Evolution of Racing Video Games 1981-2023
1981 Turbo 0:00
1982 Pole Position 0:11
1983 TX-1 0:24
1984 Excitebike 0:39
1985 Hang On 0:54
1986 OutRun 1:11
1987 Rad Racer 1:30
1988 Power Drift 1:49
1989 Hard Drivin 2:09
1990 F-Zero 2:29
1991 Road Rash 2:45
1992 Virtua Racing 3:04
1993 Ridge Racer 3:24
1994 Sega Rally Championship 3:48
1995 Destruction Derby 4:13
1996 Wipeout 2097 4:35
1997 Gran Turismo 4:54
1998 Colin McRae Rally 5:14
1999 Midtown Madness 5:38
2000 Midnight Club: Street Racing 5:55 • Midnight Club: Street ...
2001 Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec 6:18
2002 Auto Modellista 6:38
2003 Need for Speed: Underground 7:02
2004 Burnout 3: Takedown 7:28
2005 Need for Speed: Most Wanted 7:52 • Need for Speed: Most W...
2006 TOCA Race Driver 3 8:26
2007 Race 07 8:59
2008 iRacing 9:26
2009 Need for Speed: Shift 9:48
2010 Split Second 10:16
2011 Driver: San Francisco 10:48 • Video
2012 Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed 11:10
2013 Grid 2 11:33
2014 Drive Club 12:02
2015 Project CARS 12:27
2016 Forza Horizon 3 12:55 • Forza Horizon 3 [FULL]...
2017 F1 2017 13:31
2018 Forza Horizon 4 14:00 • Forza Horizon 4 - Asto...
2019 Need for Speed Heat 14:41
2020 Gran Turismo 7 15:10
Credits: Special thanks to Reiji ( / turboreiji ) and World of Longplays (longplays.org) and Shirrako ( / shirrako ) and DSTRYR ( / notreiji ) for providing the gameplay footage
Nixian Channel Description:
We’re lifelong video game enthusiasts with a passion for showing the world how our favorite hobby has grown with us, from individual series to industry-wide retrospectives.
We put significant time and creative effort into each one of our videos, including research, digging into archives, recording voiceovers, and editing. Every video takes as many as 10 hours to produce, because we strive to give our fans consistent, high-quality content.
Our popular “Evolution of...” series goes far beyond simply presenting gameplay footage. We take the time to show how a video game property - its gameplay, character designs, graphics, sound direction, etc. - have evolved over time. We include unique voiceover work on each video to enhance the viewing experience.
People have been playing video games for decades. In that time, we’ve gone from moving a white line up and down to block a moving pixel, to participating in full-fledged, painstakingly rendered real-time battles with people all over the world. We help older gamers look back on how these experiences have changed throughout their lives, and new gamers to understand the broader context of the series they’re playing for the first time today.
The video game medium never stops growing, and we’ll never stop chronicling its evolution.
Editing and voice-over were made by me.
Tomorrow is near, yet so far away. Choose this day to love unconditionally, and be happy within
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I just watched last 30 years of my life.
Best days of my life
Me too
@@karankots qq
Can I be your daily? I'm also an 80s creation
Memories.... And making me feel old.
I can't believe you omitted Daytona USA. That game was just jaw-dropping when it first came out.
And that soundtrack... Daytooooonaaaaa
100% , Daytona USA one of the most significant racers of all time.
They omitted Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge. This was a freakin good game.
As I understand it, more money (in gross takings) was dropped into Daytona machines than any other arcade game in history (it had a very long streak of popularity) so it really belongs in this list. I'm older so preferred Out Run, but Daytona was just as historically important. Sega was so good at making racing games back in the day.
Daytona USA was segas best racing game
Man....pole position, hang-on and outrun was pure childhood nostalgia for me. But some of those NFS games really took me back too and are some of the all tine best racers imo
My neighbor’s dad was a console mechanic and all the kids and even adults would play games that were “being fixed” in his home studio. Gaming wasn’t my thing but I loved Pole Position and Hang-on!
Has anyone ever completed all of pole pisition
@@trentoncoleman1975 recently beat the game on my ds lmao, greatest accomplishment after so many years
5:19 Wow seriously 1998 game!
