Arcade racing

Arcade racing games aim to capture the fun, speed, and thrills of racing by emphasizing accessibility over realistic physics. These games use more forgiving handling physics than sim racing games' lifelike simulations and often feature single-player campaigns and casual multiplayer modes.

The genre gets its name from the earliest days of video gaming, with early examples like Speedway and Speed Race operating in video arcades in coin-operated cabinets with physical steering wheels. This arcade racer style was popularized by series such as OutRun [アウトラン] and Sega Rally, and the most successful franchises eventually made their way to home consoles.

Despite the shift to home consoles and PC, the "arcade" moniker stuck as a signifier of racers with less realistic physics, especially with the advent of sim racing games. The genre proved immensely popular away from video arcades, with series such as Need for Speed, Burnout, and Ridge Racer [リッジレーサー] releasing to critical acclaim and selling millions of copies. The genre also gave way to kart racers, trick-racing games, and "simcades," each with their own spin on the base formula but keeping the focus on accessibility and thrills.