Racing games have come a long way since 1974’s Gran Trak 10, with the genre now being filled with graphically stellar and diverse options. Whether you’re a rally fan, an F1 nut, or a connoisseur of big red shells, racing games have something that appeals to everyone.
Narrowing down the best racing games is difficult, but Twinfinite has propped the hood, taken a good look, and ranked the top 10 racing games of all time.
10) MotorStorm
Remember MotorStorm? The series was something of a killer app for the PlayStation 3 near the start of the console generation, but the series sadly fizzled out of existence following a succession of pretty mediocre releases.
However, the first MotorStorm is still something special and was, perhaps, the first release of that generation that got racing game fans excited. Graphically, the game still looks amazing 13 years on, matching arcade-style gameplay with the chaotic nature of off-road racing.
With a mix of different vehicles that included bikes, quads, cars, and trucks, each track had multiple layers to it, with smaller ones being able to make use of narrow shortcuts and jumps, and the bigger vehicles being adept at tackling rockier terrains.
MotorStorm was controlled chaos and, as a result, it was pure fun. Here’s hoping for a remaster soon.
9) Wipeout
Released on PlayStation in September 1995, Wipeout was the coolest game on the market. By blending the retro-futuristic aesthetics of mid-nineties culture with a pacy, futuristic take on racing, Wipeout existed as not just an excellent racing game, but a summation of 1995’s zeitgeist.
Set in the year 2052, players compete in an anti-gravity racing league called F3600. By mixing fast racing with power-ups, Wipeout was a racing game that felt like the future.
The series went on to enjoy several successful sequels, most recently the Wipeout Omega Collection. The most timeless aspect of the Wipeout series, though, is its consistently amazing soundtrack.
8) F1 2019
Capturing the depth of tactics and precision required to be a Formula 1 racer has been attempted numerous times to mixed results and Codemasters has seen a steady progression in its F1 series since its inception in 2009.
The series began as a serviceable F1 game, but with each passing year, Codemasters has introduced new features, such as the much-needed story mode, as well as fine adjustments to F1’s racing sim foundation.
The now-annual series reached its peak this year with F1 2019, a game that eloquently reflected the world of F2 and F1 racing. Twinfinite’s Tom Hopkins was more than impressed with the game in his review, concluding that it was a game with straight-up “phenomenal racing mechanics”.
7) Project CARS 2
Simply put, Project CARS 2 is an incredibly ambitious racing sim. Developed by Slightly Mad Studios, the game improved upon the strong foundation set by its predecessor in 2015, offering 140 track layouts, 60 different locations, and an appetite-whetting 189 cars to choose from.
Looking at the wealth of options, graphical fidelity, and nigh-on obsessive attention to detail, it’s easy to think this was the work of a titan in the genre, but Slightly Mad Studios is significantly smaller than its contemporaries.
For a studio to excel beyond its means so successfully in a demanding genre should be appreciated, and racing fans are very excited for Project CARS 3.
6) Need for Speed: Underground 2
Back when a new entry in the Need for Speed series was a yearly, not just bi-yearly event, one game stood head and shoulders above the rest: Need for Speed: Underground 2.
By pairing the early-2000s infatuation with street racing with RPG-lite mechanics, EA Black Box hooked players in with the possibility of slowly sculpting an average car into a street-racing beast.
With an open-world design and a series of meaningful, well-paced upgrades, Need for Speed: Underground 2 gave players a sense of real progress previously unforeseen in the genre.
5) Burnout 3: Takedown
There’s something so viscerally fun about the early Burnout games. The series made a name for itself thanks to its commitment to arcade-style racing, focusing on the driving feeling good with explosive, nigh-on comical set-pieces.
After sticking to the arcade formula for the first two games, developer Criterion Games mastered the weightless, high-octane driving that eventually became synonymous with the series.
Burnout 3: Takedown was the culmination of what Criterion was trying to achieve: a driving game that didn’t take itself seriously.
4) Mario Kart 8
To be honest, any Mario Kart could have made this list, but since 8 effortlessly transcribed the near-perfect formula of the series with the greatest amount of content, it makes the cut.
Strangely enough, when playing Mario Kart 8, it’s easy to forget it’s a racing game. Sometimes, Mario Kart feels more like a fighting game or, for some of us, a lesson in bad luck.
Overall, the colourful, gravity-defying tracks, power-ups, Nintendo references, and Smash Bros-like roster all coalesce to create a game that’s built on fun. When a few buddies are over and the brews are flowing, there’s still no better game to stick on than Mario Kart.
3) Forza Horizon 4
Forza Horizon 4 feels like the logical conclusion to modern racing games. The game is maximalist in every sense of the world, embedding players in a world meticulously crafted by those who have a passion for not just cars, but the act of driving itself.
By taking Forza’s penchant for impeccable driving and upscaling it to a multi-layered open world, Forza Horizon 4 brings everything together: cars, collectables, organic online play, races, and gorgeous tracks.
As our exemplary review of the game stated, Forza Horizon 4 makes the case of being one of the most complete racing games ever made.
2) Gran Turismo 4
Released in 2004, Gran Turismo 4 is was the crème de la crème of racing games for a long time. The game still appears regularly on all-time lists, and it cemented Polyphony Digital as a master of its craft.
The options are thin by modern standards and the visuals appear pretty antiquated now, but gameplay-wise, it’s still one of the best, and the attention to detail paid to its smallest facets revolutionised the genre.
Gran Turismo 4 brought racing games into modernity and showed that they could operate on the same level as other games. Without this, racing games would not have been the same today.
1) Forza Motorsport 7
When the first Forza Motorsport quietly released on the original Xbox in 2005, nobody expected the series to develop into a racing game mainstay. Now, the series is almost synonymous with the genre, operating with a house-hold name status previously held by Gran Turismo.
Forza Motorsport 7, the most recent in the Motorsport series, polishes what the series has consistently done best for almost 15 years: displaying a pure passion for cars.
Not only has the series now mastered the flow of satisfying sim-racing, but the sheer volume of cars to collect, modify, and experiment with makes Forza Motorsport a gearhead’s dream. How could the Forza name improve from this? Well, let’s wait and see.
For more racing game features check out our thoughts on Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, and be sure to dig our extensive features.
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