Racing Game

Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games.

Sub-genres

Arcade-style racing

Arcade-style racing games put fun and a fast-paced experience above all else, as cars usually compete in unique ways. A key feature of arcade-style racers that specifically distinguishes them from simulation racers is their far more liberal physics. Whereas in real racing (and subsequently, the simulation equivalents) the driver must reduce their speed significantly to take most turns, arcade-style racing games generally encourage the player to "powerslide" the car to allow the player to keep up their speed by drifting through a turn. Collisions with other racers, track obstacles, or traffic vehicles is usually much more exaggerated than simulation racers as well. For the most part, arcade-style racers simply remove the precision and rigor required from the simulation experience and focus strictly on the racing element itself. They often license real cars and leagues, but are equally open to more exotic settings and vehicles. Races take place on highways, windy roads, or in cities; they can be multiple-lap circuits or point-to-point sprints, with one or multiple paths sometimes with checkpoints, or other types of competition, like demolition derby, jumping, or testing driving skills. Popular arcade-style racing franchises include ''Out Run'', ''Ridge Racer'', ''Daytona USA'', ''Need for Speed'', ''Sega Rally'', ''Cruis'n'', '' Burnout'', '' Rush'', ''Midnight Club'', and ''MotorStorm''.

Conversely, many arcade racing games in amusement arcades frequently use hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets that simulate the look and feel of driving or riding a vehicle. For example, a motorbike that the player sits on and moves around to control the on-screen action, or a car-like cabinet (with seats, steering wheel, pedals and gear stick) that moves around in sync with the on-screen action. This has been especially common for arcade racing games from Sega since the 1980s. However, this can typically only be found in arcade racing games for amusement arcades, rather than arcade-style racing games for home systems.

During the mid-late 2000s there was a trend of new street racing; imitating the import scene, one can tune sport compacts and sports cars and race them on the streets. The most widely known ones are the '' Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition'' and the ''Midnight Club'' series, certain entries in the ''Need for Speed'' series, ''Initial D'' series, and the ''Juiced'' series.
Some arcade-style racing games increase the competition between racers by adding weapons that can be used against opponents to slow them down or otherwise impede their progress so they can be passed. This is a staple feature in kart racing games such as the ''Mario Kart'' series, but this kind of game mechanic also appears in standard, car-based racing games as well. Weapons can range from projectile attacks to traps as well as non-combative items like speed boosts. Weapon-based racing games include games such as ''Full Auto'', ''Rumble Racing'', and '' Blur''.

Simulation racing

Simulation style racing games strive to convincingly replicate the handling of an automobile. They often license real cars or racing leagues, but will sometimes use fantasy cars built to resemble real ones if unable to acquire an official license for them. Vehicular behavior physics are a key factor in the experience. The rigors of being a professional race driver are usually also included (such as having to deal with a car's tire condition and fuel level). Proper cornering technique and precision racing maneuvers (such as trail braking) are given priority in simulation racing games.

Although these racing simulators are specifically built for people with a high grade of driving skill, it is not uncommon to find aids that can be enabled from the game menu. The most common aids are traction control (TC), anti-lock brakes (ABS), steering assistance, damage resistance, clutch assistance, and automatic gear changes.

Some of these racing simulators are customizable, as game fans have decoded the tracks, cars, and executable files. Internet communities have grown around the simulators regarded as the most realistic and many websites host internet championships. Some of these racing simulators consist of ''Forza Motorsport'', '' Gran Turismo'', ''Assetto Corsa'', ''Project CARS, Forza Horizon'' and many more.

Kart racing

Kart racing games have simplified driving mechanics while adding obstacles, unusual track designs and various action elements. Kart racers are also known to cast characters known from various platform games or cartoon television series as the drivers of "wacky" vehicles. Kart racing games are a more arcade-like experience than other racing games and usually offer modes in which player characters can shoot projectiles at one another or collect power-ups. Typically, in such games, vehicles move more alike go-karts, lacking anything along the lines of a gear stick and clutch pedal.

While car combat elements date back to earlier titles such as Taito's '' Crashing Race'' in 1976, the kart racing subgenre was popularized by Nintendo's ''Super Mario Kart'' in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which spawned the ''Mario Kart'' series. The game was slower than other racing games of the time due to hardware limitations, prompting the developers to use a go-kart theme for the game. Since then, over 50 kart racing games have been released, featuring characters ranging from Nicktoons to ''South Park''.

