What Video Game generation had the best racing games (to you)?

[Deleted member 23850]

For me personally, I had to go with the 5th generation (N64 era), it was the zenith for arcade racing games in my opinion. Or games that really took inspiration from the less realistic styles of racing games and created something of their own. N64 also had Beetle Adventure Racing, which IMO is hands down one of the best racing games ever made. Perhaps the best in my eyes.

 

[Xenosaga]

PS1 because it had Gran Turismo 2 and R4.

 

[Deleted member 59109]

I guess there isn't one gen for me. My favorite racing games are Jak X, Mario Kart Wii, 8 and maybe Double Dash, and CTR Remake, which are all from different gens.

 

[Lunchbox]

Horizon 4 easily besides Mario Kart but that's it's own thing really.

 

[Grimminski]

7th Gen had the NFS Shift series, Dirt 2/3, and Burnout Paradise all of which I played way too much of.

Edit: Also, ProStreet. Shit is so underrated.

Double Edit: I own ProStreet on Amazon...

 

[defaltoption]

6th with 7th being a close second, there was more variety and fun in the 6th but 7th had perfected the formula for many of them. 8th gen takes that formula and ups the graphics but its probably 6th just for sheer variety

 

[data west]

NFSU2, Midnight Club 3, Burnout 3, PGR, GT3, Outrun 2. I could go on.

 

[Taco_Human]

Gen 6 has and I know I'm forgetting some

Outrun 2
Burnout 3
Mario Kart Double Dash
F Zero GX wink wink
Gran Turismo 4
Ridge Racer 5 I think

 

[MADSUPERVILLAIN]

Ridge Racer Type 4 is the GOAT, but 6th gen is better overall. Burnout 3, F-Zero GX, Outrun 2, Project Gotham Racing 2...


The only thing that gen missed for me was Wipeout, but the PS2 got a late port of Wipeout Pulse in 2009, so I'll count that.

 

[ez123]

FH4 is my favorite ever but 7th gen had Pure, PGR 4, Burnout Paradise, Forzas, Dirts

 

[ThisIsBlitz21]

6th gen blows everything out of the water.
- Burnout 3 Takedown (the GOAT)
- Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
- Underground
- Underground 2
- Midnight Club 3
- Project Gotham Racing 2
- F-Zero GX
- Midnight Club 3
- Gran Turismo 3 and 4
- Toca Race Driver games
- Colin Mcrae Rally
- WRC 1-4
- ATV Offroad Fury series
- Flatout 2
- MX vs ATV Unleashed

 

[PirateHearts]

7th gen was really where I got into racing games. Burnout Paradise and NFS: Most Wanted for standouts for me.

 

[Deleted member 23850]

6th gen blows everything out of the water.
- Burnout 3 Takedown (the GOAT)
- Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
- Underground
- Underground 2
- Midnight Club 3
- Project Gotham Racing 2
- F-Zero GX
- Midnight Club 3
- Gran Turismo 3 and 4
- Toca Race Driver games
- Colin Mcrae Rally
- WRC 1-4
- ATV Offroad Fury series
- Flatout 2
- MX vs ATV Unleashed

Click to shrink...

Project Gotham Racing was such a disappointment.

 

[nsilvias]

the ps2/xbox/gc era

everything after that has been a dissapointment for me outside of early ps360

 

[pennanton]

Current generation imo.

As I've gotten older I've gravitated more towards sims, which due to the nature of the beast have never been better.

I don't believe arcade racers have improved mechanically since Daytona 2, Outrun 2 or later Wipeouts, so a lot of elder arcade racers have aged like milk to me and are better left for nostalgia purposes.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I hate numbering console generations as it's not even close to a universally agreed upon thing but I vote for the gen with OutRun 2 on Xbox. The previous gen ranks pretty high due to games like Waverace 64.

Why is the NES listed as the only console of its gen? The SMS had some of the big home racing games of its time.

 

[GamerJM]

Gen 6 wins off the strength of F-Zero GX and the Burnout franchise alone. Gen 7 did have my favorite though (MKDS), and gen 5 had the N64 which seemingly had a ton of arcadey racers.

 

[Pyro]

6th because there was something for everyone. Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, Midnight Club, the best Mario Kart, Twisted Metal, Burnout, etc.

