Top Five Toughest Video Game Racing Tracks of All Time

[RaychelSnr]

Racing games are set up in predictable ways for the most part. You progress through whatever the game has for a career mode while unlocking better, faster cars. You also progress from simple tracks to the more complicated circuits. By the end of the game, you are racing on the most torturous tracks the game can throw at you. Those final tracks exist to test your skills and wreck you cars. So let's talk about the top five toughest tracks to ever show up in a video game.

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[LucianoJJ]

Bathurst in EA/Dice's V8 Supercars game. I also vote for Laguna Seca in anything.

[Whitesox]

Re: Top Five Video Game Racing Tracks of All Time

I personally think Nurburgring should have been higher, but I have never played Forza (no xbox), so I wouldn't know about the others.

Rainbow Road is absolutely the best choice for number one.

[BenGerman]

Love the number one. Great choice.

[MoutonDocile]

I read the topic title and thought : "MOTHER****IN Rainbow has to be #1" It has to be the most annoying track ever built and it's, somehow, very popular.

[woodjer]

Re: Top Five Video Game Racing Tracks of All Time

I read the topic title and thought : "MOTHER****IN Rainbow has to be #1" It has to be the most annoying track ever built and it's, somehow, very popular.

Pretty much my thoughts too. I don't play racers enough to say that it should be number one but I was curious to see if it would make the list. You can count me in though as one of those that loves Rainbow Road though.

Also, sticking with a Mario Kart theme, I'd have to say that Yoshi Valley from Mario Kart 64 can be pretty tough too. Like RR, it doesn't have walls and can be pretty narrow but it has the added challenge of finding the correct path to get through.

[Bahnzo]

Re: Top Five Video Game Racing Tracks of All Time

I have to disagree here with the writer. Maybe his idea of what makes a great track is different than mine, but Rally di Positano from Forza 3 is garbage. Just because a track is tough doesn't make it "great", which it appears is the criteria for this list. I don't know the Mario Cart track he talks about, but Rally di Positano is a poor track...it's 8 miles long and tight and doesn't flow at all. It's a terrible track for racing on.

My top 5 (in no particular order)

Nordschleife - One of the greatest tracks ever. It's long and takes time to master, but it's very raceable and flows nicely. Getting it right provides the greatest satisfaction of any track in any racing game.

Spa (from Grand Prix Legends) - The original 6+ mile configuration in this game is amazing, and I'm surprised that it's not been seen in another game.

Laguna Seca - Classic American track, and the corkscrew makes and breaks your lap.

Road America (Forza 3) - Great high speed track that's a blast to race on. The high speed corners are a real thrill.

Zandvoort (Grand Prix Legends) - Another track that deserves more recognition. Very tough to pass, lots of medium speed corners and flows very nicely. I raced this track with some devs from GPL and still remember going wheel to wheel (ala Gilles Villeneuve/René Arnoux...google it if you haven't seen it) with one of them for two laps and it was one of the most amazing racing experiences ever.

[ChaseB]

I have to disagree here with the writer. Maybe his idea of what makes a great track is different than mine, but Rally di Positano from Forza 3 is garbage. Just because a track is tough doesn't make it "great", which it appears is the criteria for this list. I don't know the Mario Cart track he talks about, but Rally di Positano is a poor track...it's 8 miles long and tight and doesn't flow at all. It's a terrible track for racing on.

My top 5 (in no particular order)

Nordschleife - One of the greatest tracks ever. It's long and takes time to master, but it's very raceable and flows nicely. Getting it right provides the greatest satisfaction of any track in any racing game.

Spa (from Grand Prix Legends) - The original 6+ mile configuration in this game is amazing, and I'm surprised that it's not been seen in another game.

Laguna Seca - Classic American track, and the corkscrew makes and breaks your lap.

Road America (Forza 3) - Great high speed track that's a blast to race on. The high speed corners are a real thrill.

Zandvoort (Grand Prix Legends) - Another track that deserves more recognition. Very tough to pass, lots of medium speed corners and flows very nicely. I raced this track with some devs from GPL and still remember going wheel to wheel (ala Gilles Villeneuve/René Arnoux...google it if you haven't seen it) with one of them for two laps and it was one of the most amazing racing experiences ever.

Title of the article has been corrected -- it's toughest tracks not best (it's explained in the intro but easy to gloss over).

[RunN1st]

Where is Monte Carlo?

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: Top Five Toughest Video Game Racing Tracks of All Time

Where is Monte Carlo?

Good call............Monte Carlo has to be one of the top 3 toughest tracks. We have raced all different forms of vehicles on that track, and there isnt one thats easy. It really ever lets up, and hardly has any stretches that let you exhale

See below

[Bahnzo]

Re: Top Five Toughest Video Game Racing Tracks of All Time

Good call............Monte Carlo has to be one of the top 3 toughest tracks. We have raced all different forms of vehicles on that track, and there isnt one thats easy. It really ever lets up, and hardly has any stretches that let you exhale

That's true....there is zero room for mistakes there and I can't think of any palce where you can exhale. Maybe on the back...if you do it quickly?

[douggoud]

i say Isle of Man, lol, that track, well, on nr2003, its a track that can be added, i havent got past turn 9 without hitting a wall yet, i gave up, and you know what? its probably got 100 + more turns, its right up there with nurburgring, except i cant remember there being any straightaways, not to mention it took the AI 18 minutes to complete a lap, and they were nascars, lol, its just way to hard a track to race on IMO, i've done nurburgring a few times, but Isle of Man is by far more difficult, seeing as its made for motorcycles, not nascars, lol, well, its made for cars, but not for racing cars atleast

[JayhawkerStL]

I wish I could remember the name, but there was a five lap race in NFS: High Stakes that was ridiculous. the race was at night in the rain. It was hard enough to keep up as it was, but eventually you would hit a road sign or two and suddenly have no headlights. You had to drive so careful that it was nearly impossible to overtake anyone.

The game still goes down as my favorite racer of all-time. It had bot ha great career mode, and all of the hot pursuit modes.

[bcruise]

Re: Top Five Toughest Video Game Racing Tracks of All Time

Somehow I just knew Nurburgring would be on there, and it will likely land on a lot more lists when GT5 drops.

Rainbow Road caught me by surprise, but it certainly deserves to be there. Wasn't the SNES one the only one without walls though? I'm pretty sure the N64 on had walls, although they could often be missed if you weren't perfectly lined up during a steep drop. I don't know about any of them beyond the 64 version though.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Good read...but what Bahnzo said about Laguna Seca is spot on. That is a very challenging track on any game you come across it.