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20 arcade racing games worth playing - DTF games

From futuristic ships to tuned sports cars.

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In January, inspired by the Gamasutra reader's column, we launched a series of articles about the best representatives of different genres. After stories about horror, stealth action, JRPGs and visual novels, it's time to talk about arcade racing (we'll talk about simulators later).

Outdated Classic

Destruction Derby

It should be noted that the genre is not so simple. Age affects racing more than other genres. It is not interesting to drive on angular, “soapy” or clumsy tracks. Except that the physics in arcades does not become outdated over the years as much as in simulators, because developers often try to make it unique.

Road Rash

A rare case when the developers managed to make a motorcycle race without tediousness. Simple, brutal and fun. The race is not about polished iron horses, but about fights on bikes, where kicks, clubs, chains and mounts were used. Aggression added excitement to the competition. Well, who refuses to give an overtaken opponent on the head? Especially if it's your friend in co-op mode.

Road Rash is obsolete, yes. Many will be put off by the old pixel art and condo gameplay. But they don't make games like this anymore. Its named successor Road Redemption repeats the formula of the series and nothing more.

Carmageddon

Reissue of Carmageddon for iPad

The feature of Carmageddon in cruelty and black cynical humor is a race of psychos who do not know what morality is, who do not need anything to smear a pedestrian on the asphalt, run over a cow and destroy all rivals for the sake of victory. It's a playable adaptation of Death Race 2000, just as merciless to the rules of fair competition. Because of the excessive violence, Carmageddon was banned, it also brought him success. And it was violence that got worse and worse in every sequel. But maybe it's just that we have changed and the world around us has become so correct that in the Death Race remake, knocking down pedestrians for extra points is already too much.

Flat Out

Flatout is the direct successor to Destruction Derby. Old rusty muscle cars, pickups and other wrecks butted, rammed each other, destroyed sheds and greenhouses to the accompaniment of garage rock bands. In particularly serious collisions, the driver flew out of the car, and a number of mini-games were built on this feature: from bowling to darts.

It's especially fun to crash cars in Derby mode, taking out your anger on your opponents, watching metal crease, hoods and bumpers fall off. At the same time, steering with the help of the steering wheel was implemented a little worse than in the simulators, because the cars clung to the asphalt, soil and snow in different ways, and slid on the ice.

None of the subsequent sequels, unfortunately, conveyed the spirit of rural off-road racing: in the second part they simplified the physics of cars, made up a soundtrack from a popular alternative, and the third and fourth were simply disgusting races from other developers.

I am glad that the authors of the original series have not disappeared from the radar and continue their work. They are currently working on Wreckfest and their new work is a hell of a lot like FlatOut.

The Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Looking at Most Wanted years later, you realize what a fine example of Need for Speed. All the main ideas of the series worked in it. Street racing in Rockport took place during the day and this, coupled with the "rusty" autumn palette of the game, gave them a special charm. Extra “show-offs” like neon lights and subwoofers in the trunk were removed from the pumping, but the most important details were left so that all competitions could be completed on one of the first Japanese sports cars.

Police rides, where the player brought down fake donuts from coffee shops and scaffolding on law enforcement officers to break away, enlivened the empty city.

The plot consisted of clichés with bad police officers, stubborn rivals and a charming beauty who helps the victim only out of a sense of solidarity.

Simple retouched clips with characters only tied the competition together; however, some moments are still remembered: how Sergeant Cross scratched your car, how dishonestly they took away your BMW M3 and how desperately you wanted to return it.

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast

Back at 19'86 Out Run showed me how to drift properly. It was enough to turn sharply, hit the brakes, and the Ferrari Testarossa was already easily skidding. The car itself held position, but it had to be corrected to evade traffic or shift with a slip in the other direction. Subsequently, everyone will be guided by the local drift.

But only in the Out Run series, rubber burned not so much for the sake of victory, but for the sake of fun and romance. It was a breeze in the company of a luxurious blonde in the front seat, who is only impressed by dangerous driving. The features of the original and sequels are best captured in OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast.

Test Drive: Unlimited

Test Drive: Unlimited is the perfect vacation for a car enthusiast in a tropical resort. The game began with a flight to the island of Oahu and a test drive in a new car. Then life accelerated: you changed into colorful shorts with a T-shirt, put on sunglasses, brought up models. Racing brought money for new cars and houses with huge garages where you can store your collection.

In isolation from the competition, driving around the island quickly got boring - there was nothing to do. And the police prosecuted for violations so clumsily that it would be better if it did not exist at all.

