Racing game

"Racing game" redirects here. For the type of board game, see race game.

A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings. In general, they can be distributed along a spectrum anywhere between hardcore simulations, and simpler arcade racing games.

History

1970s

The arcade game Astro Race, released by Taito in 1973, was an early racing game, where players controlled spaceships that race against opposing ships, while avoiding comets and meteors. The game allowed simultaneous two-player competitive gameplay, was controlled using an early four-way joystick, and was presented in black and white graphics. The following year, Taito released Speed Race, an early black-and-white car racing game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado (of Space Invaders fame) that introduced collision detection and an overhead vertical scrolling view, with the course width becoming wider or narrower as the player's car moves up the road, while the player races against other rival cars, more of which appear as the score increases. It also featured an early racing wheel controller interface with an accelerator, gear shift, speedometer and tachometer. It could be played in either single-player or alternating two-player, where each player attempts to beat the other's score. The game was re-branded as Racer by by Midway Games for released in the United States and was influential on later racing games. That same year, Atari released the arcade game Gran Trak 10, which presented an overhead view of the track in low resolution white on black graphics, on which the player races against the clock around a track to accumulate points; while challenging, it was not competition racing.

Fonz (1976)

In 1975, Nintendo released EVR-Race, an early horse racing simulation game with support for up to six players. In 1976, Taito released Crashing Race, a simultaneous two-player competitive car racing game where each player must try to crash as many computer-controlled cars as possible to score points, and the player with the most points wins. That same year, Sega released Moto-Cross, an early black-and-white motorbike racing game, based on the motocross competition, that was most notable for introducing an early three-dimensional third-person perspective. Later that year, Sega-Gremlin re-branded the game as Fonz, as a tie-in for the popular sitcom, Happy Days. Both versions of the game displayed a constantly changing forward-scrolling road and the player's bike in a third-person perspective where objects nearer to the player are larger than those nearer to the horizon, and the aim was to steer the vehicle across the road, racing against the clock, while avoiding any on-coming motorcycles or driving off the road. The game also introduced the use of haptic feedback, which caused the handlebars to vibrate during a collision with another vehicle. That same year also saw the release of two arcade games that extended the car driving subgenre into three dimensions with a first-person perspective: Sega's Road Race, which presents a roadside scene of the race, displaying a constantly changing forward-scrolling S-shaped road with two obstacle race cars moving along the road that the player must avoid crashing while racing against the clock, and Atari's Night Driver, which presented a series of posts by the edge of the road though there was no view of the road or the player's car and the graphics were still low resolution white on black, and like Gran Trek 10, gameplay was a race against the clock.

In 1977, Micronetics released Night Racer, a first-person car racing game similar to Night Driver, while Sega released Twin Course T.T., an early simultaneous competitive two-player motorbike racing game. That same year, UPL's Comotion was an early four-player car racing game, with an overhead view. Road Champion, released by Taito in 1978, was an overhead-view timed car racing game where players try to race ahead of the opposing cars and cross the finish line first to become the winner. In 1979, Sega's Head On was a racing game that played like a maze chase game and is thus considered a precursor to the 1980 hit Pac-Man. Monaco GP, released by Sega in 1979, improved upon previous overhead-view racing games with a vertically scrolling view and color graphics.

1980s

In 1980, Namco's overhead-view driving game Rally-X was the first game to feature background music, as well as the first game to allow scrolling in multiple directions, both vertical and horizontal, and it was possible to pull the screen quickly in either direction. It also featured an early example of a radar, to show the rally car's location on the map. Alpine Ski, released by Taito in 1981, was an early winter sports game, a vertical-scrolling racing game that involved maneuvering a skier through a downhill ski course, a slalom racing course, and a ski jumping competition. Turbo, released by Sega in 1981, was the first racing game to feature a third-person perspective, rear view format. It was also the first racing game to use sprite scaling with full-color graphics. Bump 'n' Jump, released by Data East in 1982, was a vertical-scrolling driving game where the player's car jumps or bumps enemy cars for points, while bonuses were awarded for completing levels without hitting any cars.

