Best Racing Games on Every Console: Kart, Sim and Arcade

Racing games split into three camps that want different things from you. Kart racers reward item timing and shortcuts, simulations reward braking points and tuning, and arcade racers reward nerve. This list picks the best of each across console generations, says where you can still play them today, and who each one suits, so you can choose one rather than buy the most famous name.

A game earned its place by still playing well now, not just by being important at launch. Where an old game has no current release, the entry says so and names the closest thing you can buy today. Platforms and store availability change, so check the store before you buy.

It is the 2014 Wii U game with every DLC track, a proper Battle mode and two items held at once. The Booster Course Pass (2022-2023) doubled the track list to 96, mixing remastered courses from every earlier Mario Kart. What keeps it on top is how wide the skill range is: Smart Steering and auto-accelerate let a six-year-old finish races, while mirror mode at 200cc asks for real braking and drift control.

• Where to play it now: Switch, and Switch 2 through backward compatibility. Mario Kart World (2025) is the Switch 2 follow-up, built around one connected open map.
• Who it suits: families, parties and anyone who wants local split-screen for up to four players.

Polyphony Digital built the single-player campaign around "menu books" at the in-game Café: each book asks you to collect a set of cars, and each car comes with a short history of the model. Handling is the series' best, tyre and fuel strategy matter in the longer races, and the PS5 version supports PlayStation VR2. GT Sophy, Sony AI's racing opponent, was added as an optional race mode after launch.

• Where to play it now: PS4 and PS5. Most modes, including the campaign, need an internet connection.
• Who it suits: car enthusiasts and anyone with a wheel. With a pad, turn on the driving assists at first.

Playground Games set it in a compressed version of MexIco, with jungle, desert, a volcano and city streets in one map. The structure is a festival: you unlock events by driving into them, and a seasonal playlist changes the challenges every week. EventLab lets players build their own race and stunt events, so there is always something new to load. It is the most forgiving game here: rewind undoes a crash at any moment.

• Where to play it now: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PS5 since 2025.
• Who it suits: players who want to drive somewhere beautiful without studying racing lines.

Built by Sega's Amusement Vision for Nintendo, it puts 30 anti-gravity machines on tracks that loop, twist into tubes and drop into open space. Your boost comes out of the same energy bar that keeps you alive, so every boost is a risk. The story mode is famously hard even on Normal. Nothing in the series has matched it since; F-Zero 99 (2023) on Nintendo Switch Online is a 99-player battle royale built on the SNES original.

• Where to play it now: in the Nintendo Switch Online GameCube library on Switch 2 (Expansion Pack tier) since June 2025; the original disc otherwise. F-Zero 99 is a free extra for any Switch Online member.
• Who it suits: players who want speed and difficulty above everything.

Criterion turned crashing into the point. Ramming a rival into a wall is a "Takedown", it refills your boost, and the camera shows the wreck in slow motion. Crash mode, a separate set of puzzle-like junctions where you score by causing the biggest pile-up, is still the best version of that idea.

• Where to play it now: there is no modern re-release. Burnout Paradise Remastered (2018) on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC is the closest you can buy today, with an open city in place of set tracks.
• Who it suits: players who find racing lines dull and want contact.

• WipEout Omega Collection (PS4, 2017) - WipEout HD, Fury and 2048 in one package; the best way to play Sony's anti-gravity racer now.
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) - police chases, a "blacklist" of 15 rivals to beat, and the series at its most focused. PS2, Xbox, GameCube and PC.
• Diddy Kong Racing (N64, 1997) - Rare's kart racer with an adventure hub and three vehicles (car, hovercraft and plane). Never re-released.
• Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (2019) - a faithful remake of the PS1 kart racer, with a stricter drift-boost system than Mario Kart. PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
• Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS1, 1998) - drift-heavy arcade racing with a story told through team managers between races.
• Trackmania (2020, PC; consoles 2023) - short, precise time-trial tracks and a huge library of player-made ones.
• DiRT Rally 2.0 (2019) - rally simulation where one mistake on a stage can end the run. PS4, Xbox One and PC.

• Playing with family or friends on one screen: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• Want to learn real driving: Gran Turismo 7.
• Want to relax: Forza Horizon 5.
• Want the fastest, hardest thing: F-Zero GX, then WipEout Omega Collection.

For more couch multiplayer, see the best couch co-op games on every console and the history of couch co-op. The racing genre page sorts more picks by arcade, sim and kart.