So the series, which began with a test drive of expensive cars and direct rivalry with NFS in the field of arcades about expensive cars and street racing, found its face. She talked about the luxurious life and career of a racer in a picturesque corner of the world. Long before Forza Horizon, there was a race about how cool it is to ride a convertible and admire the scenery.

Unfortunately, the developers did not manage to develop the idea in the sequel: they did not dare to change anything other than the scene and the fleet of cars.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles

Before the release of Midnight Club: Los Angeles, street racing games hit the ceiling. Need for Speed ​​tortured the concept of Most Wanted so that it no longer entertained and brought less and less income. Rockstar has shaken up virtual street racing with a realistic approach. With modified physics from GTA IV, the cars showed character, “played” with the suspension in corners, they felt weight, and the view from the cabin created the effect of presence.

Modeled on the basis of a real city, the local Los Angeles impressed with the slender construction of streets and roads, along which pedestrians also walked, each time miraculously avoiding a car brazenly flying onto the sidewalk. The weather and time of day changed: a sunny morning could be overshadowed by rain and end closer to night. Races, as is customary in Midnight Club and real street racing, were not limited to stupid artificial shooters, but passed through checkpoints; often the route from one to the other could be chosen independently. The only way to get rid of the police is to wag around the gates, disappearing from sight.

Only special abilities like a shock wave, time dilation and the ability to stand on the side wheels in one fell swoop were knocked out of a realistic approach. The new look also interfered with the plot, where the pretentious characters from the third part were replaced by harsh practical racers and talk about business in the style of GTA. But the series, which gave rise to street racing in games, showed that the topic has not become obsolete and it can be presented differently.

Wipeout HD

Racing in super-fast flying cars of the future impresses with its concept. The ability to race along closed futuristic tracks at a speed of about a thousand km / h, firing along the way from rocket launchers and machine guns, is exciting. The tracks themselves are tormented by sharp turns, meander like a snake in different planes, suddenly break off or go down, forcing the player to taxi in the air to a curved road that goes into the distance.

The foundations of the series were laid in the late 1990s by the first two parts. Wipeout HD brings their best features to life on some of the trickiest tracks from Pure and Pulse (PSP releases) with PlayStation 3 graphics.

Burnout Paradise

There is no race clearer than Burnout Paradise. When starting the game, Guns N' Roses sing "Take me down to the paradise city"; the city we find ourselves in is truly heavenly, because it is possible and necessary to smash cars and arrange massive accidents in it.

Surprisingly, the very first Burnout was an unremarkable race that only showed colorful replays of traffic collisions. In the second part, a nitro acceleration scale was introduced, filled with dangerous actions like driving in the oncoming lane or drifting. This system instantly scattered throughout the arcade races.

It wasn't until Burnout 3 that accidents came to the fore, and Revenge solidified the formula. All races and competitions were based on breaking cars of rivals and massive collisions with traffic. For this chip, the series is still loved even by people far from racing.

Burnout Paradise has carefully preserved and developed the legacy of its predecessors in the open world. In addition, in no other race did the cars crumple into an accordion so deliciously. Except at Wreckfest.

Pure

Pure is more than an ATV race. This is primarily a race about tricks and freedom of flight. Sometimes it's just nice to accelerate well, lean back in the seat, enjoy the height and the view. It is often more important to score more points by performing somersaults and dangerous moto freestyle moves - "superman", "cordoba", "coffin" and others - than to arrive first.

You could have gone the MX vs. ATV - repeat the discipline of motofreestyle, its stadium competitions and academic jumps. But Black Rock Studio, thanks to the soundtrack from The Qemists, We Are Scientists, The Subways, Pop Levi and Wolfmother, unusual cars and breathtaking long jumps, managed to make a perky race.

Motorstorm: Pacific Rift

Other arcade races are based on a curious theme, fun physics - Motorstorm, on the other hand, captivated with its complexity and inventive tracks. Evolution has moved extreme competitions from the California canyons of the first part to a tropical island, laid routes along beaches, dense forests, mountains, caves and the foot of volcanoes. Different cars were suitable for different roads - a bigfoot will jump across a wide river at once, it’s easier to rush along a narrow bridge nearby on a motorcycle, a sports car will better pass through more often than an ATV, on which you can hit a branch and crash.

Aggression of opponents added complexity. A rival motorcyclist could knock you off the bike and drive on, showing an obscene gesture. It was easy for an insolent bigfoot rider to run over another racer in the struggle for a leading position, and an off-road driver to push the enemy into a cliff.

