Racing Games

Racing games were some of the earliest video games created and remain one of the staples of the computer gaming world. Emerging in the late 1970s, this genre is still very popular today and continues to push the boundaries of graphics and performance.

The genre typically places the player in the driver's seat of a high-performance vehicle and requires them to either race against the clock or against other drivers. However; there are two main sub-genres within racing: simulation and arcade.

Simulation racers tend to focus on accurate performance and handling of real-world cars, often allowing the player to take part in real-world racing events, such as the Dakar Rally or the Indianapolis 500. Players can usually adjust the performance of their vehicles, such as the gear ratio of the engines or the looseness of the brakes. In comparison, arcade racers tend to have fantastical settings and course layouts, exaggerated physics and unrealistic damage handling. Some games, such as Gran Turismo, lay somewhere between the two styles. There are also a number of extreme or futuristic racing games, such as Wipeout, F-Zero, Extreme-G and Quantum Redshift.

The top-selling racing game (as of 2008) is Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2 - 14.87 million).

A popular subgenre of the racing game is the kart racing game, popularised by (and often credited to) the Mario Kart series. This subgenre simplifies the vehicle handling and introduces various obstacles and other quirks to the racetrack; for example, allowing players to pick up items during the race in order to boost their performance.