1. NFS Most Wanted (2005)
I felt as though a intro picture of the game was unnecessary because I feel like everyone knows this game. I first got this game for Nintendo Gamecube, but since then I have had it for PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2, and even the PSP version. I have beat it at least three times now (would've been more but systems come and go), and I never get tired of it. My friends and I have bonded over this game and even my fiancee loves this game. Its one of her favorites and apparently it has been since before I knew her. The acting may be terrible, the green screen CGI or whatever in the cutscenes is awful, but the cheesiness of it all and the pursuits!!! OH MAN THE PURSUITS!!! No NFS game has really lived up to the standards set by this game. Even though it only has 34 cars and no online anymore, it will live on in my collection forever.
2. Forza Horizon - Xbox 360
This game is very popular right now, as have all the Forza titles. This one was different. Open world driving while having complete customization availability (for the most part). Its definitely fun. It gives people that can't have their dream car in real life a chance to drive it off the track, at least virtually. It des have fewer cars then prior Forzas, but maybe thats not a terrible thing, because racing simulators have too many cars today. Gran Turismo 5 had dozens of versions of the Miata. This toned down open world simulator is exactly what I like in a racing game. The only thing I don't like is having to pay if you want the rest of the game, but I suppose game companies have to make money somehow.
3. 007: Everything or Nothing - Nintendo Gamecube
I get shit from my gamer friends all the time for liking this 007 game. It wasn't the best of the series and it was a ridiculous story with ridiculous gameplay blahblahblah, but the driving. Driving a Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Aston Martin Vanquish with missiles, a rally car race and the level with the motorbike on the bridge in Louisiana, it was all epic. I loved it. Every second of it. Not just the driving, but especially the driving.
4. Volvo: Drive for Life - Xbox
I'll be the first to say that this game was kind of stupid. Using virtual driving to show benefits of safety features that don't have as noticeable effects in real life is crazy. However, I'm a huge Volvo guy. When I played this in the Volvo of Lisle showroom many years back, I was hooked. I took only minutes to beat but I never get tired of it. I searched the internet pretty hard to find it and its another game that will never leave my collection. Oh, and it can be played on the 360, because of all the games they decided to make reverse compatible, it definitely should've been this one.
5 and 6. Motorstorm Apocalypse and Split/Second
I grouped these two together to save on time and space, and because they are basically the same thing. In Motorstorm Apocalypse you are a racer taking part in events as the worlds falling apart and in Split Second, you are taking part in a racing TV show where you make planes crash and buildings fall to disable opponents and win. These both have Burnout style elements where destroying opponents is key and the dynamic environments where you make the chaos and mayhem, which I love. Plus, Split Second is made by Disney, which I find kind of cool given that Disney's main demographic for their games is more towards the younger side.
7. Hot Wheels Turbo Racing - N64
This EA title (NFS) was out for N64 and PS1 back when I was still playing with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, but this game brought playing with them to a whole new level. Bringing classics and the newer models of the mid 90s to your home screen in chaotic races, where it was more about surviving then winning, but winning was nice too. Also, having to find mystery cars scattered throughout the tracks was a lot more fun then just buying them through a DLC like todays games.
8. NFS The Run - PS3
Now I know I just said how no NFS game as lived up to the standards set by Most Wanted, and I stand by that statement, but since then, this has probably been the best one. The story is amazing, it makes sense except that I got across America in 3 hours and 25 minutes, and the car list is phenomenal. Its not an open world but I don't mind redoing it because there are different "challenges" if you choose different cars. And theres no customization, which is a lot of peoples' beef with this game, but the main protagonist is racing across America as fast as he can. He has no time to install a spoiler or new rims or paint the car. The pre-customized cars are good enough for me, especially since they're all done in the crazy, NFS, "lets put a body-kit on a pagani huayra" style.
9. GTA Vice City Stories - PSP
Of course I'd be crazy if I didn't put a GTA title in here. I love GTA 5 which is everyone's favorite despite the problems with the online servers, but mine is Vice City Stories. I love Vice City back in 2003, and I love returning there in 2007. Everything was little more refined, the story was better, it felt smoother, plus, I love the 80s. The cars, the music, its the decade I wish I lived through. And having it on the PSP was great because that means I could play it 24/7, which I did until I lost my PSP a couple of years ago.
10. Crazy Taxi Catch A Ride - GBA
I'm a fan of the classics, and thats exactly what Crazy Taxi is, so naturally when I got my first GBA in 2001, this was the first game I bought, and the only game I had for a while. I never got tired of it. I had my routine of the customers and always worked to just improve that time, but I never got tired of it and even to this day, I still have the cartridge. Different GBA, but same cartridge.
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