17 Best Racing Games You Can Play on a Low-End PC / Laptop

While computer technology is growing at a fast rate, some of us are still stuck with their low-end laptops looking for a game or two to play. Fear not, gamers, as we are here to get you covered on the best low-end racing games to play on your potato computer.

Whether you’re looking for timeless classics like the Need For Speed titles, or you’re into obscure forgotten titles, we got you covered with the absolute best low-end racing games to date. PS: if you’re new to racing games you can also check out our list here of the best racing franchise

Burnout Paradise 2008 バーンアウト パラダイス (Bānauto paradaisu)

About
	Release Date January 22, 2008
	Developer Criterion Games
	Publisher Electronic Arts
	Franchise Burnout
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Graphics 3D
	Interaction Real-Time
	Concept Modern
	Players Online PvP, PvP, Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Remakes
Burnout Paradise (2008 Original Release)
Burnout Paradise Remastered (2018 Remaster)

Burnout Paradise is an open-world arcade racing game and the sixth entry in the Burnout series. The game takes place in a fictional city called Paradise City, you can play various events scattered across the city varying from races, stunt runs, road rages, and more.

Unlike the previous games, Burnout Paradise is completely open even when you take a race you are free to approach the route as you like as long as you get to the finish line. Events like road rage, racing, stunts, and many more are available on the open map. The player can unlock many vehicles through the course of the game starting from muscle cars up to sports cars.  There is a lot to enjoy here despite the difference compared to the previous games in the series, the single-player experience is amazing. Overall, the original game will run on low to mid-spec pc and even laptops flawlessly!

FlatOut / FlatOut 2 2004 / 2006

About
	Full Name FlatOut
	Release Date November 05, 2004
	Developer Bugbear Entertainment
	Publisher Empire Interactive
	Franchise FlatOut
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin Finland

Available On

About
	Full Name FlatOut 2™
	Release Date June 30, 2006
	Developer Bugbear Entertainment
	Publisher Empire Interactive
	Franchise FlatOut
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Graphics 3D
	Perspective Third-Person
	Interaction Real-Time
	Players Single Player, Split-Screen Co-Op
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin Finland

Remakes
FlatOut 2™ (2006 Original Release)
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage (2007 Enhanced Port)

The Flatout series is the definitive way to play a demolition derby game on PC. The first game includes two main modes, a standard lap race and a demolition derby mode where the goal is to remain safe while destructing other opponent vehicles. In addition, the game features a mode where the player tosses the driver out of the car to hit and reach specific requirements. The second game features similar gameplay with upgraded visuals and physics.

Both games are known for laying heavily on destruction physics offering engaging and fun gameplay. While the first game is fairly simple with its premise the second game completes the package with updated physics and contents to keep the player hooked. Overall, both games are hugely recommended for low-end devices offering amazing gameplay that still holds up to this very day.

Star Wars Episode I Racer 1999

About
	Release Date May 18, 1999
	Developer Lucasfilm Games
	Publisher Lucasfilm Games
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United States

Available On

Star Wars Episode I Racer translates the first movie in the second Star Wars trilogy into a nicely wrapped racing game that is well worth it. The player takes control of one of several pod racers competing against each other in fast-paced futuristic racing events.

The game features several tracks from different planets and locations to compete on, just like in the movies the player controls a pod of his choice where the goal is to reach the end line first, the player can do this by showing his kills at turning corners and using the boosters skillfully without exploding the engine. On the whole, the game still holds up to this day despite the somewhat dated graphics and I believe the GOG version can run on pretty much any device these days including your potato PC :).

Test Drive Unlimite / Test Drive Unlimited 2 2006 / 2011

About
	Full Name Test Drive®: Unlimited
	Release Date September 05, 2006
	Developer Eden Games
	Publisher Atari
	Franchise Test Drive™
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin France

Available On

About
	Full Name Test Drive®: Unlimited 2
	Release Date February 08, 2011
	Developer Eden Games
	Publisher Atari
	Franchise Test Drive™
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Concepts Modern, Realistic
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin France

Available On

Test Drive Unlimited is an open-world racing game. The game offers the whole map of Oahu to discover including free roams, participating in many events across the island (tournaments, single races, time trials, speed trials, etc..), and a huge arsenal of licensed cars to unlock and buy.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is an open-world racing game and the nineteenth entry in the Test Drive series. You start the game as a driver working for Tess Wintory, while driving her to a certain location she was surprised by the player’s skills giving him a chance to participate in a big racing championship taking place at various locations on the island.

The game takes place on two main island Ibiza and Oahu giving the player a huge map to explore, there is over 100 car to unlock varying from sports cars to SUVs and more. Your progress is done by earning experience points to level up, there are 60 levels to claim. The experience points can be earned by playing various events across the map as well as buying new cars and discovering the islands. On the whole, both games will work on practically anything including notebooks and laptops.

