Mario Kart is a series of kart racing games based on the Mario franchise developed and published by Nintendo. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up items. It features characters from the Mario series racing along courses either based on locations seen throughout the Mario franchise, or original locations set in the Mario universe. Downloadable content and re-releases for Mario Kart 8 specifically introduced content originating from other franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, F-Zero, Excitebike, and Splatoon.
Gran Turismo (GT) is a series of sim racing video games developed by Polyphony Digital. Released for PlayStation systems, Gran Turismo games are intended to emulate the appearance and performance of a large selection of vehicles, most of which are licensed reproductions of real-world automobiles. Since the franchise's debut in 1997, over 90 million units have been sold worldwide, making it the highest selling video game franchise under the PlayStation brand.
Sim racing is the collective term for racing games that attempts to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings. To be competitive in sim racing, a driver must understand all aspects of car handling that make real-world racing so difficult, such as threshold braking, how to maintain control of a car as the tires lose traction, and how properly to enter and exit a turn without sacrificing speed. It is this level of difficulty that distinguishes sim racing from arcade racing-style driving games where real-world variables are taken out of the equation and the principal objective is to create a sense of speed as opposed to a sense of realism like the Need for Speed series.
F-Zero is a series of futuristic racing games published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo EAD and other third-party companies. The first game was released for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1990. Its success prompted Nintendo to create sequels on subsequent consoles.
F1 Racing Championship is a video game developed by Ubi Soft. Starring people and locations from the 1999 Formula One World Championship, it was released for several platforms during 2000 and 2001. At the time, it was facing steep competition by the ever-popular Grand Prix 3 and the rising F1-series by ISI. The sales were behind expectations. Reasons were a poor artificial intelligence and damage model and the bug-prone initial release. A patch to fix the reported issues was announced, but never released.
A number of video games have been made of Le Mans 24 Hours. The race, the Circuit de la Sarthe, and competing cars have been featured in racing games such as the Gran Turismo series.
Micro Machines is a series of video games featuring toy cars, developed by Codemasters and published on multiple platforms. The series is based on the Micro Machines toy line of miniature vehicles.
SimCity 4: Rush Hour is the expansion pack for SimCity 4 created by EA Games and Maxis, where the player builds a city from scratch. It was released in September 2003 simultaneously with a deluxe edition of SimCity 4 which also contains the expansion pack built-in.
Race Driver: Grid known outside of Europe as Grid is a 2008 racing video game developed and published by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, arcade, Java ME and OS X. It is the first game in the Grid series.
iRacing is a subscription-based online sim racing video game developed and published by iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations in 2008. All in-game sessions are hosted on the publisher's servers. The game simulates real world cars, tracks, and racing events, and enforces rules of conduct modeled on real auto racing events.
Race Pro is a sim racing video game developed by SimBin Studios and published by Atari exclusively for Xbox 360. The game is described as having "ultra realistic car models" with cars ranging in power from 200 hp (150 kW) to 1,000 hp (750 kW). The game uses the new Lizard game engine whereas the PC SimBin games used the Gmotor engine. This marks the first console game completed and released by SimBin.
Need for Speed: Nitro is a racing video game and the fourteenth title in the Need for Speed series. It was published by Electronic Arts for the Nintendo Wii and DS platforms. The Wii version was developed by EA Montreal, who have previous experience with Nintendo consoles, while the DS version was developed separately by Firebrand Games' Florida studio.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a 2010 kart racing video game developed by Sumo Digital and published by Sega. It was released for Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Windows, featuring characters from multiple Sega franchises. The game is the third title in the Sega All-Stars series, preceded by Sega Superstars Tennis. A mobile version was developed by Gameloft, and released for iOS in June 2011, as a paid download. A version for OS X was released by Feral Interactive in April 2013.
Real Racing 3 is a 2013 racing game developed by Firemonkeys Studios and published by Electronic Arts for iOS, Android, Nvidia Shield and BlackBerry 10 devices. It was released on iOS and Android on February 28, 2013, under the freemium business model; it was free to download, with enhancements available through in-app purchases. It was considered that it had one of the best graphical experience at that time. Over time and despite an expensive virtual economy ingame, the developers began to tolerate the use of playing with time zones in order for the players to watch unlimited ads to get free gold.
The Crew was a 2014 online-only racing video game co-developed by Ubisoft Ivory Tower and Ubisoft Reflections and published by Ubisoft. The game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, with an Xbox 360 port developed by Asobo Studio in December 2014. It featured a persistent open world environment for free-roaming across a scaled-down recreation of the contiguous United States and included both role-playing and large-scale multiplayer elements.
Race Drivin' is a sim racing arcade video game released by Atari Games in August 1990. Players test drive several high-powered sports cars on stunt and speed courses. The game is the sequel to 1989's Hard Drivin' and was part of a new generation of games that featured 3D polygon environments. Unlike most racing games of its time, it attempted to model real world car physics in the simulation of the movement of the player's car. Like Hard Drivin', it includes a force feedback steering wheel, an ignition key, a four-speed shifter, and three foot pedals. Approximately 1200 arcade cabinets were produced for roughly US$9,000 each.
Hill Climb Racing is a 2012 2D physics-based racing video game released and published by the Finnish studio Fingersoft for Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, and Windows Phone. It was originally created by Toni Fingerroos, Fingersoft's founder, and it's the brand's best-known and selling game. The player controls a driver named Bill Newton across hilly terrains, collecting coins and diamonds along the way and spending them on vehicular upgrades and vehicles themselves while being watchful of the driver's head and fuel supply.
Gran Turismo Sport is a 2017 sim racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It is the twelfth game in the Gran Turismo series.
KartKraft is a karting racing simulator game that emphasizes realistic physics. It was originally created by Australian independent developer Black Delta which in 2021 was acquired by Motorsport Games. After being in Early Access on the Steam store since November 2018, the game was officially released on January 26, 2022.
Ace Racer is an online free-to-play racing game developed and published by NetEase Games and is available for IOS and Android. The game went into public beta in China on 23 July 2021. The global version of Ace Racer has been released on 16 March 2023.
