Racing video games are video games in which players control a car that competes against other vehicles on a succession of courses or levels, with the objective of reaching the finish line first. Some racing video games, such as Sonic R, do not require the use of automobiles; some games only depict characters running.

So there are numerous racing sub-genres, all of which are distinct from one another. While they all have the similar goal of racing to the end of the track before everyone else, each sub-genre has its own gameplay and focus.

Moreover, The beginnings of race video games can be trace back to previous electro-mechanical racing arcade games. Kasco’s 1959 success Mini Drive, in which the player used a steering wheel to manoeuvre a little automobile through a scrolling conveyor belt within an arcade machine, was a crude example. Kasco’s Indy 500, a rear-projection arcade racing game invented by Kenzou Furukawa, made a breakthrough in the late 1960s.

By 1997, the average PC could equal the graphical quality of an arcade system. Thanks to the arrival of first-generation 3D accelerators like the 3DFX Voodoo. The more powerful CPUs could simulate more realistic physics, automobile control, and graphics. Colin McRae Rally was a successful semi-simulation of rally driving that was launched to the PC world in 1998.