Pole Position (1982)

The game that set the template for racing video games was the Namco game Pole Position in 1982. This time the player has AI cars to race against, and a time limit pushes the player to go faster. Pole Position is also the first game to be based on a real racing circuit. The game introduced color graphics at a much higher resolution than earlier titles and pioneered the now common rear-view racer format used in nearly all racing games since then. It also featured crashed caused by collisions with other vehicles and roadside signs, and was the first game to feature a qualifying lap, where the player needs to complete a time trial before they can compete in Grand Prix races. The game's publisher Atari publicized the game for its "unbelievable driving realism" in providing a Formula 1 experience behind a racing wheel at the time, for which it is considered the first attempt at a driving simulation. The game's graphics featured full-colour landscapes with scaling sprites, including race cars and other signs, and a perspective view of the track, with its vanishing point swaying side to side as the player approaches corners, accurately simulating foward movement into the distance.

Pole Position II was released in 1983, and featured improvements like giving the player the choice of different race courses as well as more colourful landscapes lined with advertising bill-boards. TX-1, created by Tatsumi in 1983, was licensed to both Namco in Japan and Atari in America, thus it is sometimes considered an unofficial sequel to Pole Position II. TX-1 placed a greater emphasis on realism, with details such as forcing players to brake or downshift the gear during corners to avoid the risk of losing control, and let go of the accelerator when going into a skid in order to regain control of the steering. It was also the first car driving game to use force feedback technology, which caused the steering wheel to vibrate, and the game also featured a unique three-screen arcade display for a more three-dimensional perspective of the track. It also introduced nonlinear gameplay by allowing players to choose which path to drive through after each checkpoint, eventually leading to one of eight possible final destinations. Change Lanes, released by Taito in 1983, was a third-person racer where the player's car had fuel that reduces while driving, thus the driver must pick-up fuel cells to get a refuel at each checkpoint, while crashing into cars or obstacles would slow down the car and further reduce its fuel. If the fuel runs out, the game would end. That same year, Kaneko produced Roller Aces, an early roller skating racer played from a third-person perspective, while Irem released MotoRace USA, an early partially third-person motorbike racer, where the player travels across the US and refuels at various cities along the way, while avoiding crashes that can cause a substantial loss of fuel, causing the game to end if the fuel is depleted. An early attempt at creating a home driving simulator was Tomy's Turnin' Turbo Dashboard, also released in 1983. It was the first home video game to feature a racing wheel controller.

In 1984, several early racing laserdisc video games were released, including Sega's GP World and Taito's Laser Grand Prix which featured live-action footage, Universal's Top Gear featuring 3D animated race car driving, and Taito's Cosmos Circuit, featuring animated futuristic racing. Taito also released Kick Start, a fully third-person motorbike racing game, and Buggy Challenge, an early dirt track racing game featuring a buggy. Other early dirt racing games from that year were dirt bike games: Nintendo's Excitebike and SNK's motocross game Jumping Cross, both played from a side-scrolling view. SNK also released Gladiator 1984, an early horse racing game, and Mad Crasher, an early futuristic racing game, where the player drives a futuristic motorbike along diagonal-scrolling futuristic roads suspended in mid-air, while leaping across gaps, shooting other cars, and getting bonuses and power-ups. Another racing game that involved shooting that year was Seicross, where the player rides a motorcycle-like craft, bumps other riders, collects power modules and shoots blue coins. Other notable arcade releases that year include Konami's Road Fighter, a vertical-scrolling racer where the aim is to drive fast, pass cars and avoid accidents for maximum points, while reaching check points before running out of fuel; and Irem's The Battle-Road, an early open-ended vehicle combat racing game that featured branching paths and up to 32 possible routes.

