your favorite racing games by year (2002-2022)

64gigabyteram

Reverse groomer.
I'll start!

2002: Auto Modellista
2003: F-Zero GX
2004: Gran Turismo 4
2005: Need For Speed Most Wanted
2006: Outrun 2006
2007: Mario Kart Arcade GP 2
2008: Mario Kart Wii
2009: Forza Motorsport 3
2010: Hydro Thunder Hurricane
2011: Forza Motorsport 4
2012: Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed
2013: BeamNG Drive
2014: Assetto Corsa
2015: Does Rocket League count???
2016: N/A
2017: Forza Motorsport 7
2018: Horizon Chase Turbo
2019: Dirt Rally 2.0
2020: Hotshot Racing
2021: Forza Horizon 5
2022: Grid Legends
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
No love for pre-2001? So much good stuff from there. Also i ain't picking just one per year, i'll put in order from which i liked the most.

2002 -> NFS: Hot pursuit 2

2003 -> NFS: Underground / Midnight Club 2

2004 -> Flatout / NFS Underground 2

2005 -> NFS: Most Wanted / Rigs of Rods / Cross Racing Championship Extreme 2005

2006 -> Test Drive Unlimited / Flatout 2 / TrackMania United / Burnout Revenge (x360) / Crashday

2007 -> FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage / Project Gotham Racing 4

2008 -> Burnout Paradise / Midnight Club LA / Audiosurf / GRID

2009 -> DIRT 2 / Forza Motorsport 3

2010 -> Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit / Blur / Split/Second

2011 ->
Driver: San Francisco / Test Drive Unlimited 2 / DIRT 3

2012 ->
Forza Horizon / Euro Truck Simulator 2

2013 ->
TrackMania 2: Stadium

2014 -> The Crew

2015 -> BeamNG.drive / Absolute Drift / Dirt Rally

2016 -> Forza Horizon 3 / Carmageddon: Max Damage

2017 -> Project CARS 2

2018 -> Wreckfest / Horizon Chase Turbo / Forza Horizon 4

2019 -> Dirt Rally 2.0

2020 -> Art of Rally

2021/2022 -> N/A (there are candidates but i haven't played them)

Spot when the genre started dying out.
 
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Unknown?

Member
Obligatory original NFS games are better than all that came after.

NFS1,2,3, and High Stakes.
 
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mclaren777

Member
Mine is fairly boring...

2002-2004 • Gran Turismo 3
2005-2012 • rFactor
2013-2018 • rFactor 2
2019-2020 • Dirt Rally 2.0
2021-2022 • RaceRoom

I'm really looking forward to EA's upcoming WRC game and that could easily start another 2023-202x run for me.
 
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drotahorror

Member
2002: NFS HP2
2003: NFS Underground
2004: Gran Turismo 4
2006: Motorstorm
2007: DiRT
2008: Motorstorm Pacific Rift
2009: DiRT 2
2010: Hydro Thunder Hurricane
2011: Motorstorm Apocalypse
2012: Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed
2013: NFS Rivals
2014: Driveclub
2015: Dirt Rally
2016: Forza Horizon 3
2017: DiRT 4
2018: The Crew 2 (with all content, def not the 2018 version)
2019: Dirt Rally 2.0
2020: Art of Rally
2021: Riders Republic
2023: The Crew Motorfest
 
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Aion002

Member
2002: NFS HP 2
2003: NFS Underground
2004: NFS Underground 2
2005: NFS Most Wanted
2006: -
2007: -
2008: Motorstorm Pacific Rift
2009: Motorstorm Artic Edge
2010: NFS Hot Pursuit
2011: Motorstorm Apocalypse
2012: -
2013: -
2014: Driveclub

Everything else so far was unremarkable to me.
 
Forza Horizon 4 is my favorite one since Split/Second. Guess I should buy the 5th soon huh. Prior to Split Second, mind is foggy, not many racing games were good GOOD and most wanted/NFSU2 being the first few ones I loved. Even more prior to that, NFS Porsche? Revolt? Carmageddon?
 
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drotahorror

Member
hell yeah! There's actually a Windows version if you'd like to revisit on PC surprisingly

Yeah I've got it on 360 but never played the windows version. Runs great on my series S though. It's odd that it's published my Microsoft but not available on gamepass ultimate.

Also it's totally worth checking out H20verdrive with teknoparrot.
 
