There have been some absolutely amazing driving games created over the years for games consoles from the legendary SNES to the latest Wii. The vicarious thrill of taking the virtual wheel has ensured this genre’s longevity, from realistic driving sims to crazy cartoon violence. James Davies counts down the top 10 best driving games of all-time, starting with a classic race-against-the-clock title.
Crazy Taxi
1. Crazy Taxi 1999
Buy: £5 – 20
Download: N/A
You walked into your local arcade and saw a Crazy Taxi cabinet. You walked over, popped some money in and was sucked into a world of fast music and fast ass taxi drivers, real life advertisements for Fila, Pizza Hut and KFC. Your goal in all this chaos was simply to drive people from point A to point B, Swerving between other drivers, jumping ramps, pulling crazy manoeuvres, all earning you big bucks. Crazy Taxi was such a huge success that Sega ported it to the Dreamcast in 2000 using the NAOMI hardware. The arcade version had you sit in a cockpit with a steering wheel, foot pedals – even a gear stick to switch from drive to reverse. After spending all your money you could make one game last over an hour instead of three minutes. Crazy Taxi spawned two sequels and appeared on multiple consoles but it will be most remembered in the arcades and on Sega’s Dreamcast.
2. Star Wars Pod Racer 1999
Buy: between £1,000 – 2,000
Download: N/A
The main reason this is number two is because of the awesome arcade cockpit. You sat in a seat resembling a pod racer, with two levers in front of you. Pushing both levers forward you started to feel like Anakin Skywalker in his first pod race, the controls were exactly how Anakin races his, both levers forward to accelerate, left lever forward and right lever back turns right etc. The levels span most of the planets in the Star Wars universe and even featured multiplayer. The console ports of the game had some customisable options for the pod racers.
Mario Kart 64
3. Mario Kart 64 1997
Buy: £20 complete, £5 – 15 cart only
Download: Nintendo Wii Virtual console 1,000 points
Mario Kart 64 has come a long way since the days of the SNES, with full 3D environments, beautiful scenery and weapons designed to help force your way to first place. Sure, you can’t fall off Rainbow Road or collect coins to boost your speed, and most of the skills used on the SNES are lost, but Mario Kart 64 is one of the best multiplayer games ever created. From the moment the light goes green (and depending on if you gained a boost) you are hurled into a race full of homing red shells, mushrooms and lightning bolts. Head down Toads’s Turnpike and watch as you and three friends drove towards trucks and other vehicles. And there was nothing like hitting the git in first with a red shell and taking first place.
4. Burnout 3 2002
Buy: £5 – 15
Download: Xbox Originals – 1200 Microsoft points
Strap your self in and prepare to dodge traffic as other cars try to ram you. Burnout is all about speed, dodging traffic and ramming other cars to gain takedowns. The challenges in Burnout are simple but can be quite tricky to do (example: destroy however many cars to gain 100,000 points). Road rage mode is one of the better off-line modes where you ram other cars into the side of the road, into other cars or barriers to win. Burnout can be played online against five other people in race mode or seven others in crash mode. Burnout also features game equivalents of real places such as Hong Kong, USA and Europe and the soundtrack includes the likes of My Chemical Romance.
5. Wipeout 1995
Buy: £2 – 10
Download: N/A
The year is 2052 you are entered into the F3600 anti-gravity racing league. You jump into your futuristic hovering vehicle, and find yourself speeding down levels that look like a mix between bobsledding and a roller-coaster, only with hover vehicles and rockets. Wipeout was one of the first games to feature real artists in the soundtrack including The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers. The soundtrack was so good you could even buy it in shops. Wipeout featured multiplayer and has spawned many sequels, even appearing on the Nintendo 64, but has stayed strongest on the Playstation 1 – PSP.
6. Driver 1999
Buy: £2 – 15
Download: N/A
You are Tanner, an undercover NYPD cop who must use his driving skills to gather information on the crime lords of Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. Driver has a distinctive early 70s feel and that shows in the car chases. Driver is very similar to the Grand Theft Auto series – except you cannot run around on foot or shoot civilians or cops. There’s a lot of fun to be had in Driver, nothing better than flying down a steep hill, then seeing a cop car flying upside down over your car.
Gran Turismo
7. Gran Turismo 1997
Buy: £2 – 10
Download: N/A
Gran Turismo is one of the most realistic and successful racing games of all time. This game is as close to driving a £200,000+ Ferrari as you’ll get without spending serious cash. Sony spent months accurately reproducing each car used in the game. This, plus some of the nicest graphics ever seen and the official Gran Turismo racing chair makes it most memorable car racing experience you can get all in the comfort of your home.
8. Test Drive Unlimited 2009
Buy: £25 – 40
Download: Xbox Live – 1200 Microsoft points
Test Drive Unlimited is like being in The Fast and The Furious. You have over 1,000 miles of Hawaiian islands to explore in over 125 licensed sports cars and motorbikes. When you first start the single player game you choose your car then hit the sunny roads of Hawaii island O-ahu. Using your sat-nav you can find people to race to gain money to tune up your car or bike. Sounds simple right? Wrong – you can’t just speed to each race, you have to take note of the speed limits. Any wreckless driving and you may get pulled over by the cops and even get a fine. Take Test Drive online and you’ll enter a world of hundreds if not thousands of other real life players. Make sure your car is nicely tuned up before challenging anyone.
9. Metropolis Street Racer (MSR) 2000
Buy: £5 – 15
Download: N/A
MSR is based around Kudos. Kudos is earned by drifting around corners, winning without bumping any cars or barriers, and handbrake turns. MSR is one of the Dreamcast’s most successful racing games. The cars, scenery and weather look great. The radio features Will Smith, Barry White and others – there are even DJs talking between songs. There is some basic car tune ups in MSR such as engine power, suspension, brakes and car colour, nothing too deep though. The Dreamcast rumble pack is supported and there’s a two player mode to race a friend.
10. Wave Race 64 1997
Buy: £5 – 25 complete, £5 – 10 cart only
Download: Nintendo Wii Virtual console 1,000 points
Get ready to hit the water on your Yamaha-licensed jet ski. Wave Race 64 is a fairly decent single-player game. To obtain more speed you have to go left when approaching a yellow buoy and right at a red buoy. Each buoy missed loses you power. There are also ramps you can drive up to pull off stunts. The water and environment in Wave Race 64 is beautiful and vibrant. There are also night levels.