Fuel 2009

About
	Release Date June 02, 2009
	Developer Asobo Studio
	Publisher Codemasters
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Concept Post-Apocalyptic
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin France

Available On

Fuel is an Open World arcade racing game. The game takes place in an alternative post-apocalyptic United States, offering a huge map that covers over  14 400 square kilometers to roam freely, the terrains include forests, deserts, and mountain hills.

The gameplay consists of playing various races located across the map, each race is different, and you can experience various weather changes such as tornados, lightning, thunder, and sandstorms, as well as a night and day cycle, there is a decent vehicle selection to choose from as you unlock them over the course of the game.

Blur 2010

About
	Release Date May 25, 2010
	Developer Bizarre Creations
	Publisher Activision
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Multiplayer, Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Available On

Blur is a creative arcade racing game, made by the famous studio Bizarre Creation known for its awesome racing games. The game combines elements of a realistic arcade racer and combat kart racing games generating a very creative and new idea.

Over 64 events are available varying from racing, checkpoint, boss battles, and destruction. The game can be played solo or with a friend locally and online, visually the game still looks beautiful and stunning for its age, unfortunately, Blur didn’t get the love that it deserves upon its release but you know, as they say, it’s better late than never. The game is very low-end friendly and can work on most mid to low-end PC as of today.

Need for Speed™ Carbon 2006

About
	Release Date October 30, 2006
	Developer EA Vancouver
	Publisher Electronic Arts
	Franchise Need for Speed™
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Concepts Modern, Realistic
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin Canada

Remakes
Need for Speed™ Carbon (2006 Original Release)
Need for Speed™ Carbon Own the City (2006 Port)

Need For Speed Carbon is an arcade racing game that acts as the tenth installment in the Need for Speed series. NFS Carbon takes place in the fictional city of Palmont City, taking place just after the events of Need For Speed Most Wanted.

The player participates in a huge selection of street race events across the city, earning money and fame will allow the player to buy new cars or upgrade owned cars to the maximum performance. The game feature over 80 cars to be unlocked,  divided into 3 tiers, the cars are fully customizable including colors, outer looks, and upgrades. The game is a classic for racing fans and can run pretty much on any machine by today’s standards.

Midnight Club II 2003

About
	Release Date April 09, 2003
	Developer Rockstar San Diego
	Publisher Rockstar Games
	Franchise Midnight Club
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Concept Modern
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United States

Available On

Midnight Club II perfected the beauty of its predecessor with more content and solid gameplay. Unfortunately, this is the only game that made it to PC while other games on the series are console-exclusive to this day. The game offers an open-world map where the player participates in various street race events.

Races consist of a series of checkpoints scattered across the map, the player follows a glowing arrow appearing at the top screen to reach every checkpoint and eventually finish the race. The game features a huge variety of fictional vehicles including muscles, sports, motorcycles, and many more. Overall, the game is well worth it offers solid gameplay and a low-end friendly system requirement.

Juiced / Juiced 2 2005 / 2007

About
	Full Name Juiced™
	Release Date June 13, 2005
	Developer Juice Games
	Publisher THQ
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Available On

About
	Full Name Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
	Release Date September 17, 2007
	Developer Juice Games
	Publisher THQ
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Available On

The Juiced dilogy on the pc is an amazing look back at old-school street racing games, both games feature amazing neon-like graphics and a surprisingly good array of cars. The dilogy offers very basic racing games with a very arcady feel and physics. The game offers a huge variety of licensed cars including your favorite car brands.

Advancing further up on the career mode the player can earn money to get new vehicles or upgrading and modifying existing vehicles both on the looks and the performance. Overall, the gameplay is extremely addictive and fun if you can overlook the dated graphics which i don’t since i like classic games, both games will run on any low to mid-end pc including notebooks and laptops!

L.A. Street Racing 2006

About
	Release Date December 01, 2006
	Developer Invictus Games
	Publisher Groove Games
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin Hungary

Available On

L.A. Street Racing AKA Overspeed: High Performance Street Racing was an amazing pc exclusive game, the game combines the fun of street racing with amazing drift mechanics and controls. Unfortunately, the game didn’t get the love it deserves since it didn’t make it to modern consoles at the time.

The game offers your standard arcade racing experience with a pinch of realism, the control leans more toward simulation offering challenging gameplay. On the whole, the game is well worth it if you can overlook some clunkiness here and there, and guess what? the game can run on anything including a Pentium 4 PC!

Split/Second 2010

About
	Release Date May 18, 2010
	Developer Black Rock Studio
	Publisher Disney Interactive Studios
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Concept Post-Apocalyptic
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Available On

Split/Second is an arcade racing game that focuses on combat racing using destruction mechanics. The game takes you on a fictional reality tv show where racers compete on several tracks in which everything is chaotic and destructible.

