Racing games are a
video game genre
A video game genre is an informal classification of a video game based on how it is played rather than Computer graphics, visual or narrative elements. This is independent of setting (fiction), setting, unlike works of fiction that are expressed ...
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 game
A kart racing game, also known as cart racing game or go-kart racing game, is a subgenre of Racing game, racing games. Kart racing games have simplified driving mechanics while including unusual racetrack designs, obstacles, and Vehicular combat ...
s 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

Usually,
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 ''
Battle Gear
, previously known as , is a series of racing video games developed and published by Taito, first released in arcades with ''Side by Side'' in 1996. The series was later released for various home consoles, such as the PlayStation (console), PlaySta ...
'', ''
Out Run'', ''
Ridge Racer'', ''
Daytona USA'', ''
Need for Speed'', ''
Sega Rally'', ''
Cruis'n'', ''
Burnout'', ''
Rush'', ''
Midnight Club'', ''
Project Gotham Racing'', ''
TrackMania'', ''
MotorStorm'' and ''
Forza Horizon''.
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
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
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
Street racing is an illegal form of motor racing that occurs on a public road. Racing in the streets is considered an ancient hazard, as horse racing occurred on streets for centuries, and street racing in automobiles is likely as old as the a ...
; imitating the
import scene, one can
tune sports compacts and
sports car
A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...
s 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'' and ''
Test Drive'' series, ''
Initial D'' series, the ''
Juiced'' series and ''
FlatOut 2''. 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 game
A kart racing game, also known as cart racing game or go-kart racing game, is a subgenre of Racing game, racing games. Kart racing games have simplified driving mechanics while including unusual racetrack designs, obstacles, and Vehicular combat ...
s 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'', ''
Grip: Combat Racing'', ''
Re-Volt'' and ''
Blur''. There are also
Vehicular combat games that employ racing games elements: for example, racing has been featured as a game mode in popular vehicular combat franchises such as ''
Twisted Metal
''Twisted Metal'' is a series of Vehicular combat game, vehicular combat video games originally developed by SingleTrac and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series has appeared on the PlayStation (console), PlayStation, PlaySta ...
'', ''
Destruction Derby'' and ''
Carmageddon''.
Simulation racing

Simulation style racing games strive to convincingly replicate the handling of a real
automobile
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...
. 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.
Sound plays a crucial role in player feedback in racing games, with the engine and tire sounds communicating what is physically happening to the car. The three main elements of car audio are
intake, exhaust, and internal engine sounds. Recorded samples of those elements are implemented in-game by methods such as
granular synthesis, loop-based modelling, or physical modeling. Tire sounds modulate loop samples or pitch based on
slip angle and deformation to let the player know the limit of grip. The best sounding games effectively integrate the sound model with the vehicle and tire simulation models.
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'', ''
GTR2'', ''
Assetto Corsa'', ''
iRacing'', ''
Project CARS'', ''
Automobilista 2'' 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 game
A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...
s 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-up
In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...
s.
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
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
's ''
Crashing Race'' in 1976, the kart racing subgenre was popularized by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
's ''
Super Mario Kart'' in 1992 for the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
(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
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
''.
Anti-gravity racing
Anti-gravity racing games are a type of racing game where players use vehicles that hover or glide using anti-gravity technology to race against the clock or other competitors. These games often feature
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
themes, with high-tech vehicles and futuristic track designs. A number of anti-gravity racing games may also feature
vehicular combat elements.
In the arcades, anti-gravity racing games (originally known as futuristic racers) 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
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
'' style racing with ''
Zaxxon'' style sci-fi vehicles, space settings and
shoot 'em up elements. ''
STUN Runner'' (1989) by
Atari Games
Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade video games, active from 1985 to 1999, then as Midway Games West Inc. until 2003. It was formed when the coin-operated video game division of Atari, Inc. was transferred by its owner Wa ...
featured
3D polygon graphics and allowed players to blast other vehicles.
On home consoles, anti-gravity racing games were defined by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
's ''
F-Zero'' (1990) for the SNES, which spawned the ''
F-Zero'' series. The
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
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
1941–1976: Electro-mechanical driving games
The basis for racing video games were arcade driving
electro-mechanical games (EM games). The earliest mechanical racing
arcade game
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...
dates back to 1900, when the
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
-based Automatic Sports Company manufactured a mechanical
yacht racing
Yacht racing is a Sailing (sport), sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course mark ...