Racing games in general tend to drift toward the arcade side of reality, mainly due to hardware limitations, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. It is, however, untrue to say that there were no games considered simulations in their time. In 1984, Geoff Crammond, who later developed the Grandprix series (Known collectively as GPX to its fanbase), produced what is considered the first attempt at a racing simulator on a home system, REVS, released for the BBC Microcomputer. The game offered an unofficial (and hence with no official team or driver names associated with the series) recreation of British Formula 3. The hardware capabilities limited the depth of the simulation and restricted it (initially) to one track, but it offered a semi-realistic driving experience with more detail than most other racing games at the time.

Final Lap (1987)

In 1985, Sega released Hang-On, a popular Grand Prix style rear-view motorbike racer, considered the first full-body-experience video game, and was regarded as the first motorbike simulator for its realism at the time, in both the handling of the player's motorbike and the artificial intelligence of the computer-controlled motorcyclists. It used force feedback technology and was also one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and Sega's "Super Scaler" technology that allowed pseudo-3D sprite-scaling at high frame rates. That same year, Jaleco released City Connection, a platform-racer where cops chase the player around different cities in the US, UK, France, Japan and India.

In 1986, Sega produced Out Run, one of the most graphically impressive games of its time. It used two Motorola 68000 CPUs for its 2D sprite-based driving engine, and it became an instant classic that spawned many sequels. It was notable for giving the player the non-linear choice of which route to take through the game and the choice of soundtrack to listen to while driving, represented as radio stations. That same year, Konami's WEC Le Mans was a race driving simulator that attempted to accurately simulate the 24 Hours of Le Mans competition, with fairly realistic handling, a day-night cycle, and the use of force feedback to simulate road vibration in the form of a vibrating steering wheel that reacts to the driver's acceleration and off-road bumps. In 1987, Namco produced Final Lap, the unofficial sequel to Pole Position II. Final Lap was the first arcade game that allowed multiple machines to be linked, allowing for multiplayer races. That same year, Square released Rad Racer, one of the first stereoscopic 3D games. In the same year, Atari produced RoadBlasters, a driving game that also involved a bit of shooting.

In 1988, Taito released Chase H.Q., a unique racing game where the player drives a police car that must chase criminals within a time limit. That same year, CBS Sony released Paris-Dakar Rally Special, an imaginative racing game with platformer and action-adventure elements, featuring Dakar Rally cars that could fire bullets, the driver able to exit the car and go exploring to lower a bridge or bypass other obstacles, underwater driving sections, and at times having avoid a fleet of tanks and fighter jets. The following year, Atari introduced Hard Drivin', the first arcade driving game that included 3D polygonal graphics. It also featured force feedback, where the wheel fights the player during aggressive turns, and also featured a crash replay camera view.

1990s

In 1990, the now defunct Papyrus Design Group produced their first attempt at a racing simulator, the critically acclaimed Indianapolis 500: The Simulation, designed by David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari. The game is generally regarded as the first true auto racing simulation on a personal computer. Accurately replicating the 1989 Indianapolis 500 grid, it offered advanced 3D graphics for its time, setup options, car failures and handling. Unlike most other racing games at the time, Indianapolis 500 attempted to simulate realistic physics and telemetry, such as its portrayal of the relationship between the four contact patches and the pavement, as well as the loss of grip when making a high-speed turn, forcing the player to adopt a proper racing line and believable throttle-to-brake interaction. It also featured a garage facility to allow players to enact modifications to their vehicle, including adjustments to the tires, shocks and wings. The damage modelling, while not accurate by today's standards, was capable of producing some spectacular and entertaining pile-ups.

Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix in 1992 became the new champion of sim racing, until the release of Papyrus' IndyCar Racing the following year. Formula One Grand Prix boasted detail that was unparalleled for a computer game at the time as well as a full recreation of the drivers, cars and circuits of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. However, the U.S. version (known as World Circuit) was not granted an official license by the FIA, so teams and drivers were renamed (though all could be changed back to their real names using the Driver/Team selection menu): Ayrton Senna became "Carlos Sanchez", for example.

