A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings. In general, they can be distributed along a spectrum anywhere between hardcore simulations, and simpler arcade racing games.

History

1970s

The arcade game Astro Race, released by Taito in 1973, was an early racing game, where players controlled spaceships that race against opposing ships, while avoiding comets and meteors. The game allowed simultaneous two-player competitive gameplay and was presented in black and white graphics.^[1] The following year, Taito released Speed Race, an early black-and-white car racing game that introduced collision detection and an overhead vertical scrolling view,^[2] where the course width becoming wider or narrower as the player's car moves up the road, while the player races against other rival cars, more of which appear as the score increases. It also featured an early racing wheel controller interface with an accelerator, gear shift, speedometer and tachometer. It could be played in either single-player or alternating two-player, where each player attempts to beat the other's score.^[3] The arcade game Gran Trak 10, released by Atari in 1974, is also considered a progenitor of the racing genre. Gran Trak 10 presents an overhead view of the track in low resolution white on black graphics, on which the player races against the clock to accumulate points. While challenging, it is not competition racing.

In 1975, Nintendo released EVR-Race, an early horse racing simulation game with support for up to six players.^[4] In 1976, Taito released Crashing Race, a simultaneous two-player competitive car racing game where each player must try to crash as many computer-controlled cars as possible to score points, and the player with the most points wins.^[5] That same year, Sega released Moto-Cross, an early black-and-white motorbike racing game, based on the motocross competition, that was most notable for introducing an early three-dimensional third-person perspective.^[6] Later that year, Sega-Gremlin re-branded the game as Fonz, as a tie-in for the popular sitcom, Happy Days.^[7] Both versions of the game displayed a constantly-changing road and the player's bike in a third-person perspective where objects nearer to the player are larger than those nearer to the horizon, and the aim was to steer the vehicle across the road, racing against the clock, while avoiding any on-coming motorcycles or driving off the road.^[6][7] That same year also saw the release of two arcade games that extended the car driving subgenre into three dimensions with a first-person perspective: Sega's Road Race, which displayed a constantly changing S-shaped road with two obstacle race cars moving along the road that the player must avoid crashing while racing against the clock,^[8] and Atari's Night Driver, which presented a series of posts by the edge of the road though there was no view of the road or the player's car and the graphics were still low resolution white on black, and like Gran Trek 10, gameplay was a race against the clock.

In 1977, Micronetics released Night Racer, a first-person car racing game similar to Night Driver,^[9] while Sega released Twin Course T.T., an early simultaneous competitive two-player motorbike racing game.^[10] That same year, UPL's Comotion was an early four-player car racing game, with an overhead view.^[11] Road Champion, released by Taito in 1978, was an overhead-view timed car racing game where players try to race ahead of the opposing cars and cross the finish line first to become the winner.^[12] In 1979, Sega's Head On was a racing game that played like a maze chase game and is thus considered a precursor to the 1980 hit Pac-Man.^[13] Monaco GP, released by Sega in 1979,^[14] improved upon previous overhead-view racing games with a vertically scrolling view and color graphics.

1980s

In 1980, Namco's overhead-view driving game Rally-X was the first game to feature background music,^[15] as well as the first game to allow scrolling in multiple directions, both vertical and horizontal, and it was possible to pull the screen quickly in either direction.^[16] It also featured an early example of a radar, to show the rally car's location on the map.^[17] Alpine Ski, released by Taito in 1981, was an early winter sports game, a vertical-scrolling racing game that involved maneuvering a skier through a downhill ski course, a slalom racing course, and a ski jumping competition.^[18] Turbo, released by Sega in 1981, was the first racing game to feature a third-person perspective, rear view format.^[19] It was also the first racing game to use sprite scaling with full-color graphics.^[20] Bump 'n' Jump, released by Data East in 1982, was a vertical-scrolling driving game where the player's car jumps or bumps enemy cars for points, while bonuses were awarded for completing levels without hitting any cars.^[21]

True "racing" as it is now generally accepted was started by the Namco game Pole Position in 1982. This time the player has AI cars to race against, and a time limit pushes the player to go faster. Pole Position is also the first game to be based on a real racing circuit. The game introduced color graphics at a much higher resolution than earlier titles and pioneered the now common rear-view racer format used in nearly all racing games since then.^[22] Pole Position II was released the following year, and featured improvements like giving the player the choice of different race courses as well as more colourful landscapes lined with advertising bill-boards.^[23]