I kinda just now realized that's also when I actually played racing games most since there seemed to be a lot that struck the balance between simulation and arcade, whereas nowadays it seems much more focused on the former.

 

[Shopolic]

6th generation.
It had Gran Turismo 3 as an amazing game and Gran Turismo 4 as the best racing game of my life.
It had best, second and third Need for Speed games for me: Hot Pursuit 2, Underground and Most Wanted.
It had best arcade racing games of all times: Burnout 3&4.
And there were other great games too, from Forza Motorsport and Project Gotham Racing to Auto Modellista and...

7th generation was so good too. From GT5&6 to FM3&4 and Forza Horizon, it had lots of great racing games.

 

[Breather-Resistance]

Clearly it was the 6th generation but it's laughable that this generation with its totaly penury and complete death of pure arcade racing is ahead of the 7th generation which had all time classics like Blur, Split/Second, Motorstorm etc.

People really are unduly unfavourable towards the 7th generation in general on this forum.

 

[Mahonay]

6th gen was the era of racers for damn sure.

Project Gotham 2 was one of my favorites of all time.

Definitely dumped a lot of hours into Burnout 2 & 3 as well.

 

[Ryuelli]

5th Gen because it had Beetle Adventure Racing and that's my favorite racing game.

 

[Deleted member 23850]

Mario Kart sucked until Wii U.

I can't believe people are saying Double Dash was a good game. Fuck that game.

 

[Deleted member 179]

7th Gen had the NFS Shift series, Dirt 2/3, and Burnout Paradise all of which I played way too much of.

Edit: Also, ProStreet. Shit is so underrated.

Double Edit: I own ProStreet on Amazon...

Click to shrink...

Holy shit I forgot about ProStreet, that is a winner right there

My vote has to go 6th though. GT3, NFS Underground 1&2, Most Wanted, Mario Kart Double Dash, Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition

 

[kamineko]

The driving game I sank the most time into was night drive (2600)

 

[Terbinator]

Gen 7:
Midnight Club LA
FH1
FM2/3/4
GT6
Motorstorm
PGR4
MArio Kart 7
Burnout Paradise
NFS HP 2010, Most Wanted OG
TDU

 

[Deleted member 39374]

NFS Underground and Underground 2, GT3 and 4 were my personal golden age of racing games

360 had PGR3, Forza 2, and NFS Most Wanted tho

Racing games used to push the culture with soundtracks and style, its a shame they're not influential like that anymore

 

[Deleted member 23850]

5th Gen because it had Beetle Adventure Racing and that's my favorite racing game.

Click to shrink...

Thumbs up. It really is a gem of a game.

I would love to see a remake.

 

[Deleted member 64002]

I have such a high fondness for the 7th and 5th generation with motor storm and need for speed. But the 5th having gran turismo before it became a full racing sim will have my fondest memories. Tho it's also tricky because the pa2 era had alot of fun racing games like ATV offroad furry 2.

 

[Mahonay]

Mario Kart sucked until Wii U.

I can't believe people are saying Double Dash was a good game. Fuck that game.

Click to shrink...

I watched someone punch a hole through a wall thanks to Double Dash

 

[Deleted member 23850]

I watched someone punch a hole through a wall thanks to Double Dash

Click to shrink...

The game is just so fucking bland and boring. IMO, I've always thought the Mario Kart series starting with the Gamecube era, up to Mario Kart 8, suffered with that issue. Mario Kart Wii feels so barren and fucking lifeless, too.

Truth to be told, I HATE the fact that the series has come to represent racing games as a whole. The entire genre is not just some clone of that series, but gamers are lazy and lump every racing game that is remotely arcadey into Mario Kart.

 

[bane833]

6th Gen.

It had everything. Absolutely everything.

Waverace (even decent Waverace knockoffs)
F Zero GX
Sledstorm
Need for Speed Underground
Midnight Club
Smugglers Run
Burnout
Mario Kart
Gran Turismo was still good
Project Gotham Racing
Midtown Madness
Wipeout
Xtreme G
Tons of Rallye games
Etc.

 

[HiLife]

NFS Underground. Midnight Club 3. Burnout Takedown. Project Gotham Racing.

