10 Best PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium Driving Games

As we’ve pretty much come to accept with any sort of entertainment these days, gaming subscription services are on the rise. Microsoft is most prominent with Game Pass, but Sony’s PlayStation alternative is giving it a run for its money.

PlayStation Plus, once a single-tier service, now has three to pick from. The top two of those – Extra and Premium – give you access to a library of games to play on demand. Among those, there are a few tasty driving games.

Granted, pickings are a bit slim compared with Game Pass. Unlike Microsoft, Sony doesn’t guarantee first-party titles will arrive on the service when they launch - meaning no Gran Turismo 7 for the time being. Boo and hiss.

However, if you’re looking to fill your driving appetite, these 10 games are worth a go.

10. Rally Cross

We’re starting with an incredibly niche game you’ve probably never heard of

Released back in 1997, Rally Cross was developed by Sony’s in-house attempt at taking on mammoth arcade title Sega Rally Championship.

Given nobody really remembers it, you can tell how that went, but it sounded like a fun game in its own right. Reviews praised its handling model and four-player split screen, although criticised a steep learning curve.

If you’re subscribed to Premium, it’s worth a crack – especially given it’ll only take up 1.7GB of space.

9. Trials Rising

For physics-bending arcade side-scrolling racing, Trials Rising is hard to beat. The motocross-inspired series has been going for well over a decade now, and Rising takes it global. Levels range from the Great Wall of China to New York and pretty much everywhere in between.

The beauty of Trials is in its community though, with an in-depth track builder integrated giving a theoretical infinite number of tracks to take on.

8. Split/Second: Velocity

Split/Second (with the addition of Velocity to its name outside North America, for some reason) is a bit of a forgotten gem these days. Launched way back in 2010 and published by Disney, it’s one of the last true blockbuster action-packed arcade racers before the genre fell away to all but a few indie developers.

Set in a fictional reality TV show, Split/Second has you crashing and boosting your way through circuits that evolve through destruction and chaos as you put the laps in. One of its unique features was the ability to trigger obstacles to hinder your opponents, though they could do the same to you.

The series never quite took off, which is a great shame, but the sole title is worth a revisit.

7. FIA European Truck Racing

Who needs to race cars when you go wheel-to-wheel in trucks?

This is the officially licenced game of the FIA European Truck Championship (yes, that’s a thing) and may be the most unique simulation racer on the market. There’s a fully-fledged career mode, alongside quick race modes letting you choose from 45 trucks and 14 circuits, including a few outside of Europe.

Worth mentioning now you’ll need to spray water on your brakes to keep them cool. Talk about innovative, realistic features.

6. Hotshot Racing

Remember what we said earlier about indie developers being the only ones making true arcade racers these days? Well, Hotshot Racing is one of the finest examples of those.

It’s pretty much the modern equivalent of Outrun, only with fewer (no) Ferraris, instead a swathe of unlicensed cars including an honestly-governor-it’s-not-a-real JGTC-spec Toyota Supra.

16 circuits will take you everywhere from coastal cruises, the deserts around Las Vegas (well before F1 thought of heading there) and even through a jungle. In a rare move on a modern game, it even has a four-player split-screen mode.

5. Mudrunner

Not every great driving game has to be a racing game, as Mudrunner proves.

This is rather different to everything else on this list. Mudrunner has you taking on some seriously harsh terrains to deliver cargo to help with construction and repairs of locations across areas.

While that’s happening, you’ve got to manage fuel and run the risk of it all going in the mud (bad dum tsh) if you place a tyre wrong. It’s like Dark Souls meets Euro Truck Simulator. Its sequel, Snowrunner, is a better game and previously was on the service. Sadly, that's no longer the case.

4. WipeOut Omega Collection

It seems the WipeOut series of anti-gravity racers is all but dead, save for a mediocre-looking mobile title. A shame, as it was one of the definitive games of the early eras of PlayStation.

If you’re looking for your fix, WipeOut Omega Collection is arguably the definitive game in the series. Effectively merging WipeOut HD Fury and 2048 together in one game, it offers to most content of any in the series - 26 tracks (not including the reverse layout of each), 46 ships and nine game modes.

The soundtrack is suitably late ‘90s and early ‘00s too, with The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers on the list. Thankfully though, the graphics are bang up to date - enhanced further if you’re playing on a PS5 or PS4 Pro.

3. Twisted Metal

It’s often overlooked now, but Twisted Metal was one of the original PlayStation’s most loved titles. A few entries in the series are available through PS Plus, but the original is the one to check out.

It’s all about blasting your opponents to the scrapheap. Vehicles are loaded with all sorts of weapons – including a hearse that fires coffins – and your only goal is to be the last one standing. Like Demolition Derby, only more explosive.

2. Assetto Corsa Competizione

Hardcore sim racing games are pretty much non-existent on PlayStation Plus, but fortunately, the sole option is a pretty good one.

Assetto Corsa Competizione faithfully recreates GT World Challenge, with a line-up exclusively made up of GT race cars. The benefit of focusing on one niche though is the handling model is incredible, and widely regarded as the best way to experience the category of any genre of racer.

Granted, to make the most of the realistic racer, we’d suggest playing with a wheel. Controller users may find it just a little too much compared with more ‘simcade’ oriented titles like, oh I don’t know, Gran Turismo. If only the rightsholders of that game had their own subscription service, right?

1. Ridge Racer Type 4

Though PS Plus’ racing pickings are slim, one of the greatest games of all time is here and in its original form.

Despite being one of the oldest on this list, launching in 1999, Ridge Racer Type 4 takes the cake. The defining game in the series of arcade racers still holds up well today, with handling that’s just as fun on a DualSense controller as it was on an original DualShock.

The career mode feels pretty short initially, but you can complete it in a couple of hours if you really try. The real challenge is replaying it with every team, and unlocking every one of the 321 cars - which isn’t as straightforward as just winning every race. We’ll leave that one for you to find out.

The only way it could be knocked off the top of this list is if Gran Turismo 2 ever makes an appearance. We’ll wait with bated breath.