Change Lanes, released by Taito in 1983, was a third-person racer where the player's car had fuel that reduces while driving, thus the driver must pick-up fuel cells to get a refuel at each checkpoint, while crashing into cars or obstacles would slow down the car and further reduce its fuel. If the fuel runs out, the game would end.^[24] That same year, Kaneko produced Roller Aces, an early roller skating racer played from a third-person perspective,^[25] while Irem released MotoRace USA, an early partially third-person motorbike racer,^[26] where the player travels across the US and refuels at various cities along the way, while avoiding crashes that can cause a substantial loss of fuel, causing the game to end if the fuel is depleted.^[27] An early attempt at creating a driving simulator was Tomy's Turnin' Turbo Dashboard, also released in 1983. It was the first home video game to feature a racing wheel controller.^[28]

In 1984, several early racing laserdisc video games were released, including Sega's GP World^[29] and Taito's Laser Grand Prix^[30] which featured live-action footage, Universal's Top Gear featuring 3D animated race car driving,^[31] and Taito's Cosmos Circuit, featuring animated futuristic racing.^[32] Taito also released Kick Start, a fully third-person motorbike racing game,^[33] and Buggy Challenge, an early dirt track racing game featuring a buggy.^[34] Other early dirt racing games from that year were dirt bike games: Nintendo's Excitebike^[35] and SNK's motocross game Jumping Cross,^[36] both played from a side-scrolling view. SNK also released Gladiator 1984, an early horse racing game,^[37] and Mad Crasher, an early futuristic racing game, where the player drives a futuristic motorbike along diagonal-scrolling futuristic roads suspended in mid-air, while leaping across gaps, shooting other cars, and getting bonuses and power-ups.^[38] Another racing game that involved shooting that year was Seicross, where the player rides a motorcycle-like craft, bumps other riders, collects power modules and shoots blue coins.^[39] Other notable arcade releases that year include Konami's Road Fighter, a vertical-scrolling racer where the aim is to drive fast, pass cars and avoid accidents for maximum points, while reaching check points before running out of fuel;^[40] and TX-1, produced by Tatsumi and published by Atari, featuring a unique three-screen arcade display for the front, left and right perspectives.^[41]

Racing games in general tend to drift toward the arcade side of reality, mainly due to hardware limitations, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. It is, however, untrue to say that there were no games considered simulations in their time. In 1984, 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, REVS, 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 was far above any other games at the time in terms of detail.

In 1985, Sega released Hang-On, a popular early Grand Prix style rear-view motorbike racer,^[42] considered the first full-body-experience video game.^[43] It 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 rates.^[44] That same year, Jaleco released City Connection, a platform-racer where cops chase the player around different cities in the US, UK, France, Japan and India.^[45] In 1986, Sega produced Out Run, one of the most graphically impressive games of its time. It used two Motorola 68000 CPUs for its 2D sprite-based driving engine, and it became an instant classic that spawned many sequels. It was notable for giving the player the choice of which route to take through the game and the choice of soundtrack to listen to while driving.^[46] In 1987, Namco produced Final Lap, the first arcade game that allowed multiple machines to be linked, allowing for multiplayer races. In the same year, Atari produced RoadBlasters, a driving game that also involved a bit of shooting.

In 1988, CBS Sony released Paris-Dakar Rally Special, an imaginative racing game with platformer and action-adventure elements, featuring Dakar Rally cars that could fire bullets, the driver able to exit the car and go exploring to lower a bridge or bypass other obstacles, underwater driving sections, and at times having avoid a fleet of tanks and fighter jets.^[47] That same year, Atari introduced Hard Drivin', the first arcade driving game that included force feedback as well as 3D polygonal graphics. This is the first game where the wheel actually fights the player during aggressive turns. It also featured a crash replay camera view.

1990s

In 1990, the now defunct Papyrus Design Group produced their first attempt at a racing Simulator, the critically acclaimed Indianapolis 500: The Simulation. Accurately replicating the 1989 Indianapolis 500 grid, it offered advanced 3D graphics for its time, setup options, car failures and handling. The damage modelling, while not accurate by today's standards, was capable of producing some spectacular and entertaining pile-ups. It was later almost forgotten with the success of Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix, though the 1992 game's graphics were, in some ways, superior to Formula One's.

