So a recent post on BlueSky got me thinking – what are my 9 favourite racing games? Not easy and favourite does not equal best. After a bit of thinking and jogging of memories, here’s my list in no particular order. Or is it.
Sega Rally Championship – Saturn
Sega Rally Championship came to the Sega Saturn in 1995. At the time the graphics were state of the art but what shone was the gameplay especially two player split screen. Can remember one memorable 2 player session where you won by carving out a 2 or 3 second lead and it was around 60 or 70 minutes before one of us ebbed out in front enough. Glorious.
Gran Turismo 4
The fourth version of the series and probably the one I played the most despite there being no online multiplayer. Launching in 2004 the graphics on the Playstation 2 were superb as the dev’s knew how to make the most of the platform. The cars handled differently and there were over 700 of them and so much customisation was available – amazing depth for a mostly single player racing game.
While it wasn’t the first nor got the best reviews this was peak Gran Turismo. Future games may have had much better graphics but the online racing always suffered from cheating and the game grew with bloat. I’d hate to see the hours I spent on this.
Project Gotham Racing 3
PGR was a superb racing series on the Xbox with origins from Metropolis Street Racing on the Dreamcast. PGR 3 was peak for me. Released in 2005, racing around London, Tokyo, New York or Las Vegas was all the better for doing it with friends online. That what set this out from Gran Turismo – up to 8 player multiplayer and online scoreboards for various time trials.
PGR 3 also introduced me to Geometry Wars which was available to play in the arcade cabinets in your garage. Glorious – still play Geometry Wars to this day.
F-Zero
I loved this game. Super Nintendo, 1991, one of the best console pads coupled with a futuristic racing game taking advantage of the Mode 7 system on the SNES. Much simpler than today’s games but I was obsessed. Even sent some times into one of the magazines. Been playing quite a bit of F-Zero 99 on the Switch and this is my goto game for testing an emulator or new bit of retro hardware.
F355 Challenge
F355 Challenge on the Dreamcast was such a tough racing game. Small number of tracks, tough computer opponents but once you put the time in it was such a rewarding game. This came out in 2000 and it took a few years before it was bettered.
Forza Horizon 3
Offshoot of the main Forza racing series, Horizon 3 came out in 2016 and was so much fun. Online was rock solid, superb graphics and gameplay second to none. You really could race anywhere and there was so much depth. Tuning, liveries, unlocking more cars. Loved it and looking forward to Horizon 6 coming out later this year.
Driveclub
The best racing game on the PS4, Driveclub came out in 2014 and despite the mixed reviews I loved the physics, the weather and the online racing. Evolution were great at releasing updates and new modes and tracks were delivered for another two years. It’s a real shame that the original release had issues, didn’t have the weather feature and a bit like we saw in the last few years with No Man’s Sky, Driveclub was one of the first racing games to really evolve and get better with each content drop.
MotoGP
Mugello! 2002, I’ve just got broadband installed for the first time (hello green frog) and the Xbox live beta service has launched with three tracks from MotoGP. That first Friday afternoon with Xbox Live was memorable. The first race on MotoGP was with a few of the developers of MotoGP testing out the online performance – awesome – this is the future of gaming. The next race was with a wee ned from Glasgow calling everyone a fanny – oh no – this is the future of gaming. As it was the only decent beta game I put an ungodly amount of hours into this and the full release of MotoGP.
Many friends were made from that first year of Xbox Live and MotoGP itself was never really bettered as future releases changed the handling and made it maddening for me.
Wipeout
It was 1995 and Sony launched its first console, the PlayStation, in Europe with Wipeout. Like most launches you pick up a few games and Ridge Racer had got most of the press, but Wipeout was an instant win for me. Visuals such a step up compared to something like F-Zero from only 4 years prior but it was the handling of the ships, the variety of tracks, the soundtrack and the industrial visuals. What. A. Game.
Follows up’s were also very good but the first version will always be the best for me.
Contenders
I’ve played a ton of racing games over the years so getting down to a favourite 9 wasn’t easy. Some runners up – Burnout Paradise, Daytona, Forza Motorsport 4, Colin McRae Rally, Stunt Car Racer and Super Mario Kart. All cracking games and while some of them may be technically better than my top 9 they don’t have the same hold on my memory.
Lot’s of arcade racers in the list and very little sim – anything obvious missing?