Racing Through Time: The Most Important Racing Games Ever

As Microsoft's smash Project Gotham series reaches its fourth installment, we look back over a quarter-century of best-selling car (and bike, and taxi, and hovercraft) racing games. Which games became milestones on the road from rudimentary arcade machines to ultra-realistic, modern masterpieces? How did one racing game cement the PlayStation as a hip pastime? And what's the deal with all those Ridge Racers? Read on for the answers.

Pole Position (1982)

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Namco essentially created the racing genre in 1982 with this arcade release, which wound up being ported to just about every platform under the sun. Sure, it's looking a little primitive these days, but in the early eighties this was the pinnacle of realism. But if the truth must be known, the main reason we wanted to feature Pole Position was to give us another excuse to run this awesome commercial again. Don't miss it!

Outrun (1986)

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It's 1986, you're driving a Testarossa, and there's a scantily-clad blonde in the passenger seat. With a premise like that, it's no wonder Outrun shot to such popularity. It was notable for its innovative, branching track that went through multiple permutations to five different endings -- but let's face it, none of us old codgers who played it as testosterone-frothing youths remember it for anything other than the hot chick riding shotgun.

Mario Kart (1992)

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Few pleasures in life are better than a quiet evening in with a few friends, some age-appropriate beverages of your choice, and a copy of Mario Kart. All the incarnations were superb - which one you prefer probably comes down more to nostalgia than anything else - but for us, it's the SNES original that defines the series. The N64 sequel is a good substitute, though, and thanks to its recent re-release on the Wii's Virtual Console service it's definitely the easiest to find, at least until the Wii version comes out next year. Multiplayer racing games just don't get any better than this.

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