Little things added to the Motorstorm's special drive. A playful soundtrack for which the game's sound engineers have remixed Nirvana, Aphex Twin and The Qemists (in addition to Queens of the Stone Age, David Bowie, Pendulum, Clutch and Slipknot). The way, on some tracks, areas with water and lava overheated and cooled the motor of cars, and in repetitions they colorfully showed cars flying apart into small parts. How multiplayer added more fun to local competitions due to the unpredictability of live opponents.

Motorstorm is still the most "adrenaline" arcade game to date, thanks to its smart but aggressive opponents and intricate tracks.

Split/Second: Velocity

Sometimes a race just needs a good setup. Split/Second itself is unsightly, the cars in it are “oak” – almost logs on wheels – which do not really show character, and go into a skid with difficulty.

Feed changes everything. We participate in the auto show for survival. Spectacular explosions and accidents provide entertainment and ratings to the program. Racers drive beautifully in order to accumulate points for some impressive broads. And then the opponents are demolished by a huge ship in the port, a dam collapses on them, and a new road opens up in front of you and the path to the leaders.

Split/Second is short, it takes about nine hours to complete. Like the end of a season on a good show like The Grand Tour, you want more. But, as happens with underrated shows like Firefly, the publisher (Disney) closed Black Rock Studios due to low sales of the game and we will not see their original projects again.

Driver: San Francisco

In the old Drivers, form took precedence over content. Muscle cars squealing and burning tires in corners, the atmosphere of Detective Bullitt, Vanishing Point and British detective series 19The 70s - all this fascinated me more than the tattered narrative, the empty city and the gunfights.

Driver: San Francisco is a great example of how racing needs a good story. More often than not, the story only loosely ties together a set of competitions, as in NFS: Run or The Crew.

Moving the action to sunny San Francisco, Reflections remembered the main thing - they can do car chases better than a gangster simulator in the spirit of GTA. For several plot moves, the developers sent the main character into a coma and opened up scope for experimentation in the game. The player could possess any driver in the city. This opportunity alone was exciting - after all, all the cars in the area were available to you!

Sometimes this gave rise to funny situations in side missions - when, incarnated in the body of a novice driver, Tanner scared the hell out of the instructor accompanying him with skillful drifting. But it was more interesting to pursue the archenemy Jericho or his associates in the story missions, jumping from one car to another or set up accidents by possessing a truck driver.

While the entire story of a game can be summed up in a few sentences, this is the most reasonable way to add storytelling to a race.

Twisted Metal (2012)

Twisted Metal is worth playing just for its unique concept. In principle, there are few good races with weapons, and there is also a suitable brutal style.

Local cars are insane death machines. Ice cream truck that transforms into a walking robot. An ambulance launching a gurney with a patient and a bomb at the opponents. Two giant wheels with a driver “harnessed” between them, able to merge into one spiked one. All cars are stuffed with rocket launchers and machine guns, and driven by psycho-priests, clown serial killers and crazy bikers.

Back in the days of PlayStation 1 and 2, gunplay in any of the Twisted Metal titles was the most fun way to co-op with friends. The 2012 release was second to none in terms of gameplay other than multiplayer. Matchmaking was overcomplicated, the servers had to be chosen independently - this is on the console! The cards were too big for sixteen people, and the opponents were too tenacious. In an average duel, it was possible to continuously fire at the enemy for several minutes. To interest and captivate the players, the project lacked dynamics.

And although Twisted Metal did not succeed with multiplayer, it remains a fun sociable arcade game, and just a good survival race. If you wish, you can go further and feel the cult old parts - the first and Black - Sony re-released them on both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

Trials Evolution

The Trials series started back in the early 2000s on mobile devices running Java. Like many others, she continued the tradition of motocross gaming established in ExciteBike and Motocross Madness. The routes differed: they were not artificial, as in Elasto Mania, and not simple and sketchy, as in Gravity Defied, but realistic. Over time, the game moved to the console and PC, got beautiful three-dimensional tracks with a perspective from the side, but its essence remained the same.

In Trials, just like in a real motocross, a biker rides along an obstacle course and, controlling the speed and weight of the motorcycle, overcomes obstacles made of boxes, wheels and other objects placed on the way, drives up steep slopes, flies over a precipice.

