14 Best Arcade Racing Games You Should Be Playing

Racing games have had a storied history, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Motorheads can revel in how detailed the simulations of games like Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo are, but a lot of gamers just want to kick back and experience the thrill of driving cool cars at devastatingly high speeds. Arcade racers are exactly what the doctor ordered for that, and it doesn’t get much better than the following collection of thrill-inducing racing games.

#14 Need For Speed Unbound

Developer: Criterion Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc.
Platfrom : PC PS5 XSX|X
Release Date : December 02, 2022

Are you ready for your next racing adventure? If so, then get Need For Speed Unbound. The latest entry in the fast-paced series will put you in a racing gauntlet known as The Grand.

You’ll participate in four weeks of racing to prove that you are the best driver. The arcade racing style will appeal to many of you, and ensure that you’ll put hours into the title.

Plus, the customization alone is enough to keep you occupied. You’ll be able to style your car any way you want so that it feels perfect to drive and looks like it’s an extension of your personality. So what are you waiting for? Get driving!

#13 Trackmania Turbo

Trackmania Turbo is a brand new experience for fans of racing games. The game is very easy to learn, but hard to become a master. You can challenge your friends both at home or online at a high speed race through many tracks. You also have the ability to team up with a friend on Double Driver which is a feature we don’t see often in these racing games.

In HotSeat mode you will be able to invite up to sixteen friends to play with you while combining Double Driver mode. You also have the opinion to create your own tracks in Trackbuilder.

#12 Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered

The Need for Speed franchise has been one of the longer-running racing titles out there, and the games as a whole have been about going as fast as possible to both outrace your friends and outpace the cops.

But in Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered, you’ll get the best visuals yet for a game that lets you be both the racer and the chaser. Yep, if you want to be a racer, you’ll get in the best cars around in order to take on the cops and beat them all over the streets.

Or, you can be a cop and take down the lawbreakers with your own special ride and tactics.

The main campaign and all the DLC packs are included in this version, so you’ll have plenty to use and do.

#11 Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

You might not recall it at first, but it’s true, Crash Bandicoot did indeed have a racing game years ago, and now, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled aims to make it as prominent as the franchise once was!

You’ll get to race as one of your favorite characters from the franchise, and go on high-octane trips around the various tracks of the universe!

Plus, you can customize the way your kart is, your racer is, the items you have and more. Hope online and play with friends in order to show them who is the most N-sane! …get it?

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is for those who want fast-paced and wacky fun. So get in the driver’s seat and GO!

#10 Need For Speed: Most Wanted

Need for Speed: Most wanted carries the same spirit as the original game, but with modern trappings that elevate the racing. Building notoriety to challenge the 10 most wanted racers is still the name of the game, and these boss battles are unlike anything else in arcade racing games. Handling is fast and approachable, ensuring that players can quickly start careening and drifting through the city streets of Fairhaven like a pro. Most Wanted is all about being defiant. That might mean escaping intelligent police AI cars, customizing a hot car collection, and even smashing through billboards with your friends profile pictures on them.

#9 FlatOut 4: Total Insanity

FlatOut 4: Total Insanity leans into its title, and it mostly succeeds. Cars feel somewhere between a pure arcade racer and a more balanced racer like Project Gotham Racing 4. That makes it easy to control your car when the heat is on throughout FlatOut 4’s varied game modes. A career mode with a plethora of cars and track environments provides a fun single-player journey, but there are also mini-games like a stunt mode in which you eject your driver to hit a target or a hilarious version of beer pong. An arena-based deathmatch mode is a barrel of fun, and it all works because of FlatOut 4’s fantastic destructibility. Seeing cars and tracks deteriorate over time never gets old. 

#8 Wreckfest

Much like FlatOut 4, Wreckfest channels the energy of destruction derby action. Yet, its hardcore driving model and detailed car destruction place a stronger emphasis on rewarding player skill. Damage can seriously affect how cars handle as they get battered and bent beyond recognition. Debris from cars even remains on track, making each successive lap harder. Making matters even more challenging are the AI drivers which put up a stiff challenge as they dive-bomb and T-bone you out of the way. It all forces players to adapt their driving strategy on the fly, creating a constant sense of danger.