Virtua Racing (1992)

On the other end of the spectrum, Sega produced Virtua Racing in 1992. While not the first game with 3D graphics (see REVS), it was able to combine the best features of games at the time, along with multiplayer machine linking and clean 3D graphics to produce a game that was above and beyond the arcade market standard of its time. Also, Nintendo broke new ground by introducing the Mario Kart series on the SNES with Super Mario Kart. Using the familiar characters from the Mario franchise, the game not only departed from the realism paradigm by using small karts for the players to drive, but also featured bright, colourful environments and allowed the players to pick up power-ups to improve performance or hamper other racers. This franchise also spawned multiple sequels.

In 1993, Namco struck back with Ridge Racer, and thus began the polygonal war of driving games. Sega struck back that same year with Daytona USA, one of the first video games to feature filtered, texture-mapped polygons, giving it the most detailed graphics yet seen in a video game up until that time. The following year, Electronic Arts produced The Need for Speed, which would later spawn the world's most popular racing game series and the fifth most popular video game series overall. In the same year, Midway introduced Crusin' USA. In 1996, Konami introduced GTI Club which allowed free roaming of the environment, something of a revolution that had only been done in 3D before in Hard Drivin'. Atari didn't join the 3D craze until 1997, when it introduced San Francisco Rush.

Gran Turismo (1997)

In 1997, Gran Turismo was released for the PlayStation, after being in production for five years since 1992. It was considered the most realistic racing simulation game in its time, combined with playability, enabling players of all skill levels to play. It offered a wealth of meticulous tuning options and introduced an open-ended career mode where players had to undertake driving tests to acquire driving licenses, earn their way into races and choose their own career path. The Gran Turismo series has since become the most popular racing game franchise of all time, selling over 61.41 million units worldwide.

By 1997, the typical PC was capable of matching an arcade machine in terms of graphical quality, mainly due to the introduction of first generation 3D accelerators such as 3DFX Voodoo. The faster CPUs were capable of simulating increasingly realistic physics, car control, and graphics. Colin McRae Rally was introduced in 1998 to the PC world, and was a successful semi-simulation of the world of rally driving (previously only available in Sega's less serious Sega Rally Championship). Motorhead, a PC game, was later adapted back to arcade.

1999 marked a change of games into more "free form" worlds. Midtown Madness for the PC allows the player to explore a simplified version of the city of Chicago using a variety of vehicles and any path that they desire. In the arcade world, Sega introduced Crazy Taxi, where you are a taxi driver that needed to get the client to the destination in the shortest amount of time. A similar game also from Sega is Emergency Ambulance Driver, with almost the same gameplay (pick up patient, drop off at hospital, as fast as possible). Games are becoming more and more realistic visually. Some arcade games are now featuring 3 screens to provide a surround view.

2000s

In 2000, Angel Studios (now Rockstar San Diego) introduced the first free-roaming, or the former "free form", racing game on video game consoles and handheld game consoles with Midnight Club: Street Racing which released on the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. The game allowed the player to drive anywhere around virtual recreations of London and New York. Instead of using enclosed tracks for races, the game uses various checkpoints on the free roam map as the pathway of the race, giving the player the option to take various shortcuts or any other route to the checkpoints of the race.

In 2003, Rockstar San Diego's Midnight Club II was the first racing game to feature both playable cars and playable motorcycles.

There is a wide gamut of driving games ranging from simple action-arcade racers like Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (for Nintendo GameCube) and Nick Toon Racers to ultra-realistic simulators like Grand Prix Legends, iRacing, Virtual Grand Prix 3, Live for Speed, NetKar Pro, rFactor and X Motor Racing -- and everything in between.

