Street Racing has intrigued the masses since its inception with hot-rodding in the 1950s, and thanks to Vin Diesel and his “family,” the demand for video game counterparts has exploded. Neons, NOS, cops, and a booming big city at night, all blurring by as you fight to keep control at 160 mph; great street racing games are electric adrenaline distilled to perfection.
Racing games that have firmly defined themselves as part of the street racing genre, not just racing on street tracks, but attempting to adopt and communicate aspects of street racing culture such as customization, music, cruising, or in the game world free-roaming, etc. will be discussed here. These are the ten street racing games that define the genre and remain a blast to play.
10 Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition
Rockstar’s last well-received Midnight Club game, DUB edition remains an excellent entry in the street racing pantheon. The game’s free-roam story mode returns from 2, featuring updated and more defined graphics from its predecessor. Continuing the realistic feel, the game does add customization and real car manufacturers to the Midnight Club formula, however, this game is anything but realistic.
Power-ups that create slow-motion, road-clearing shock waves, or even battering rams create rather odd tonal whiplash but are very enjoyable. The overall look of the cars and buildings, as well as the feel of the cars themselves hold it back here, however, this game is still an excellent street racing joyride.
9 Need for Speed Underground
Great racing modes, a solid customization feature of real manufactured cars, and a nice arcadey feel, Need for Speed Underground is a definitive street racer. The adrenaline-laced first-person drag racing mode was and is the perfect representation of trying to take a 10-second car to its limits. Drifting, lap racing and customizing are also great, but the drag races really take the checkered.
While the lack of a free roam mode or free roam story greatly holds it back here, this game is still one of street racing’s finest. The drag races alone are worth the price of admission, a fantastic rocket ride into tunnel-vision-filled joy every time. Underground remains awesome.
8 Burnout Paradise
Are Burnout games street racing games? Well, hmm. We say yes! A frantic and clean experiment, Burnout Paradise’s open world and lightning-fast cars make for a great street racing experience. The giant open world does a great job of replicating the cursing around for racers feel of street racing and the controls and sense of speed do not disappoint.
The removal of a designated crash mode, though showtime mode tries to fill the gap, really keeps it back on this list as the mode was a big highlight of the series and a key part of that signature Burnout mayhem. Still a great open-world street racing jaunt into turbocharged chaos and one of the best and fastest street racers ever.
7 The Crew 2
Giving players the entire United States to cannonball run across, including planes, boats, motorcycles, and more to use, and keep it all feeling like one giant street race, The Crew 2 is a wild and unbelievable game. Anything feels possible in this breakable and explorable GIGANTIC map, leading to an incredible amount of varying races.
Not all the content, frankly most of it, is exactly street racing in its traditional sense, and the mistake of removing the first game’s police, holds the Crew 2 back on this list, its street racing feel is still excellent. Making all the different races and modes still feel like a chaotic and illegal race is a great accomplishment within the Crew 2.
6 Need for Speed (2015)
A much need shot in the arm to the street racing genre, Need for Speed 2015 is a great street racing experience. The overly cheesy and thus excellent story mode, the great free-roaming exploration with cops and shops, sleek and beautiful car models and a fun online experience, this game really felt like a next-generation street racing powerhouse.
While its sometimes stiff controls and slightly buggy over-world hold it back on this list, do not let that hold you back from experiencing last generation’s best street racing game. The feel of getting in a giant, city-spanning police chase is still a total thrill.
5 Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
The best way to get into a 2 player digital police chase, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 creates an alluring and undeniably fun mixture of lap racing and illegal street racing. The game always continues to escalate, the cars, the courses, the police chases. First, it’s a few cops, then a Lamborghini cop, then spike strips, then a helicopter that drops exploding depth charges, all while you and a buddy are sliding around at 200 mph.
While the game is a course racer, holding it back on our street racing list, it is an illegal police-chasing fun fest that feels as street racer as anything else. The charm of the dopey radio calls and slow-motion jumps as well as the early 2000s soundtrack create an excellent and campy good time.
4 Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero
Very much based on Wagan racing in Japan, the Japanese street racing scene of the late 90s and early 2000s is perfectly captured in TXR Zero. Every race has a great pace and prideful feel to it as there is no traditional finish line, but rather a distance between the racers as a mark of victory or defeat. The feeling of highway cruising is excellent and addicting as any street racer.
While its limited course selection and the very early PlayStation 2 graphical look hold it back here, it is still a classic. The tone, the mood, and the attitude of street racing are captured here more accurately than in any other game, it really does feel like illegal Japanese highway racing. Flashing the high beams never felt so good.
3 Burnout 3 Takedown
A much-needed explosive and twitchy jolt to the street racing genre, Burnout 3 Takedown created a new, violent template for racing games to follow. With its over the top in race crashes, slow-motion crash breaker mode, and an endless supply of nuclear turbo-NOS, Takedown remains the best arcade-style street racing game. A never-ending adrenaline shot directly into your heart, this game is always a rush.
While its lack of customization and mostly daytime settings hold it back on our street racing list, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Burnout 3 Takedown and there never will be. If you like cars, cars crashing, explosions, or going fast, play this today, now, or yesterday.
2 Midnight Club 2
A definitive classic, Midnight Club 2 is a deeply challenging and rewarding experience. Awesome music, beautiful cars, and the most fun map to explore featured in a street racing game, MC2 is the perfect late-night exploration game. A brilliant mix of realism and arcade, the game’s cars still feel better than any other racer today.
There is something about this game, the level of graphical fidelity allows for just enough imagination to seep in and fill out the beautiful and well-lit dreamscape. One of the first true attempts at the genre proved to be one of the greatest entries ever. Cruising the Paris highways at dawn is a divine experience that has only been topped once in the genre.
1 Need for Speed Underground 2
The definitive street racing game, Need for Speed Underground 2, remains the best way to feel like a quarter-mile king. The over-saturated colors, the loose and perfectly slippery cars, the soundtrack, the licensed cars; every aspect of this game is street racing perfection. Finding a new shop while free roaming is one of the most satisfying and fun aspects of any game. A perfect mix of realism and arcade.
The look of this game really sets it apart, the lighting and color pallets of the environments and streets are sublime and dreamy, really popping while remaining beautifully hazy on a CRT. The tone, look, and feel of Underground 2 encapsulated an era of street racing as well as any piece of media ever has.