Racing Games, Ranked

The best-selling racing game in history and the best-selling Switch title, having sold over 68 million copies as of 2025. It holds a 92 Metacritic and remains the definitive kart racer.

The genre-defining sim racer scored 96 on Metacritic and sold 10.85 million copies, earning a Guinness World Record as best-selling PlayStation game at the time. It made 'racing simulation' a mainstream category.

One of the highest-rated racing games of the decade at 92 Metacritic, it drew a record 10 million players in its first week and later surpassed 40 million. It won Best Sports/Racing Game at The Game Awards 2021.

One of the most acclaimed and best-selling driving simulators of all time on PS2, with a staggering 700+ car roster, meticulous physics, and Photo Mode. Defined the sim-racing genre for a generation.

The peak of the tuner-culture era, with a beloved open-world Bayview, deep customization, and free-roam exploration that hooked a whole generation. Arguably the most fondly remembered NFS entry.

The best-loved entry in the Need for Speed franchise and a defining arcade street racer, it sold over 16 million copies and is routinely cited as the series' high-water mark for its cops-and-tuners Blacklist chase.

Scored 92 on Metacritic and won the 2019 BAFTA Games Award for Best Evolving Game; its seasonal-weather open-world Britain reset the bar for the genre before FH5.

A return to form for the sim series with an 87 Metacritic on PS5 and later PlayStation VR2 support, though a launch microtransaction and economy controversy triggered heavy player review-bombing.

The GameCube's unique two-characters-per-kart twist made it a cult favorite with distinctive co-op play and special items. A creative high point for the kart series.

Codemasters' unforgiving, hyper-authentic rally sim praised for its brutal stage handling and immersion. The gold standard for serious rally driving.

An 88-Metacritic open-world reinvention of arcade racing that won Best Driving Game honors at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards and remains a cult favorite for its crash-heavy takedowns.

A Super Famicom launch title credited with pioneering the futuristic-racing subgenre and showcasing Mode 7 graphics, directly inspiring Wipeout and other high-speed racers.

The 3D leap that popularized four-player split-screen kart racing, it sold roughly 9.87 million copies and cemented the couch-multiplayer template every kart racer copies.

The stylish anti-gravity futuristic racer that helped define the PlayStation's launch-era cool factor, with iconic techno soundtrack and design. A landmark, though rougher than later entries.

A precision time-trial phenomenon with a massive competitive and community track-building scene. Endlessly replayable, though its arcade purity is niche for some.

A defining early arcade drift racer and a PlayStation launch showcase, but the series faded and is now remembered more for nostalgia than for holding up against modern racers.

An ambitious crowd-funded sim with strong visuals (around 82 Metacritic) that landed as merely solid, criticized for punishing handling and bugs that kept it short of the Gran Turismo/Forza tier.

A competent but forgettable motorcycle sim from Milestone that reviewed in the low-70s Metacritic range, dinged for stiff physics and bland presentation.

The franchise reboot underwhelmed around a 70 Metacritic, criticized for its always-online requirement and a live-action story that undercut the driving.

Infamously one of the worst-rated games on Metacritic at 8/100, it shipped so broken that opponents never move and trucks accelerate infinitely in reverse — widely called the worst racing game ever made.