#7 Split/Second

Split/Second asks one simple but crucial question: What if players could drive their cars through a reality TV show? The result is an arcade racer with all the fast cars and exciting drifts you would expect, but it also includes one of the most unique mechanics in the genre. At various points through a race, players can trigger catastrophic events that cause major changes to the track. That might mean a building falling over, or a wrecking ball destroying sections of road. It’s a wonderful spectacle and it changes the layout of the track from one lap to the next.

#6 Burnout Paradise Remastered

The Burnout series is well renowned for its dedication to impressive car crashes and blisteringly high speeds. With Burnout Paradise Remastered, fans of the series can take to the open world of Paradise City and use it as their own personal racing playground. An eclectic collection of vehicles, including motorcycles, can be driven across the entirety of Paradise city, as well as the Big Surf Island expansion district. The tension of avoiding cars while taking part in the chaos of Road Rage, or the intensity of a race across the map is second to none in the arcade racing scene.

#5 Hot Wheels Unleashed

Hot Wheels Unleashed proves that the licensed toy brand many of us grew up with can work as an arcade racer. Developer Milestone clearly has a similar reverence for Hot Wheels as we do, and it shows in the loving attention to detail in-game. Every plastic vehicle features minute details to make you smile, such as fingerprints, a ‘made in China’ marking, and imperfections in the paint coating of a ride. Handling is easy to get to grips with and rewards players who master drifting and figure out shortcuts on tracks. On top of that, the tracks themselves end up being a true highlight thanks to their realistic scale.

#4 TrackMania

The magic of TrackMania is in how replayable it is. Driving is fluid and fast, and it can also be hilariously unforgiving. The slightest error will ruin your run, but that’s fine since restarting is instantaneous. It’s the perfect ‘just one more try’ arcade game. When you’re satisfied with getting the best lap times and medals, there’s also an entire world of user-created tracks to dive into. It’s hard not to have a good time as you rerun tracks to try and earn the best scores on a leaderboard or enjoy the spectacle of playing a multiplayer race and seeing the live-ghost cars of dozens of other players next to you.

#3 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

On a fundamental level, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the best feeling game in the series. Every kart and bike is weighty but responsive, and customizable parts can even help tailor the handling to your needs. When combined with choosing a character that also alters how you drive, you have a karting game with tons of genuine variety across an incredible selection of tracks from across the Mario Kart series. Assists help players of all skill levels get in on the fun, but drift kings can also master the mechanics to pull out a lead. It’s endlessly replayable, and inclusions like Battle Modes and DLC tracks make the package even sweeter.

#2 Dirt 5

Strong visuals and responsive handling define the Dirt 5 experience. With Dirt 5, Codemasters achieves a better sense of exciting racing by moving away from the more serious tendencies of its previous entries and adopting a more flexible handling model. Yet, despite the simpler approach, open-wheel cars still feel different from retro rally monsters, and variations in weather and track surfaces also change how cars handle on the fly. It embraces arcade racing tendencies and that works out for the better. Dirt 5 is also a winner with its entertaining career mode thanks to banter from veteran voice actors Troy Baker and Nolan North. The stunt track editor rounds out the package to provide ample replayability. 

#1 Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 is the complete package. Mexico is the most varied landscape in the series, and there are no limits as to how players can traverse it. It’s a loving tribute to the country and its car culture, and it’s also a joyful adventure that never pressures you. Despite its ludicrous number of events and side activities, Forza Horizon 5 rewards you no matter how you choose to play it, no matter your skill level, and no matter your results. Staggering graphical fidelity, an eclectic selection of customizable cars, and fine-tuned handling that is blisteringly fast but always controllable, all culminate to make Forza Horizon 5 one of the greatest arcade racers to date.

#Bonus: Burnout 3: Takedown

It’s impossible to talk about the best arcade racers in the genre without bringing up Burnout 3: Takedown. Its light yet precise handling allows players to control cars with ease, but it takes split-second reaction times to stay on top of things thanks to the unbelievable speeds at which you race around its tracks. Dangerous driving is rewarded with boost meter, and it’s hard to beat the rush of a patented Burnout sequence like weaving through incoming traffic, dramatically taking down a rival car by slamming them into a wall, and then being rewarded by a burst of speed that’s so fast you lose track of what’s actually happening. Few arcade racers can match the adrenaline rush of Burnout 3.