In Evolution, the developers have collected the most inventive tracks in the genre according to this formula. Artificial obstacles made of firewood, scrap metal or rocks, diversified with structures with dead loops, elevators and swings. There were also high-speed routes where everything around exploded, and you raced and tried not to crash on the descents, ascents and long jumps. Some of the challenges involved driving a track inside a rolling ball.

In the in-game editor, the fans did even crazier things - they got tracks on a moving train, tracks where headwind interfered, they recreated ExciteBike and parodied Flappy Bird.

The Need for Speed: Rivals

Cat and mouse with the police - a key feature of the NFS - was rethought twice. First, the 2010 remake of Hot Pursuit moved the chase online. Then NFS: Rivals, taking all the important network features from its predecessor, implemented them in the open world - so much so that it deserved the title of heir to the very first Hot Pursuit. As in Most Wanted, the game world itself is empty and filled with not given, but random events - meetings with the police. Only here these are not tests that are mandatory for advancing along the plot, but an external irritant. Caught - lost all the money earned, will not be able to get hold of a new car or tuning elements. The police have the opposite motivation - to catch the racer and take the jackpot.

If it makes no sense to play the Hot Pursuit remake because of half-empty servers, then Rivals is good without online. Although it is still better to have time to try multiplayer while he is alive. The Autolog system with its social functions remained in the project, but competition with friends for the best results in races faded into the background. After leaving the garage, Rivals immediately loaded you into a session with other players, and live rivals and law enforcement officers constantly came across in races and free rides, which only added to unpredictability.

Mario Kart Series

Each next Mario Kart is important not because of its innovations, but because it is part of one of the best series of cooperative racing. For example, the tracks in Mario Kart 8 became a little crazier and sometimes meander as well as in TrackMania, and the new mechanics of “butting” with opponents, thanks to which the victim of the blow received acceleration, changed the tactics of racing. But you won't lose anything if you play the previous game on Wii or 3DS. And in the re-release of the eighth set for Switch - only get (a polished network mode, heroes from Splatoon and tracks created specifically for the battle mode).

Every Nintendo console has its own Mario Kart, and the basic essence does not change from part to part. The characters of the company's games drive small cars and motorcycles, ram each other, throw turtles at opponents, scatter bananas along the track, and collect bonus mushrooms to speed up.

Mario Kart is not one of those races that is played all the time. It is not bought for passing, but in order to compete online and on a split screen with friends. For this, there is no arcade more fun.

Rocket League

Studio Psyonix still in Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars mixed football and cars in one game - two main male hobbies. Then the project was lost due to a complicated name and poor promotion.

However, the developers did not give up, polished the mechanics, changed the name, and took the risk of distributing the game for free in PS Plus during the release month. As a result, more than 10 million copies sold in two years and a place in a number of eSports disciplines. For the industry, Rocket League is an ideal example of working on bugs, a breakthrough of a project with a simple but well-thought-out concept into eSports.

For us, this is a perky arcade game with a unique concept. Cars do not just kick the ball - they rush like a bullet across the field, walls and roofs of local stadiums, fly on jet engines, spin somersaults and barrels in the air. This is a game about how to assemble your own auto football team (from two to four people) and compete with it in online matches - for fun or for victory.

Formally, the Rocket League is not a race, you don't have to come first, show the best time, but it has the most important thing from racing - cars and a competitive spirit.

TrackMania Turbo

For fans of the TrackMania Turbo series - a repetition of the past, squeezing the best from Nations, Sunrise and Stadium. For everyone else, it's fast-paced, challenging time trial and cooperative fun. Races in TrackMania are fleeting, one takes from thirty seconds to two minutes. But each is a test of virtuoso turns that go from one plane to another and twist into dead loops. The tracks of the game are intricately reminiscent of a roller coaster, but they are not ridden, but competed: they study routes and hone the passage of turns along the ideal trajectory in order to rush to the finish line one hundredth of a second faster.

The other side of TrackMania is co-op. It's about fun, about how to control one car with two gamepads and synchronize actions, tricks and trying to stay on the screen when the camera is tied to the leader.

In a world where co-op is increasingly giving way to online competition, this, along with Mario Kart, is the best party race.

Forza Horizon 3

Mood game, festival of music, racing and just a big road trip around Australia. It's just nice to drive through the local forests, fields, desert and coast, admire the scenery, watch the sun rise, and race towards the sunset. But it's not just about the beauty of Forza Horizon's open-world landscapes - it's full of life and there's a sea of ​​things to do.