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
A model car, or toy car, is a Physical model, miniature representation of an automobile. Other miniature motor vehicles, such as trucks, buses, or even All-terrain vehicle, ATVs, etc. are often included in this general category. Because many mi ...
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
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
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
Chicago Coin was one of the early major manufacturers of pinball tables founded in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in 1932 by Samuel H. Gensburg and Samuel Wolberg to operate in the coin-operated amusement industry. In 1977, ...
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
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
'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
was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
in 1976, and distributed in North America by
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...
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
An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and ...
released by Kasco (Kansai Seiki Seisakusho Co.) that used
16 mm film
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...
to project
full motion video
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than Sprite (computer graphics), sprites, vector graphics, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games featur ...
on screen, though its gameplay had limited interaction, requiring the player to match their
steering wheel, accelerator and brakes with movements shown on screen, much like the
sequences in later
LaserDisc games.
1970: Mainframe racing game
The
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
television program
Tomorrow's World broadcast a
mainframe computer
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
racing game played between TV presenter
Raymond Baxter and British two-time
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
world champion
Graham Hill on their 1970 Christmas special, broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1970. The game was written by
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
-employee, Ray Bradshaw, using
CALL/360 and required two data centre operators to input the instructions.
1972–1988: Top-down 2D racing video games
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...
founder
Nolan Bushnell had the idea for a driving video game in the early 1970s. When he was a college student, he worked at an arcade where he became familiar with EM driving games, watching customers play and helping to maintain the machinery, while learning how it worked and developing his understanding of how the game business operates.
When he founded Atari, Bushnell had originally planned to develop a driving video game, influenced by ''Speedway'', but they ended up developing ''
Pong'' (1972) instead.
The earliest rudimentary racing video game to be released dates back to 1972, with the release of the first
video game console
A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...
, the
Magnavox Odyssey
The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September ...
. It included a game called ''Wipeout'', where the player moves a dot around a race track that is outlined by an overlay placed on the television screen. It required the use of physical items to play, including a
race game board, screen overlay, car tokens and pit stop cards. In 1973, Atari released ''
Space Race
The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...
'', an
arcade video game where players control spaceships that race against opposing ships, while avoiding comets and meteors. It is a competitive
two-player game with black and white graphics and controlled with a two-way joystick. The following year, Atari released the first driving video game in the arcades, ''
Gran Trak 10'', which presents an overhead single-screen view of the track in low resolution white-on-black graphics.
It inspired the
Kee Games clone ''Formula K'', which sold 5,000
arcade cabinets.
In late 1974,
Taito
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
released ''
Speed Race'' designed by
Tomohiro Nishikado (of ''
Space Invaders
is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...
'' fame), in which the player drives down a straight track dodging other cars.
[Chris Kohler (2005), ''Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life'', p. 16, BradyGames, ] The game used
vertical scrolling,
inspired by two older
electro-mechanical games: Kasco's ''Mini Drive'' and Taito's ''Super Road 7''.
''Speed Race'' was re-branded as ''Wheels'' by
Midway Games
Midway Games Inc. (formerly Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known simply as Midway) was an American video game company that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (franchise), Ra ...
for release in North America and was influential on later racing games.
[Bill Loguidice & Matt Barton (2009), ''Vintage games: an insider look at the history of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the most influential games of all time'', p. 197, Focal Press, ] Midway also released another version, ''Racer'', with a sit-down cabinet.
''Speed Race'' became a hit in Japan,
while ''Wheels'' and ''Wheels II'' sold 10,000 cabinets in the United States.
Its use of vertical scrolling was adopted by Atari's ''
Hi-way'' (1975), which introduced a sit-down cabinet similar to older electro-mechanical games.
In 1977,
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...
released ''
Super Bug'', a racing game historically significant as "the first game to feature a scrolling playfield" in multiple directions. Sega's ''
Monaco GP'' (1979) was one of the most successful traditional 2D racing games, becoming the most popular arcade driving game in the US
in 1981, and among the highest-grossing games that year, while making a record number of appearances on the ''RePlay'' arcade charts through 1987.
In 1980,
Namco
was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
's overhead-view driving game ''
Rally-X'' was one of the first games to have
background music, and allowed
scrolling in multiple directions, both vertical and
horizontal. It also uses a
radar
Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
, to show the
rally car's location on the map.
1976–1992: Pseudo-3D racing video games

In February 1976,
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
released the arcade game ''
Road Race'',
which was re-worked into a
motorbike
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle steered by a handlebar from a saddle-style seat.
