If you can deal with the brutal arcade-style difficulty, Spy Hunter is a very good racing game for the NES
The version for Nintendo is ultimately a pretty faithful port of the original arcade version, and it is still a very playable game today, but I can't get into this classic quite as much as many other retro gamers do. For one, Spy Hunter is a brutally unforgiving experience, and it will take a ton of skill to survive for more than a minute after the initial 'grace period' that the game provides you with. Spy Hunter absolutely kicks my ass every time, and I think it's almost too difficult for its own good. The top-down camera angle is solid enough, but the minimal warning of cars in front of you means that it's ridiculously easy to crash into stuff. If this happens twice, it's game over. That's it.
It's a shame that the difficulty is so impossible (unless you resort to track memorization) because, in total honesty, Spy Hunter is a pretty fun game. While it definitely seems straightforward by today's standards, the strategy aspect is definitely there, and visually the game is a stunner from the 8-bit era.
If you're good at old school racers, Spy Hunter for the NES is very much worth checking out. It's a fun, playable, and very cool game if you have enough patience to succeed. The early arcade-style brutality is definitely here, but a good game is hidden beneath the frustration and thrown controllers if you're able to deal with the insane challenge of Spy Hunter.