On the road from race to race, police radars, speed and drift zones will not let you get bored, and somewhere nearby, off the roads, there are springboards. And the results in all tests can be improved until you get bored or until you make your way to the top of the world rankings. Oncoming racers are happy to compete in duels: by defeating some of them, you can break a good jackpot.

Forza Horizon 3 does not end when you complete all the races, championships and trials for gold, you find all the garages with rare cars. The player is the owner of the local festival and is free to create his own competitions, challenge his friends to beat his results.

At any time, you can continue to play the game in online co-op with a friend and progress will be credited to both, or you can just go to multiplayer and compete with other people. You can take care of cars: upgrade them, create coloring pages, participate in auctions and gradually form your own unique collection.

The game regularly hosts the Forzathon event with tasks - rare cars are issued for completing them. With the purchase of a season pass, the road to the winter area of ​​​​Blizzard Mountain and tracks similar to the Hot Wheels from the add-ons of the same name will open.

In a word, this is an endless summer that does not end until you yourself put an end to it and decide to move on.

The best offroad racing games on PC, jeep racing

Offroad racing is a great way to get an adrenaline rush, test your driving skills, challenge the most difficult tracks. But what if the absence of a car / weather conditions / banal laziness prevent you from taking part in real races? The solution to the problem is obvious - install off-road racing on your PC and defeat virtual rivals. Well, in choosing the best games in the genre, our selection will help you.

DiRT series

A little further down in our selection, Dirt: Showdown is an offshoot of DiRT's main rally racing series. As you know, rally races take place mainly on tracks without asphalt, so you will have to drive off-road in most modes.

The DiRT series (previously, by the way, it was named after Colin McRae, who died in 2007) contains games for every taste: more serious and sometimes even hardcore Colin McRae: DiRT and DiRT Rally, as well as DiRT aimed at casual audiences 2, 3, 4 and 5. So here you can have fun and challenge your driving skills.

Buy

MudRunner & SnowRunner

One of the best off-road driving simulators from Russian developers. Spintires MudRunner offers to conquer extreme tracks behind the wheel of SUVs and trucks, the appearance of which is well recognized by domestic cars: ZILs, KrAZs, MAZs and so on.

Among the indisputable advantages of the game, it is worth noting excellent graphics, an extensive fleet of vehicles, a large number of missions, spacious locations, as well as the most reliable simulation of the behavior of dirt in video games. In addition, gamers will undoubtedly be pleased with the presence of a cooperative.

In 2020, the ideological successor of MudRunner, SnowRunner by Saber Interactive, was released, and this is a complex, large-scale and very high-quality off-road game with a unique atmosphere and exciting challenges.

MudRunnerSnowRunner

DiRT: Showdown

Crazy survival race, characterized by a complete lack of rules. What methods to achieve victory - only you decide: you can drive carefully and try to honestly overtake all rivals, or you can push and crash, try to gouge all opponents and remain the only participant in the race.

DiRT: Showdown features an extensive selection of vehicles and an impressive list of modes, ranging from regular races to arena battles, obstacle courses and stunt competitions.

Where to buy: The game is withdrawn from sale in official digital services

Flatout series

A franchise that is probably familiar to every fan of racing games. Many people probably downloaded the Flatout games not for the sake of races (although they are very good), but for entertainment in additional modes that allow you to arrange spectacular accidents and launch the poor driver through the windshield so that he knocks down giant skittles or hits the bull's-eye with his body huge darts.

When it comes to off-road racing, they require maximum concentration and attention here: rivals do not miss the opportunity to push the player's car into a ditch, and frequent accidents can lead to premature elimination from the competition.

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The Crew 2

A fast-paced MMO racing game that takes players across the entire United States - not on a 1:1 scale, of course, but rather vast.

The game features a rather fascinating (albeit banal) plot, an impressive list of cars, motorcycles, boats and aircraft with the ability to fine-tune and customize them, and there is also a huge number of competitive races, among which are the usual races on the tracks , and crazy cross-country chases.

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Fuel

A game in a post-apocalyptic setting that tells the story of a world that has been subjected to powerful natural disasters and climate change. Society, in the conditions of the collapse of civilization and an acute fuel crisis, for some reason arranges races in jeeps, motorcycles, trucks and other modes of transport (do not look for logic here).

Fuel is known for having entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2009 for the largest open locations in the gaming industry. The size of the world is really impressive, but other than that, the game can not boast of anything else: the career is boring, the physics are not finalized, and navigation along the tracks often fails.