General genres

Racing simulators

Main article: Sim racing

Simulation style racing games strive to convincingly replicate the handling of an automobile. They often license real cars or racing leagues, but will sometimes use fantasy cars built to resemble real ones if unable to acquire an official license for them. Vehicular behavior physics are a key factor in the experience. The rigors of being a professional race driver are usually also included (such as having to deal with a car's tire condition and fuel level). Proper cornering technique and precision racing maneuvers (such as drafting) are given priority in the simulation racing games.

Although these racing simulators are specifically built for people with a high grade of driving skill, it is not uncommon to find aids that can be enabled from the game menu. The most common aids are traction control (TC), anti-lock brakes, steering assistance, damage resistance, clutch assistance and automatic gear changes. Also driving views, other than the interior driver view, are arcade. This softens the learning curve for the difficult handling characteristics of most racing cars.

The Formula One World Championship has a fan base all over the world and is one of the racing series with the most simulation adaptations.

Some of these racing simulators are customizable, as game fans have decoded the tracks, cars and executable files. Large internet communities have grown around the simulators regarded as the most realistic and many websites host internet championships.

Currently the Racing Sim rFactor has the largest driver base because of its capability of modding. X Motor Racing also has the huge capability of modding and tweaking, including vehicle dynamics and tires. NetKar Pro and X Motor Racing are less popular because of their maximum complexity, but offer better physics simulation.

Arcade racers

Arcade style racing games put fun and a fast-paced experience above all else, as cars usually compete through odd ways. A key feature of arcade racers that specifically distinguishes them from simulation racers is their far more liberal physics. Whereas in real racing (and subsequently, the simulation equivalents) the driver must reduce their speed to take most turns, arcade racing games generally encourage the player to try to take turns as fast as possible (most arcade racers include a "powerslide" maneuver to allow the player to keep up their speed by drifting through a turn rather than slowly entering it). Collisions with other racers, track obstacles, or traffic vehicles is usually much more exaggerated than simulation racers as well. For the most part, arcade racers simply remove the precision required from the simulation experience and focus strictly on the racing element itself. They often license real cars and leagues, but are equally open to more exotic settings and vehicles. Races take place on highways, windy roads, or in cities; they can be multiple-lap circuits or point-to-point, with one or multiple paths (sometimes with checkpoints), or other types of competition, like demolition derby, jumping, or testing driving skills. Popular arcade racers are the Daytona USA series, the Rush, the Ridge Racer series, the Cruis'n Series, the Midnight Club series, and the classic Out Run.

During the mid-late 2000s there was a trend of new street racing; imitating the import scene, one can tune sport compacts and sports cars and race them on the streets. The most widely known ones are the Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and the Midnight Club series, Need for Speed series, and the Juiced series.

Some arcade racing games increase the competition between racers by adding weapons that can be used against opponents to slow them down or otherwise impede their progress so they can be passed. This is a staple feature in "kart racing" games, such as the Mario Kart series, but this kind of gameplay also appears in standard, car-based racing games as well. Weapons can range from projectile attacks to traps as well as non-combative items like speed boosts. Weapon-based racing games include games such as Full Auto, Rumble Racing, and Blur.

List of racing game sub-genres

On-road

In a car racing game, the primary gameplay mode is driving the car. However, they sometimes offer a secondary mode for tuning up the car. There are various principles in winning car racing games, some of which apply to real life situations while most are unique to the game itself.

Simulation-style racing games

Racing games that are more focused on realism.

