They’ve not seen a “mainline” numbered release of Ridge Racer since 2006, a spin off on ps vita in 2011 and a PS3/X360 in name only “Ridge Racer” unbounded.
So yeah, what happened?
I miss the simple arcade racers. I loved Horizon Chase Turbo, but I would love to see Ridge Racer take the arcade racer crown back!
That can be asked for so many genres and series. In general racing games seem to be not as popular any more I guess.
In addition, costs to produce AAA games have really gone up so they have become even more mainstream. And racing game fans generally expect good graphics, so the chance for indie developers with a limited budget to succeed with a racing game is low.