The final piece of Retro Gamer's two-part feature on the top 25 racers ever made

13. Stunt Car Racer
Year: 1989
Publisher: MicroProse
If ever a game was screaming out for a next-gen update it must be Crammond’s excellent Stunt Car Racer. With its vertigo-inducing elevated tracks, cleverly constructed courses and excellent physics, it remains in a league of its own, and while many have tried (Power Drift, Stunt Race FX) they’ve never been able to actually better it.

Stunt Car Racer

For Crammond realism is king, and while we’re yet to see an actual stunt car race (the game is set in 2006), the superb sense of scale and the physics fully immerse you and create a believable world that’s difficult to escape from. Sure, it looks crude, but it’s playability that counts, and Stunt Car Racer features that in spades.

The tracks are very challenging and will take an age to master, the difficulty level of your opponents is perfectly pitched, while the sheer sensation of belting down the equivalent of a ski ramp and launching yourself through the air remains as exciting as ever. A wonderful racer and Crammond’s finest hour.

12. Gran Turismo 2
Year: 1999
Publisher: Sony
Polyphony Digital’s excellent sequel is rare proof that a game can have both style and substance. It’s not without its flaws, and some will argue that the PS2’s A-Spec is a better game, but there’s something about Gran Turismo 2 that always manages to impress.

The amount of customisation and tweaking is insane, but the excesses go much further. There are over 600 cars, 27 tracks and hundreds of different challenges. Indeed, the number of options available will be intimidating for some, but if you’re looking for an in-depth racer you won’t find anything better. If you’re like us you’ll stick with the excellent Arcade mode that boasts a brand new rally section. The beauty of GT2 though, is that it offers something for everyone, and nine years later, it’s still giving.

Gran Turismo 2

11. Micro Machines
Year: 1993
Publisher: Codemasters
Codemasters returned to its roots by rekindling the classic top-down racing genre it first made its name with. Despite a somewhat low-key NES release, it would be the later Mega Drive iteration that would prove the natural home for the game. Boasting colourful graphics, a selection of differing chugging mini-motors and a slew of over-sized tracks, the game held a certain nostalgic charm. Add to this the brilliant two-player battle mode that found you nudging your pals off the screen and into a cloud of Road Runner dust and Micro Machines can be heralded as one of the finest multiplayer Mega Drive games ever.

As seemed the growing trend with great 16-bit games (Final Fight Guy, Street Fighter II), developers were seemingly scared to push out full sequels, preferring instead to refine the old and charge £40 for their efforts. Codemasters, however, could be forgiven because the final version of the game to appear on the Mega Drive, Turbo Tournament ’96, came pressed on a cartridge with two controller ports stamped into it, allowing four-player co-op action without the need of a multitap.

10. OutRun
Year: 1986
Publisher: Sega
We’re always amazed when people say they don’t like Sega’s OutRun. Sure, it doesn’t quite offer the thrill it used to back in the day and it has since been eclipsed by OutRun 2 – arguably the greatest racer ever made, although, to reiterate, it’s far too new to make this shortlist – but it’s still a hell of a lot of fun to play, and for us that’s all that really matters.

… continued