• Evolution GT (Europe car challenge)
• Forza Motorsport (series)
• F1 2010 (video game)(By Codemasters)
• F1 Challenge (Formula One)
• F355 Challenge (Ferrari Challenge)
• Ferrari Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli (Official Ferrari Challenge)
• F1GP, Grand Prix 2, Grand Prix 3, Grand Prix 4 (Formula One)
• Grand Prix Legends (1967 Formula One)
• GT Legends (60s and 70s GT series)
• Gran Turismo (series)
• GTR and GTR 2 (FIA GT series)
• Human Grand Prix III: F1 Triple Battle (Formula One)
• Human Grand Prix IV: F1 Dream Battle (Formula One)
• iRacing (Oval and road course racing)
• Live for Speed (Mixed car type racing)
• NASCAR Heat (NASCAR series)
• NASCAR Racing (NASCAR series)
• netKar Pro (Open wheel car racing)
• RACE, RACE 07 and RACE Pro (Official WTCC)
• Racer (Mixed car type racing)
• Rally Trophy (Historic rallying)
• rFactor (Mixed car type racing)
• Richard Burns Rally (Rallying)
• Supercar Challenge
• Superstars V8 Racing (Official Superstars Series)
• Virtual Grand Prix 3 (mainly Formula One and open-wheeled cars)
• Virtual RC Racing (radio-controlled car racing)
• X Motor Racing (Mixed car type racing)

Semi-simulation-style racing games

These games are neither simulators nor arcade racers; they stand in the middle of the spectrum.

• Colin McRae Rally series (Rallying)
• Driving Emotion Type S
• Enthusia Professional Racing
• Formula One series#
• Need for Speed: Shift
• Project Gotham Racing (Mixed car type racing)
• Project Torque (Mixed car type racing)
• Test Drive Unlimited (Street racing)
• R:Racing Evolution
• Race Driver: GRID
• Racing Evoluzione
• Sega GT series
• TOCA Touring Car series
• Viper Racing
• Mercedes-Benz World Racing
• World Racing 2
• Xpand Rally

Arcade-style racing games

Racing games that are not focused on realism.

• Automobili Lamborghini
• Auto Modellista
• Beetle Adventure Racing
• Blur
• Burnout (series)
• Carmageddon series
• Cruis'n series
• Daytona USA series
• Enduro
• Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally (Japan-only)
• FlatOut and FlatOut 2
• Fuel
• GeneRally
• Initial D and Initial D Arcade Stage series
• Lotus Turbo Challenge series
• Nitro Stunt Racing
• Out Run series
• Pimp My Ride
• Pole Position series
• Rad Racer
• Rad Racer 2
• Re-Volt
• Ridge Racer series
• Rollcage
• Screamer series
• Sega Rally Championship
• Side by Side and Battle Gear series
• Speed Devils
• Speed Racer series
• Split Second
• Stunt Race FX
• Super Cars series
• TrackMania series
• Up'n Down
• Virtua Racing
• Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series
• Ignition

