The best Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 & Wii U racing games

[Amor fati]

As the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are coming near to the end of their run, it is a good time to take an overview of their catalogue of racing games. As this is a best-of list only games with a 3/5 rating or greater are included. The Wii is not of the same generation technologically so is omitted with the Wii U (which is) included instead. Note that Xbox Originals, PSOne/PS2 Classics and Wii U Virtual Console titles are excluded but HD versions of previous generation games are included with a rating reflecting their quality at original time of release. Also some of the games listed are available on other platforms not specified here such as the PC which can often be the best version.

***** [360] Project Gotham Racing 3
***** [360] Project Gotham Racing 4
***** [360] [PS3] OutRun Online Arcade
***** [PS3] WipEout HD

**** [360] [PS3] Colin McRae: DiRT 2
**** [360] [PS3] DiRT 3
**** [360] [PS3] Race Driver: GRID
**** [360] [PS3] GRID 2
**** [360] Burnout Revenge
**** [360] [PS3] Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
**** [360] Forza Horizon
**** [360] Ridge Racer 6
**** [PS3] Ridge Racer 7
**** [360] [PS3] Crazy Taxi
**** [360] [PS3] Daytona USA
**** [360] [PS3] SEGA Rally Revo

*** [360] [PS3] Blur
*** [360] [PS3] Colin McRae: DiRT
*** [360] [PS3] DiRT Showdown
*** [360] [PS3] GRID Autosport
*** [360] [PS3] F1 2010
*** [360] [PS3] F1 2011
*** [360] [PS3] F1 2012
*** [360] [PS3] F1 2013
*** [360] [PS3] Split/Second
*** [360] [PS3] Burnout Paradise
*** [360] Need for Speed: Most Wanted
*** [360] [PS3] [WIIU] Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
*** [360] [PS3] Need for Speed: Rivals
*** [360] Hydro Thunder Hurricane
*** [360] Trials HD
*** [360] Trials Evolution
*** [360] Trials Fusion
*** [360] Forza Motorsport 2
*** [360] Forza Motorsport 3
*** [360] Forza Motorsport 4
*** [360] Forza Horizon 2
*** [WIIU] Mario Kart 8
*** [360] [PS3] Super Hang-On
*** [PS3] Initial D: Extreme Stage
*** [360] [PS3] SEGA Rally Online Arcade
*** [360] [PS3] Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
*** [360] [PS3] [WIIU] Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
*** [WIIU] FAST Racing NEO
*** [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
*** [PS3] Gran Turismo 5
*** [PS3] Gran Turismo 6
*** [PS3] Formula One Championship Edition
*** [PS3] MotorStorm
*** [PS3] MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
*** [PS3] MotorStorm: Apocalypse
*** [360] [PS3] Driver: San Francisco

Project Gotham Racing 3 is similar to previous PGR games with the addition of a cockpit view. Project Gotham Racing 4 added motorbikes, weather and a seasonal career mode. OutRun Online Arcade is a cut-down HD port of OutRun 2 SP missing the original OutRun 2 routes. WipEout HD is a superb futuristic racer with the Fury expansion being just as essential as the base game. Altogether a fairly decent catalogue of racing games from this generation of consoles.