Home Gaming The ten best racing games available right now

The ten best racing games available right now

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I’ve got a need! A need for speed! And while I don’t see myself scratching that itch with many horses under the hood of an exotic sports car, video games are a fine substitute. The genre has grown immensely over the years, reaching new highs in the pursuit of digital automotive excellence. Here’s ten of the best games available right now on various platforms.

Need for Speed

need for speed

Sometimes fast and sometimes furious, EA’s latest Need for Speed game is cheesy on the narrative and glorious in the driver’s seat with an emphasis on style and substance thanks to several recent patches.

DriveClub

Drive Club 2

Project Gotham Racing may be a dead franchise, but its spirit lived on briefly inside of Drive Club. Not the next big franchise that Sony was hoping for, but still a fine example of the joy of driving with style and class – especially after patches and updates saved it from a disastrous launch.

Trackmania Turbo

Trackmania

Feel like a racing game that slaps gravity in the face and gives you the tools to create tracks that defy all known laws of physics? Trackmania Turbo is the game for you then, as setting the fastest lap time possible and surviving the track will have you smiling all day long.

Project CARS

Project Cars[4]

We’re still waiting for Sony to eventually release a new entry in the Gran Turismo franchise, but until that happens we’ve got Project CARS to play around with. A solid racer from start to finish, Project CARS is also easily the sexiest looking game on this entire list.

Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart 8

The latest iteration of Mario Kart may look like a simple game for the kids, but scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find Nintendo at their best with a racing experience built on love, craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Forza Horizon 3

Forza 3

While Forza Motorsport may be Microsoft’s racing franchise at its most technical, Forza Horizon sits at the opposite end of that spectrum with an emphasis on speed and fun. It’s third installment is easily the best, giving players control of an entire continent to race across with a dreamlist of cars that makes the experience simply heavenly.

Fast RMX

Fast RMX

Not every car has to have wheels to be the fastest on the track. And when you’ve got the spirit of WipeOut and F-Zero under the hood, you know you’ve got a lightning-quick launch game for the Nintendo Switch that is a joy(con) to play.

F1 2016

f1 2016

Formula One games of the past couple of years had been standard entries, racing experiences that were happy to do the the bare minimum. But F1 2016 isn’t just the fastest sport at its best but also a benchmark-setting simulation that oozes precision.

Dirt Rally

dirt rally

Harsh, unforgiving and brutal in its approach to a genre that most developers avoid, DiRT Rally lives up to a name and pedigree where every corner counts and purity to the sport is the real name of the game.

WRC 6

wrc 6

On the other end of the spectrum you’ve got WRC 6, a game that proved that the sixth time is indeed the charm. Unlike DiRT Rally, WRC 6 is a looser and more forgiving dip in point to point racing that wants you to enjoy the thrill of a power-slide.

And that’s our list! Agree? Disagree? Let us know below how stupid my face is for not listing that one game that you like. I probably deserve it anyway.

Last Updated: March 30, 2017

29 Comments

  1. Ottokie

    March 30, 2017 at 14:38

    Fast RMX… I need that in my life right now!

    Reply

    • Captain JJ

      March 30, 2017 at 14:41

      You have the chair for it.

      Reply

    • DrKiller

      March 30, 2017 at 14:48

      If only it was on Xbox 🙁 sigh

      Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      March 30, 2017 at 14:50

      I don;t have RMX, but I do have Fast Racing NEO and it’s SO SO GOOD.

      Reply

    • HvR

      March 30, 2017 at 15:36

      All you need to do is drop some oil under your chair. make brooom broom noises

      Reply

      • miaau

        March 30, 2017 at 15:55

        Is that also a cheaper way to own a Land Rover?

        Reply

        • HvR

          March 30, 2017 at 16:08

          At least a Landie doesn’t have tappit racing stripes like Otto’s chair.

          The Land Rover might also weigh less than Otto’s chair

          Reply

  2. Captain JJ

    March 30, 2017 at 14:41

    Awesome awesome. Now we need one about upcoming racing games, because I’m itching for a new racing game like crazy.
    Need For Speed was garbage imo, but damn it does look incredible.
    ProjectCARS is excellent fun with a nice balance in handling. Forza is on the Windows Store, expensive and buggy, so it’s not an option unfortunately.
    Looking forward to some exciting new ones to come though.

