Media post: A look back at some of the worst car games ever

From the UK and Australia to countries like China and Mexico, many car fanatics supplement their love of vehicles with a gaming-related escapade to unwind. Be it on mobile or via a gaming PC, there have been so many car-themed products that have impressed. Not every release has hit the spot with car gamers, though.

In the same way shooters and sports titles don’t always deliver, car games can divide opinion. Car products are big business, though, and the community of gamers who scrutinize them doesn’t tend to hold back either. Sure, there are hit franchises that are undeniably great like Gran Turismo and titles based on other modes of transport are also popular these days, such as the excellent Money Train Origins slot and a variety of motorbike games, but there has also been some forgettable releases in this category. For car connoisseurs, in particular, there have been some spectacular fails over the years.

Ferrari: The Race Experience

Attempting to recreate the experience of driving a Ferrari in the virtual world was always going to be risky, and it definitely didn’t pay off in Ferrari: The Race Experience. Clearly aiming to tempt Ferrari fans in with a game that promised so much, it immediately turned them off due to the title’s appalling graphics and the poor driving experience that was on offer. Driving a Ferrari is meant to be a privilege but this particular offering was a complete and utter nightmare from start to finish.

M&M Kart Racing

Based on the colour-varied, sugar-coated snacks that people all around the world adore, M&M Kart Racing was not as sweet as you’d expect. A game that isn’t worth tracking down, it was clearly an attempt to promote the much-loved candy snacks further. Released in 2007, the game flopped for numerous reasons, from its lack of gameplay options to its limited range of tracks to race on. Throw in the product’s poor graphics, and it’s fair to say that M&M Kart Racing was a disaster.

Test Drive Unlimited

The Test Drive series of games has a solid following behind it, but even the staunchest supporter of the releases would struggle to defend the ninth version of the game, Test Drive Unlimited. The increased range of cars wasn’t needed, the game’s open-world aspect offered nothing, and the mechanics and physics of the driving were a pain. While the franchise did recover, Test Drive Unlimited will remain as an example of how not to do it.

Need For Speed: Payback 

Released in 2017, Need For Speed: Payback is part of a series of games that have certainly produced results, but this particular installment of the game is easily the worst product of the lot. The game didn’t appear to build on the success of other releases in the franchise, with an attempt at implementing new mechanics leaving fans of the games puzzled. Likewise, the open-world gameplay wasn’t needed either. A title that simply tried to provide too much, Need For Speed: Payback was a bad one.

Pac-Man World Rally

Clearly aiming to capitalize on the success of the Pac-Man character, Pac-Man World Rally could have been a fun product to session for a few hours at a time, but it turned out to be a spectacular failure. While many passionate gamers expected the release to replicate the chaos-filled package on offer in iconic releases like Mario Kart, Pac-Man World Rally failed to do so. It was poorly made; the iconic character just didn’t transition smoothly over to a racing scenario, and it felt a bit lazy and predictable. Certainly one to avoid, the game proved that Pac-Man should be left alone.