I was driving home on the expressway when I saw three cars going about 90 miles per hour, much faster than the rest of traffic.

These guys were weaving in and out of traffic so fast it was both terrifying and exhilarating to watch.  This driving went on for about three miles until they were out of sight.  Then I noticed that while watching these guys race down the road, my speed had increased by about 15 miles per hour, and I was zipping past people.  Which brings me to my point, after the racing was over and I had made it home safely (without a speeding ticket) I reminisce about some of the great racing games I have played.

When I stopped to think about it, I realized there have been many, many different styles of driving games.  When I speak of driving games, I am referring to cars or the like, not boats, submarines or tanks, even though we “drive” those, that‘s not what I'm writing about today.

The first driving game I ever played was an arcade classic named Spy Hunter.  Spy Hunter was a basic top down driving and shooting game, with cars that looked like ’57 Chevys trying to cut you with wheel spikes and run you off the road.  We would play for hours until the steering wheel was actually hot from holding it so long. 

Probably the most famous driving game of the time was Atari’s Pole Position.  This arcade game featured the “Fuji race track”,  the first race of the game.  A digitized woman's voice saying “Prepare to Qualify!”, at which point you would race around the track trying not to crash in the first corner, and finish the lap fast enough to place in the actual race.  Assuming you did, the real race would then begin with the light countdown: 3...2...1...Go!  If you were able to finish the lap within 1 minute you got extra time and were allowed to go around again.

Although Pole Position and Spy Hunter were fun games, the driving game that is on my top ten games of all time is probably Road Blasters.  This game is similar in strategy to Spy Hunter in that you drive around a pre-determined course and try to either kill or avoid the bad guys.  The game differs in that you can also pick up health and power-ups to increase your shooting power or put that cool cruise missile on top of your car.

I love these types of games so much, I still fire up an old title on my PC every couple of days as a way to blow off steam.  The game is called Twisted Metal.  Published by Sony, it is your traditional "kill everyone else with your special power-up" sort of game.

I could ramble on for hours about driving games; I just enjoy them that much.  I have played just about every version of GTA, I have spent countless dollars playing APB in the arcade, and always love to play off-road dune buggy race games.  There are a great many driving games out there but just remember, keep the crazy driving and crashing to the gaming systems and off the roads.

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