Street racing games Midnight Club Juiced (series) Rush series Street Racing Syndicate Tokyo Xtreme Racer Import Tuner Challenge Street Legal and its successor Street Legal Racing: Redline Metropolis Street Racer Midtown Madness (series) Need For Speed (series) Sports games Event racing Game related to sports events. 1080° Snowboarding series Amped series ATV series ESPN X-Treme Sports Snowmobile Championship Transworld series Exaggerated sports racing Game related to exaggerated sports. Cool Boarders series Trickstyle SSX Stunts Pure Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars (PlayStation Network Release) Monster truck racing games To date, Monster Truck Madness is the only monster truck racing game that adds some simulation aspects, such as drag racing. The rest of the games are based either on car crush racing or vehicular combat. Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal (USHRA Monster Jam) Monster 4x4: World Circuit Monster Truck Fury Monster Jam (Maximum Destruction, Urban Assault) series (USHRA Monster Jam) Monster Truck Madness series (PENDA Point Series) Monster Truck Rumble Monster Trux Extreme: Offroad Edition Monster Trux: Arenas Thunder Truck Rally Tonka Monster Truck Tough Trucks: Modified Monsters Truck racing games Insane Baja: Edge of Control Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu: Art Truck Battle 18 Wheels of Steel Big Mutha Truckers Excite Truck (off-road truck racing) Euro Truck Simulator (trucking in Europe) Mercedes-Benz Truck Racing Hard Truck and Hard Truck II Super Trucks Racing Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing Motorcycle racing games 750cc Grand Prix Ducati Championship Racing Enduro Racer Excitebike Excitebike 64 Fonz (Arcade) GP500 Hang-On Manx TT Moto GP Moto Racer Moto Racer 2 Moto Racer 3 Speed Kings Suzuki TT Superbikes Superbike 2001 Super Hang-On MTX: Mototrax Redline Racer Road Rash Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing Suzuka 8 Hours Tourist Trophy Superbikes Riding Challenge 07 MotoGP MotoGP2 MotoGP3 MotoGP 06 MotoGP 07 Xbox 360/PC PS2 MotoGP '08 SBK-07: Superbike World Championship SBK-08: Superbike World Championship SBK-09: Superbike World Championship Kart racing games Kart racers, popularized by (and often credited to) the Mario Kart series, are a style of racing game that introduces the ability to pick up items during the race, and use them to boost one's performance in a race, or to attack other players and hamper their progress. Like arcade racers, kart racers feature simple racing physics and imaginative environments to race in. The terminology itself was taken from Go-Kart racing. Atari Karts Banjo Pilot Bomberman Kart Chocobo Racing Club Kart Crash Team Racing, Crash Nitro Kart Crazyracing Kartrider Diddy Kong Racing (Kart, hovercraft, and plane racing) Digimon Racing Donkey Kong Barrel Blast Drome Racers Family Go-Kart Racing Freaky Flyers - Plane Kart racing. Go-Kart Challenge' Jak X: Combat Racing Kart Attack Kart Rider Konami Krazy Racers Lego Racers, Lego Racers 2 Looney Tunes Racing Looney Tunes: Space Race (Futuristic kart racer) Madagascar Kartz Mario Kart Mega Man Battle & Chase Mickey's Speedway USA ModNation Racers Motor Kombat Muppet RaceMania MySims Racing NASCAR Kart Racing Nicktoons Racing Pac-Man World Rally PocketBike Racer Sonic Drift Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Speed Freaks AKA Speed Punks Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing SuperKarts Toontown Online (Goofy Speedway) TuxKart Wacky Wheels Wacky Races Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers Scrap Metal (Xbox Live/Game-Room Arcade) Water racing games Racing that takes place on the ocean, in the sea and on other water-based arenas. Jetski racing games Jet Moto series Kawasaki Jet Ski Watercraft Monkey Turn V Splashdown (video game) Splashdown: Rides Gone Wild Surf Rocket Racers Wave Race Wave Race 64 Wave Race: Blue Storm Wave Rally Carve Speedboat racing games Hydro Thunder Thames Racer H2Overdrive Cobra Triangle Speedboat Attack Off-road racing games Off-road racing is a format of racing where various classes of specially modified