The arcade racer is the silly younger sibling of the simulation racer. Sure, you are in an automobile in both games, but one is a pixel-perfect recreation of the Chevy SSR from 2004, and the other is a go-kart with a missile protruding from the bonnet and literal fire coming from the rear tires. That is not to say that sim racing isn’t fun, but it isn’t about smirking at all times while ramming other cars off the road unless you are some kind of Silverstone first-corner driver. Arcade racers of all varieties have made this list of ten of the best available on Xbox. There are open-world smash-’em-ups, top-down drifters, kart racers, and more, stuffed in here, but really these are just a taste of the genre! Burnout Paradise RemasteredBurnout Paradise is one of our all-time favourite games, so it should be no surprise to see it front and centre of the best arcade-racer list. For the first time in the long-running Burnout series, developer Criterion placed their violent automotive chaos in the open-world of Paradise City and let carnage ensue. You will be racing and exploring twisting mountains, tight city streets, and luscious lakes. The cars handle with a perfect and understandable scheme, mastering drifting and weaving through oncoming traffic being a must-learn. Likewise, learning secret shortcuts in this open world is a requirement, but one that is also something that you learn with time. Before long you will be able to recite each road and turn by memory and reflex. Collectables, like gates and billboards, hide amazing stunt locations for barrel rolls and flat-spins. The game is also spectacularly violent towards automobiles; you take them out during races much to the jubilation of the game and yourself. The crunching of cars into walls and other vehicles results in an explosion of metal, all while one of the amazing songs on the soundtrack rings in your ears. What a game!Burnout™ Paradise RemasteredWelcome back to Paradise City! Make action your middle name as you rule the streets in Burnout™ Paradise Remastered! Tear it up in the ultimate driving playground, from hectic downtown avenues to the wild mountain roads. Relive the high-octane stunts and wanton destruction of one of the greatest arcade-driving games ever!Forza Horizon 4We have decided to give one last send off to Forza Horizon 4 before the fifth entry releases this November, at which point this immaculate fourth entry will have to see you again (by Wiz Khalifa, feat. Charlie Puth) as it drives away into the sweet goodnight. This entry is still a stunner and deserves its place on the list, however. Set in North England and Scotland, we would argue it has the most varied and interesting setting in the franchise’s history. Narrow winding streets in Edinburgh are matched by driving through open roads of the Lake District in an experience that feels like the best of an old Top Gear episode every minute you play. It is just spectacular in every sense. The graphics are still no joke, even after the FH5 reveal blew our little driving gloves clean off. The changing seasons brought variety and the cars look too good as they drive through them. Are you actually joking with the sexiness of this snow? Why am I dribbling while watching the footage? The cars control with arcade accessibility, but you can push your use of them to a serious level at any time you like. Listen, we know you have all played FH4, but maybe hop back in the seat one last time before the fifth game takes us to Mexico. Forza Horizon 4Dynamic seasons change everything at the world’s greatest automotive festival. Go it alone or team up with others to explore beautiful and historic Britain in a shared open world. Collect, modify and drive over 450 cars. Race, stunt, create and explore – choose your own path to become a Horizon Superstar.Split/Second: VelocitySplit/Second: Velocity is a masterclass in using a relatively simple mechanic, pressing a button to destroy parts of the track, to create a truly awesome gaming experience. You are driving in an explosive TV show that pits racers in destructive tracks and sees who can cross the line first. As you drift, slipstream, or do pretty much anything else, you will build up a special meter. This will allow you to cause destruction around the track you are racing to take out other racers. It could be something small, taking up one bar of your special meter, or a track-changing super that will totally devastate the opposition and change the route. Planes rain down from the sky, skyscrapers tumble, and boats are blown apart. Some have multiple stages with multiple route changes, some are one off events. It becomes very tactical very quickly, too. Do I save for a big three-bar dam-busting event, or do I take out the race leader with a precision bolder from that cliff and save my meter? The campaign is delightfully cheesy with a good mix of events, and the game still handles very well indeed for an ‘old’ game. Give it a go, and you won’t be disappointed!Split/SecondSplit/Second is an intense arcade racing game set within the universe of a mega-budget, prime-time reality TV show. Contestants race to be the 1st across the finish line in a made-for-TV city built for destruction, with the ultimate goal of becoming the season champion. The city is rigged to