Motorcycle designs var ...
variant ''Moto-Cross'',
also known as ''Man T.T.'' (released August 1976).
It was then re-branded as ''
Fonz'' in the US, as a tie-in for the popular
sitcom
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
''
Happy Days
''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...
''.
The game featured a three-dimensional perspective view, as well as
haptic feedback, which caused the
motorcycle handlebars to vibrate during a collision with another vehicle. In Spring 1976,
the arcade game ''
Nürburgring 1'' presented a
first-person view.
Considered the first "scandalous" arcade game,
Exidy's ''
Death Race'' (1976) was widely criticized in the media for its violent content, which only served to substantially increase its popularity. Sega released a two-player version of ''Man T.T.'' called ''Twin Course T.T.'' in January 1977.
1979 saw the release of
Vectorbeam's ''
Speed Freak'', a
three-dimensional
In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position (geometry), position of a point (geometry), poi ...
vector racing game, which
Killer List of Videogames calls "very impressive and ahead of their time". ''
Turbo
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...
'', released by
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
in 1981, was the first racing game to use
sprite scaling with full-color graphics.
''
Pole Position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
'', developed by Namco and released by Atari in North America, was released in 1982. It is considered "arguably the most important racing game ever made."
It was an evolution of Namco's earlier racing
electro-mechanical games, notably ''
F-1'' (1976), whose designer Sho Osugi worked on ''Pole Position''.
''Pole Position'' was the first video game to be based on a real racing circuit, and the first with a qualifying lap, where the player needs to complete a
time trial
In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...
before they can compete in
Grand Prix races. While not the first third-person racing video game (it was predated by Sega's ''Turbo''), ''Pole Position'' established the conventions of the genre and its success inspired numerous imitators.
According to ''
Electronic Games
''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz.
History
The h ...
'', for "the first time in the amusement parlors, a first-person racing game gives a higher reward for passing cars and finishing among the leaders rather than just for keeping all four wheels on the road". According to
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
, it also "introduced checkpoints," and its success, as "the
highest-grossing arcade
game of 1983 in North America, cemented the genre in place for decades to come and inspired a horde of other racing games".
It sold over 21,000 arcade cabinets in the US by 1983,
and again became the highest-grossing
arcade game of 1984 in the US.
Taito's ''Laser Grand Prix'', introduced in July 1983, was the first racing
laserdisc game, using pre-recorded live-action footage. In 1984, several other racing laserdisc games followed, including Sega's ''GP World'' with live-action footage and
Universal's ''Top Gear'' featuring 3D animated race car driving. The same year,
Irem's ''
The Battle-Road'' was a
vehicle combat racing game with branching paths and up to 32 possible routes.
Geoff Crammond, who later developed the ''Grandprix'' series (Known collectively as GPX to its fanbase), produced what is considered the first attempt at a racing simulator on a home system, ''
REVS'', released for the BBC Microcomputer. The game offered an unofficial (and hence with no official team or driver names associated with the series) recreation of British Formula 3. The hardware capabilities limited the depth of the simulation and restricted it (initially) to one track, but it offered a semi-realistic driving experience with more detail than most other racing games at the time.
Since the mid-1980s, it became a trend for arcade racing games to use hydraulic
motion simulator arcade cabinets.
The trend was sparked by
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
's "taikan" games, with "taikan" meaning "body sensation" in Japanese.
The "taikan" trend began when
Yu Suzuki's team at Sega (later known as
Sega AM2) developed ''
Hang-On'' (1985), a
racing video game where the player sits on and moves a
motorbike
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle steered by a handlebar from a saddle-style seat.
Motorcycle designs var ...
replica to control the in-game actions. ''Hang-On'' was a Grand Prix style motorbike racer.
It used
force feedback technology and was also one of the first arcade games to use
16-bit graphics and Sega's "
Super Scaler" technology that allowed
pseudo-3D sprite-scaling at high
frame rate
Frame rate, most commonly expressed in frame/s, or FPS, is typically the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (Film frame, frames) are captured or displayed. This definition applies to film and video cameras, computer animation, and moti ...
s.
''Hang-On'' became the highest-grossing
arcade game of 1986 in the United States, and one of the year's highest-grossing arcade games in Japan and London.
Suzuki's team at Sega followed it with hydraulic motion simulator cockpit cabinets for later racing games, notably ''
Out Run'' (1986).
