Picture the scene, it’s sometime in the 1980s and you have just walked into your favorite arcade. You feel like playing something fast and fun, you’re not old enough to drive yet but in this arcade you can, because there are lots of driving games. I bet one springs to mind straight away and it’s probably on my list below of the Best 80s Arcade Driving and Racing Games.
Let’s take a journey through the arcades of the 80s and the Best 80s Driving and Racing Arcade Games and how they developed through the decade from simple but playable classics to a more immersive and fairly realistic experience – at least for us 80s kids anyway.
Let’s get driving, arcade style…
The Best Arcade Driving and Racing Games from the Early 80s
We’ll start at the beginning, well the beginning of the 1980s.
Rally X
Midway – 1980
Rally X makes my list because it is a fun game. It is really more of a maze game (similar to Pac-Man I guess) than a true driving game. You must guide your blue racing car through each maze collecting all the flags whilst avoiding the red cars that pursue you and boulders that can block your path. The arcade cab doesn’t feature a steering wheel or pedals and is controlled with a standard joystick with buttons to operate your smoke screen which you can use to lose the red enemy cars when they get too close to you.
A fun top down maze chase game that improves upon what Sega’s Head On game did in 1979 before it. Rally X is a game that I can quite happily play and enjoy today. Rally X just doesn’t offer the experience that the following titles on the list does, but hey it’s only 1980 and it is a strong start. Give it a play.
More 80s Gaming Fun:
- 80s Gaming Memories
- The Best 80s Arcade Games of All Time
- 10 Addictive Retro Games
- The Best 80s Arcade Fighting and Beat Em Up Games
Pole Position
Namco – 1982
Now things are getting serious. Pole Position is the game changer as it is probably the most influential arcade racing game on this list. This first person racer was about the racing and not just staying on the road. In Pole Position you have to first qualify and then race against your computer opponents on the Fuji Racetrack. For 1982 standards this is a very high quality arcade racing simulator game.
Both a stand up and cockpit style cabinet was released both of which had a steering wheel, high and low speed gear shift and an accelerator pedal. The cockpit cab also featured a brake pedal. The colorful scaling graphics really pop from the screen and with great gameplay making this in my opinion the first truly ambitious racing game aiming to provide racing simulation in your local arcade. Pole Position went on to become the best-selling arcade game of 1983.
Spy Hunter
Midway – 1983
Let’s get this right out of the way, this is pretty much a James Bond game in all but name (and licence). A fun top down driving game where you try travel as far as possible destroying as many enemies as possible in you Interceptor car. When ever I played this game I imagined myself as James Bond although the futuristic steering wheel brings Knight Rider to mind. Lets not forget the ear worm soundtrack music too.
I was never and even now not that good at Spy Hunter but it is a fun action packed driving romp. Like Pole Position you had gear shift and an accelerator pedal. Spy Hunter too was released as a stand up and sit-down cockpit cab. A sequel followed that never impressed me that much and a Spy Hunter Pinball table was also released.
The Best Arcade Driving Games from the Mid 80s
As we head into the mid eighties Sega really come into their own. Yes, they had previously released Turbo (not on this list as I never played it) but the new arcade boards and technology developed at this time by them takes driving arcade games to the next level. Be warned expect a lot of Sega from this point onwards!
Super Sprint
Atari/Midway – 1986
Let’s mention Atari and Midway first before I go into Sega Fanboy mode. Super Sprint is a fun arcade driving game to play with your friends. With 2 player and 3 player cabs released for the game it made Super Sprint an instantly popular multi player game. The gameplay is top down with each circuit fitting onto a single screen so there is no scrolling required.
The multi-player action makes this racing game memorable especially in its three player form with 3 steering wheels and pedals. Frantic racing fun made more testing by the obstacles and spinning caused by colliding with your opponents.
Hang-On
Sega – 1985
Enter the Motorcycles and enter super scaler graphics. Also, innovation enters the arcade racing scene. Hang-On combines great gameplay and graphics with new controls not seen before. There were two versions of Hang-On; the Standard Cab and the Deluxe Cab. My memories of this game is all about the deluxe cab. Growing up I had an uncle that always had motorcycles and they always looked like a beast of a machine and I wanted to ride one.
Sega offered all the 80s kids the chance to ride a motorcycle with their deluxe version of Hang-On. It was a motorcycle, you had to sit on it, operate the handlebars and lean left or right to turn. This was brilliant, an awesome experience that made kids across the world part with the loose change and pocket money in their pockets. Oh, and the Music was awesome too.
Super Hang-On Followed in 1987 too.