PS2 / Xbox easily.

 

[Deleted member 23850]

6th Gen.

It had everything. Absolutely everything.

Waverace (even decent Waverace knockoffs)
F Zero GX
Sledstorm
Need for Speed Underground
Midnight Club
Smugglers Run
Burnout
Mario Kart
Gran Turismo was still good
Project Gotham Racing
Midtown Madness
Wipeout
Xtreme G
Tons of Rallye games
Etc.

Click to shrink...

Sledstorm was pretty fun, I remember that game.

 

[Sandcrawler]

This gen (8th) is pretty great for them. It's been mostly iterations of past series, but the modern Forza Horizon games, GT Sport, Project Cars 2, Assetto Corsa, and Dirt Rally is a pretty great line up all for different reasons. FH has the open world, festival vibe with good music on lock. GT Sport has the best online system outside of iRacing. Project Cars 2 is very immersive. Assetto Corsa has many mods, including modded servers like the Shutoko Revival Project. Dirt Rally brought a more hardcore sim experience off road when most sims focus on on road (or maybe dirt track) experiences. I guess for more arcade racing games this hasn't been as great as PS2, but I prefer what we have now.

 

[dean_rcg]

F Zero X
Waverace
MK64
Crash
Diddy Kong
Beetle Adventure
GT/GT2
etc

 

[bane833]

Sledstorm was pretty fun, I remember that game.

Click to shrink...

It wasn't as good as the first Sledstorm on PSX but still a pretty decent game.

 

[Bioshocker]

It's a close call between 6th and 7th gen for me. Dreamcast and Xbox had tons of great racing games, one of which led to the Project Gotham series taking off on Xbox 360. I'd go with 6th gen primarily due to Sega Rally 2, MSR, PGR, PGR 2, and RalliSport Challenge 2. What a gen for racing fans!

 

[Hilarious_Bearious]

+1 for 5th gen.

• Gran Tourismo 1&2
• Mario Kart 64
• Crash Team Racing
• Episode 1 Racer
• Wipeout
• Rollcage
• Colin McRae
• Waverace
• Daytonaaaaaaa

The nostalgia is strong for me.

 

[RAWcolour]

Still playing Ridge Racer Type 4 on my Vita, so 5th gen.

 

[AbsoluteZero0K]

6th gen blows everything out of the water.
- Burnout 3 Takedown (the GOAT)
- Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
- Underground
- Underground 2
- Midnight Club 3
- Project Gotham Racing 2
- F-Zero GX
- Midnight Club 3
- Gran Turismo 3 and 4
- Toca Race Driver games
- Colin Mcrae Rally
- WRC 1-4
- ATV Offroad Fury series
- Flatout 2
- MX vs ATV Unleashed

Click to shrink...

Done.

 

[lazybones18]

6th Gen had Midnight Club and Midnight Club 2 so that's an easy win

 

[Deleted member 23850]

Midnight Club 3 was a terrific game. One of the last racing games I really loved.

 

[Deleted member 23850]

Poor SNES/Genesis.

 

[arcadepc]

5th because it even had isometric arcade racers like Overtop and Neo Drift Out with actual steering wheels. I'll set a wheel for it on MAME now that I read the thread

 

[Deleted member 59109]

Mario Kart sucked until Wii U.

I can't believe people are saying Double Dash was a good game. Fuck that game.

Click to shrink...

Mario Kart Wii is the best in the series.

 

[Deleted member 23850]

Come to think of it though....

Perhaps no racing series is quite like Mario Kart, so it all balances out.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

I can still hear the sound of spinning the hell out of that wheel.

 

[Benjamin]

Ridge Racer Type 4 is the GOAT, but 6th gen is better overall. Burnout 3, F-Zero GX, Outrun 2, Project Gotham Racing 2...


The only thing that gen missed for me was Wipeout, but the PS2 got a late port of Wipeout Pulse in 2009, so I'll count that.

Click to shrink...

You're forgetting wipEout fusion. It was pretty good once you got into it, but not nearly as sucker-punch stunning as most others in the series.

 

[Bedameister]

PS2 had the best NFS games imo. I loved them back then. Lost my interest in racing games the gen after