Futuristic racing

Futuristic racing games are a type of racing game where players use science fiction vehicles, such as sci-fi cars or other sci-fi vehicles, to race against the clock or other vehicles. A number of futuristic racing games may also feature vehicular combat elements.

In the arcades, futuristic racing games date back to the 1980s. The laserdisc games '' Star Rider'' (1983) and '' Cosmos Circuit'' (1984) featured animated racing, using animated laserdisc video for the backgrounds. Alpha Denshi's ''Splendor Blast'' (1985) combined ''Pole Position'' style racing with ''Zaxxon'' style sci-fi vehicles, space settings and shoot 'em up elements. '' STUN Runner'' (1989) by Atari Games featured 3D polygon graphics and allowed players to blast other vehicles.

On home consoles, futuristic racing games were defined by Nintendo's ''F-Zero'' (1990) for the SNES, which spawned the ''F-Zero'' series. The PlayStation game '' Wipeout'' (1995) by Psygnosis featured 3D polygon graphics and spawned the '' Wipeout'' series. The ''F-Zero'' series subsequently made the transition to 3D polygon graphics with ''F-Zero X'' (1998) for the Nintendo 64.

History

Electro-mechanical driving games (1941–1976)

The basis for racing video games were arcade driving electro-mechanical games (EM games). The earliest mechanical racing arcade game dates back to 1900, when the London-based Automatic Sports Company manufactured a mechanical yacht racing game, ''Yacht Racer''. Mechanical car driving games later originated from British amusement arcades in the 1930s. In the United States, International Mutoscope Reel Company adapted these British arcade driving games into the electro-mechanical game ''Drive Mobile'' (1941), which had an upright arcade cabinet similar to what arcade video games would later use. A steering wheel was used to control a model car over a road painted on a metal drum, with the goal being to keep the car centered as the road shifts left and right. Kasco introduced this type of driving game to Japan as ''Mini Drive'' in 1958. Capitol Projector's 1954 machine ''Auto Test'' was a driving test simulation that used film reel to project pre-recorded driving video footage, awarding the player points for making correct decisions as the footage is played. These early EM driving games consisted of only the player vehicle on the road, with no rival cars to race against.

EM driving games later evolved in Japan, with Kasco's 1968 racing game ''Indy 500'', Translation available a
''Shmuplations''
which was licensed by Chicago Coin for release in North America as ''Speedway'' in 1969. It had a circular racetrack with rival cars painted on individual rotating discs illuminated by a lamp, which produced colorful graphics projected using mirrors to give a pseudo-3D first-person perspective on a screen, resembling a windscreen view. The gameplay involved players driving down a circular road while dodging cars to avoid crashing, and it resembled a prototypical arcade racing video game, with an upright cabinet, yellow marquee, three-digit scoring, coin box, steering wheel and accelerator pedal. ''Indy 500'' sold over 2,000 arcade cabinets in Japan, while ''Speedway'' sold over 10,000 cabinets in North America, becoming one of the biggest arcade hits of the 1960s. Taito's similar 1970 rear-projection driving game ''Super Road 7'' involved driving a car down an endlessly scrolling road while having to dodge cars, which formed the basis for Taito's 1974 racing video game ''Speed Race''.

One of the last successful electro-mechanical arcade games was '' F-1'', a racing game developed and released by Namco in 1976, and distributed in North America by Atari the same year. The gameplay is viewed from the perspective of the driver's viewpoint, which is displayed on the screen using a projector system. It was Japan's highest-grossing arcade game for two years in a row, in 1976 and 1977. ''F-1'' is believed to have been influenced by ''Indy 500'', and would in turn be influential on Namco's racing video games in the 1980s. Another notable EM game from the 1970s was ''The Driver'', a racing-action game released by Kasco (Kansai Seiki Seisakusho Co.) that used 16 mm film to project full motion video on screen, though its gameplay had limited interaction, requiring the player to match their steering wheel, gas pedal and brakes with movements shown on screen, much like the sequences in later LaserDisc games.

Mainframe racing games (1970)

The BBC
...