Sony’s PlayStation was home to some of the greatest games in every genre. Racing was no different and some of the most iconic games of the platform had players behind the wheel of some petrol-powered beast. We’ve ran lap after lap trying to find PS1 racing games still running competitive lap times, decades after release.
Read More: Five PlayStation 1 Racing Games Still Worth a Few Laps On – Sim Edition
This list of PS1 racing games that are still worth playing today focuses on arcade-style racers. That is, games that feature exaggerated driving mechanics with the emphasis on fun over realism.
We’re also sticking to conventional cars and road vehicles – karts, boats and planes will have their own day at the track soon. We’ve already put the PlayStation 1 sim racing games we feel are still worth a few laps on a list that you can find that here.
Rage Racer (1996)
Rage Racer is the PlayStation-exclusive sequel to Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer Revolution. The game arrived in 1996 in Japan, around one year after the Revolution update to Ridge Racer.
Rage Racer represents a watershed moment in PS1 racing games. Rage Racer offers a wealth of content and a depth unimaginable compared to the previous efforts.
Gamers can create their own teams, complete with logos, colours and branding. There are now four racing teams, each with a roster of cars reflecting their particular racing preferences. Handling could be adjusted between grip and drift with a slider to find the perfect balance for your style.
The drift mechanics are much more refined than those in the previous games. Rather than sticking to a rail around bends, players are now responsible for toeing it. Namco also made it viable to turn conventionally and still beat the game, making their adjustable grip mechanic worth the effort.
Three of the four tracks are long, raking courses through mountains, dense villages and along the shore. These three start and end at the same spot but veer off in different directions and to different terrain. The detail on these 5- or 6-kilometre courses is sensational and there’s plenty to see as you whiz past at 200km/h.
Each course is a rollercoaster-like ride. There are massive dips and elevation changes that would be jarring if the game was not so buttery smooth. And to top it all off, the music is outstanding as the intense action unfolds on screen. Some of Rage Racer‘s appeal has been obscured by its esteemed follow-up but it’s absolutely worth revisiting decades later.
Demolition Derby 2 (1996)
1995’s Demolition Derby and its 1996 follow-up were two of PlayStation’s early vehicular hits. And while that first entry feels a bit bare bones these days, the underlying engine is still solid.
Its sequel, Demolition Derby 2 is based on a rebuilt version of that original engine. This was done so the game could have longer tracks with more verticality. The reworked engine also allowed for cars to flip.
The addition of more modes, more cars and more tracks inside the new engine makes for a more complete game. The refinements made to the game engine, especially in the car and crash physics, gave it a surprising depth for a PS1 racing game about wrecking things.
While you probably remember smashing your car to bits more than the actual racing, there is a deep and rewarding driving model on track. One that is exploited beautifully by the selection of tracks, and only enhanced by the strategy wrought by the damage model.
The driving mechanics of Destruction Derby 2 land in the sweet spot, balanced between a more forgiving arcade handling model and a more realistic feel. It’s the definition of ‘easy to pick up but hard to master’.
Demolition Derby 2 still stands as one of the most accomplished alternative racing games for the platform. The gameplay and the blocky visuals are still worth taking a few laps on despite being an early release for PS1. The crash and deformation models, while primitive, give the game a dynamism and emergence that is still worth experiencing to his very day.
Porsche Challenge (1997)
Now criminally forgotten, the Sony Studios Soho-developed Porsche Challenge was popular enough to go Platinum in Europe, and seemed an ever present in early PlayStation collections. It’s a PS1 racing game that nobody talks about these days but dusting it off will prove it’s certainly still worth playing.
Porsche Challenge‘s career mode features a roster of six characters to choose from. Each has a rival to deliver pre-race zingers and to act like a benchmark of sorts. The six characters each have their own driving style and it adds some spice to the mix.
Games based on one single vehicle were common from the mid-to-late 90s before their licences were hoovered up by Gran Turismo and Forza. In exchange for a lack of variety, the titular Porsche Boxster is recreated in incredible detail.
The car model, the textures and lighting, the sound – all as close as you could get to a real car using the PS1. The vehicles all feature interiors visible as you drive around the track or in the games in-engine cut scenes.
