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[catashtrophe]

Snes Mario Kart
Snes F-Zero
Wipeout HD/Fury
Rallisport Challenge 2
Sega Rally 1

 

[ScOULaris]

Burnout 3 was the most fun I ever had with an arcade racer.
Gran Turismo 4 was the most fun I ever had with a racing sim.

I think overall I'd have to go with Burnout 3.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Anyone who doesn't answer Daytona USA is objectively wrong and should most likely re-assess why they play games.

 

[segasonic]

PGR 2 is the pinnacle of the racing genre

 

[Nestunt]

There are several sub-genres, so it's hard to compare them

Forza Motorsport 3
Ridge Racer Type 4
NFS Hot Pursuit
Rollcage

 

[Oneself]

Burnout 3: Takedown followed by rally sport challenge 2 and Driveclub

This coupled with Motorstorm Pacific Rift, NFS Hot Pursuit PS2, Hot Pursuit PS3, Ridge Racer 4&7, GT4, DK Racing and Crash Team Racing.

Because nostalgia: Race Driving / Hard Driving, Chase HQ, Cruis'n USA arcade version, Sega Rally, Rad Mobile, Top Gear, Colin McRae, Super Mario Kart.

 

[Zaru]

The king.

The most demanding and gratifying sim ever made.

Almost 2 decades later, I'm wondering how the sim aspect of this game holds up.
It's difficult, sure, but was that based in reality? I can't imagine those late-90s CPUs being able to do the kind of detailed calculations for 20-something cars next to the other game logic that modern CPUs could handle. Or did they manage some sort of programming wizardry?

 

[hao chi]

Wave Race Blue Storm for me. I think part is the reason I love it so much is just how you have to compensate for waves throughout the races, and kicking the weather setting up to thunderstorm was always really fun.

 

[cireza]

My vote goes to Outrun 2/2006. I never get tired of this game.

 

[Iva Demilcol]

Project Gotham Racing 2 and Rally Sport Challenge 2 were my favorite racing games during the ps2/ngc/xb era, and I think they still hold up this day.

 

[Venuspower]

Need For Speed Underground 2
Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005)
G.T.R
G.T.R 2
Crash CTR

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

nice pull

8 player local multiplayer using 4 controllers, easily the GOAT.

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

 

[djplaeskool]

Arcade: Toss-up: Virtua Racing / Outrun 2/2006
Semi-sim: DriveClub
Sim: Gran Turismo 3

 

[oni-link]

There are several sub-genres, so it's hard to compare them

Forza Motorsport 3
Ridge Racer Type 4
NFS Hot Pursuit
Rollcage

I'd love to play this but the EU PSN version is a 50hz version and that's going to ruin it for me

 

[maxcriden]

I rarely tend to get into racers so I can say confidently that my favorite racing game of all time (I know the thread title is asking "best," but I'm choosing to interpret that as "best, to me") is:

Diddy Kong Racing! This game captured my imagination as a child. I believe it was the first game we got for our first console, the N64. And man, is it ever something special as a racing game. Featuring....

Fan-favorite characters from Rare franchises....

Exploration and a hub world...

Diverse locales and vehicles each with their own unique quirks...

Challenging boss battles... (final boss (well, bosses) ... crazy difficult)

This MTV.com article about why DKR runs circles around MK64 is well worth a read:

http://www.mtv.com/news/2261235/diddy-kong-racing-versus-mario-kart-64/

There's plenty more to extol about the game, too. Especially its incredible (among the GOAT) OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz8pXp_JsIE (any track is mind-blowingly good, but a couple faves are Frosty Village and Crescent Island....
...oh and Darkmoon Caverns... and many more...)

The characters, setting and presentation are a memorable introduction to Rare's animal antics on N64 and would set the tone and stage for what kind of family-friendly experiences we'd see from them on the system. The battle mode is also notably excellent, and I don't think I ever got too into the Time Trial side of things but what I played of it offered plenty of challenge.

The DS port is probably the easiest way for most to access the game nowadays; it's a solid port but has some real quirks to it that some find a determinant. I'd hope for a VC re-release one day.

 

[T.O.P]

F Zero Gx, Rallysport Challenge 2 and Forza Horizon 3

 

[10k]

Top Gear for SNES.

 

[Kilrogg]

Okay, I'd forgotten about this one, but you're totally right.
Great fun, very challenging, oozes charm.

 

[Bring back the classics]

Without our a shadow of a doubt I have never played anything so realistic to a top performance car as gt sport! I got the chance to play it at egx 2016 with wheel and i was totally blown away. It stole game of the show for me.

I love driveclub for sheer arcade but gt sport is on another level.

I really thought it was ready for release and was shocked to learn it was not full 2017 now.

If this is how it looks and feels hurry up 2017 ! Polyphony rule again.

 

[Vitor711]

WipeoutHD with the Fury add-on. No other arcade racers comes close in terms of sheer content, variety and still holding up as a visual tour-de-force.

 

[sublimit]

Gran Turismo 3 was perfection to me.The jump from GT2 to GT3 in terms of overall quality was simply mindblowing.A great variety of cars and levels,incredible graphics,really short loading times (something that unfortunatelly got worse with GT4) and most importantly a very improved physics engine with a lot of thought going behind each car's behaviour.

