The XDA gaming team talks about their favorite racing games of all time

We all have that one racing game. The one that wasn’t the most realistic, the most polished, or the most respected — but it was ours. It made us fall in love with speed, chaos, rubber-burning turns, and maybe even crashing headfirst into traffic for no reason.

The XDA gaming team talks not about the greatest titles, but rather celebrates the ones that made us feel something. From obscure PC gems to PlayStation cult classics, these titles raced straight through to our hearts.

10

Assetto Corsa

Realism so pure, it hurts (in a good way)

This one’s from Ayush Pande, a lifelong PC tinkerer and RPG fan who just so happens to know more about hardware than most tech forums combined. When he’s not deep in a build guide or soloing his way through a 100-hour epic, he’s chasing perfect lap times in Assetto Corsa’s Shutoku Revival Project track, blasting Freebird on Spotify with his VR headset and vest firmly planted.

A game that speaks to his precision-driven soul, Assetto Corsa presents no chaos, blue shells, turbo pads, or flashy fanfare. It is a game for purists — those who see beauty not in fireworks, but in the flawless execution of a racing line. It’s about tuning your car until it responds to your inputs like an extension of your will. No assists, no arcade-y forgiveness — just you, the track, and the physics engine judging your every move.

Modding is where Assetto truly transcends. With a passionate community constantly pushing boundaries, it’s become a sim racer’s sandbox — featuring everything from obscure vintage tracks to photorealistic car models that rival real-life counterparts.

Assetto Corsa Competizione

Released

May 29, 2019

ESRB

E For Everyone

Developer(s)

Kunos Simulazioni

Publisher(s)

505 Games, Kunos Simulazioni

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Cross-Platform Play

PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X/S

Number of Players

1-20

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9

Midtown Madness

The yellow Beetle that started it all

Windows power user and all-around tech enthusiast João Carrasqueira’s heart might now belong to Nintendo, but as someone who grew up on XP-era charm and arcade bliss, it was once firmly parked in the chaos-filled streets of Midtown Madness.

Released in an era before online lobbies and detailed telemetry, Midtown Madness felt like pure, distilled childhood joy.

Midtown Madness was synonymous with weaving through traffic in a yellow Beetle on a CRT monitor, racing against the clock (and buses) through fully explorable versions of Chicago and San Francisco. Unlike most racers’ structured, closed circuits, Midtown Madness gave you the city, no barriers, no rails. Just a GPS, a few cones, and the freedom to go full Mad Max during rush hour traffic.

8

Jak X: Combat Racing

Naughty Dog’s wildest left turn

This pick comes from David Carcasole, a PS enthusiast and gaming veteran who’s been a solid part of the industry for years now. He’s written for everyone from PSU to GameDaily.biz, but today, he’s here to remind us how gloriously unhinged Jak X: Combat Racing really was.

If Mario Kart was your childhood sleepover game, Jak X was the gritty cousin who crashed the party with a rocket launcher and a grudge. It didn’t just want you to race — it wanted you to bleed for first place. Every lap was a war zone, and every shortcut had a mine waiting for the fool who took it.

Jak X wasn’t just a spin-off but a continuation of Jak 3’s narrative, giving weight to every race, betrayal, and explosion. Between the high-octane gameplay and full-throttle soundtrack, it felt like Naughty Dog went, “What if Twisted Metal had a soul?”

It was reckless, emotional, and endlessly replayable. After all, it was a Naughty Dog game, and leave it to those guys to always have an emotional angle to each game they make. A kart racer with real teeth, Jak X: Combat Racing remains a joy to play on PS2 emulators today.

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7

Need For Speed: Underground 2

An entire generation’s driving playlist

For XDA’s resident hardware whisperer and esports aficionado Adam Conway, Need for Speed: Underground 2 didn’t just define an era of racing games — it defined the very essence of cool for a generation. For Adam, it was the first time a racing game felt like a vibe rather than just a competition. Neon lights, open city cruising, and a soundtrack so good it practically lived rent-free in your head for years.

It wasn’t just about racing — it was about making your car yours, decking it out with kits, vinyls, and rims until it felt like a Fast & Furious fever dream. Underground 2 delivered a sense of culture, atmosphere, and underground rebellion that few racers have since matched. The map wasn’t massive but alive, pulsing with neon and engine growls.

Even today, when we boot it up, it’s not for the mechanics — it’s for the memories. The style. The swagger. And that unmistakable feeling that you were the king of Bayview.

6

Road Rash

Bikes, brawls, and borderline madness

This one might have come from Samir Makwana, but let’s be honest — Road Rash belongs to everyone at XDA. It’s not just a racing game, it’s a rite of passage. If you gamed in the early 2000s, Road Rash was your gateway drug. It defined a generation of gamers and earned its spot on the Mount Rushmore of racing games.

For Samir, a veteran tech journalist who once fixed 8-bit consoles for playtime, Road Rash hit differently. It wasn’t just about finishing first — it was about throwing punches, dodging traffic, and feeling like a complete menace on two wheels. That chaotic mix of arcade racing and beat-’em-up combat? Iconic.

You didn’t need photo-realistic graphics or online matchmaking. All you needed was a keyboard, a CRT monitor, and that unmistakable soundtrack to get your blood pumping.

