Best Street Racing Games of All Time, Ranked

Highlights

• Street racing games have evolved over the years, with online multiplayer becoming more prominent, but the genre’s high-speed action and beautiful city locations remain constant.
• The lack of new street racing games means players often have to look back instead of forward, so this list provides recommendations for the best street racing games of all time.
• Many people consider Burnout 3: Takedown to be the best street racing game ever due to its well-balanced gameplay and over-the-top action that is still enjoyable today.

The street racing genre has piqued the interest of gamers for many years, as speeding through brightly lit streets at night while avoiding crashes by the narrowest of margins can give players a rush of adrenaline from the comfort and safety of their homes. Street racing games have gone through many changes over the years, most notably with how prominent online multiplayer is in recent releases, but the genre’s high-speed action and beautiful city locations remain in place.

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For those looking to revisit some of the street racing genre’s greatest-ever releases, this list ranks the best street racing games of all time. This list will only look at games that are solely street racers, so games like Forza Horizon 5 won’t be included, despite having street racing events.

Updated on December 2, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: Street racing games are a blast to play through every single time, and most people can’t deny that the most mainstream racing games that fans can’t get enough of are either entirely dedicated towards street racing or feature it in some capacity. So, it’s only a given why most players would want to seek out and try the best street racing games around.

10 Need for Speed Heat

Metascore: 72

Need for Speed Heat‘s 72 Metascore may strike some people as being surprisingly low, as many consider it to be one of the better titles in the rebooted NFS series. There may be a fair bit of grind involved, but racing in both the day and night in a detailed open world never ceases to be entertaining.

Even with the release of NFS Unbound attracting a ton of eyes toward the series, Heat still holds a special place in the hearts of many. There really aren’t a lot of negatives to focus on once players get over the somewhat unjustifiable grinding.

9 Burnout Dominator

Metascore: 76

Burnout Dominator is the first – but certainly not the last – Burnout game on this list. It’s also the only game in the Burnout series that was not developed by Criterion Games, as they were busy working on Burnout Paradise (more on that game later).

Development duties for Burnout Dominator were handed to EA UK, who didn’t shake things up too much, keeping the core gameplay very similar to previous entries in the series. EA UK did delight fans by bringing back an old feature, though, as “Burnouts” made a grand return.

8 Need For Speed: Carbon

Metascore: 77

Fans of tough racing games will love what Need For Speed Carbon has to offer. It’s a shame that getting one’s hands on this title has become more challenging than ever before, but players who fork over the cash to get this title will love the racing goodness on offer here.

Racing at night is always a blast, and Carbon doesn’t disappoint in this regard. The act of hunting down rivals and beating them in cinematic canyon races never fails to be entertaining, making Carbon one of the more underrated titles in the NFS series that more people need to check out.

7 Need For Speed: Underground 2

Metascore: 82

Due to the success of its predecessor, Need For Speed: Underground 2 was a highly anticipated release. Thankfully, the game didn’t disappoint, offering a tremendous amount of race variations, such as Drag racing, Sprint race, and the newly included Street X mode. The game also featured great depth in its customization features, which let players spend hours adjusting and fine-tuning their vehicles.

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Like its predecessor, Need For Speed: Underground 2 also stands out with its memorable soundtrack, which features great songs from a wide range of genres.

6 Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005)

Metascore: 83

Need For Speed: Most Wanted is an open-world racing game that takes place in a fictional city named Rockport and features a fleshed-out career mode where players compete against the city’s top 15 street racers. The game also significantly enhanced the fan-favorite police pursuits in Free Roam mode, making the chases far more complex and ultimately enjoyable than before.

Need For Speed: Most Wanted was remade in 2012. Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012) is also well worth playing and only narrowly missed out on this list.

5 Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix

Metascore: 85

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition was released in 2005 by Grand Theft Auto creator Rockstar Games. As would be expected from the iconic studio, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition offers players the chance to explore a US-inspired open world.

DUB Edition Remix was released just under one year after the original Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition hit stores but implemented numerous new features, including new vehicles, new races, and the welcome return of Tokyo as a city to compete in.

4 Burnout 2: Point Of Impact

Metascore: 86

The second entry into the Burnout franchise was released in 2002 and greatly improved upon its lackluster predecessor by not only fine-tuning the core driving mechanics but also by significantly fleshing out the amount of content available.

Among the most notable changes was the addition of the “Crash” mode, which is now synonymous with the Burnout series. Although the mode may initially seem like nonsensical arcade fun, it actually offers fairly in-depth puzzle gameplay that requires both great driving skills and a well-thought-out strategy.

3 Burnout Paradise

Metascore: 88

The penultimate release into the critically acclaimed Burnout series, Burnout Paradise offered an enormous open world for its time. The game’s open world is today recognized as being hugely influential in the prominent rise of open-world games, largely due to data revealing that players were favoring participating in the game’s social aspects and simply exploring the game’s world rather than competing in events.

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Along with an impressive Xbox 360 Metascore of 88, Burnout Paradise was awarded Best Driving Game at the Spike TV Video Game Awards. The game received the remaster treatment in 2018, giving Burnout Paradise some of the best visuals in street racing history.

2 Burnout Revenge

Metascore: 89

Criterion Games didn’t try to reinvent the wheel with Burnout Revenge, as they opted to keep the core gameplay very similar to the series’ most esteemed title, Burnout 3: Takedown. The game did implement a few changes to differentiate it from its predecessor, however, including Vertical Takedowns and the new game mode Traffic Attack, which tasked players with earning money through Checking (hitting) traffic.

The game’s World Tour mode takes place across three continents and features over 150 events for players to compete in, providing great value for money.

1 Burnout 3: Takedown

Metascore: 94

Considering how many Burnout games are on this list, it’s only fitting that a game from the iconic street racing series takes the top spot. Burnout 3: Takedown is considered by many to be not just the best street racing game of all time but also one of the best racing games of all time across any subgenre; critics certainly agreed at the time, exemplified by the game’s whopping 93 and 94 Metascore on PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox, respectively.

Although the game doesn’t look like much by modern standards, Burnout 3: Takedown is still worth playing for any street racing fan able to access it today, as the wonderfully well-balanced gameplay and hilariously over-the-top action make it a delight to play alone or with friends.

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