The 16 greatest driving games of all time

Most of us will never actually whip a wickedly expensive supercar around the Nürburgring, or smash through traffic in a frantic police chase. Sad. But we can do those things exuberantly, blissfully and, best of all, safely in video games. Games have unlocked a level of fun in driving that we just don’t get from commuting through deadlocked traffic. And we’ve played a ton of them over the years. More than we could hope to fit on a list, in fact – but we’ve pared it down to the 16 games we love the most. Best strap yourself in.

16) OUTRUN 2 (2003)

You’ve heard of OutRun – Sega’s ancient arcade game, where you bomb along a road where everyone suspiciously drives at speed in the same direction. It’s a classic. It also plays like a brick. Not so with OutRun 2, which takes the original’s framework (cheesy music; blue skies; road forks so you can choose the next stage) and slams down the accelerator, leaving other arcade racers in its dust.

15) WAVE RACE 64 (1996)

Wave Race 64 sounds a lot more generic than your average Nintendo gem, but this very early N64 release quickly revealed itself to be a racing classic. It harnessed the power of the new hardware to deliver convincing waves that battered you, despite their inviting sheen, and the game had a lot more personality on tap than you might expect.

14) TWISTED METAL 2 (1996)

Original PlayStation launch title Twisted Metal married a great concept with OK execution, but just one year later, Twisted Metal 2 properly nailed the car combat premise. The action felt more precise, the graphics were slicker, the roster was more diverse than before, and best of all, the giant arenas (including Paris surrounding the Eiffel Tower) were fabulously fun.

13) STUNT CAR RACER (1989)

This one depicts a future where Formula 1 is deemed boring, and therefore dumps crazed racers atop tracks akin to roller coasters. One circuit, The Ski Jump, literally has a ski-jump built into it. But this is no absurdist throwaway arcade effort, because perfect physics means you feel every bump as you hurl your car into banked corners, occasionally tearing a hole in the chassis with a sickening crack.

12) SEGA RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP (1994)

“Easy right! Over jump! Long medium left!” Sega Rally Championship didn’t have a lot of courses (just the three), but those words remain burned in our minds more than two decades later. This arcade and Saturn classic popularised the rally genre in 3D, with a wide array of terrain and a far greater variety of traction-types than we were used to from racers. It might seem rudimentary now, but back when it was a revelation.

11) WIPEOUT 2097 (1996)

Many of the early 3D games from 20 years ago don’t hold up particularly well, but Wipeout 2097 is one of the rare exceptions – and it was damn near mind-blowing at the time. 2097 took the strong anti-gravity racing base of the original and pumped it full of style, with stunning visuals from The Designers Republic and licensed techno tracks that gave every thrilling, stomach-churning race an extra thump.

10) NEED FOR SPEED: MOST WANTED (2005)

Most Wanted took Underground’s rims-and-bodykit-obsessed tuner culture and set it free, giving you a whole open world to explore instead of a simple series of races. Police chases made a welcome return after a long absence, while the most important things stayed unchanged: having enough exhausts, spoilers and vinyl wrap to turn your mum’s Fiat Punto into something worthy of a Max Power magazine cover.

9) CRAZY TAXI (1999)

Being a cabbie sounds pretty mundane and repetitive, right? It’s hardly good material for a fun video game. Sega, though, ditched the rules of the road, popped a timer up top and all of a sudden Crazy Taxi was a brilliant arcade smash. Zipping from fare to fare, you’d speed through traffic, across parks, and along sidewalks to get to the next destination as quickly as possible, with a banging punk soundtrack propelling every trip.

8) MICRO MACHINES (1991)

Zipping around a billiards table with an F1 car? Blasting through a sudsy bathtub in a speedboat? It’s all in a day’s fun in Micro Machines, Codemasters’ brilliant racer that most of us encountered on the Mega Drive. Based on the tiny, titular toys, Micro Machines gave you all manner of miniature rides to control around super-sized, real-life environments, and it’s still the ultimate example of the top-down racer done right.

7) FORZA HORIZON 3 (2016)

What’s that on the horizon? Well, if it’s Forza Horizon 3, it’s incredible fun for days as this vast open-road racer piles on the fun. Cruising around Australia in one of 350 supercars, you’ll jump into races, find hidden areas, take on crazy stunt challenges, and even create and share your own championships with friends. And there’s an amazing Hot Wheels mode, too!

6) GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY (2002)

We know, we know: despite the title, Grand Theft Auto isn’t primarily a driving game. But it can be if you spend most of your time cruising behind the wheel. Our favourite free-riding experience in the bunch? Absolutely. Speeding along the seafront on the new motorbikes, Spandau Ballet’s “Gold” blaring on the radio, and neon lighting off in the distance. Just magical.

5) ROCKET LEAGUE (2015)

Cars playing football: it’s such a simple idea, and such a uniquely ridiculous one at that – and yet it’s done spectacularly in Rocket League. Nor are these rocket-powered rides bound by the rules of football or gravity: your car can soar into the air to make dazzling shots and passes, while the stunningly over-the-top high-level play has even spawned a growing esports scene.

4) F-ZERO X (1998)

The original F-Zero was a poor man’s Mario Kart in space; and to modern eyes, F-Zero X looks like it was hit by an ugly stick so often that the stick broke. But we’ll take this racer’s ridiculous squealing guitars and insane speed over Wipeout’s cool logos and techno music any day. There are no weapons – it’s just you against 29 opponents, aided by some boost pads.

3) BURNOUT 3: TAKEDOWN (2004)

Criterion’s arcade racer did the impossible – not only did it make crashes fun, it turned them into an art form. Bashing your rivals off the road became a tactic, rather than unsportsmanlike behaviour, rewarded with boost gauge refills that propelled you to ever more ridiculous speeds.

2) GRAN TURISMO 2 (1999)

Gran Turismo set the mould for the modern simulation racer, and did so brilliantly – but then Gran Turismo 2 went much, much bigger. It’s the same core game at heart, but the licensed car roster was dramatically increased, the split between Arcade and Simulation modes gave you a lot more game to explore, and it proved to be absolutely obsession-worthy.

1) SUPER MARIO KART (1993)

Is there any racing game more widely beloved, enjoyed, and appreciated than Super Mario Kart? We can’t think of one, and for good reason: Nintendo’s formative Super Nintendo racer might have started as a spinoff, but it’s rightfully become its own juggernaut. The entire heart of the series was laid down in this 16-bit originator: the weapons, the Mario-inspired courses, and even the battle mode.