There was also GPL :-)
It must be on high end pc with ultra high graphics.
@@WDP3ATejas year like 1Ghz and 512mb ram🙀
@@DizzlerDazzler yh that’s such good specs
@@diegorullo6065 bro these specs were cool in those days Nowadays it's just a toaster
1:11 people in the 86: dayum this game look so realistic
It wasn't about being realistic ,more about haveing fun on a gaMe for 20 mins . And then jump in your real car
@@SpeedomusicSM right i don't think anyone could logically play for to long back than unlike now people casually game all day
God I’m gonna age myself...used to go spend a couple of hours once a week going to the roller rink to play Excite Bike, Spy Hunter, Hang On and a multitude of others. To a 6yr old in ‘85 it had a semi-realism to it...but more like playing a cartoon. Was a teen when wipeout and gran tourismo came out and it actually felt real...playing some of this gens games with my kids blows all of that stuff away.
@@RoninFett It must have been awesome to witness all the evolution by yourself. I wish I was a bit older...
Only people and car logo 🤣
How incredibly popular was Outrun?? Nearly 40 years later and it's pretty much still a household name
And still one of THE best soundtrack to any game.... #splashwave
Frankly I have never heard about it (born 1984), but watching this I think the graphics is just amazing for the period.
I loved the game, although I was too young to drive or play IRL. I was only 8, and iirc there was a pedal on the arcade machine, so you had to manage that and drive. So I mostly enjoyed watching others play. But it was a super impressive game at the time.
Played most of those games back in 80-90s.... sweet memories! Years that will never come back... :(
6:25 Grand Turismo 3, Was living 6 year in the future, I loved that game
Need for Speed was a major one... I still remember in 96 when I bought it at software ETC and it was my first day ever at work as a bus boy at 16.... couldn't wait to get home and play it!!
I did that same thing
Wow, look what have video games become bro
The way they made "3D" racing games on 2D technology is pretty impressive. Nice video 😊
the stuff we have today is still 2d technology we don't play games on holograms, it still uses a flat monitor
@@2fifty533 That's true, but the "virtual world" actually has 3-axis. Back then it was 2-axis, no Z plane. Just 2-axis images being redrawn over and over to create a 3D appearance. Cool right? 🤷
@@mcscratchey the 3rd axis is just an illusion
You call 3D cool? Did developers washed your mind? What happened? Forgot about the childhood experience? Forgot how pixels were entertaining? Disappointed! A huge disappointment! Ah yes, cuz now you have a job and you became rich from your big salary and you have no problem paying millions of dollars to get premium racing games, GREAT work.
Thats what im thinking too! Nowadays, creating 3D Games are easier than ever, but i guess they all had to be made by scratch back then without using an engine. I wouldnt know because i wasnt born that time but still pretty impressive!
"Prepare to qualify." Love those earlier games.
"Good driving, you have qualified to race". As kids, it was thrilling to play a game with speech synthesis. It seemed so futuristic. A TALKING COMPUTER!
Nfs most wanted 2005 💯 I was so obsessed with this game. My first crush🙈🤣
Mia
@@jiteshsharma8306 yeah Mia🔥
I'm still playing with it.
@@ferenczalexander460 🔥🤩
@@I_am_Groot_. I thought it looked a little blurry....and I really didn't like the storyline. But it still was kinda fun
6:19 when graphics started coming in town.
Your the type of guy I like
Interesting how no mention of Mario Kart but there was of Sonic racing. And outside of NFS, Forza and Grand Turismo it’s one of the last standing racing franchises. Also after about mid 2000s graphics really only improved the environments/world.
Sega Rally was pure joy when you nailed the corners perfectly.
2:48 still legendary game
hšzhh 😃dbhdjxdjhdnņ
Pp
@@UsinsPeteris ß
Ambada kema, ikkachi 😹
@@daksh6289 mallu hhaha
0:20 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
LOL
Lol 😂
80's were just different, men They had the spirit of the arcades even outside the arcades; there was also the excitement of the news, so that the arcades were full of energy. No other times will ever be like that 1986 OUTRUN is unmatchable The problem was that it costed the double of the other games, and as a child, you had to choose between quantity and quality of the games But I remember also the first three, which lasted some years at the arcades here in Italy 🇮🇹 Among them, 1982 POLE POSITION is the best and the most vivid memory, very close to Outrun But also 1985 HANG ON !! 🤤 Jesus, how many memories ....