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Yonyx

Banned
I love these lists with years:

2000- Colin McRae Rally 2.0
2001- Wave Race. Blue Storm
2002-
2003- F-Zero GX
2004- Outrun 2
2005-
2006-
2007- Flatout. Ultimate Carnage
2008- Race Driver. Grid
2009-
2010- Hydro Thunder Hurricane
2011- Mario Kart 7
2012-
2013-
2014- Driveclub
2015-
2016-
2017-
2018- Wreckfest
2019-
2020- Art of Rally
2021- Star Drift Evolution
2022-
 

Wulfer

Member
Simply WoW no Daytona USA anywhere on the lists above. It's a mad mad world we're living in. The GOAT of arcade racing games not listed?
 
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yurinka

Member
I'll start!

2002: Wipeout 2097
2003: Wipeout 2097
2004: Wipeout 2097
2005: Wipeout Pure
2006: OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast
2007: Wipeout Pure
2008: Wipeout Pure
2009: Wipeout HD Fury
2010: Wipeout HD Fury
2011: Wipeout HD Fury
2012: Wipeout HD Fury
2013: Wipeout HD Fury
2014: Wipeout HD Fury
2015: Wipeout HD Fury
2016: Wipeout HD Fury
2017: Wipeout Omega Collection
2018: Wipeout Omega Collection
2019: Wipeout Omega Collection
2020: Pacer
2021: Pacer
2022: Pacer
Fixed
 
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Zarak

Member
2002: Rallisport Challenge
2003: APEX / Racing Evoluzione (PGR 2 honorable mention)
2004: Rallisport Challenge 2
2005: Gran Turismo 4
2006: Test Drive Unlimited
2007: Dirt
2008: Burnout Paradise
2009: Dirt 2
2010: Gran Turismo 5
2011: Forza Motorsport 4
2012: Forza Horizon
2013: Gran Turismo 6
2014: Driveclub
2015: Project CARS
2016: Forza Horizon 3
2017: Forza Motorsport 7
2018: The Crew 2
2019: Dirt Rally 2
2020: SnowRunner
2021: Riders Republic
2022: Gran Turismo 7

2011 was crazy Forza 4, Test Drive Unlimited 2, NFS Shift 2, Motorstorm Apocalypse, Dirt 3
 

L*][*N*K

Member
Burnout 3, Burnout Revenge, Burnout Paradise, Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, Split/Second and Forza Horizon 5
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
- Motorstorm
- GT5 Prologue
- GT5
- Driveclub
- GT7

Not too fond of racing games, tbh.

Also:

- BC Racers (Sega Mega CD)
- Jaguar XJ220 (Sega Mega CD)
- Mario Kart (SNES)
 
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Mephisto40

Member
I'll start!

2002: Auto Modellista
2003: F-Zero GX
2004: Gran Turismo 4
2005: Need For Speed Most Wanted
2006: Outrun 2006
2007: Mario Kart Arcade GP 2
2008: Mario Kart Wii
2009: Forza Motorsport 3
2010: Hydro Thunder Hurricane
2011: Forza Motorsport 4
2012: Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed
2013: BeamNG Drive
2014: Assetto Corsa
2015: Does Rocket League count???
2016: N/A
2017: Forza Motorsport 7
2018: Horizon Chase Turbo
2019: Dirt Rally 2.0
2020: Hotshot Racing
2021: Forza Horizon 5
2022: Grid Legends
Not having a single Burnout game on that list is just criminal
 

64gigabyteram

Reverse groomer.
No Gran Turismo 5, 6, or 7? The list is a sham OP.
Gran Turismo 3 and 4 were the peak, everything after those isn't as good. If I had extended the list to 2001-2022 GT3 would most certainly take the 2001 spot in my opinion

Not having a single Burnout game on that list is just criminal
i was gonna put burnout 3 for 2004... but 2004 had heavy competition from Gran Turismo 4 and it's so hard to choose between the two.

Gran Turismo 4 has the better campaign, aesthetic style, it was the game that made me give a fuck about racing games (outside of Mario Kart) to begin with. Plus, i always preferred the OST of Gran Turismo 4. It's really hard to compete with that.

But don't be disappointed, I LOVE burnout.
 
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64gigabyteram

Reverse groomer.
No love for pre-2001? So much good stuff from there. Also i ain't picking just one per year, i'll put in order from which i liked the most.