vehicles (including cars, trucks, motorcycles and buggies) compete in races through off-road environments. Colin McRae Rally Category:Off-road racing video games 4x4 Evolution series motostorm Futuristic racing games With science fiction settings, these games take an abstract view to racing and may feature abstract vehicles such as hoverbikes and race in alien environments. Without having to follow physical laws, the races and vehicles can move with tremendous speeds. Ballistics Battle Cars Carmageddon Extreme-G Fatal Inertia F-Zero series Hi-Octane Jet Moto series Killer Loop Kinetica Megarace Out Run 2019 P.O.D. series Quantum Redshift San Francisco Rush 2049 Sonic Riders Trust'Twist'n'Turn Top Gear 3000 Dethkarz R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 Rollcage Star Wars: Episode I Racer Star Wars: Racer Revenge S.T.U.N. Runner Wipeout series Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Wheelie Breakers Category:Futuristic racing games Racing role playing games Racing games that incorporate the elements of a RPG, such as character attributes and levels. Alfa Romeo Racing Italiano Blur (video game) Drift City Final Lap Twin Granada Racer Gran Turismo 5 Racing Lagoon Tokyo Street Racer Forza Motorsport Mission-based racing games Racing games feature the players' goal to not race around the tracks by going on a number of laps, but to pick up passengers to take them to somewhere they want to go or to carry things to somewhere. Crazy Taxi Series Arcade racing games timeline 1973 Astro Race - Taito 1974 Speed Race - Taito 1974 Gran Trak 10 - Atari 1975 EVR-Race - Nintendo 1976 Crashing Race - Taito 1976 Moto-Cross - Sega 1976 Fonz - Sega 1976 Road Race - Sega 1976 Night Driver - Atari 1977 Night Racer - Micronetics 1977 Comotion - UPL 1977 Twin Course T.T. - Sega 1978 Road Champion - Taito 1979 Speed Freak - Vectorbeam 1979 Monaco GP - Sega 1979 Head On - Sega 1980 Rally-X - Namco 1981 Turbo - Sega 1981 Alpine Ski - Taito 1982 Bump 'n' Jump - Data East 1982 Pole Position - Namco 1983 Pole Position II - Namco 1983 TX-1 - Tatsumi 1983 Up'n Down - Sega 1983 Change Lanes - Taito 1983 Roller Aces - Kaneko 1984 GP World - Sega 1984 Top Gear - Universal 1984 Laser Grand Prix - Taito 1984 Cosmos Circuit - Taito 1984 Buggy Challenge - Taito 1984 Kick Start - Taito 1984 Excitebike - Nintendo 1984 Jumping Cross - SNK 1984 Gladiator 1984 - SNK 1984 Mad Crasher - SNK 1984 Seicross - Nichibutsu 1984 Road Fighter - Konami 1984 The Battle-Road - Irem 1985 City Connection - Jaleco 1985 Hang-On - Sega 1986 Out Run - Sega 1986 WEC Le Mans - Konami 1987 Rad Racer - Square 1987 Continental Circus -Taito 1987 Final Lap - Namco 1988 Chase HQ - Taito 1988 Power Drift - Sega 1988 Paris-Dakar Rally Special - CBS Sony 1989 Hard Drivin' - Atari 1989 SCI - Taito (Chase HQ 2) 1991 Rad Mobile - Sega 1992 Super Chase: Criminal Termination - Taito 1992 Virtua Racing - Sega 1993 Ridge Racer - Namco 1993 Daytona USA - Sega 1994 Cruis'n USA - Midway 1994 Sega Rally Championship - Sega 1995 Rave Racer - Namco 1996 Cruis'n World - Midway 1996 Sega Touring Car Championship - Sega 1996 Sega Super GT - Sega 1996 San Francisco Rush - Atari 1997 Ignition - UDS 1998 Sega Rally 2 - Sega 1998 Daytona USA 2 - Sega 1999 Battle Gear - Taito 1999 Cruis'n Exotica - Midway 1999 San Francisco Rush 2049 - Atari 2002 Initial D Arcade Stage - Sega 2003 OutRun 2 - Sega 2004 Rallisport Challenge 2 - Microsoft Game Studios 2008 D1GP Arcade - Taito/Yukes 2008 Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX - Bandai Namco Games Vehicular combat games Main article: Vehicular combat game In these games, gameplay is mostly focused on the combat aspect of driving games, having vehicles equipped with weapons used to attack opponents (or the vehicle itself is a weapon). Auto Assault Blur (video game) Burnout (video game) Carmageddon Crashday Crash Tag Team Racing Deathtrack Demolition Racer (video game) Demolition Racer: No Exit Full Auto Impact Racing Interstate '76 Interstate '82 Jak X: Combat Racing RoadBlasters RoadKill Roadrash Streets of SimCity Twisted Metal Vigilante 8 See also Racing video game by year References