Car racing games

Ah, 1000 Miglia - the only racing game where you can almost smell the exhaust fumes and espresso. Based on the historic Italian road race, it’s less about speed and more about not getting your 1930s jalopy vaporized by bad turns and gravel roads. You’ll pick a car, try to understand Italian driving rules (good luck), and pray your tires...

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to drive very fast in what looks like a PowerPoint presentation with a need for speed, 240 Racing from 1998 delivers the thrill. With blocky graphics and a frame rate that politely walks rather than runs, it’s a racing game that screams “DOS never dies.” The cars handle like shopp...

Released in 1988 for DOS, this game lets you drive monster trucks across deserts, swamps, and icy wastelands with all the grace of a drunken forklift. It’s less about speed and more about not flipping your vehicle like a pancake every two seconds. The graphics are basic, the physics are unpredictable, and the soundtrack is nonexistent, but it...

Action Fighter (1989, DOS) is Sega’s way of saying, “Why choose between car chases and aerial dogfights when you can have both?” You start in a motorcycle, grab some power-ups, and suddenly you’re flying a jet and blowing things up. It's like Spy Hunter had a Red Bull and watched Top Gun. The controls are twitchy, the pace i...

You, a motorcycle, and a desert that stretches forever - African Raiders-01 puts you in the Dakar rally with all the elegance of a brick on wheels. Navigate dust storms, sand dunes, and controls that were clearly designed by someone who hates you. But persevere and you’ll find a strangely hypnotic rhythm to its chaos. It’s frustrat...

In APB (1989), you’re a cop in a little squad car with a huge attitude problem. Your job? Pull over criminals, avoid donuts, and try not to smash into every tree, wall, and pedestrian. It’s basically Grand Theft Auto if it were designed by traffic school instructors on a sugar high. Siren on, ticket book ready—just don't expect to...

Ah, the late '90s: when cars exploded for no reason and acronyms made everything cooler. Axelerator: Have a N.I.C.E. day! is a 1997 Windows racer that asks, “What if racing was less about realism and more about chucking missiles at your friends?” The answer: pure chaos, terrible physics, and an oddly catchy techno soundtrack. Think Mari...

If Barbie was mildly passive in her 1992 debut, Barbie Super Model (1993) puts her on the runway—literally. You’ll practice walking, dodging obstacles, and matching outfits because nothing screams "video game challenge" like coordinating accessories under pressure. Half driving sim, half fashion quiz, all unapologetically pink. It&rsquo...

Take Eddie Murphy’s swagger, remove the charm, add some DOS chiptunes, and you get Beverly Hills Cop—a game adaptation that asks: “What if being a wisecracking detective meant stiff animations and random driving segments?” It’s a mash-up of shooting, driving, and wondering what just happened, loosely held together by t...

Big Red Racing is what happens when you combine arcade mayhem with zero regard for realism and lots of British sarcasm. Drive everything from dump trucks to hovercrafts, insult your friends, and laugh your way to the finish line. It’s loud, chaotic, and gloriously dumb — and that’s exactly why it’s amazing. Expect physics to...

Carmageddon was a controversial and violent vehicular combat / car racing game, where the player must compete against a number of computer controlled opponents. Running over pedestrians and damaging opponents cars grant time bonuses and credits to be spent for upgrades.

Cisco Heat is an abandoned racing game set in North America developed by Jaleco and released by Image Works in 1991 for DOS and other platforms. Cisco Heat was converted from the original arcade version. The difference between other similar racing games of the time is that the player drives a police car.

Crazy Taxi is an abandoned driving / racing game developed by Sega and released by Activision in 2002 for Windows and other platforms (it's an arcade conversion). Crazy Taxi is set in a city full of potential passengers: get them on your taxi and drive them to various destinations in time.

Days of Thunder is a 1990 racing video game based on the film of the same name. Developed by Argonaut Software and published by Mindscape, the game was released on several platforms, including the NES, PC (MS-DOS), Amiga, Atari ST, and Commodore 64. It combined elements of arcade racing and simulation, reflecting the film's focus on NASCAR racing.&...

Deathtrack is an abandoned racing vehicular combat game set in a post-apocalyptic North America. Deathtrack is a mix of high-speed racing and combat and was developed by Dynamix and released by Activision in 1989 for DOS.