It was one of the most graphically impressive games of its time, known for its pseudo-3D sprite-based driving engine, and it became an instant classic that spawned many sequels. It was also notable for giving the player the
non-linear choice of which route to take through the game and the choice of soundtrack to listen to while driving, represented as radio stations. The game has up to five endings depending on the route taken, and each one was an ending sequence rather than a simple "Congratulations" as was common in game endings at the time. It became Sega's best-selling arcade cabinet of the 1980s,
with over 30,000 arcade cabinets sold worldwide. The same year, Durell released ''
Turbo Esprit'', which had an official Lotus license, and working car indicator lights.
In 1987,
Square
In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
released ''
Rad Racer'', one of the first
stereoscopic 3D games. In the same year, Atari produced ''
RoadBlasters'', a driving game that also involved a bit of shooting.
One of the last successful pseudo-3D arcade racers was Sega's ''
Super Monaco GP'' (1989), a simulation of the
Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the wo ...
.
It was the third highest-grossing
arcade game of 1989 in Japan,
and again the third highest-grossing
arcade game of 1990 in Japan. In 1992, Nintendo released ''
Super Mario Kart'', but it was known that it was
pseudo-3D racing. Here it has items to affect players from racing and the referee,
Lakitu will help you out to know the rules and rescue racers from falling down.
1988–1994: Transition to 3D polygon graphics

In 1988, Namco released ''
Winning Run'', which used
3D polygon graphics.
It became the second highest-grossing
arcade game of 1989 in Japan.
In 1989, Atari released ''
Hard Drivin''', another arcade driving game that used 3D polygon graphics. It uses force feedback, where the wheel fights the player during aggressive turns, and a crash replay camera view.
Sega produced ''
Virtua Racing'' in 1992. While not the first arcade racing game with 3D graphics (it was predated by ''
Winning Run'', ''
Hard Drivin''' and ''
Stunts''), it was able to combine the best features of games at the time, along with multiplayer machine linking and clean
3D graphics
3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...
to produce a game that was above and beyond the arcade market standard of its time, laying the foundations for subsequent 3D racing games. It improved on earlier 3D racing games with more complex 3D models and backdrops, higher frame rate, and switchable camera angles including chase-cam and first-person views. IGN considers it the third most influential racing game of all time.
In 1993, Namco released ''
Ridge Racer''. Its 3D polygon graphics stood out for the use of
Gouraud shading and
texture mapping. And thus began the
polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain.
The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
war of driving games. Sega later released ''
Daytona USA'', which featured 3D polygon graphics with
texture filtering.
The following year,
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
produced ''
The Need for Speed'', which would later spawn one of the world's most successful racing game series and one of the most successful video game series. In the same year,
Midway introduced ''
Cruis'n USA''.
1989–1995: Emergence of sim racing subgenre
The now defunct
Papyrus Design Group produced their first attempt at a racing simulator in 1989, the critically acclaimed ''
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation'', designed by David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari. The game is generally regarded as the first true auto racing simulation on a personal computer. Accurately replicating the 1989 Indianapolis 500 grid, it offered advanced 3D graphics for its time, setup options, car failures and handling. Unlike most other racing games at the time, ''Indianapolis 500'' attempted to simulate realistic
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
and telemetry, such as its portrayal of the relationship between the four contact patches and the pavement, as well as the loss of grip when making a high-speed turn, forcing the player to adopt a proper racing line and believable throttle-to-brake interaction. It includes a garage facility to allow players to enact modifications to their vehicle, including adjustments to the tires, shocks and wings.
The damage modelling, while not accurate by today's standards, was capable of producing some spectacular and entertaining Multiple-vehicle collision, pile-ups.
Crammond's ''Formula One Grand Prix (Geoff Crammond), Formula One Grand Prix'' in 1992 became the new champion of sim racing, until the release of Papyrus' ''IndyCar Racing'' the following year. ''Formula One Grand Prix'' boasted detail that was unparalleled for a computer game at the time as well as a full recreation of the drivers, cars and circuits of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. However, the U.S. version (known as ''World Circuit'') was not granted an official license by the FIA, so teams and drivers were renamed (though all could be changed back to their real names using the Driver/Team selection menu): Ayrton Senna became "Carlos Sanchez", for example.
In 1995, ''Sega Rally Championship'' introduced
rally racing and featured Cooperative video game, cooperative gameplay alongside the usual competitive multiplayer. ''Sega Rally'' was also the first to feature driving on different surfaces (including asphalt concrete, asphalt, gravel, and mud) with different friction properties and the car's handling changing accordingly, making it an important milestone in the genre.
