Evolution of Racing Video Games 1981-2020

Evolution of Racing Video Games 1981-2020

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
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
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
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
2017 F1 2017 13:31
2018 Forza Horizon 4 14:00
2019 Need for Speed Heat 14:41
2020 Gran Turismo 7 15:10

Credits: Special thanks to Reiji () and World of Longplays () and Shirrako () and DSTRYR () 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.

100 Comments

  1. Ok..is it just me or does power drift look like it’s ahead of it’s time?

    Also rally games, the gran turismo series and the Forza Motorsport series is the best. Change my mind.

  2. Missing Forza 1 on 2005. Easily 10 years ahead in spatial audio realism.

  3. So Sega Rally had transparent windows almost a decade before everybody else?

  4. Burnout,midnight club,need for speed,flatout,trackmania,gran turismo,ridge racer,forza horizon/motorsport,daytona usa,outrun and others are goated,but yeah,some had good games,bad games,mid or mediocre games over the past decades and some just rest in piece

  5. Hey,missing games video racing is Gran Turismo 2

  6. how would a game be newer then need for speed heat

  7. Where are Stunts, Stunt Car Racer, Indycar Racing, F1/Vroom?

  8. Also, in 2010, you should have included Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing.

  9. Two i playing (NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED and NEED FOR SPEED CARBON)

  10. Hard driving looks like a Minecraft mod

  11. Te falto asphalt 8 aribone 2013 ☹️☹️🙁

  12. 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

  13. 4:45 also Wipeout 2097 was called Wipeout XL in the US at least, and the soundtrack is one of the best samples of EDM in any video game ever. Unfortunately, you have to hunt around to find the XL soundtrack…the 2097 soundtrack leaves out a lot of the tracks (like the Future Sound of London songs)

  14. subsequent updates
    2021 Forza Horizon 5

    2022 Need for Speed: Unbound

    2023 The Crew Motorfest , Forza Motorsports

    2024 Forza Horizon 6 ?

  15. Ngl F Zero is SERIOUSLY underrated. At least it has its fans

  16. I’m more impressed with the 1988 game than all the rest. How?

  17. The first Midtown Madness was an absolute gem that console users couldn't get a taste of.

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