That alone would make a car game worth recommending, but the definitive arcade racer still stands on its merits twenty-three years after its fully 3-D graphics and fast-paced gameplay took the world by storm and changed people's expectations of what a racing game could be. So let's instead turn to Daytona USA, where a full eight people can still compete head-to-head on the deluxe setup at certain Dave & Buster locations with cameras that project your competitors' anguished, contorted faces up for everyone to see. Tempting as it was to start off here with San Francisco Rush and its futuristic cousin, whose high-flying antics and shortcut-filled maps taught a generation the pain of watching your friend swoop out of literally nowhere to take the checkered flag, those cabinets are unfortunately getting harder and harder to find as the neighborhood arcade goes extinct. 10: Daytona USA - Arcade/PC/Xbox Live/PlayStation Network What we’re left with, then, are ten entries that stand head and shoulders above the rest-be it through graphics, content, or gameplay-in such a way that creates an unrivaled, unrepeatable experience in car racing games.ĭisagree? You probably will, so sound off in the comments below. We're tried to filter out influential icons (for example, Street Rod or Richard Burns Rally) whose pioneering ways have since been copied and perfected by others, and stick with racing games that can still be easily found on either the current generation of consoles or online.

The future is almost upon us.īut before that happens, we at The Drive thought it was a perfect opportunity to compile a list of the best car racing games that have graced everything from the PlayStation 4 to Windows 98 to the seedy, near-forgotten arcade that’s somehow still holding on in town. This fall, both of the heavyweights in the car racing video game industry will unleash their latest body blows, building on over thirty years of lessons (and cautionary tales) of their predecessors: Forza 7 comes out on October 3 on Xbox One, designed to run at a butter-smooth 60 frames per second, while Gran Turismo Sport takes a bow on October 17 on PS4, promising PlayStation VR compatibility.

From the hazy, pixelated days of Namco’s 1982 arcade classic Pole Position to the upcoming crop of ultra-realistic car racing simulators, there’s no denying that car racing has become a keystone genre in the world of video games.

Stock car games