2002 -> NFS: Hot pursuit 2

2003 -> NFS: Underground / Midnight Club 2

2004 -> Flatout / NFS Underground 2

2005 -> NFS: Most Wanted / Rigs of Rods / Cross Racing Championship Extreme 2005

2006 -> Test Drive Unlimited / Flatout 2 / TrackMania United / Burnout Revenge (x360) / Crashday

2007 -> FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage / Project Gotham Racing 4

2008 -> Burnout Paradise / Midnight Club LA / Audiosurf / GRID

2009 -> DIRT 2 / Forza Motorsport 3

2010 -> Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit / Blur / Split/Second

2011 ->
Driver: San Francisco / Test Drive Unlimited 2 / DIRT 3

2012 ->
Forza Horizon / Euro Truck Simulator 2

2013 ->
TrackMania 2: Stadium

2014 -> The Crew

2015 -> BeamNG.drive / Absolute Drift / Dirt Rally

2016 -> Forza Horizon 3 / Carmageddon: Max Damage

2017 -> Project CARS 2

2018 -> Wreckfest / Horizon Chase Turbo / Forza Horizon 4

2019 -> Dirt Rally 2.0

2020 -> Art of Rally

2021/2022 -> N/A (there are candidates but i haven't played them)

Spot when the genre started dying out.
Actually wonder why Forza 3 is on your list but not Forza 4.
 

Melchiah

Member
I'll go by generations/platforms...

C64 - Racing Destruction Set
Amiga - Stunt Car Racer
PS1 - WipEout 2097
PS2 - SSX
PS3 - WipEout HD + Fury
PS4 - Driveclub
PS5 - none ☹️
 
If this thread was about fighting games, I could list one for every year, but I only dabble in racing games. I will even include 2000 as I have nothing else I played until 2004.

2000 - Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed



2004 - Ford Racing 3



2010 - Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing



2011 - Test Drive Unlimited 2



2012 - Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed



2016 - Forza Horizon 3



2018 - Forza Horizon 4 (missed opportunity to have 007 theme on Timeless FM)



2019 - Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled



P.S. I am hoping Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown is my 2024 Racing GOTY.
 

64gigabyteram

Reverse groomer.
If this thread was about fighting games, I could list one for every year, but I only dabble in racing games. I will even include 2000 as I have nothing else I played until 2004.

2000 - Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed



2004 - Ford Racing 3



2010 - Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing



2011 - Test Drive Unlimited 2



2012 - Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed



2016 - Forza Horizon 3



2018 - Forza Horizon 4 (missed opportunity to have 007 theme on Timeless FM)



2019 - Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled



P.S. I am hoping Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown is my 2024 Racing GOTY.

All Stars Racing, All Stars Racing Transfoemed and Nitro Fueled....

Son Of A Bitch Arnold GIF by Ben L

Still waiting for a PC port of the last one.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
I'll go by console gen and/or platforms since it's easier to list them.

PS2
  • NFS Hot Pursuit 2
  • Burnout 3: Takedown
  • NFS Underground I & II
  • NFS Most Wanted
Xbox 360
  • NFS Carbon
  • Midnight Club: Los Angeles
  • Burnout Paradise
  • NFS Hot Pursuit 2010
  • NFS Most Wanted 2012
PS4/Xbox One
  • NFS Rivals
  • Forza Horizon 3
  • NFS Payback
  • Forza Horizon 4
  • NFS Heat
  • Forza Horizon 5
PS5
  • NFS Unbound
Yeah, I just like dumb arcade racing; really not a fan at all of simcades or sims though of course I tried both GT and Forza Motorsport and some GRID.
 
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2002 - Burnout 2
2003 - SSX3 (I'm counting it as racing lol)
2004 - Burnout 3
2005 - Mario Kart Arcade GP
2006 - MotorStorm
2007 -
2008 - Burnout: Paradise
2009 - Split/Second
2010 - NFS: Hot Pursuit/GT5 tie
2011 - Mario Kart 7
2012 - LBP Karting
2013 - NFS: Rivals
2014 - Mario Kart 8
2015 -
2016 -
2017 - Wipeout Omega Collection
2018 -
2019 - CTR: Nitro Fueled
2020 - Dirt 5
2021 -
2022 - GT7

Handful of years I didn't do any racing but I can't say I'm a hardcore racer fan (and there are numerous other genres I'd rather dedicate my time to) but when a racer grabs me it *really* grabs me and I sink dozens of hours into it.
 

mrmustard

Banned
1984 Excitebike
1990 F-Zero
1993 Rock & Roll Racing
1995 Hi Octane
1996 Twisted Metal 2
1997 Carmageddon
2003 The Simpsons Hit & Run
2014 Mario Kart 8
2018 Forza Horizon 4
2021 Forza Horizon 5

And a Xbox 360 game i can't remember. Was kind of a Mario Kart ripoff.
 
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