Porsche Challenge features two driving modes. One, a pure arcade racer where it was easy to drift and keep the accelerator to the floor. The other, a more realistic approach that tried to capture the feel of driving the then-new Boxster. Both are fun mechanics with which to whip the Boxster around the four rollercoaster-like tracks.
Another reason why it may have dropped off the radar is that the game only features four tracks. However, each of the four has a long and short track as well as a mirror and ‘Interactive’ mode. This ‘Interactive’ mode changes the layout of the tracks while you race, giving a dynamic and surprise-filled game loop.
R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998/99)
Perhaps the pinnacle of arcade-style racing on PlayStation ,and a game whose modernist style holds up to this very day. Ridge Racer Type 4 oozes visual and aural finery, and really captures the global optimism of the pre-2000 world.
R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 is a modernist masterpiece and was a nuclear weapon in the ‘video games are art’ debate that somehow was a thing until not so long ago. The game features the most well-realised aesthetic and audio styling of video game at that time.
Everything, from the menus, to the smallest trackside detail, was designed to sell a racing festival vibe. The soundtrack is glorious – amongst the greatest ever produced by Namco, who are no strangers to a banging tune.
Ridge Racer Type 4 features a very weird story mode which only adds to the charm. There are four teams, each with a colourful story thread and dozen of cars to unlock along the way. In fact, there are over 300 cars to collect in R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. And while some are basically copies with different stats, there is still plenty of variety to be had.
There are a total of eight tracks in R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. Each of the eight are flowing drift-friendly 32-bit masterpieces with gorgeous lighting effects and an unmistakable urban minimalism.
And there was substance under that flawlessly implemented style. R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 is one of the most addictive PS1 racing games. The presentation, the flow of the tracks and the two distinct drifting styles all worked in tandem to create a thrilling PS 1 arcade racing game experience that is still unmissable decades later.
Need for Speed – Porsche 2000 (2000)
While Need for Speed Porsche 2000, or Need for Speed Porsche, was seen as a slightly disappointing follow-up to Need for Speed Hot Pursuit upon release, EA’s tribute to the iconic German sports car brand has stood the test of time.
Back in 2000, many lamented the return to the series’ roots after the adrenaline trip of police chases to be a bit pedestrian. But return to its roots, Need for Speed did. And it is still a joy to play.
The game centres around the Porsche brand, which at this time was just over 50 years old. While Gran Turismo 2 had 600 cars, they weren’t quite captured to the same anorak levels of detail as the 70-plus machines on show in NfS Porsche 2000.
Each has an interior, visible from the outside as you race around one of five European locales as well as a track complex. The five locales are a map with four tracks zipping across each of the five. This gives a wonderful sense of a bigger world existing, you just so happen to be racing in this particular part.
There are two campaigns in Need for Speed Porsche 2000. One is a raking 52-year campaign through the eras of Porsche. The other is an extended audition to be a test driver for the Porsche brand. Both offer different takes on the driving experience but the focus is always on the pleasure of driving.
70 cars on a total of 23 tracks are decent numbers, even twenty-odd years later. The laid-back handling and winding realistic courses combine for an incredible racing experience in a style that isn’t really replicated in any modern racing title.
Honourable Mentions
Ridge Racer was a huge deal in the mid-90s. Just as the 3D arcade boom was in full swing, Namco would drop this enduring classic of the Namco System 22 board that raised the bar for the presentation in this new dimension. When it hit PlayStation, it was a sensational display of what the grey slab could really do, in the same way as Tekken‘s PS1 port was.
Ridge Racer‘s handling and track design are still worth playing to this very day but its lack of content keeps it off this list. After a couple of hours, you will unlocked everything and will have played the same four layouts of the same track a dozen times.
Ridge Racer was a true arcade port, for better or worse. It was almost one-to-one with the arcade in terms of its presentation and translated the drift mechanics perfectly to the digital pad. That lack of content was a minor grumble that gamers could put up with back in 94/95 but nowadays, the experience might be too fleeting.
We wanted to still love Need for Speed III Hot Pursuit but after 25 years of progress in being chased by digital cops, it is not easy to return to. The AI, mindblowing for the time, are so single-minded and simple that the game becomes repetitive.
The single-player mode also suffers from a lack of mechanical variety. The driving and the chases just don’t have that emergence that modern AI and handling provides.
It must be noted that the two-player modes are still loads of fun and 100% worth playing these days.