I only hope the jump from GT6 to GT7 to be as ambitious as GT3 was back then.Unfortunatelly i can't say i'm too impressed with what i've seen from GT Sport so far.

 

[GrayFoxBH]

Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

F-Zero GX for the general mechanics. Kind of lacks in interesting tracks compared to other games though. Mastering this game to beat everything on the hardest difficulty was a blast.

Diddy Kong Racing. Absolutely wonderful track variety. Fun racers. Simple items with no bullshit like blue shells. David Wise soundtrack. Also the best single player racing campaign of all time by far.

Jak X Combat Racing. I just love the way the vehicles move in this game, and the single player campaign is also great. The combat was also fun. Dying only slowed you down slightly. You respawned so fast that getting hit didn't feel as frustrating as in other racers.

Not a fan of racing sims or the more realistic looking racers. Forza and Need For Speed don't interest me at all. Played Burnout a bit and hated the way the cars handled.

 

[zombieshavebrains]

Burnout 3 or Rally Cross.

 

[maxmars]

I understand they're kind of niche but no mention of Excite Truck? Waverace 64?

 

[NightShift]

Game of a generation

Not only as a racer but as a multiplayer game too. Some of my favourite memories playing online with friends were with this game. Still play it from time to time and it's never leaving my PS3's hard drive.

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

 

[Sojiro]

Diddy Kong Racing

Good mention, no idea why I didn't think of it as well. I really loved the "campaign", and those bosses were no joke!

 

[Iva Demilcol]

Driveclub is a better PGR game than anything anyone rounded up by MS could've done.

Driveclub was better than PGR, come at me.

Driveclub is a great game, no doubt. But its no PGR, c'mon guys.

Yep, To be honest I never felt that Driveclub was even close to what PGR did back in the day.

 

[Mahonay]

For me personally, I'd have to say Gran Turismo 2.
https://youtu.be/ZwUJbMTIljw

 

[Juraash]

For a sim experience it's probably Gran Turismo 4 for me.

And while F-Zero and Wipeout almost certainly have better entries... I'm still picking the original Extreme-G here.

 

[mattwhite924]

F-Zero GX.
Like no question or hesitation. It's just easily F-Zero GX. Nothing else comes close. The controls are perfect, the sense of speed is breathtaking, the challenge curve is oh so satisfying, the graphics still look amazing, and story mode is filled with so much cheese that's it's delightful.

Burnout 3 would be my second choice. It has one thing that I wish more racing games would do, and that's have the option to do a single race on a random track. I've spent so much time just doing random races. I'll never understand why they took that out in Revenge (I keep hoping someone will tell me I'm dumb and it is in there somewhere).


Honorable Mention goes to Burnout Paradise and Forza Horizon 2 (haven't played 3 yet). Both do open world racing really well, but in completely different ways. If Horizon 2 had more arcade like physics and speed it could have replaced Burnout 3 for me.

 

[Easy_D]

Let's just say..

Take me down to Paradise City

 

[StayDead]

Anyone who doesn't answer Daytona USA is objectively wrong and should most likely re-assess why they play games.

Was coming to say Daytona USA. Didn't need the last bit though imo.

 

[N.Grim]

F-Zero GX. No other comes close.

.

 

[Give War A Chance]

Whichever Burnout was Takedown.

 

[Neptonic]

Daytona USA is pretty close to perfection

But I personally like F-Zero (either X or GX) more.

For a more grounded racing game I love Ridge Racer Type 4

Then Burnout 3 or Paradise

 

[lightchris]

Gran Turismo 6.

Not as spectacular for its time as other GT games, but in absolute terms it certainly is the most advanced and complete GT game in almost all aspects*. Don't get me wrong, other racing games are great too, and of course there are some with better graphics, physics, or sound (which isn't difficult..). But something about the package as a whole that GT offers still resonates the most with me. I think it's mainly the the career mode and the selection of cars, overall its just the most fun for me.

* framerate is one aspect that isn't, and I get totally understand people who dislike GT5/6 for that point alone. Personally I can stomach it though.

 

[phant0m]

Forza Horizon 2 or 3, depending on which environment and structure you prefer.

 

[Rodin]

F-Zero GX.

 

[Ryde3]

PGR2, Double Dash, Burnout 3, Cruisin USA.

 

[PaulBizkit]

To me... Best = fun + varied + good local multiplayer

So F-Zero X

 

[Patrick Young]

Mario Kart 64 and Out Run are right up there.

But your winner is Burnout Paradise.

 

[cilonen]

Gran Turismo 4
Metropolis Street Racer
F355 Challenge
Test Drive Unlimited 2

 

[Navi]

MK64.

 

[djplaeskool]

F355 Challenge

I have to admit, those multi-screen arcade cabs for Ferrari F355 Challenge were awesome back in the day.

 

[NinjamicWZ]

Die Hard With a Vengeance

Real answer is I don't play a lot of racing games, but I loved Ridge Racer Type 4

Probably the first one I felt really satisfied with owning.

 

[Camjo-Z]

It's a three way tie for me.

Ridge Racer Type 4
Daytona USA
Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast

 

[BadAss2961]

Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.