The PlayStation made racing games as much as racing games made the PlayStation. While it didn’t have the first 3D racing game, the PS1 was where minds really started to be blown. And while you might be able to guess what the best PS1 racing game ever is, I might unlock some deep seated memory alongside Mummies Alive, Crazy Town, and 10p Freddos when I say:
10. Rollcage Stage 2
Racing games often live or die depending on the quality of their physics engine, and perhaps no racing game on the PS1 put its physics engine through the ringer quite like Rollcage did. Rollcage did things a bit differently compared to other racing games, anti-gravity or otherwise. While racers could still cling to walls or ceilings by travelling at incredible speeds, the massive wheels on the sides of every car meant that there was no such thing as “right side up”.
Because of the car’s design, the track layout allowed for some incredibly convoluted twists, turns and jumps that still wouldn’t halt your car’s momentum. Naturally, this made the game somewhat difficult for everyone to play or follow, but those who could jive with this unique take on racing found it to be one of the best racing games on the entire platform. While the first game introduced the concept, Stage 2 refined it, adding extra elements to bring it in line with other futuristic racers of the time, along with the usual graphical improvements. Rollcage is overall a super fast, super fun series that was revisited in GRIP, a neat spiritual successor with a very simula formula.
9. Formula 1 97
A lot of the best racing games on the PS1 were developed in the city that also birthed The Beatles, the largest cathedral in Britain, and the reason why I grapple with depression. We’ll win something again one day, or decade. Maybe?
Anyway, before Liverpool’s Bizarre Creations struck big with Metropolis Street Racer on the Dreamcast, they were the developers for the official Formula 1 racing games, with F1 97, or Championship Edition in the States, being their last and best effort. Well, we say official, as there was a legal dispute between publisher’s Psygnosis and the FIA, leading to F1 97 being resold without FIA logos. The 90s were wild.
As you’d expect, Formula 1 97 is a faithful recreation of the ‘97 season of F1, complete with every single track and nearly all of the teams and drivers. The rest got the ISS fake name treatment. Shout out to Donka, a real one.
As for the gameplay itself, Formula 1 97 is a loving simulation of the sport, laying the groundwork for the games that’d come after it by offering challenging yet rewarding physics, detailed graphics and even some decent car damage in high stakes racing.
8. Need For Speed: High Stakes
It was only a matter of time before Need For Speed made an appearance on this list, and while many might feel like Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit offered the best the series had to offer on the PS1, allow us to offer High Stakes instead. The follow-up release to NFS 3: Hot Pursuit, High Stakes continued to the fast racing action that the NFS series had become known for, though High Stakes did add some more realistic elements into the mix like car damage that players would have to pay to repair. It wouldn’t be called High Stakes if there wasn’t that small element of risk, after all.
Like the previous Need For Speed games, High Stakes was all about racing exotic cars in recognisable locations, with licenses covering the likes of BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren and more. The game features several tracks, each with different variants, while modes like Hot Pursuit, Tournament and Knockout keep the action interesting instead of just regular racing. This version of the Hot Pursuit mode even allows you to play as the cops, which was only possible in the PC version of NFS 3: Hot Pursuit. However, the titular mode of High Stakes is the multiplayer highlight, as players race for each other’s cars and the winner getting to save the loser’s car onto their memory card. It is v good, v toxic.
7. V-Rally 2
It’s genuinely shocking that developers Eden Studios were able to get a third V-Rally game out the door, considering that when V-Rally 2 was released for the PS1, its publishers had the game’s name changed all over the shop. Or, well, the box art mostly. In Europe and Japan, V-Rally 2 launched as is, but North American publishers EA decided to chuck the Need For Speed name in there, possibly to induce a bump in sales. Infogrames clearly thought that was a good idea, as when the time came for the Dreamcast NA port, they threw the Test Drive name in there too, leading to three different names for ostensibly the exact same game.
Like Formula 1 97, V-Rally 2 contained a virtual version of the 1999 World Rally Championship season, with 26 cars and over 80 tracks and stages, representing most of the locations featured in the championship at the time. Plenty of weather effects were included that would change the handling of your car in subtle ways, marking the sign of a great rally experience, while if you didn’t like the sheer abundance of tracks on offer, there was even a track editor that allowed players to create the most hellish courses possible.
As rallying goes, V-Rally 2 was great, but the best was still to come. Some of you are probably already “Colin” it in the comments below, but first, let’s properly confuse some Americans.
6. Destruction Derby 2
Racing and winning is always fun, but there’s an added bit of satisfaction that comes with reducing your opponents to metal cubes on the way to the finish line. The PS1 had no shortage of car combat games like Twisted Metal, but not as many that blended destruction with genuine racing. To be fair, maybe that’s because Destruction Derby 2 nailed it early on in the PS1’s life cycle, offering players the chance to race for the chequered flag in some of the dirtiest races you could imagine. Where else are you going to get points for spinning out the competition?
The original version of Destruction Derby proved that there was a desire for cars smashing into each other on the PS1, but the game was developed in just seven months, so the team at Reflections rewrote a lot of the game’s engine and physics for the sequel, creating a more ambitious game as a result. Tracks now included obstacles like the famous figure-8 course, while the actual destruction derby mode was updated with new and varied arenas that could make use of the new physics engine. If you want to see where the DNA for games like Wreckfest came from, Destruction Derby 2 is the game for you. It’s rally good!
5. Colin McRae Rally 2.0
To the victor go the spoils, and Colin McRae certainly McWon a lot in the World Rally Championship, from being one of their youngest ever world champs to holding the record for the most wins in the series at the time of his career.