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5

Burnout Paradise

When open-world racing felt revolutionary

You know a racing game is good when someone with an actual PC building business chooses it over dozens of simulation-heavy titles. For Tanveer Singh, Burnout Paradise isn’t just peak arcade racing — it’s an open-world celebration of speed, chaos, and the beautiful art of crashing in style.

This is a game that made failure fun. Smashing through traffic at 200 mph, chaining boost takedowns, launching off billboards — Burnout Paradise was all about giving players permission to let loose. It ditched structured tracks for a full city where every street was your playground. And it still holds up. Even now, Tanveer will boot it up on his RTX 3080 (between SmashKarts.io sessions, of course), because the thrill never fades.

There are more realistic racers out there. There are definitely shinier ones. But few games deliver pure, unfiltered joy the way Burnout Paradise did.

Burnout Paradise Remastered

Released

March 16, 2018

ESRB

E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Mild Suggestive Themes, Mild Violence

Developer(s)

Criterion Games

Publisher(s)

Electronic Arts

Engine

RenderWare

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Franchise

Burnout

Steam Deck Compatibility

Playable

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4

Micro Machines

Breakfast table racing

Only someone who’s loaded games off cassette tapes would name Micro Machines as the greatest racing game of all time — and Claudiu Andone did exactly that. And honestly? Respect. This pint-sized racer had heart, chaos, and a unique flavor that no triple-A studio has managed to replicate since.

For Claudiu, who got his start fixing school computers before writing for Romania’s first gadget magazine, Micro Machines was an early taste of how good things could come in tiny, chaotic packages. Racing over kitchen tables, pool tables, and office desks, you weren’t just driving — you were surviving. Every corner felt like a leap of faith, every bump could send you flying off a ruler or into a cereal bowl.

It was absurd in the best way. No realistic physics, no big-budget graphics — just pure competitive fun that turned your screen into a war zone. In a world where everything is going 4K and hyperrealistic, Micro Machines reminds us that a good game just needs heart, chaos, and a sense of humor.

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3

Big Red Racing

From hovercrafts to lava tracks — anything goes

Leave it to someone who spends his free time inside PC cases to pick the most delightfully unhinged racing game of the ‘90s. Big Red Racing is what happens when you take zero-gravity respect for physics, throw in politically incorrect voice-overs, and let players race everything from monster trucks to hovercrafts across lava planets and snowy canyons. It was bonkers — and that’s exactly why Rich Edmonds loves it.

For Rich, who’s been around PC hardware long enough to remember Tiny Computers, this game represents the golden age of DOS gaming. You didn’t just play Big Red Racing — you endured it, laughed at it, and somehow loved it for all its jank. This wasn’t a sleek sim racer or a polished experience — it was pure chaos powered by ‘90s energy drinks and Microsoft Paint textures.

And yet, through all its flaws, it had soul. Big Red Racing reminded you that fun didn’t need realism, and that style could come from just being different.

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2

Rad Racer

Outrunning time — and our own eyes

This one comes straight from the boss. For Rich Woods, Editor-in-Chief here at XDA, Rad Racer is not just a great racing game, but as one of the first sparks in a lifelong journey into gaming, tech, and everything in between.

Rad Racer cemented itself in Rich’s hall of fame thanks to the countless memories he holds with the game. He raced against his dad down the San Francisco Highway track to set the highest score, desperately looking at the timer to reach a checkpoint before it expired.

Today, Rad Racer is a time capsule from the golden age of 8-bit gaming. Released in 1987, this NES classic gave kids their first taste of speed, with pseudo-3D graphics that felt futuristic at the time and a sense of thrill that rivaled the arcades. And it was fast — blisteringly fast. For a game running on a machine with just kilobytes of RAM, Rad Racer made your living room feel like a racetrack.

There was no customization, no upgrades or drifting mechanics. What Rad Racer did have, however, was a heart, and a sense of scale and momentum that made every single track a white-knuckle sprint to the finish line.

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1

Driveclub

The most beautiful failure in racing history

I used to think 2005’s NFS Most Wanted or even Forza Horizon 3 would always top my list. But then Driveclub happened, and suddenly, nothing else could compare. Where photorealism tries to mimic life, Driveclub leans into hyperrealism, turning every race into visual poetry. Rain droplets and snow react dynamically to your speed and direction, while the wind pushes trees and shrubs in perfect harmony with the chaos on the road. It’s art, not just simulation.

It’s not an open world. It’s not about car collecting. It’s about racing in jaw-dropping locales — Scotland, India, Japan — all built with an almost reverent love for the beauty of nature. And the bikes expansion? One of the greatest DLCs ever made. The sound design, especially in cockpit view, remains the gold standard.

I’ll never forget racing an Enzo Ferrari down a blizzard-soaked mountain with zero visibility, trusting only the mini-map as lightning briefly illuminated the next corner. That moment didn’t just make Driveclub my favorite — it immortalized it. It’s a shame that the studio shut down, and with it, all our hopes for a sequel did, too.

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These games were loud, messy, and ours

You might’ve noticed the absence of Forza, Gran Turismo, or any sim-heavy juggernauts. That’s no accident. This list isn’t about perfection — it’s about passion. These are the games that stayed with us long after the credits rolled, not because they were flawless, but because they meant something. They were messy, loud, weird, and beautiful — our irrational favorites. And in the end, that’s what makes them unforgettable.