I played a lot of PC demos back in the '90s, so I think that they absolutely have a place on this list.
Demos of games I also own the full versions of, but still have the demo of on my computer too.
Full games that I own through digital download services.ĥ.
Games that I own the full version of on physical media.Ģ. I don't have a 360 controller, so I DO mention games that only have xinput, because it's annoying, and I have to us a xinput-to-directinput wrapper to get those games working correctly.).ġ. Also, unless I say it doesn't, presume that games do have gamepad support (for regular directinput, not the 360 controller's xinput of course that'd only be in a few recent titles. All titles were tested (yes, that took a while), so if I don't say anything, it almost certainly works in 32-bit Vista.
If games do not work in Vista 32-bit (my OS), I say so. For digital download courses of course the box/disc stuff doesn't apply, but I put asterisks by the older ones, to note that I did not buy those back when they came out. Asterisks are for older titles that I only got in the last couple of years, mostly as jewelcase-only titles (there's only one, noted, exception) other games I've had for much longer (and do have complete in box), or are recent. Also, games are PC exclusive unless noted. This list is mostly in alphabetical order, but I rearranged it so that series are in order. I know that some, but not all, older PC racing games have 16:9 support. Also, I only have 4:3 monitors, so I won't be mentioning if games have 16:9 support instead, I complain about the fortunately few recent ones that are 16:9 only. Obviously in 64-bit I imagine that many won't work thanks to 16-bit installers, etc, but I have 32-bit so I can't test any of that.
Unless noted, these games all work fine on my 32-bit Vista install (through DOSBox for DOS titles). I think it's a pretty good collection of mostly non-sim PC racing games.
Things did seem to get better around 2010, but in between, I only have a game or two each year, even including demos, because I didn't see much of interest, and maybe also because I'm less likely to keep large, newer demos installed than I am small, older ones. As for newer titles, there are some, but after the release of the Xbox the PC started fading, so the numbers of interesting titles dropped off significantly. Maybe I should look up more pre-'94 PC racing games, but I've never done it. There is only one or two from before 1994. The majority of titles on this list are from the second half of the '90s. Here I will review all of the PC racing games I own, plus I will also cover all freeware, shareware, and demo PC racing games currently on my PC. Fortunately, however, there are plenty of great futuristic, top-down, and arcade-style racing games on the PC too, they're not just on consoles. I prefer more arcadey, futuristic, or less realistic racers, and not sims, so don't expect good reviews of the top PC racing sims here - you won't find any. I didn't play racing games all that often before that point, but since then, I've loved the genre, and have played a good number of racing games. Racing games have been one of my favorite genres ever since the mid '90s.