PS2 PS2 Racing Games

[Krazy Kat]

Circus Maximus Circuit Wars

Bomberman Kart Dx

 

[dr grim]

If you don't know about it, Shox is really fun.

 

[groundbeef]

Enthusia was my favorite for PS2. There were plenty of great racers for the PS2 though.

 

[RebelofDaNeonGod]

Curious...all these racing games and not a single mention of Auto Modellista (Europe version)......

 

[Darren]

Initial D Special Stage, Racing Battle - C1 Grand Prix, Enthusia, Gran Turismo 4 Hack... The PS2 has probably my favorite racing lineup in history.

NASCAR Heat 5 on the PS5 with an actual wheel is extremely satisfying though if you're into that kind of thing - the drafting around Daytona and Talladega is perfect.

 

[themoon]

I know it's been mentioned but the Burnout Series, particularly Takedown is probably the best arcade racer on the system. Still looks great, too. I've mentioned Automodellista in a similar thread but I see it was just mentioned, so I will second the mention as it is an incredible looking game that gave me as a teen the ability to pimp out cars I really wanted to drive. The cell-shading is excellent, as you would expect from Capcom.

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

Iridium Runners (2008)

 

[Jambhala]

This is more of an inquiry than anything else. I love racing games, sometimes, when in the mood, y'know?

Especially if they're easy, arcade-y, and have lots of nice, cool cars I won't even pretend to know the makes of.​

What's funny, I've not played many racing games that I remember. Yes, I played the NFS titles, and loved them, then played the single best arcade racing game ever made: Ridge Racer Type 4, but that's not even a PS2 title...

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So, are you a casual racist like me? What are some of your favorite PS2 racing games?

I'll start by mentioning Need For Speed: Underground 1.​

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Nobody's favorite, not the first choice. It's linear, has ridiculous rubber-banding, not to mention the physics when you dare touch a foreign object while taking a turn, and forces you to tweak your car in order to advance to other stages. But it also has a killer soundtrack, cool stages, and feels amazing when you are doing good at a race; also, it has one of the best starter cars ever: the Mazda Miata. If I recall correctly, this baby had the best handling in all of the game. I tried switching cars later in the game but couldn't, because no other car allowed me to laugh in the face of Death as much as the Miata did.​

I've played a LOT of PS2 racing games, and almost all PS1 racing games.
In no order, my top 5 are:
- Racing Battle - C1 Grand Prix
Just fully translated to English, amazing game overall with unique modes and decent customization. The rival bios and BBS posts are fun to read too, I've never seen any other racing game quite like this one.
- Gran Turismo - Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva
Like GT3 but with cool concept cars, there's some incentives to keep playing too, since you unlock more concept cars as you do better on each track
- Colin Mcrae Rally 2005
Best rally game on the console, hands down. The tracks are beautiful and you get to drive some of the coolest rally cars of the era.
- R-Racing Evolution
Has the style of Ridge Racer with more "realistic" handling, still pretty arcade-y though. It comes with a decent story mode and real life tracks as well.
- Enthusia
Sort of GT-esque, feels a bit more like driving actual cars though. This video shows a comparison between real life car physics and the physics in Enthusia.

 

[Ajderniz]

- Enthusia

Holy-, that looks like a PS3 game.

 

[ThatOneLum]

Don't think anyone has mentioned this one yet, but I really enjoy Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition on both PS2 and PSP. Being honest thought I enjoy it because it's an open-world driving game and I just love driving around an open world as fast as I can ignoring all of the races/other content until I feel like getting a new car/improving my old one.

 

[Jambhala]

Holy-, that looks like a PS3 game.

It's incredible, you should give it a shot. It looks amazing even without upscaling

 

[ThatOneLum]

It's incredible, you should give it a shot. It looks amazing even without upscaling

Holy balls this game looks incredible. Installing this on my PS2 tonight lmao

 

[Platinum_depth]

El mejor juego de carreras para esta y cualquier consola es este

 

[Varyag]

You cannot say "PS2 Racing Games" without mentioning the GOATs, some of the best racing games of all time, and honestly still the best ones in their respective franchises.
Gran Turismo 4 (try the Spec-II mod), Need for Speed Underground 2, Most Wanted, Carbon and ProStreet. Burnout 3, but also Revenge and Dominator. Test Drive Unlimited. Midnight Club 3 (DUB Edition) and TOCA Race Driver 3 (be ready for a lot of race restarts tho)

Then, there's the more obscure but still great games that deserve your attention!
The Tokyo Xtreme Racer series, both in the highway racer (TXR 3, Zero) and touge racer (TXR Drift) are worth your attention. I prefer the EU version of that last one, Kaido Racer 2. Genki also made another track focused racing game, Racing Battle C1 Grand Prix. Auto Modellista, AGAIN in the EU version because the NA version has absolutely RUINED the driving physics.

And of course I have to mention a few Rally games. SEGA Rally 2006 is already mentioned, but also Richard Burns Rally is incredible and it's STILL TO THIS DAY the best rally sim of all time (I still play it on PC, but under 90GB of mods, check out rallysimfans.hu)

Unfotunately for two other legendary racing franchises, Ridge Racer V and WipeOut Fusion were not very strong entries. Although the PSP-first WipeOut Pulse is pretty good.

And that's all not even mentioning non-car racing games and licensed racing games. Stuff like MX Vs ATV, MotoGP, NASCAR Thunder, MotoGP, SBK or even the F1 games. Oh, and Tourist Trophy, the Gran Turismo of motorbikes. The PS2 had a massive library of good racing games.

 

[Jambhala]

Holy balls this game looks incredible. Installing this on my PS2 tonight lmao

It's criminally underappreciated for how good it is, it didn't catch peoples eyes like a GT game did so it mostly went under the radar. Did you end up trying it?

 

[Ajderniz]

It's incredible, you should give it a shot. It looks amazing even without upscaling

An update on that. I've been playing it. Super good. Tough, but fun honestly. I can't drive the big cars yet, so I'm grinding all of the small beetle cars first to get some practice and git gud.

 

[Geistmensch]

So, are you a casual racist like me?

For Playstation 2 racing games the most obvious answer is Gran turismo 3,4 and WRC: Rally Evolved and Burnout 3: Takedown.

For Midnight Club and NFS games, you're better off playing it on PC. Unless, we're talking about NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 then completely ignore the PC port as it's from a completely different studio.

My personal favourites are Enthusia Professional racing and R:Racing evolution. They're not perfect games, especially the latter is namcojank but they have an undeniable charisma and a very addicting gameplay.

 

[Retro Doomer]

I played that game quite often

 

[Deean]

10/10 OST

The last classic era NFS game,cops were brutal tho.

 

[Varyag]

How did I forget Flatout.