Racing is an important part of pop culture. It is also very popular in video game culture. Although it is not very obvious because most video games these game that take up most of the attention are First person shooters or role-playing games.
However, like in real life there are also many different varieties of racing video games. The first currently very popular is Racing simulation games. Racing Simulation games, like other simulation game are the most realistic, and feature real world licensed cars, real world tracks and physics that match how cars would react in real life to the same situation.
The currently most popular franchise of this type is Forza Motorsport exclusively for The Microsoft Xbox series of consoles, and developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Before Forza there was Gran Turismo which was exclusive to the Sony Playstation series of consoles, and Developed by Polyphony Studios and Published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
Next is street racing type games. These games usually include racing illegally, and some form of cop chases. The most popular games in this category are most of the Need for speed series, which was devolved by EA games. Electronic Arts published it.
Another is the Juiced, which also includes scoring for being flashy, which was developed by Juice games, and published by THQ. Originally, the first game is the Juiced series was going to be published by Acclaim by then said company went Bankrupt.
Then there are Burnout type racing games, where you plow through traffic and your opponents. Players can score big by ramming their opponents. Burnout is the most popular series is this series. It was developed by mostly by Criterion games. It was published by Acclaim for the first two games, then Electronic Arts published the remaining games.
Arcade style racing is the oldest and still highly popular. Most popular ones include The Cruising Series, and Outrun. Last most popular style is the Kart style racing, popularized by Nintendo's Mario Kart series. This genre includes circuit races with add power ups that make the races more interesting. The most recent variant of the genre is Blur, it's described as Mario Kart for adults. It includes real world licensed cars, developed by Bizarre games, and published by Activison Blizzard.