Formula One Grand Prix became the new champion of sim racing. It boasted unparalleled detail and 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.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sega produced Virtua Racing in 1992. While not the first game with 3D graphics (see REVS), it was able to combine the best features of games at the time, along with multiplayer machine linking and clean 3D graphics to produce a game that was above and beyond the arcade market standard of its time. Also, Nintendo broke new ground by introducing the Mario Kart series on the SNES with Super Mario Kart. Using the familiar characters from the Mario franchise, the game not only departed from the realism paradigm by using small karts for the players to drive, but also featured bright, colourful environments and allowed the players to pick up power-ups to improve performance or hamper other racers. This franchise also spawned multiple sequels.

In 1993, Namco struck back with Ridge Racer, and thus began the polygonal war of driving games. Sega struck back that same year with Daytona USA, one of the first video games to feature filtered, texture-mapped polygons, giving it the most detailed graphics yet seen in a video game up until that time.^[48] The following year, Electronic Arts produced The Need for Speed, which would later spawn the world's most popular racing game series and the fifth most popular video game series overall. In the same year, Midway introduced Crusin' USA. In 1996, Konami introduced GTI Club which allowed free roaming of the environment, something of a revolution that had only been done in 3D before in Hard Drivin'. Atari didn't join the 3D craze until 1997, when it introduced San Francisco Rush.

In 1997, Gran Turismo was released for the PlayStation, after being in production for five years since 1992.^[49] It was considered the most realistic racing simulation game in its time,^[50] combined with playability, enabling players of all skill levels to play. It offered a wealth of meticulous tuning options and introduced an open-ended career mode where players had to undertake driving tests to acquire driving licenses, earn their way into races and choose their own career path.^[50] The Gran Turismo series has since become the most popular racing game franchise of all time, selling over 61.41 million units worldwide.^[51]

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 Sega's less serious Sega Rally Championship). Motorhead, a PC game, was later adapted back to arcade.

1999 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, 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 Ambulance Driver, 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.

2000s

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 2003, Rockstar San Diego's Midnight Club II was the first racing game to feature both playable cars and playable motorcycles.

There is a wide gamut of driving games ranging from simple action-arcade racers like Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (for Nintendo GameCube) and Nick Toon Racers to ultra-realistic simulators like Grand Prix Legends, iRacing, Virtual Grand Prix 3, Live for Speed, NetKar Pro, rFactor and X Motor Racing -- and everything in between.

General genres

Racing simulators

Simulation style racing games strive to convincingly replicate the handling of an automobile. 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 drafting) are given priority in the 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, steering assistance, damage resistance, clutch assistance and automatic gear changes. Also driving views, other than the interior driver view, are arcade. This softens the learning curve for the difficult handling characteristics of most racing cars.

The Formula One World Championship has a fan base all over the world and is one of the racing series with the most simulation adaptations.

Some of these racing simulators are customizable, as game fans have decoded the tracks, cars and executable files. Large internet communities have grown around the simulators regarded as the most realistic and many websites host internet championships.

Currently the Racing Sim rFactor has the largest driver base because of its capability of modding. X Motor Racing also has the huge capability of modding and tweaking, including vehicle dynamics and tires. NetKar Pro and X Motor Racing are less popular because of their maximum complexity, but offer better physics simulation.

Arcade racers

Arcade style racing games put fun and a fast-paced experience above all else, as cars usually compete through odd ways. A key feature of arcade 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 to take most turns, arcade racing games generally encourage the player to try to take turns as fast as possible (most arcade racers include a "powerslide" maneuver to allow the player to keep up their speed by drifting through a turn rather than slowly entering it). Collisions with other racers, track obstacles, or traffic vehicles is usually much more exaggerated than simulation racers as well. For the most part, arcade racers simply remove the precision 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, with one or multiple paths (sometimes with checkpoints), or other types of competition, like demolition derby, jumping, or testing driving skills. Popular arcade racers are the Daytona USA series, the Rush, the Ridge Racer series, the Cruis'n Series, the Midnight Club series, and the classic Out Run.

During the mid-late 2000s there was a trend of new street racing; imitating the import scene, one can tune sport compacts and sports cars and race them on the streets. The most widely known ones are the Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and the Midnight Club series, Need for Speed series, and the Juiced series.

Some arcade 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" games, such as the Mario Kart series, but this kind of gameplay 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, and Blur.

List of racing game sub-genres

On-road

In a car racing game, the primary gameplay mode is driving the car. However, they sometimes offer a secondary mode for tuning up the car.^[52] There are various principles in winning car racing games, some of which apply to real life situations while most are unique to the game itself.

Simulation-style racing games

Racing games that are more focused on realism.

Semi-simulation-style racing games

These games are neither simulators nor arcade racers; they stand in the middle of the spectrum.

Arcade-style racing games

Racing games that are not focused on realism.