Where to buy: The game is withdrawn from sale in official digital services

Four-wheel drive series

A series of simulators from Russian developers, in which you are invited to storm the off-road in jeeps of domestic and foreign production.

Of course, all the realities of traveling in the absence of a smooth road surface are not transmitted by the games of the All-wheel drive line, but some skills are still required from gamers: here it is necessary to correctly use the advantages of the 4x4 design, to know when to shift to a lower gear and avoid damage to the vehicle as much as possible.

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WRC Series

A range of rally simulators licensed from the World Rally Championship. Contains official tracks, cars, teams and pilots of the WRC, as well as moderately realistic gameplay, beautiful graphics and reliable physics.

At the same time, hardcore fans should not download the WRC games: they are designed to introduce casual gamers to the world of rally, so they do not require special driving skills.

Buy now

Pure

A quad bike racing game that focuses on performing spectacular stunts. Some race modes literally force you to make beautiful jumps and somersaults in order to constantly replenish the ATV's fuel supply.

Pure has single player career and multiplayer competition modes. To achieve the highest skill in this project, you need to spend more than one hour mastering all the tricks, from simple to the most complex.

Where to buy: The game has been withdrawn from sale on official digital services

Gravel

An arcade racing game with beautiful graphics (thanks to Unreal Engine 4), licensed cars, scenic tracks and an impressive selection of single and multiplayer modes.

A Gravel player's career is built around a TV show, so in order to be successful, you need to drive not only fast, but also beautifully, earning audience sympathy in races.

Buy

Series MX vs. ATV

Games in which gamers are invited to conquer the tracks behind the wheel of motorcycles and ATVs, buggies, monster trucks and other classes of vehicles.

As expected, the developers have prepared a lot of tracks, an extensive fleet of vehicles, a number of single and online modes - in general, everything you need for fun.

Buy

Wreckfest

Survival racing game from Bugbear studio, which released the first parts of the FlatOut series. Actually, Wreckfest (formerly Next Car Game) is a modernized FlatOut: with a more detailed car damage model and beautiful graphics.

Here players will find spectacular and brutal races on asphalt and off-road, during which not everyone will reach the finish line, and the cars of those who do make it to the final line will look more like crumpled tins on wheels than sports cars.

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MXGP Series

Series of racing games licensed from the World Motocross Championship. It gives you the opportunity to mix the mud behind the wheel of a roaring bike, pushing with rivals on the official routes of the championship.

The developers of MXGP have prepared several modes for gamers, including a career mode and multiplayer competitions, an impressive selection of motorcycles with tuning and customization, and also implemented a very reliable mud simulation, thanks to which the series enters our top.

Buy

nail’d

Extreme racing on motorcycles and ATVs from the Poles from Techland. The game features a good soundtrack, the ability to perform various tricks while jumping, a good tuning system, as well as a variety of locations that will take gamers to the mountain slopes of all continents.

But most of all, nail'd is remembered for the feeling of height: here the races take place at really extreme high altitudes, so the players are literally waiting for flights among the clouds.

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Insane

A racing duology developed by two different studios: the first part is the responsibility of the Hungarian Invictus Games, the second one was handled by the Russian Targem Games, which you may know from Ex Machina and Crossout.

Insane is an off-road arcade racing game featuring cars of the respective classes: jeeps, trucks, pickups, buggies and so on. In the presence of a dozen modes (including multiplayer), relatively honest physics and damage system, as well as little effect on the customization system of cars.

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V-Rally 4

A racing game dedicated, as its name suggests, to rally racing. Here you will find a variety of modes, including, of course, off-road racing - rally, rallycross, buggy rides and so on.

V-Rally 4 boasts a licensed fleet, a large number of tracks scattered around the world, serious AI rivals and relatively realistic physics with pleasant controls. Compared to its competitors, this game will probably be better than some parts of DiRT, and this is already a very good achievement.

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Dakar 18

A rally simulator that will delight fans of the genre with a wide variety of vehicles - from motocross motorcycles to heavy trucks. The game is set in South America, which means that impressive mountain, desert and savanna landscapes await you.

Dakar 18 will appeal to both beginners and hardcore players: flexible difficulty allows you to customize the gameplay to any preference. If you wish, you can turn off navigators and indicators and rely only on your skills - just like participants in real rally races do. The bonus is beautiful graphics and excellent detailing of the environment.

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Monster Jam Steel Titans Dilogy

Almost the only off-road monster truck racing game of its kind. The developers have prepared several types of tests, a lot of cars and a variety of tracks, flavored all this with reliable physics and the ability to twist somersaults on a huge auto monster.