Hang on was one of 3 games built into the first sega master systems b4 they changed it with V2 removing those games and replacing them with Alex the kid. I’d loved being a kid in the 80’s
Loved this little trip down memory lane and you got some good ones- however- Leaving out Cruisin' USA was a huge shock- that arcade game was a revolution for it's time, and made several sequels both in arcade and on console. F-Zero was a surprise, but Mario Kart 64 should have been included also, that game sold millions and is still played today! Lastly, Forza 2 Motorsports. I grew up on the Gran Turismo series, but forza added so much customization like paint and decals and aftermarket hoods/spoilers, it set itself apart. Kinda fun seeing the advances in the late 80's / early 90's into 3D. I cherish those years, as they really were the last era of the arcades. Now arcades are basically casinos for children. Anyways, thanks for the vid. But Cruisin' USA c'mon!!! 🤣
7:54 a legendary game
Yea😢
My favourite
@@sofchan1714 Ты русский??
@@sofchan1714 Ты русский??
@@sofchan1714 Ты русский??
In India we used to play 1985 games in 1998-2003.. Still a lot of good memories
In malaysia too
Yup
I used to play Mario in 2012😂. I was 4 then
@@intelligentmonkey4989 🤣🤣 what about crash
Same in Russia except maybe Moscow :D
7:03 the new era starts here ❤️
4:24 I remember seeing ads for Destruction Derby in the EGM magazine and thinking it was the most realistic graphics I'd ever seen in a video game LOL
Being 49 years old and still gaming hard, I can totally relate. Thanks for the awesome video.
I’m same age. Atari 2600 kids
@@Hoovie9596 Yeah...
I'm 43 and I still game over 8 hours a day 😂. I mostly play FPS now but I definitely grew up playing all these games. Also had Atari 2600, ColecoVision and every PC game you could imagine because my mom was a huge gamer and my uncle was/is a game developer. I also got to play test Doom and Wolfenstein when I was younger when they were in development. Also Prince of Persia. Great memories 😀
Imagine if you're in a coma for 30 years and when you wake up someone asks if you want to play the latest video game. You must be like "this isn't a game, this is real"
If you woke up 30 years later our phones prolly looks like alien technology 👽
@@blackricw6495 fr thooo
@@blackricw6495 Would not be surprised if it were like that
Back in 1985 playing Ultima III on my Atari 800 I could not imagine the technogical advances in computer games that would result in games like Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption 2.
1989 Hard Drivin 2:09 FINALY !!! I Try Find it So Long Time Duuude !!! THANK YOU ! ❤❤❤
Outrun and NFS:Hot Pursuit 2 are my favorite racing games all-time.
12:03 the game ahead of its time🚘🚘
Its full of rain effects nontheles, see it when its on sunlights without rain, the graphics are cartoonish and saturated.
@@xyz3702 yes that's why latest GTA modders always use rain to make it look more realistic
@@aneshkumar4513 that's true dud, gta 5 mod ultra realistic always use the water effects to make it the graphics better...
RTX ON
Yes Bro Best Graphics Game OF 2014 Which Is Real
Me: opens the window for some fresh air All the other astronauts: 0:19
☠️ i bet someone gonna say How do you need some fresh air in space
How do you need some fresh air in the space
I'm thinking of Indy Car Racing by Papyrus, somewhere around '95 or so. I spent a great deal of time racing around the Laguna Seca racetrack, and for the time, I thought that this was a great PC game - lots of realism... a great step up from Pole Position; another one of my faves.
Just imagine today's games being 30 years old.
2:01 even nowdays looks good
No
No
Yes
@@pangloy1234 no
It's an old piece of trash, how it can look good compared to latest games nowadays...
Man, it's crazy how much technology changed within 40 years..
Fr dude. Life has changed a lot.
And this will tell you why man never went to the moon
And cinematics...
Not much change over the last 10, though.
