The racing genre has seen a multitude of games on the Xbox 360 and there have been some outstanding new franchises launched by the likes of Codemasters in this generation of console gaming. We’ve tried to nitpick some of the best Xbox 360 racing games, and here’s our Top 10 Xbox 360 racing games based on critic ratings, amazing gameplay, cars and visual presentation.
#10. F1 2010
F1 fans haven’t really had a taste of a very good game of their beloved sport, but Codemasters have settled that with F1 2010. It offers one of the most complete and comprehensive offering of the F1 circuit. Championship mode, Grand Prix, Time attack, Mulitplayer and online leaderboards are all in there to make it one of the most complete F1 offering available on the Xbox 360.
#9. PURE
What do you get when you mix the speed and boosting of Burnout with a similar terrain of Motorstorm? Well, you get Pure. The arcade racer adds tricks and moves to add a bit of spice to the dull “get first to the finish line” racing mechanism. These tricks and moves add to your boost meter making things more interesting. Track design and fantastic customization options also provide a much needed overall racing experience.
#8. NFS Most Wanted
Some might go on to say that Most Wanted is the best NFS game out yet. Addition of the Police to a series coming out of the dark underground city scapes is by far the best thing that happened to the franchise, but the real highlight are the amazingly mind-blowing cut scenes. Getting away from the cops, who happen to pop up from nowhere during races or free-roam could be a hassle, but is fun nonetheless. Most Wanted has close to 37 unlock-able cars.
#7. PGR 4
PGR 4 has time attacks, custom matches and the arcade option which comprises of 10 events, to be completed in a variety of whether conditions in beautiful locales for a total of 12 medals per event. Half of these require the player to use a motorbike. Whether effects, most notably rain look absolutely gorgeous in the game. The strength of PGR 4 lies in the variety of vehicles available with ground breaking whether effects. PGR 4 features more than 130 vehicles.
#6. Blur
Blur is an exhilarating racing experience because of the ridiculous pacing of the game. In recent times, Reward systems work really well with the FPS genre, but Blur brings a deadly power-up and reward system which keeps players hooked. Racing, destruction and checkpoint form the three main categories of your main objective in Blur. The multiplayer mode can be laggy at times, although, for the most part it’s fast, competitive, exciting and combative. Blur offers about 100 total cars to unlock in the game.
#5. Forza Motorsport 2
If you’re looking for a car racing simulation game on the Xbox 360, then you simply can’t go wrong with the Forza Motorsport series. Both car enthusiasts and casual racing game fans will enjoy Forza Motorsport 2. Forza 2 has over 300 licensed cars, tons of upgradeable options and a total of 12 different racing environments. There customization options are absolutely limitless and enough to make Forza 2 standout amongst other racing games.
#4. Race Driver: Grid
Driving Physics and insane slow motion damage replays where you can watch the car disintegrate during a crash is absolutely spectacular in GRID. The game’s roots are in the Toca and Pro race driver series, GRID has slick menus and DIRT style racing experience on the road. The game has a total of 43 cars from muscle to import tuners and many others. The game also features an interesting replay feature, allowing players to rewind time by up to 10 seconds as many times as you want depending on the difficulty level. The cars handle extremely well, and the game also looks gorgeous.
#3. Burnout: Paradise
Burnout Paradise is a big step in the right direction by Criterion games. The open city becomes a bit tedious for restarting races, since, you have to drive back all the way to the start of the race, but at the same time, open world allows players to choose their own path to the finish line. The old crash mode is replaced by showtime in Burnout Paradise, which ends up in 400-600 car pileups and is pretty cool to say the least. Taking out opponents and the smooth frame rate makes it a game that deserves your time. More than 80 cars are in the offering in Burnout: Paradise.
#2. Dirt 2
Dirt 2, an off-road racer that offers amazing and challenging races in real world environments is simply the best off road racer available on the Xbox 360. Presentation elements in the game are slick, and the same can be said about car damage, reflection and track detail. Being a Codemasters’ game, it takes its cues from GRID with the 10 second rewind feature. Online multiplayer which allows players to race against up to 7 other people is just as exciting as the single player mode. The only complaint with Dirt 2 is that it lacks split-screen multiplayer.
#1. Forza Motorsport 3
Turn 10 studio’s Forza Motorsport 3 succeeds at every turn. Career mode in Forza Motorsport 3 is divided into seasons each comprises of world championships that span several races. The racing AI in FZ3 is as believable and competitive as racing against a real person, but they are prone to making some utterly stupid decisions at times. An unoriginal feature similar to Grid’s rewind is also a part of the single player, and rightly is not available in the online multiplayer mode. Car models, environments and tracks look fantastic. If you’re familiar with the robust car design tools in the Forza franchise, you won’t be disappointed this time around either and might end-up spending a lot of time designing signs and logos on your favorite cars. Frame rate in online multiplayer holds up pretty well, and the online multiplayer mode is again close to being flawless like the game itself.