Enduro Racer
Sega – 1986
From racing superbikes to dirt bikes and it is all thanks to Sega again. Very similar to Hang-On in many aspects and again with a standard and a deluxe version but this time you can pull wheelies. When I visited my last gaming convention, I took my then 10 year old son who played this game for the first time. He had a blast, and I could see the magic of the arcade right in front of me. He was racing and pulling wheelies to jump logs and obstacles and having a great time.
Sometimes simple changes can make a familiar style of game feel different and Sega achieved that with Enduro Racer.
OutRun
Sega – 1986
I can’t not mention OutRun on this list. It is the most obvious title to mention but it absolutely deserves to be mentioned and celebrated. It is an iconic game in fact a gaming classic with its famous music and of course the iconic Ferrari but it is also highly playable. You want to get to the end of the race; you want to try the different routes and you want to get better at OutRun. It is probably the most well-known and recognisable racing game in the world.
Again, the ultimate arcade outrun experience is in the deluxe moving arcade cab. However, there was also a standard moving cab which was still great fun as well as the standard upright cabinet. I would be surprised if you are reading this and had never played OutRun as it is game and series that has never really gone away. You can’t beat the arcade version but I would give a big shout out to the Sega Saturn conversion.
The Best Arcade Racing and Driving Games from the Late 80s
As we enter the end of the decade the racing fun does not stop, in fact it will continue right through the 1980s and into the 1990s but that will probably be another article. Let’s keep racing.
RoadBlasters
Atari – 1987
Improved scaling graphics from Atari and added guns. Throwing together the ingredients that made Pole Position and Spy Hunter a success and you should have a hit. You have the jeopardy of your fuel and backup fuel tank running out which will end the game making it essential to get to the next checkpoint for a fuel bonus.
Lets be honest though the fun here is all about racing in armoured cars of the future that can destroy their opponents. If you were a master of the game completing wave 50 the last level of the game you would be awarded with a special code. Post that code directly to Atari games and you would be rewarded with a Road Blasters t-shirt!
Chase HQ
Taito – 1988
Miami Vice unofficially hits the arcade. Taito gave us an instant classic by adapting the standard racing format to involve chasing and smashing into criminal cars and it was a great idea that delivered. Add in a nitro button to give you a speed boost when required made Chase HQ so much fun. To chase down and smash the criminals off the road until you have completely wasted their car is unnervingly enjoyable. Let’s not forget Nancy either who briefs you before each mission.
I loved this game, and I would regularly play it at my local youth club in the early 90s. Not a long game but it takes time to master and once you do you can show your skills off in the arcade. Another game ported to many home systems and sadly my beloved Commodore 64 didn’t get anywhere as good a port as its old rival the ZX Spectrum did.
Chase HQ is one my Top 10 Arcade Games of All Time.
Power Drift
Sega – 1988
Sega decided to take the arcade racing experience to a more insane level with Power Drift. They achieved this by using huge sprites and 3d graphics as you race up and down tracks that at times feel like a roller coaster. Billed as triple axis POV graphics meaning if you steer left your view adapts to that direction. A choice 12 drivers and 5 mad course made Power Drift an exciting arcade experience that still holds up today if you get to play it at a convention or event.
Again, a deluxe cab was offered alongside a stand up cab and again to get the full Sega experience it is all about the deluxe cab that can lean up to 20 degrees of the direction you are steering towards. A fantastic kart racing arcade experience that was provided long before Mario decided to get in one.
Super Monaco GP
Sega – 1989
We end our list of The Best 80s Driving Arcade Games with a title that would follow Sega into homes across the world in the early 1990s with their 16-bit classic console the Mega Drive/Genesis. This wonderful Formula one simulator test yours driving skills from the start as you have to qualify by completing one circuit in 45 seconds. If you achieve that your time will determine where you start on the grid of the race.
I love the cockpit view of this game along with your rear view mirror to see your opponents behind you. I never experienced it myself but the use of Sega’s power link cables allowed up to 8 arcade cabs to be connected for multi player mayhem. A great way to end a decade of arcade racing fun. This was a title that definitely bridges the gap between when the quality of the arcade and home gaming ports started to get closer together.
The Best 80s Arcade Fighting and Beat Em Up Games
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I hope you have enjoyed my best driving arcade games of the 80s. It was a decade when the technology moved forward bringing exciting new experiences to gamers as each year passed. I have a lot of fond memories of summer trips to the coast and the arcades there that you could not wait to get inside to find new racing games. They were fun then and they are still fun to play today.
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Keep it Retro and keep arcade racing.
Daz
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