Of course, Monster Jam Steel Titans loses out to many competitors in the genre due to the lack of content types - but it's a pretty fun game that can keep you entertained for a couple of evenings.

Monster Jam Steel TitansMonster Jam Steel Titans 2

Forza Horizon 4

One of the best arcade racing games uses the concept of the seasons, in which the game periodically changes from summer to autumn, then comes winter, followed by spring, and again summer.

Accordingly, each of the seasons brings changes to the game map: in winter everything is covered with snow, and cars become less manageable, and in spring and autumn mud and puddles rule off the roads. Many races in Forza Horizon 4 take place off-road, and in the open world you can move around by ignoring the tracks. The main thing is to choose the right car: it is unlikely that a low Ferrari will perform well in the spring abyss. Fortunately, the fleet in the game has more than 600 cars, so even the most demanding racer will find his option.

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art of rally

art of rally is the least messy game here because it has a pretty cartoony visual style. Driving off-road here, you involuntarily think about the beauty of nature and the achievements of digital art, while forgetting to look at the road.

But if you have the impression that art of rally is a rendered version of "rally", then we hasten to dispel it: there are several control options (from the simplest to the most complex), the fleet consists of iconic rally models of the 60s - 80s, and the career mode offers to plunge into the golden era of racing.

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Forza Horizon 5

Take our compliments for Part 4 and multiply them by two to get the description of Forza Horizon 5. The developers stick to the plan and just make every next race better than the previous one, polishing every detail of it.

In the fifth part, we seriously worked on the open world - now we have to cut through the expanses of Mexico, which is rich in various biomes. Weather effects, seasons, vehicle behavior have all been improved too, so you'll experience the most realistic off-road driving experience that makes up the majority of the gameplay.

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BeamNG.drive

BeamNG.drive is not a race, but a car simulator that invites gamers to "play" with soft body physics. Every car in the game is painstakingly modeled, the physics engine makes it look as realistic as possible, and the believable deformation begs you to do something crazy.

Naturally, you won't be able to feel all this if you drive on smooth asphalt, so the developers have prepared 12 spacious maps with a variety of landscapes and many scenarios, ranging from cargo delivery to police chases.

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Tony Stewart’s All-American Racing

Tony Stewart’s All-American Racing was created in collaboration with NASCAR Series Champion Tony Stewart, so you can be sure that this race will charge you with emotions. Here they offer to sit behind the wheel of rare American cars, cope with a difficult physics engine and test their strength on improvised tracks.

We especially recommend trying out the story mode, which offers not just to rise from rags to riches, but to create your own racing empire, hire a team of racers, distribute the fee and participate in different series.

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Til Nord

It so happens that most of the off-road racing takes place in the summer area, and if you are tired of mud under the wheels, play Til Nord free game. Here you will find beautiful winter landscapes and not very attractive snowdrifts, among which you will have to make your way on a snowmobile.

Til Nord does not set any specific goals – you can freely explore the snowy island, fulfill the tasks of its inhabitants, enjoy the northern lights on a high mountain and, of course, compete in racing tests.

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Need for Speed ​​Payback

Need for Speed ​​Payback is Ghost Games' attempt at Fast & Furious, a story-driven racing game about heists and street racing. It turned out not perfect, but very interesting, and you can happily spend a couple of dozen hours in the project.

Payback races are divided into several categories, one of which is off-road racing. For this case, the game even requires separately tuning cars, and any models are subject to customization: no one forbids turning the Beetle or Porsche into a powerful SUV.

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DRAG

An arcade racing game in which players will pilot custom cars and the physics model simulates independent suspension and soft-body tires.

Single and multiplayer races are available in DRAG, and the developers periodically launch special events for the community. Not a bad indie race, but there are not enough active players in it.

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Riders Republic

Riders Republic by Ubisoft is a massive multiplayer game in which gamers are waiting for extreme rides on a variety of vehicles - from snowboards and wingsuits to snowmobiles and motorbikes.

The authors have prepared many modes and events, among which the racing competition with a general start stands out: up to 64 players rush to the finish line, some on a bike, some on a motorcycle, and some on a paraglider. The game world matches the spirit of extreme sports: legendary places of the USA are collected within one huge park: Bryce Canyon, Yosemite Valley, Mammoth Mountain and others.