blow and you’re in control of the action – bridges will fall, buildings will be reduced to clouds of dust and cars blown to pieces – devastating explosions will decimate your rivals and rip apart the track,…WreckfestDo you like your arcade racers to have a hint of serious track-day with a toolbox full of destruction? Well, Bugbear’s Wreckfest has your back… and by that I mean the back of your automobile is gone. A big combine harvester minced your boot to bits, leaving debris on the road and allowing some idiot driving a sofa car to overtake you. Don’t let the carnage of a race like that fool you though, in the next one — around a proper racetrack in some fields or in a stadium — you will be driving with your eyes glued to the apex of corners and your finger crunching to the manual shifter. That is just the kind of game this is: a wicked destruction model, loop-the-loops, serious tracks, and all-rounded driving fun. Wreckfest is something special, so don’t pass up on the best modern arcade racer on this list.WreckfestBreak the rules and take full-contact racing to the limit with Wreckfest! Expect epic crashes, neck-to-neck fights over the finish line and brand-new ways for metal to bend – These are the once-in-a-lifetime moments that can only be achieved in Wreckfest, with its true-to-life physics simulation crafted by legendary developer Bugbear, who also brought you FlatOut 1 & 2!Burn rubber and shred metal in the ultimate driving playground!Trackmania TurboDo you like time trials? Trackmania Turbo has you covered, and then some. Ubisoft’s nifty little gem has tracks made from square tiles that are filled with roads and corners and ramps, as well as boosts, loop the loops, and barrel rolls. That creates crazy thirty-second courses with tight turns and physics bending jumps that you must always be ready to fail at. Quick resets and constant small adjustments are always needed to eke out that extra second of time to get a gold medal, giving Trackmania the stench of irresistible moreishness. The game handles like a dream too, with a simple driving scheme that never frustrates. You accelerate, you drift, you steer; nothing more, nothing less. That makes it an absolute pick-up-and-play gem, so we think you should do just that: go and pick it up and play it!Trackmania® TurboAvailable for the very first time on Xbox One, Trackmania offers you the ultimate arcade racing universe where everything is about reaching the perfect racing time.
Test your skills in over 200 tracks, experience immediate fun by challenging your friends at home (offline splitscreen) or online.
The competition lasts forever: design and share your own tracks with other players in the Trackbuilder!BlurIn a bit of bad luck for respective sales numbers, Blur and Split/Second released incredibly close together and were both really good. Where the latter was an explosive joyride, Blur was a kart racer with serious cars and serious looks. Believe us though, it is also a seriously good time. With weapons added into the gritty urban environments for the 20 on-track vehicles to shoot at one another, chaos ensues in just about every event. Blur has become a bit of a cult classic amongst racing fans, and now you can’t really mention arcade racing without talking about it. That is for a good reason. The game was challenging and innovative but still played supremely well. With fun emergent gameplay stemming from the sheer amount of weaponry coming at all angles, it never fails to make races unique. Lightning storms, black holes, and bubble shields are all coming into play, all the time. The online community and achievements are as hardcore as Jos Verstappen’s parenting methods though, plus several achievements are no longer available, so be careful of stepping in if you are after the completion. Don’t let that put you off what is a superb bit of video game, though. Blur is fab. Crash Team Racing Nitro-FueledWhat happens when one of the best ever kart racers (and its sequel) get a remaster by developers that truly care? You get one of the best modern kart racers, too. With a pretty staggering graphical overhaul, beautiful dynamic track updates, some balancing and fine-tuning, some tweaks to the controls, and made with all the love in the known Gasmoxian universe, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is no longer in Mario Kart’s shadow. More than that though, the 20-year-old game is still hard as nails. The boost mechanic requires precision timing, a turbo bar slowly fills and you time button taps to get faster slides and boosts. The items you use are full of variety, but there ain’t no blue shells and rockets to catch up around here. If you start straggling, nothing will save you beyond your skill level at the game. The level of contest is high, as well. The CPU is pretty smart, and that can be infuriating if you are inclined to live in the easy lane. But, there is no doubt that this is the perfect kart racer for aficionados and those that want a challenge. Do yourself a favour and give it a play. Crash™ Team Racing Nitro-FueledGo fur-throttle with Crash™ Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. It’s the authentic CTR experience plus a whole lot more, now fully-remastered and revved up to the max:- All the original game