split Second (arcade racing), GRiD series, DiRT series, original Test Drive Unlimited.

@ribstaylor1: Thanks ribstaylor1, I didn't realize that the industry hadn't been putting much into new racing games. I remember long ago when the N64 and Playstation 1 first came out and were the top of the line in gaming technology and I would have thought things would have greatly improved since then. I haven't been into gaming in about 15 years, but got a nice computer with decent GPU and all since I've been working with Adobe CS6 (including AfterEffects).

Figured I'd get some games to play around with once in a while and just can't believe that it seems like the graphics have only improved marginally relative to the pace of advancements that were being made back in the late 90's early 2000's, and now they are complicated with constant advertisements, upsells where after buying a game you have to pay more for certain cars, guns, etc., having to have a constant internet connection, etc.

I attempted to play Need for Speed the other day and kept winning then out of no where the losing car would jump to the finish line at the end of the race without even passing me. I'm assuming the other player hacked the system somehow and was trying to gain some type of points or something.

I didn't realize I could emulate PS2 games and will be looking into it (especially for Grand Torismo, I don't know how I forgot about that one!), although I wanted something that would really push my GPU. I just got tomb raider and Alien Isolation.

@PredatorRules. Test Drive, was another of my favorites, and I'll definitely be looking into that.

Also, I know it has to do with piracy but I think they have really screwed things up to some extent, and no matter what they do if there is a will there is a way.

Thanks everyone, I think that has definitely given me a better idea of things!

If the whole internet thing bothers you then go to your firewall and disable internet access for that certain game, but if you want to play online multiplayer then you kind of have to deal with the whole update thing, it happens on consoles as well, there is no escaping it.

Team Fortress 2 is a must. and its free to play!

Ya sadly racing games haven't had the best treatment in the last few years on pc. And the industry has moved into a F2P model even within games that cost a full retail $80, which makes for a lesser game overall as it's all chopped into bits hidden behind paywalls. The whole all ways online thing also sucks, often times after buying a game I'll pirate a version for the sheer fact I can use it offline, though I could get in shit for saying it.

For racing games though, some great simulators are all ready out as mentioned by others and things are slowly coming but the ps2 grand torismo's are still probably your best bet for amazingly flushed out content that controls and plays well. Emulation is awesome, can go from ps2 all the way back to pong. Think I have something like 6,700 in total roms for emulation. Eventually you'll even have the ability to do ps3 and 360 games. So ya you'll certainly have no issues finding amazing games.