Naturally, that kind of championship pedigree also meant that he became the face of one of the most recognisable rally game franchises in history with Colin McRae Rally, a series that’s still going to this day, even if they dropped McRae’s name. While the first game was a great opening effort, the sequel, Colin McRae Rally 2 pushed things even further.
Based on the 2000 WRC season, CMR 2.0 included a number of cars and special stages of the season. It also celebrated the history of rally too though, including cars from the previous decades of the sport like the Mini Cooper, Ford Cosworth and others, making it the prime game for true rally fans. The graphics and physics also received the usual upgrades too, perfectly balancing the line between realistic action and arcade thrills, making for the best rally game on the PS1.
Other racing games would try to dabble with rallying, but this is still the greatest pure rally experience the PS1 has to offer, and should absolutely be your type if you like rally games.
4. R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
Namco needs to pay for their criminal use of the Ridge Racer franchise. Granted, they probably don’t want to fund another Ridge Racer game after the last non-mobile release flopped harder than my hairline in a wind turbine, but Ridge Racer still remains one of the most iconic and influential racing game franchises in gaming history. While the title of “best Ridge Racer game” might be up for debate, there’s certainly no denying the fact that R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, simple known as just Ridge Racer Type 4 here, is not only one of the best PS1 racing games you can play, but also one of the best entries in the entire series.
Continuing the series’ love of throwing supercars around corners sideways, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 featured over 300 cars, most of them needing to be unlocked through the game’s Grand Prix mode. Instead of just completing a set amount of races, players could pick from one of four teams, each with their individual storyline, along with four different car manufacturers that would determine the type of car and style of drifting you used. There’s a lot to sink your teeth into here, and it’s all wrapped up in a timeless, neon-soaked aesthetic complete with a banger of a soundtrack. The PS1 was made for games like Ridge Racer 4, and it’s a shame the IP has been allowed to crash and burn.
3. Crash Team Racing
Much like how Crash Bandicoot was created following the success of mascot platformers like Mario and Sonic, so too did Naughty Dog decide to crib from Nintendo by making a kart-racing spin-off. While the comparisons to Mario Kart are immediately obvious, Crash Team Racing at least pulled from a slightly wider research pool, taking the formula to Diddy Kong Racing’s Adventure mode to create the basis of CTR’s main single-player offering. Crash Team Racing isn’t the most original PS1 racing game ever made, but is it among the most fun and enjoyable kart racers ever made? You bet your ass.
Featuring all the iconic Crash characters you had already begun to know and love, along with a few welcome newcomers to boot, Crash Team Racing did exactly what it needed to: provide a fun multiplayer kart racer for PlayStation fans, and they created one of the best multiplayer games ever in the processEven if Naughty Dog was singing from Nintendo’s hymn sheet when it comes to the main idea behind the game, CTR still had some of its own flavour too, as its powerslide and boost mechanic involving both shoulder buttons was a lot more involved than Mario Kart’s, helping to separate the men from the marsupials.
Apparently people in the 90s wanted their racing games to be hard as nails, as this next one really wiped the floor with a lot of players.
2. Wipeout 2097
Of course Wipeout would find itself in the upper echelon of a video like this, with Wipeout 2097 arguably offering the best overall gameplay experience of all three PS1 games. Sure, Wipeout 3 gave players plenty of visual and performance updates, including the iconic futuristic UI design that would become a series staple going forward, but for the most part, Wipeout 3 was built off the back of 2097. Wipeout 3 did little to innovate on what was an all-time classic of the racing game genre, especially after a three year gap between games. Meanwhile, in just one year, Wipeout 2097 blasted the original game out of the water with its upgrades.
Much like Rollcage Stage 2 after it, the main innovation introduced going from Wipeout to Wipeout 2097 was weapons, allowing players to pick up devastating weapons while racing around the track at supersonic speeds. Whoever came up with the Quake Disruptor weapon that caused huge shockwaves on the track really cooked, honestly. While the difficulty of Wipeout 2097 meant that this futuristic racer wasn’t for everyone, the sheer amount of content, the different vehicles that offered their own handling subtleties and the banger electronic soundtrack meant that those who loved Wipeout had a tonne of fun.
When you ask people (especially anyone from England who loved The Prodigy) to name the five games they associate with the PS1, the chances are that Wipeout 2097 is somewhere in that list. However, it’s even likelier that this next game is mentioned even more.
1. Gran Turismo 2
How could the top spot go to anything other than Gran Turismo? The series that became the benchmark, the pace setter, the goal of all simulation racing games, Gran Turismo has been one of the shiniest jewels in PlayStation’s crown since the series’ inception in 1997. The first game in the series spent over five years in development to create th e foundation of the greatest simulation racing series ever made, but with just two years between 1 and 2, Polyphony Digital decided to spend their time cramming as much as they could onto the disc as possible.
While the original game only offered 140 cars and 11 race tracks (along with their reversed versions, of course), Gran Turismo 2 managed to crowbar in around 650 cars and 27 race tracks, including the introduction of some rally events. Sure, the rushed development might have led to a few more bugs than some would have liked, but Gran Turismo 2 felt like the first racing game ever that really started to celebrate all kinds of motorsport, from rally to stock car, Le Mans-style endurance races to amateur track meets competitions at your local circuit.
While the original Gran Turismo showed that there was room in the PS1’s library for an intensive motorsport sim not tied to the Formula 1 license, Gran Turismo 2 gave players a vision of the series going into sixth generation. From the sheer amount of cars, to the licensed tracks, events and even license tests, Gran Turismo 2 represents petrolhead heaven on the PS1.
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