modes, characters, tracks, power-ups, weapons and controls- Additional karts, tracks and arenas from Crash™ Nitro Kart- Race online with friends and Crash the competition with online leaderboardsNeed For Speed: Hot Pursuit RemasteredCriterion makes it to the list a second time with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered. It’s the age-old cops versus crooks battle causing chaos around the hills, forests, beaches, and city of Seacrest County. There are races and time trials, sure, but the best of the events are Hot Pursuits. This pits the two rival factions against each other, complete with special moves for each group. The cops can call in choppers, roadblocks, and spike strips as they try to crash out the racers. On the other side of the fence you get boosts and jammers to keep those boys in blue the hell away from you. This competitiveness lends itself very well to Criterion’s famous classic automotive crashing and bashing, with destructive takedowns on licenced cars looking way cooler than they have any right to. We have a fondness for other arcade racing Need for Speed titles — like the very good Most Wanted, endearing self-titled effort by Ghost Games in 2015, and the most recent nearly-there effort of NFS: Heat — but Hot Pursuit is still the king of the hill with its simple concept executed to perfection. Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit RemasteredFeel the thrill of the chase and the rush of escape behind the wheels of the world’s hottest high-performance cars in Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit Remastered. Unleash a savage sense of speed in heart-pumping, socially competitive racing experience.Art of RallyEasily the most chill game on this list, Art of Rally brings the art of zen to the twisting roads of the drift kings. As a Buddha statue explains that motorsport regulation is non-existent in this universe and asks after your blood type, you might start wondering if you got your headache pills a bit mixed up. But that opener sets the tone of this top-down arcade racer perfectly. You drift cars of every variety through gorgeous, clean-but-stylised landscapes. There are time trials on set courses and collectable missions set in sublime open-worlds and some “just get to the end” events, but every single one is an exercise in lowering your heartbeat and becoming one with the drift. It controls well, it looks great, it feels totally different. This is something unique done well, putting it ahead of some of the other arcade racing competitors out there. Don’t let the mixed-pill box deceive you, this is a gem that should not be missed. art of rallyRace in the golden era of rally. Drive iconic cars from the 60s to Group B on challenging stages through stylized environments inspired by real worldwide locations. Will you master the art of rally?Horizon Chase TurboHorizon Chase Turbo is straight out of the Eighties era of arcade racers, from the graphics and controls to the music and vibe. And yet, it feels surprisingly refreshing in the modern era, with those classic static plains of environment updated without losing the sense of creeping speed. Horizon Chase Turbo doesn’t just get by on nostalgia, either. As 20 racers line up on the grid, your aim is for that first spot without running out of fuel. The narrow tracks mean overtaking is an exercise in jetting through spaces between other vehicles without bumping into them, which is challenging and exceedingly satisfying. When you get up to speed, the rush is something few other games on this list can replicate, too. Simple aesthetics are matched by simple fun, with multiplayer Grand Prix and time challenges all being staples alongside the World Tour mode. Make no mistake, this should be a consideration for your next play even if you want something to get you hooked for a few weekends. Horizon Chase TurboThrilling arcade racing game, inspired by the super-fun-straight-to-the-point classic racing games from the 90s.That is it for our list! However, we know that there are plenty of arcade racers there that haven’t been noted here. OnRush is a great time, and we are gutted we couldn’t fit it into the ten, but we felt its chaotic energy is still there with the irresistible pairing of Split/Second and Blur. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed was so close to making it — and ahead of sequel Sonic Team Racing by our books — but Crash Team Racing is dominating the kart racing spot in our top ten. FlatOut 4: Total Insanity, Dangerous Driving, GRIP, Redout, and The Grand Tour game are fun in their own special ways, but aren’t quite up to pole position. Plenty to pick from outside of this list, though!For the future, Codemasters’ GRID Legends is coming out next year and it could be a contender. The series was unlucky to miss out this time around. It is a little more serious, but is always fun and certainly a different kettle of oil compared to everything else on the list. Likewise, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is another with outrageous potential and could make a push into the ten in 2022. We are very excited for these two, indeed. Let us know what you liked and what we have missed down below, and I’m sure we will see you in there!
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