@@nojabhere so all the Apollo mission until the last one in 1972 were all fake? Ok
Outrun was epic! I still whistle the soundtrack from time to time - after more than 30 years. 🤩
Its great to see how things have evolved so much in so less time
2:26 This game was wayy ahead of its time imo
I heard is Fart
For sure! I never expected to see an 80's game with such nice graphics
I thought that about 1985's Hang On
Need for speed Underground 2 and Most Wanted is the best !!
There are more need for speed he didn't mention and I don't consider sonic race game part of this type of genre.
Most Wanted and Hor Puisuit for me. But honestly the 2005 version on Need for Speed is still so beautiful compare to even modern game now
Need for Speed Prostreet for me
@@TDX_Non-StopGrinder and Need For Speed Shift.
Yes I loved those games as a kid!
2:29 F-Zero (SNES) 4:35 Wipeout 2097 (N64) 6:38 Auto Modelista (GCN) 9:48 Need For Speed: Shift (Wii) 12:55 Forza Horizon 3 (Wiiu)
I've always wondered what maked nfs mw so popular and iconic, evan till this day, but now seeing this video it makes a lot of sence to me, nfs underground in 2003 was the first video game to actually look like a real racing game, but nfs mw in 2005? Total game changer, the quality of the game, the sound, the animation, the story, everything in this game is a complete masterpiece and disruptive, no wonder it's stays popular even till this day...
Such fun police chases, they ought to do an expansion with another ginormous map or two for that one...
NFS Hot Pursuit on PS2 was the first game changer. Undergrounds didn't come out till fast and furious
05 nfs mw was a perfect game in every way.
Need for Speed and Grand Turismo series were legends back in old days and they still are
8:02 Need for speed Most Wanted in my heart.
Same
FlatOut is in my heart forever.
NFS Carbón ❤️🔥
Its really good, my cousin played it a lot,me and my lil' were just watching
Same
I love this very much. Used to play these games growing up!
nothing has come close to the exhilaration of NFS most wanted that really gave you a sense of speed
7:53 fav
Same.
All time fav.
My best part of my life
Same
4:54 wow.. the map looks cool
i got it man
Yeah it looks like a shoe when we upside down it
Music 🎶
Как много чего я пропустил в 90-х начало 2000-х. Ну хоть на это спасибо... Эх было время. Всем удачи ребята...
Great video montage! 😀
Im gonna miss all the arcade games in centre when I was young
5:42 My childhood and favourite game of all time. Graphics are also great. I still have it in my i3-2100 and even play it also. Ahhh those were times.
I could quibble with some of the choices (Sprint from earlier than 1981, plus Super Sprint/Championship Sprint, and Daytona USA were incredible arcade hits) but this is a great chronology of racing games.
2:09 Wolfenstein 3D (1992) 2:29 Doom (1993) 2:45 Zero Tolerance (1994) 3:04 Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995) 3:24 Quake (1996) 3:48 Goldeneye 007 (1997) 4:13 Half-Life (1998) 4:35 Unreal Tournament (1999) 4:54 Counter-Strike (2000) 5:14 Serius Sam: The First Encounter (2001)
Drive Club was released in 2014 and yet it looks better than most triple A games nowadays
It sacrifices fps for graphics.
Put 60 fps on Drive club and it would look amazing!
6:40 here goes 2002 Lightning McQueen!
(Edited reply) Where is the 2002 lightning McQueen?
@@silvergoat72 That Dodge Viper!
That was a trip down memory the bike game where you have to punch your opponents was brilliant, think it was on my Sega, totally forgot about it till now, nostalgia is great
Colin McRae was awesome. I had a force feedback wheel to play it. Unfortunately it broke but those times were amazing. I do not see HiOctane there. Filled with adrenaline. I still play it.
2 min silence for those people waiting for Asphalt's name
Man, still waiting for asphalt and Beamng drive
where the hell is daytona usa
Asphalt are you kidding?
I am just upset we didn't see Mario Kart or FZero GX.
😶😶😐😐
Kids now and days won't get to experience that awesome feeling going from nes,snes to 3d and more. Those days was awesome.
