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Best racing games on GamesNostalgia

Racing games, where players have the chance to drive a powerful car, have been a staple in the video game industry since the early days of arcade gaming. Of course, it's not just about cars, it could also be motorcycles, and it can be street racing, track racing, or offroad. What's important is the vehicle should be fast and fun to drive. Pole Position, released in 1982, was the first biggest arcade hit, while the first popular computer game was probably Pitstop II, released in 1984. One year later, Geoff Crammod created the first racing simulation when he developed Revs for BBC Micro.

In 1986, OutRun revolutionized the genre and set the tone for many other street racing games, with 2D pixel-art graphics, music, and a behind view showing the driver and his girlfriend.

Hard Drivin' in 1989 was the first racing game to use 3D graphics, but many games continued to adopt 2D graphics, like the well-known Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge for the Amiga, a game famous for the split-screen 2-player mode. There are also motorcycle games, like Super Hang-On, an arcade ported to many platforms, and Thalion's No Second Prize.

In 1991, the legendary Formula 1 Grand Prix (aka World Circuit) by Geoff Crammod was released. It was a realistic Formula 1 simulator with 3D graphics, a damage system, weather effects, and many other details nobody had seen before.

With the arrival of Windows 95 and more powerful graphics cards, many great racing games were released, like Screamer and, most importantly, The Need for Speed, published in 1995, a game that inspired movies and books.

The famous combat racing game Road Rash was released in 1996, like Death Rally, while the two fantastic driving/racing simulations Midtown Madness and Driver saw the light in 1999.

You can find many other racing games in this list, from Super Mario Kart clones to sci-fi racing sims or post-apocalyptic races. Just browse the list and have fun!

Road Rash windows

Road Rash is a violent motorcycle racing video game developed and published by Electronic Arts released initially in 1991 for Sega Genesis, then ported to Amiga and other platforms.

Year: 1996 Genre: Racing

3do combat racing driving motorcycle racing street racing

Need for Speed II: Special Edition windows

Need for Speed 2 is the second game in the popular series of racing games created by Electronic Arts starting with The Need for Speed. It was released in 1997 for PlayStation. An...

Year: 1997 Genre: Racing

3d acceleration automobile driving multiplayer racing street racing vehicle simulator

Midtown Madness windows

Midtown Madness is a racing sim created by Angel Studios for Windows and published by Microsoft in 1999. The game allows you to drive different vehicles in four different single-player modes: Blitz, Circuit, Checkpoint, and Cruise.

Year: 1999 Genre: Racing

3d automobile multiplayer north america open world racing street racing vehicle simulator

Road Rash - Original Version sega-master-systemgenesisamiga

Road Rash is a popular motorcycle racing game created by Electronic Arts and first released in 1991 on the SEGA Genesis. Originally designed by Randall Breen, Dan Geisler and Walte...

Year: 1992 Genre: Racing

combat racing motorcycle racing transport

Carmageddon dos

Carmageddon is a violent and destructive racing game developed by Stainless Software and published by SCi and Interplay in 1997 for DOS and Mac (ported to other platforms in later years).

Year: 1997 Genre: Racing

automobile driving racing vehicular combat simulator violence

Grand Prix II dos

Grand Prix II, also known as Formula One Grand Prix 2, is the second Formula 1 racing game in the series created by Geoff Crammond and published by MicroProse in 1995 for DOS. This...

Year: 1995 Genre: Racing

automobile f1 racing track racing vehicle simulator

Stunt Rally windowsdos

Stunt Rally is a free racing game featuring 167 tracks in 34 sceneries, 19 cars + 4 vehicles and a Track Editor..

Year: 2014 Genre: Racing

racing

Death Rally doswindows

Death Rally is a top-down combat racing game developed by Remedy, published by Apogee, and distributed by GT Interactive Software. It was released in 1996 for MS-DOS, but in 2009 it was re-released for Windows as freeware.

Year: 1996 Genre: Racing

automobile combat racing freeware racing top-down

The Need for Speed dos

The Need for Speed is the first racing game in the Need for Speed Series, and it was developed and published by Electronic Arts (EA) in 1994 for 3DO. It was ported to DOS in 1995, and PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996.

Year: 1995 Genre: Racing

3do automobile racing street racing vehicle simulator

Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 amiga

Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 is the second game in the Lotus arcade racing trilogy; it was developed by Magnetic Fields and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1991 for the Amiga and Atari ST.

Year: 1991 Genre: Racing

2 players automobile licensed multiplayer racing split-screen street racing transport

Skyroads dos

Skyroads is a remake of the driving game Kosmonaut. Both games were made by Bluemoon, a small studio based in Estonia. The game was released in 1993 for PC MS-DOS only. Compared t...

Year: 1993 Genre: Racing

freeware platformer racing science fiction track racing

Lotus: The Ultimate Challenge amiga

Lotus: The Ultimate Challenge is the third game of the Lotus series, three racing computer games published between 1990 and 1992 by Gremlin Graphics and developed by Magnetic Fields.

Year: 1992 Genre: Racing

2 players amiga original game automobile competitive driving racing split-screen street racing transport

Street Rod 2 amiga

Street Rod 2 is the sequel to Street Rod, it was developed by P.Z.Karen Co and Logical Design Works and published for Amiga and DOS in 1991 by California Dreams. Featuring American...

Year: 1991 Genre: Racing

automobile business simulation management racing transport

Street Rod amiga

Street Rod is an American muscle car street racing game developed by Magic Partners with P.Z. Karen Co. Development Group and published by California Dreams in 1989 on DOS and Commodore 64.

Year: 1989 Genre: Racing

automobile business simulation management racing street racing transport vehicle simulator