Pole Position was the hottest driving game of its day in 1984. It featured one of the first video games with a somewhat intelligible human voice.Atari They don’t make ‘em like they used to. In fact, they make ‘em better. There is no denying the incredible, raw entertainment power of today’s video consoles and games. There are plenty of captivating, high-definition, online-enabled racing games for all platforms available today, including mobile phones. But there’s something to be said for the simplicity of the games of yesterday and the metaphorical day before that, back when there were fewer buttons than you had fingers and when glitches in the game could be fixed by blowing into the console. Ah, those were the days, and this is a list of some of the games from those days. Tell us which games you’d add in the comments. The Need for Speed II — 1997 The Need for Speed was first released in 1994 for the 3DO console followed by the PC, PS1 and Saturn. It was awesome, and if you even knew someone who had it you were cool. But three years later they made it more exclusive by releasing the sequel just on Playstation and PC. What made the game so revolutionary was the presence of traffic on the race course, and police that would chase you. And of course the epic crashes that send the cars flying and flipping through the air. Who cares if you win if do seven backflips? Sega Rally Championship — 1994 The boppy 1990s beat of the intro soundtrack to Sega Rally Championship is enough to take you back to 1994. The graphics are grainy, but the nostalgic of the running commentary — “Medium left; long hairpin turn; woah!; caution, medium left, medium right; finish! — is enough to make you want to start scanning eBay for a used Sega Saturn console. Gran Turismo — 1998 Gran Turismo made its debut in 1998 on the original PlayStation. It was well-received for its top-notch graphics (at the time) and variety of licenced vehicles. The game was so successful, it’s now PlayStation’s top selling video game franchise. Currently,  there are seven editions of Gran Turismo, with the most recent, Gran Turismo Sport, released in 2017. Mario Kart 64 — 1997 It was difficult to decide which Mario Kart is the best, because the Italian plumber has been karting for some time. Super Mario Kart was released on Super Nintendo in 1992 and still has the potential to rob you of an hour or two, but it was five years later in 1997, when that first thumb joystick on the Nintendo 64 was first making calluses on children’s thumbs, that developers really hit the nail on the head. With its dynamic gameplay and characters, 3D graphics, hidden shortcuts and four-player split screen capability, Mario Kart 64 literally added another dimension to racing. Dibs Yoshi! F-Zero — 1991 Like a lot of the old Nintendo products, F-Zero for Super Nintendo debuted in Japan first in 1990, followed by North America in 1991. The game featured four different futuristic hovercars to choose from, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Fire Stingray has the highest top speed, just an FYI. Stunt Car Racer — 1989 For an idea of how far we’ve come in the realm of video games, consider that when Stunt Car Racer hit the market in 1989, it was critically acclaimed for its graphics. Today, even though it’s pixelated and the tracks are basic, the single-player game that features elevated tracks you can drive off of and damage your vehicle, does what a good game should do: challenging players while simultaneously delighting
Origin: 6 awesome vintage racing video games that’ll take you back