Some of those racing games back then were awesome especially Outrun and Road Rash
Can't believe I played all these and rememberd thx dude
7:07. WHEN NFS ENTERED THE RACE 🏁🏁2003
NFS first release was in 96s
@@mayconsimoes878 I mean best racing game's race
I totally feel you bro, nfs only started to shine after underrground, I remember along with 2 fast 2 furious back then! The NOS effects totally blown me away...
@@mayconsimoes878 NFS concept actually existed as early as 1989 but postponed and renamed just for your information.
@@mayconsimoes878 No, 1994
Imagine playing 1981 car game with logitech g29
😂😂😂😂
Nice thought try it
E
🤮🤮🤮🤢🤢🤢
@@SultanAhmed-pv1tw morning beautiful
I remember playing games from 1992. Bring back some memories of staying up until midnight playing my computer as quietly as I could without waking up my mum lol
pole position was a cool one to see at the arcades the 80s and 90s were such an exciting time for video games werent they :)
Is that the one where 4 people could race against each other??? I remember the start of it clearly… beeb beeb beeb beeeeeeeeeb
I love how in the old games yer going 200mph but the background never gets any closer!
2005 was the game changing year ❣️
2003
Gta sa 😍😍😍
Nah I think it’s more like 2008 or 2009 just cause that’s when the graphic standards really spiked
@@joeswanson9008 Actually its 2010 and up when HD 2K, and 4K became popular... 2009 and earlier graphics are trash compared to display of 8K display in 2018 and newer racing games..
2004
Ngl F Zero is SERIOUSLY underrated. At least it has its fans
Born in 1976. Started enjoying video games in 1981. Outgrew them in the early 2000s.
2:45 here's where the legendary game arrived
7:53 Just waiting for it My childhood went through this ❤️❤️❤️
Yeah this was still one of the hardest to practice as a child and the graphics were surreal to most people
I had completed it when I was 9 :) , really it's an awesome game
Pole position (Atari), Stunt car racer (Amiga), Road rash (Sega) and Lotus Espirit (Amiga) were my favorite driving games before Playstation F1 games, Gran turismo, Colin McRae rally and Need for speed. There was one great F1 simulator in PC also, but i can't remember the name of it, and of course one of the best driving games in PC was Grid.
I remember playing every one of these as they came out ,wow 😂
2003 Need for Speed Underground is an insane Glow up.
A Legend Was Born In 2005
Omg I born on 2005 August 10
@@arulraj6521 me too
Yesss
Me too
Surr
I am absolutely certain that Hard Drivin came out before 1989. I was playing it before I started Real driving in 1987. What it lacked in graphics it WAY made up for in very realistic physics and dynamics. The inputs were very analog. Loved that "game".
Hard Drivin was awesome, the mistake most people made they would just floor it and lose control on the turns before the loop and try and make the loop not realising it actually had a proper throttle to control the speed and a proper brake. Most driving games didn’t have a throttle so that’s why people only knew to floor it. As soon as you learned to control the speed of the car by throttling it and use the brake you could run multiple laps. I figured that game out early on and laughed at people losing quarters by constantly flooring it. By far my favourite game of that era
I would have put it a year or two earlier, but Wikipedia confirms that it hit the arcades in February 1989, with the cabinet costing 10,000 dollars. That simulator technology with textured polygons, the force feedback steering wheel and the 4-way gear shift didn't come cheap!
@@AutPen38 Wiki's got it wrong. I wasn't even living in the town that had the arcade where I played in 1989. I moved the summer after graduating high school in 1988.
@@mmodtomic7119 I suspect your memory is playing tricks on you in one of those 'Mandela effect' kind of ways. The wiki article has some solid references to news/magazine articles of the time. 'Computer & Video Games' magazine, for example, listed it as the 4th best arcade game of 1989 (just behind Sega's Super Monaco GP and Namco's Winning Run), while there's also a link to 'Game Machine's' listing in the June 1, 1989 issue when it was the second most successful upright/cockpit arcade cabinet of the month. That same year, Geoff Crammond's 'Stunt Car Racer' (which was partly based on Hard Drivin') was released on home computers like the C64. My memory of that era is a bit of a blur too. There are definitely games that were released before others that I recall being "newer" because I didn't encounter them until later.