    Reply

    • Ottokie

      March 30, 2017 at 14:42

      And TrackMania is behind adware xD

      Reply

    • The D

      March 30, 2017 at 14:43

      Need for Speed really improved post-launch. The tweaks that Ghost Games added were very, very welcome. Especially when they gave you an option to make your crew shut the f*** up.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ

        March 30, 2017 at 14:46

        I bought it a bit later (once they included manual transmission – which didn’t always work lekker) and I did put near 40 hours in it. So maybe calling it garbage is a bit much. But it just wasn’t great. Compared to something like The Crew which is much older, and doesn’t look very good compared, it was just so incredibly limited and I got bored quickly. If I wasn’t playing with a friend I don’t think I would have made it to 40 hours.

        Reply

        • The D

          March 30, 2017 at 14:48

          ¯_(ツ)_/¯
          Different strokes, different folks 😀

          Reply

          • Captain JJ

            March 30, 2017 at 14:48

            Yes. True true.
            It did have Porsche. That was rather great.

          • Dresden

            March 30, 2017 at 15:11

            Porsche makes (almost) any racing game great!

          • Captain JJ

            March 30, 2017 at 15:19

            Luckily the license isn’t solely owned by EA anymore, so we should be seeing Porsche in more racing games now.

        • miaau

          March 30, 2017 at 15:54

          Playing on Xbox ONe now, nearly finished the game. Not fantastic, but a lot of silly fun to be had.

          Bit frustrating when we get to the end of a race and my daughter calls and I crash and lose……

          Reply

          • Captain JJ

            March 30, 2017 at 16:32

            Being an always online game (at least on pc) also really irritates me. It was completely unnecessary.

          • miaau

            March 31, 2017 at 07:19

            Xbox as well, but you can play solo.

          • Captain JJ

            March 31, 2017 at 08:16

            It’s bs though. No reason to have an SP game always online. It definitely will deter me from buying it.

    • Skyblue

      March 30, 2017 at 15:35

      Yeah the PC version of Forza does some very weird shit which makes it break framerates randomly and destroys any chance of enjoyment. And this is from a longtime fan of the series.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ

        March 30, 2017 at 16:32

        I’ve also had problems with the Windows Store in general, so I don’t use it.

        Reply

  3. Geoffrey Tim

    March 30, 2017 at 14:43

    Mario Kart 8 uber alles.

    Reply

    • Ottokie

      March 30, 2017 at 14:43

      Good thing when I finally get the Switch it will be the first time I play Mario Kart 8

      Reply

  4. Magoo

    March 30, 2017 at 14:45

    Assetto Corsa

    Reply

    • Captain JJ

      March 30, 2017 at 14:47

      Assetto Corsa is excellent, just a pity the controller keybinds can’t be changed to what you like. So if you don’t have a wheel you better hope that they have the exact way you like your keys mapped out in their presets.

      Reply

  5. Dresden

    March 30, 2017 at 15:08

    I just want a new Burnout to be released 🙁

    Reply

  6. Skyblue

    March 30, 2017 at 15:37

    Now I have to go and play F-Zero again. Damn I love that game. Not getting a Switch though.

    Reply

  7. Matthew Holliday

    March 30, 2017 at 15:40

    Does Trackmania Turbo have any support locally?
    Trackmania nations was amazing, lots of local servers with great drivers and great track lists, but Trackmania 2 bombed so damned hard, was a total waste of money.
    So yeah, unless we have a decent selection of local servers, with varied track styles… meh.

    Reply

  8. miaau

    March 30, 2017 at 15:49

    I want Forza Horizon 3, but the price, for how much I will play it, is just ridiculous right now. Also, broke. Still. Damn.

    If I had loads of time to burn, I would be playing F1 2016, but to just play casually just causes frustration. You really need to pay attention there, learn the tracks, that sort of thing. I am a HUGE F1 fan.

    Reply

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