It's Hard To Believe These 10 Racing Games Are Now Over 15 Years Old

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec was the first of the franchise to be released for PlayStation 2 and was incredibly advanced for its time. After the huge success of the first two instalments, it was hardly surprising the game received critical acclaim and was a worldwide hit when it was released in April 2001.

Colin McRae Rally has a special place in the hearts of many racing fans. The second game in the series is over 15 years old now. It was the last to be released for the original PlayStation and added new difficulty levels and game modes.

Demolition Racer was the game you played in 1999 to get rid of anger and frustration. What better way to do so than to smash into rival cars in a bid to destroy them? It was released for PS1 and PC as a rival to the Demolition Derby series, which hit the scene a few years earlier.

4. Mario Kart: Super Circuit

This is the game that brought Mario Kart to the small screen. It was released in 2001 for Game Boy Advance, making it the grand old age of 15. Unsurprisingly it was a huge hit with gamers and reviewers, selling almost six million copies. Not bad at all.

F1 games were so much simpler back in 2000, but just as much fun. F1 2000 was released for PS1, based off the exciting season – the start of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari’s run of dominance. It’s amazing to look back at the game and see how far racing titles like this one have come.

6. Midnight Club: Street Racing

We haven’t seen a Midnight Club game for a while now, but this is where the series all began. Released in 2000, gamers could race around London and New York, taking in a few familiar landmarks. It wasn’t the most popular racing game of its time but it developed quite a fanbase.

Dreamcast title Sega GT was seen as a way of drawing some of the attention away from PlayStation and Gran Turismo. It was well received after its release in 2000, but didn’t match the success of GT.

Remember this one? I certainly have fond memories of playing Porsche Unleashed when I was growing up. The game (the fifth in the Need for Speed series) is 16 years old now, which makes me feel pretty ancient. It remains unusual for focusing on just one manufacturer, so if you didn’t like Porsches it definitely wasn’t the game for you.

Test Drive 6 was released in 1999, but its predecessor – which came out one year earlier – was deemed to be a better and more enjoyable game. It was never meant to be much more than an arcade racer but it did that pretty well.

10. Crash Team Racing

Mad, isn’t it? Crash Team Racing is 17 years old now. At the time it was a huge hit worldwide, bringing a Mario Kart-style game to the Crash Bandicoot franchise. According to the PlayStation magazine, it was “the game that made kart racing cool”. Quite a statement.

What other racing games recently turned 15? Let us know your favourites below!