@@AutPen38 I simply didn't live in that town where I "played" Hard Drivin' in 1989. I graduated in 1988 and moved that summer. Only possible way for all of us to be right is perhaps that arcade received a prototype or preproduction model.
Wow ! Drive Club looks pretty impressive! !
0:33 those noises........ its beautiful :( the old good times...
1:31 this one is even better
Road Rash was my favorite childhood game 😍 missing those days badly
Great video thanks, I think putting the platform the game was played on would have been a nice touch though.
I remember going to blackpool pleasure beach with my parents and being able to play HANG ON whilst sat on a big red bike. I must of been 5 or 6 and loved it
0:20 When a 7 year old steps on a lego
1989: "mom it looks so real" 2021:
i think need for speed is the best racing game
@@indy5276 true im playing need for speed most wanted and 2012 SPEED
@@indy5276 try asphalt 8 bro
Asphalt 9
Try Real Racing 3 or Forza
Wow! That was insane. I'm 45, and I've just watched the evolution of gaming that I actually lived. I started with a ZX Spectrum, then got an Atari, then the Sega master system, Sega megadrive, Nintendo 1 and so on. I remember when 8 bits was considered super powerful, now kids play on systems with terabytes! They will never know the pain of waiting for ages to load a game with a cassette tape only to find that the ribbon has chewed up. Then came the painful task of winding the ribbon back into the cassette with a biro pen!
Holy shit, I had Pole position when I was younger (I was born 2003) it was like 2 of the only games I had at the time. I grew up poor so we had these really old games. Man I never knew I had a 1980 game
Very impressive is not just the evolution of graphics, but also the evolution of sound! 😁
3:07 this game looks amazing 😍
Those 80s and 90s racing games were hard af. Most of these games still give me PTSD. 1995 destruction derby was pretty good with good replay value. Grand Turismo pretty good too.
hello bro I'm from Indonesia nice to meet ya
my name is marvel
Yup. If u don't learn the curves in OutRun, the mf just doesn't forgive any crash.
I remember the one you had to write on the color computer 2. And also the one for intellivision. First gran Turismo I remember thinking "you'll never get better graphics than that"
This video would have been 10x better if you had taken the time to talk about how the "racing game" had evolved over the years and maybe even point out the leaps in graphics and perhaps the introduction of not just racing, but the ability to modify and upgrade your cars and the overall gaming experience? I'm not slating the effort you have put into this, but it is just a list of games that were released and they're going from old to new... I was expecting something like what I have suggested with the actual evolution of the games as opposed to a summary of a select few of the racing games that came out over the years??! Anyway, thanks for the walk down memory lane. I feel all nostalgic and it's a lovely feeling that I only get every blue moon!!! Thanks again 😊
It's good to see how everything's improving
Ikr!
@@california0550 please like share and subscribe bro
only school don't improve
@@nope8222 true
The old games were beautiful
Your grammar were beatiful
But not anymore
Yha
Yeh really ☺
@@lilibra6224 😅😅😅
The 82 pole position arcade was the hardest racing game to me. That steering wheel was so loose and easy to spin, and the slightest movement would always send me into oblivion lol.
And everyone used to crash (and explode) on the same corner every time as there was a billboard that was impossible to avoid unless you slowed way down.
Thanks for refresher
........And that monster arrived at 2005 _Need For speed: most wanted_ Everyone bowed at that master. Still as the legendary game for everyone's childhood Remember? Pink card Bounty 😎Blacklist chase
The most difficult was when u beat the final boss and then all the cops are after u and your bmw.
@@kartikayparmar8867 That's surprising too🏎️🚓
Good memories ! This made me realize I had a awesome childhood
1:12 im not even joking this the most realistic driving road mecanic ive ever seen . The way you go down and up 😍
xD
The first Midtown Madness was an absolute gem that console users couldn't get a taste of.
Muito legal a evolução dos jogos até 2020 faz um de 1999 até 2021.
NFS most wanted 2005 = love
🔥
Alternative Title: Free Nostalgia for 90's gamers.
Goes back to 1981???
Gran turismo and Burnout 3 takedown are masterpieces, along with many others, ofc, but they also got that fire OST
Current years are very advanced gaming technology. Looks very real at a quick glance.