We’re a little spoilt for choice with racing games these days. Stalwarts of the genre like Gran Turismo, Forza and Need For Speed continue to live on while relative newcomers such as The Crew and Assetto Corsa are going from strength to strength. That’s just to skim a few names, too.
Yet, some truly great racing games have fallen by the wayside as the years have gone by. We’re true believers in never having too much of a good thing, so here are 10 we wish would make a comeback.
Blur
Blur so very nearly became a franchise rather than just one, long-forgotten but well-loved game. Released in 2010, it combined Need For Speed-like high-octane racing and licenced cars with the idea of power-ups from Mario Kart and the recipe was found.
It was warmly received at launch, and those who played it loved it. On the face of things, publisher Activision was happy as a sequel was in the works. Yet, less than a year on from its release, it closed down developer Bizarre Creations and Blur 2 would never be released. Oh, how we yearn for it.
Midnight Club
Before it set about milking Grand Theft Auto Online, taking an eternity to develop VI and releasing the masterpiece that is Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Games actually had a wide net of franchises.
One of those being Midnight Club, a street racing game inspired by the Japanese street racing club of the same name. It was quite a revolutionary series, becoming one of the first open-world street racing games and in its final form, Los Angeles, solidifying the series as one of the finest arcade racers around.
Such is the vast nature of GTA and its profit margins, we don’t expect there’ll ever be a new Midnight Club, but we can always dream.
Auto Modellista
Take the simulation-oriented physics of Gran Turismo, set it on Japanese mountain roads and sprinkle it with cel-shaded graphics, and you’ve got Auto Modellista.
Here in the Western world, Auto Modellista never really went beyond a niche game but that felt a real shame. The touge-focused title was pretty revolutionary for something released in the early ‘00s, offering deep visual and performance modifications even going as far as to offer engine swaps. EJ20 in a Subaru 360, anyone?
A middling reception and low sales meant it never got a sequel, but with the ever-growing popularity of JDM stuff, a follow-up might stand a better chance now.
Destruction Derby
As much as any of us would hate to admit it, crashing into things is one of the most fun parts of racing games if you’re in the right mood. So, why don’t we have more games dedicated to doing just that?
Of course, there’s Wreckfest and that’s a sublime game that is delightfully getting a sequel. Well before it released though, we had Destruction Derby.
Released in 1995, the premise was very simple. Crash into other cars, and be the last man standing. It also had a stock car racing mode too, in case you wanted to compete wheel-to-wheel rather than bonnet-to-bonnet.
It got a sequel in 1996 which only universally improved things although the third entry, Raw, never quite captured the same heights. There’s still time for vindication.
Driver
Ok, so technically Driver isn’t a racing game, but you spent pretty much the whole time in a car and you could race in them. All in agreement? Cool.
The original was like Grand Theft Auto if every mission was the chase scene from Bullitt, and the driving physics were pretty good for a title released on the PlayStation in 1999. The series had its ups and downs from there but went out on a reasonable high with 2011’s Driver San Francisco.
Sure, there’s been a mobile game since then but never a true follow-up to San Francisco. There’s a John Tanner-sized void in our lives.
Project Gotham Racing
Before it set about making Blur and ultimately got brutally shut down, Bizarre Creations was cooking with Project Gotham Racing.
As Microsoft’s headline racing series for the Xbox long before Forza came along, PGR was a true great off the bat. It balanced an arcade-handling focused neatly with street circuits and licensed cars, and really spiced the gameplay up with the Kudos system that helped keep races from feeling repetitive.
Rumours of a PGR5 have kicked up now and then, and it was revealed in 2022 that Forza Horizon was originally pitched as a PGR reboot. Is there space for both to exist? We think so.
Driveclub
Speaking of Forza Horizon, Sony has never had its own true answer to Microsoft’s sensational open-world series, but it came close.
Driveclub was more in the spirit of PGR than Forza was, focusing on closed-course arcade racing with licenced cars rather than taking on the ambitions of an open world. It looked stunning, especially the rain effects which are still regarded as one of the best to date, and played wonderfully.
Yet, the lack of things to do in the game and heavy focus on multiplayer that never quite worked hampered things. Had Sony taken the base of Driveclub and taken Horizon on toe-to-toe, it could’ve been something truly special. Alas, we’ll have to keep dreaming.
Juiced
Wanted something that played like Need For Speed Underground but was overall just a bit chavvier and more garish? Juiced was here.
The best way to describe Juiced is probably if Max Power Magazine (if you’re old enough to remember it) made a video game. It focused on making dull cars look absolutely ridiculous, go faster than they were supposed to look and laden everything with scantily clad women. Yeah, about that part…
Was Juiced of its time? Very much so, and truth be told, the older games don’t hold up all that well today. We think there’s a place for a slightly ridiculous tuner-focused, although maybe a little less pervy in keeping with the times.
Ridge Racer
It’s strange to think now, but Ridge Racer was once one of the pillars of racing games and a genuine pioneer in gaming, full-stop.
Initially released for arcade cabinets in Japan, its move to PlayStation in 1994 would fire it into the mainstream consciousness. It was one of the first games that looked like the technically superior arcade versions, and crucially, played just as addictively.
The series inarguably peaked at Ridge Racer Type 4, and subsequent releases never quite captured the magic as competing arcade racers caught up and superseded it. It’s been a long time now, though, and with next to no modern titles of its kind there’s a clear gap for a Ridge Racer return.
Burnout
If we could pick just one game to bring back from all of them, this is it.
Burnout has been absent from our lives since Paradise released way, way back in 2008 – not including the rather neat but not all that different remastered version that came along in 2018.
It started as just a small-fry race-against-the-clock arcade title but grew into a AAA behemoth with its addictive destruction a real game-changer for racing titles.
It may have gone out on a high with Paradise, but we’ve been on our knees waiting for a new game for some time. It could still happen yet, and we’ll be first in line if it does.