1996–present: Modern racing games
During the early-to-mid-1990s, Sega and Namco largely had a monopoly on high-end arcade racing games with realistic 3D visuals. In 1996, a number of competitors attempted to challenge their dominance in the field, including Atari Games with ''San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing'', Gaelco with ''Speed Up'', Jaleco with ''Super GT 24h'', and Konami with ''Winding Heat''. In 1996,
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
created a 3D game called ''Mario Kart 64'', a sequel to ''Super Mario Kart'' and has an action so that
Lakitu needs to either reverse, rev up your engines to Rocket Start, or rescue players. ''Mario Kart 64'' focused more on the items used.
Atari didn't join the 3D craze until 1997, when it introduced ''San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing, San Francisco Rush''.
In 1997, ''Gran Turismo (1997 video game), Gran Turismo'' was released for the PlayStation, after being in production for five years since 1992. It was considered the most realistic racing simulation game in its time,
[ combined with playability, enabling players of all skill levels to play. It offered a wealth of meticulous tuning options and introduced an Nonlinear gameplay, open-ended career mode where players had to undertake driving tests to acquire Driver's license, driving licenses, earn their way into races and choose their own career path.] The Gran Turismo (series), ''Gran Turismo'' series has since become the second-most successful racing game franchise of all time, selling over 80 million units worldwide as of April 2018.
By 1997, the typical PC was capable of matching an arcade machine in terms of graphical quality, mainly due to the introduction of first generation 3D accelerators such as 3DFX Voodoo. The faster CPUs were capable of simulating increasingly realistic physics, car control, and graphics.
''Colin McRae Rally'' was introduced in 1998 to the PC world, and was a successful semi-simulation of the world of rally driving, previously only available in the less serious ''Sega Rally Championship''. ''Motorhead (video game), Motorhead'', a PC game, was later adapted back to arcade. In the same year, Sega releases ''Daytona USA 2'' (Battle On The Edge and Power Edition), which is one of the first racing games to feature realistic Collision, crashes and graphics.
The year 1999 introduced ''Crash Team Racing'', a kart racing game featuring the characters from Crash Bandicoot. It was praised for its controls and courses. Crash Bandicoot and its racing series has continued, with the most recent game being ''Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled'' (June 2019). The year 1999 also marked a change of games into more "free form" worlds. ''Midtown Madness'' for the PC allows the player to explore a simplified version of the city of Chicago using a variety of vehicles and any path that they desire. In the arcade world, Sega introduced ''Crazy Taxi (video game), Crazy Taxi'', a Open world, sandbox racing game where you are a taxi driver that needed to get the client to the destination in the shortest amount of time. A similar game also from Sega is ''Emergency Call Ambulance'', with almost the same gameplay (pick up patient, drop off at hospital, as fast as possible). Games are becoming more and more realistic visually. Some arcade games are now featuring 3 screens to provide a surround view.
In 2000, Angel Studios (now Rockstar San Diego) introduced the first free-roaming, or the former "free form", racing game on video game consoles and handheld game consoles with ''Midnight Club: Street Racing'' which released on the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. The game allowed the player to drive anywhere around virtual recreations of London and New York. Instead of using enclosed tracks for races, the game uses various checkpoints on the free roam map as the pathway of the race, giving the player the option to take various shortcuts or any other route to the checkpoints of the race.
In 2001 Namco
was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
released ''Wangan Midnight'' to the arcade and later released an upgrade called Wangan Midnight R. Wangan Midnight R was also ported to the PlayStation 2 by Genki as just Wangan Midnight.
In 2003, Rockstar San Diego's ''Midnight Club II'' was the first racing game to feature both playable cars and playable motorcycles. Namco released a sort of sequel to ''Wangan Midnight R'' called ''Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune''.
There is a wide gamut of driving games ranging from simple action-arcade racers like ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' (for Nintendo Switch) and ''Nicktoon Racers'' to ultra-realistic simulators like ''Grand Prix Legends'', iRacing, ''Virtual Grand Prix 3'', ''Live for Speed'', ''NetKar Pro'', '' Assetto Corsa'', ''GT Legends'', '' GTR2'', ''rFactor'', ''X Motor Racing'', ''CarX Street'', and iPad 3D racer ''Exhilarace''.
See also
* Formula One video games
* List of NASCAR video games
* List of racing video games
* Vehicle simulation game
* List of vehicular combat games
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Racing video game
Racing video games,
Video game genres