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Pure Rock Crawling

Not so much a racing game as an off-road driving simulator based on a realistic simulation of the car's suspension and tires. Players are waiting for rocky paths, forests and hilly deserts, which they have to overcome behind the wheel of off-road vehicles.

The authors of the project have done a lot of work to implement a reliable gameplay, and it will be very difficult to conquer the local tracks. You will have to compete not with other players, but with an inexorable timer that gives only five minutes to complete the stage.

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Offroad Horizons: Arcade Rock Crawling

Another rocky track climbing sim with nice low-poly graphics and serious physics that will challenge even the most experienced players.

Offroad Horizons: Arcade Rock Crawling features a large selection of maps and cars, authentic suspension simulation traditional for games of this genre, as well as support for keyboard and gamepad control - you can’t do without the latter, which allows you to carefully adjust the car’s acceleration.

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Offroad Mania

Again, a game about overcoming obstacles. Offroad Mania highlights a minimalistic style: the developers did not draw beautiful backdrops and detailed environments, limiting themselves to tracks hanging in space with objects scattered on them.

The unsightly visual design does not negate the fact that the game boasts moderately complex, well-researched gameplay. The tests are addictive, the modes keep you busy (try to complete the tracks only with a view from the cockpit), and the cars differ from each other in performance.

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OVERPASS

A hardcore racing simulator that adds challenging off-road terrain to the actual racing - you have to climb sheer walls, jump from ramps and overcome deep holes. And all this - competing with virtual and live opponents, including in split screen mode.

OVERPASS features a large selection of vehicles, career mode and multiplayer. A good game for those who decide to challenge the difficulties.

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BAJA: Edge of Control HD

A remaster of the 2008 off-road racing game. The updated version received support for 4K resolution, high-definition textures, improved detail and a high frame rate per second.

In terms of gameplay, BAJA: Edge of Control HD features over 160 off-road vehicles on a variety of tracks. Cars need to be repaired and can be tuned, and you have to compete with both AI and other players, on a split screen and online.

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Arizona Derby

The Arizona Derby is not your average car. Sports cars, in the design of which Lamborghini, Pagani, Mercedes and other top cars are easily guessed (the developers obviously saved on car licensing, so fictitious brands are used here) are planted on an off-road base - with huge wheels and high ground clearance.

It is necessary to overcome difficult tracks, which have almost no paved areas, and the developers have prepared a variety of conditions - from mud to snowy terrain. The game boasts a positive rating, but it lacks multiplayer.

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Lonely Mountains: Downhill

In Lonely Mountains: Downhill you will mount your bike and challenge the mountain slopes, which you will race with the breeze. The routes are very difficult: barely noticeable paths, jumps, abysses and other natural obstacles await you.

The game uses a fairly realistic physical model, and the bike obediently follows the rider's commands. In addition, the developers regularly release updates and DLC, delighting players with new challenges. Finally, the project will definitely appeal to fans of the low-poly style.

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Special nomination: Mad Max

Mad Max is not a racing game. Mad Max is action. But the setting of the game obliges us to give it a separate place in the selection: the post-apocalyptic world, which has turned into a desert, is in itself off-road, in which only outlines remain of the roads.

In addition, in Mad Max you spend about half of the game time behind the wheel of a car, and if you wish, you can also take part in racing races across the Wasteland. And, I must say, the car gameplay is better implemented here than in other projects dedicated exclusively to racing.

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Waiting for

Heavy Duty Challenge

Off-road driving simulator, players will get behind the wheel of one of the powerful trucks on the tracks, where steep slopes, rocky areas, impassable swamps and other obstacles alternate.

The developers promise a reliable physical model and realistic controls, more than 10 trucks and 5 tracks inspired by real locations.

Game page

Truck Mechanic: Dangerous Paths

Truck Mechanic: Dangerous Paths is similar to SnowRunner, but on a smaller scale: there are not many cars, and the area of ​​​​action is limited to the roads of South America, on which players will deliver goods.

However, this does not mean that the game will not offer interesting gameplay: the tracks are difficult, cars break down, and the ability to set up a camping workshop and repair a truck right “in the field” is impressive. It remains to be hoped that igrodely realize all the promises in the final version of the project.

Game page

Offroad Transport Simulator

Another cargo transportation simulator that puts players in harsh off-road conditions. The authors are preparing a whole "sandbox" with an open world, where gamers will complete contracts, earn money, expand their fleet and customize cars.

Offroad Transport Simulator looks promising, but it is not yet clear in what form the game will get to the release and whether it will get at all - there has been no news from the developers for quite some time.

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