The main focus of the game is to take on various challenges such as racing, survival, elimination, and many more. You have the ability to trigger special events where you can wreck your opponents to pieces in countless creative ways, this can be done by filling a meter called the power play meter through drifting, jumping, and doing tricks across the race.

Sega Rally Revo 2007 セガラリーREVO (Sega Rarī REVO)

About
	Release Date September 27, 2007
	Developer SEGA
	Publisher SEGA
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Concepts Modern, Realistic
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Available On

Sega Rally Revo is an arcade off-road racing game and marks the fourth installment of the Sega Rally series. The game is far from being realistic focusing totally on arcade gameplay, responsive controls, and stunning colorful visuals, offering a very fun and enjoyable experience.

Sega Rally Revo has over 30 licensed cars divided into different classes, 16 tracks are available in total, some of them can be played in reverse. Tracks terrains offer a huge selection varying from safaris, arctic, canyon, jungles, and more. Overall, the game still looks and plays amazing after all these years and can run on pretty much any machine these days!

Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit 2 2002

About
	Release Date October 02, 2002
	Developer EA Black Box
	Publisher Electronic Arts
	Franchise Need for Speed™
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin Canada

Available On

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is an arcade racing game, it marks a direct sequel to Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit and marks the sixth installment of the same series. Similar to its prequel the player race on a series of events across many course tracks, the goal is to reach the finish line first beating your opponents and at the same time evading the police pursuit.

Two main modes are available: World Racing Championship, in which the player competes in a series of classic racing events against AI opponents, and Hot Pursuit mode which adds the police chase to the race. The game features a decent arsenal of licensed cars including Ferrari, Chevrolet, Ford, Jaguar, Lamborghini, and many more.

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast 2006

About
	Release Date March 31, 2006
	Developer Sumo Digital
	Publisher SEGA
	Franchise Outrun™
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Graphics 3D
	Perspective Third-Person
	Interaction Real-Time
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Available On

Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast is an arcade racing game, the game takes part in sega’s Outrun franchise and marks the ninth game in the series. Coast To Coast is a reimagining of the first game in the series, completely redone in glorious 3d and adding some extra features to the package.

The game is split into two main modes: Outrun 2 SP which port a lot from its predecessor Outrun 2, and a whole new mode called Coast 2 Coast where you can complete different challenges and missions ranging from racing events to completing the passenger’s request and many more. Coast 2 Coast feature 15 playable vehicles, including 5 new cars and 15 locations.

GRID™ Autosport 2014

About
	Release Date June 24, 2014
	Developer Codemasters
	Publisher Codemasters
	Franchise GRID™
	Genre Simulation Racing
	Graphics 3D
	Perspective Third-Person
	Interaction Real-Time
	Concept Realistic
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Available On

Grid Autosport is a simulation racing game and the ninth game in the Toca series. The game leans more toward realistic driving, as you build your career taking off various rivals and competitors to satisfy your sponsors.

The career mode is divided into various seasons, the player has the option to choose between numerous racing teams at the beginning of each season. There is over 108 cars selection to choose from including DLCs, each vehicle is divided into tiers and classes, and over 15 real-world circuits are accessible in addition to a few fictional tracks to satisfy all kind of racing fans.

Re-Volt 1999

About
	Release Date July 31, 1999
	Developer Acclaim Entertainment
	Publisher Acclaim Entertainment
	Genre Arcade Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United States

Available On

Re-Volt is an amazing RC racing game, the player controls a radio controller car on mini-themed tracks. Similar to kart racing games the player can use collected weapons to hit others competitors and take the lead.

Up to seven game modes are available including a championship cup mode where the player competes in four racing events where the goal is to reach first during every race. Also, a time trial mode where the player competes to reach faster times during each lap. Graphic wise the game still looks decent for its time offering a sharp image and smooth fps. On the whole, the title aged very well offering both amazing gameplay and a low-end friendly requirement for budget gamers.

Richard Burns Rally 2004

About
	Release Date July 09, 2004
	Developer Warthog Games
	Publisher SCi Games
	Genre Simulation Racing
	Players Single Player
	Monetization Buy to Play
	Country of Origin United Kingdom

Available On

Many rally games fan consider Richard Burns Rally as one of the most realistic rally games to date, this statement is not out of the blue since the game offers one of the most amazing and solid physics compared to other rally games and amazingly detailed graphics for the time.

The game features up to 36 playable courses from all over the globe including Japan, Finland, the USA, France, Australia, and Britain. Also, the player can choose from up to eight licensed cars including the 2000 Citroën Xsara T4, a 2003 Hyundai Accent WRC, a 1997 Toyota Corolla WRC, and more. Overall, this a very solid title with a fair challenge for rally lovers, and of course, it can run on pretty much any device including notepads and laptops.