What was the best racer this year?

This year was actually pretty damn good for racing game fans, as we got a few pretty strong showings, and games that are all around probably the best entries in their respective franchises.

But which one was the best?

NOTE: I was going to exclude DriveClub. Honestly, I don't think that, given how much of a disaster its launch was, it deserves to be in the running. But you know what, someone who played it may have liked it and might find it better than the other two games here. So have at it, I say.

Our nominees are:

So which one was the absolute best? And why?

I think the answer is very obviously Mario Kart 8, which not only might be the best game on the Wii U, but is a stunning playing, looking, and sounding game that completely revitalizes its series that had been growing a bit tired in recent years. With amazing single and multiplayer content and some just plain fun mechanics, it was definitely, in my opinion, the racer of the year.

TALLIES:

Mario Kart 8: 29 votes

Forza Horizon 2: 12 votes

DriveClub: 8 votes

Drive Club.

I just played the Forza Horizon 2 demo and really liked it. Probably gonna get it.

Mario Kart 8.

Mario Kart 8. The battle mode was a bit subpar, but the racing, IMO, was the best in the series thus far.

Only played forza horizon 2 and Mario Kart 8. They are way too different to compare. Love both so I'll say their equal. No interest in Drive Club. I was looking forward to the ps+ version, but that was before the system launched. All hype for the game was lost before long before launch by me. Evolution unfortunately, has never made a great racer.

Mario Kart 8.

I have only played Horizon 2, and as a non racing fan that took @Salt_The_Fries advice on picking it up I am pleasantly surprised. It is addictive and fun racing with army buddies. So FH2 is my vote.

When you do eventually buy a Wii U, be sure to pick up Mario Kart 8 as well.

Forza Horizon 2 is absolutely amazing- it really is- Mario Kart 8 is just, well, better.

Seriously?

5Club actually already has a vote lol

I know what you're referring to, but unless you name it, I won't register the vote in the tally. I don't want any insinuations of bias or anything later.

FiveClub!!!!!!

Yeah

And now I'm going to go ahead and actually record that vote. Unless you wanna go ahead and change it lol

My vote goes to FH2. Its beautiful, addictive, amazing soundtrack and theres a ton of content there.

Its also the first racer since PGR4 thats really convinced me to embrace the online multiplayer - usually i just stick to single player with my racers

Every cow knows that fiveclub is the best racer ever. Those graphickxs!

Anyway..., I haven't played MK8 yet, but it looks fun as hell, along with FH2.

Two games make a year "pretty damn good" is pretty silly.

I will give you the same advice- if (when?) you ever get a Wii U, do be sure to pick up Mario Kart 8. I have a very strong feeling you will appreciate it.

As I establish, it's not about the quantity as much as it is about the quality. Horizon 2 and Mario Kart 8 are exceptionally great, and both being in the same year sets it apart from other years for racing games. For instance, if I am not wrong, last year had more racing games overall than this year, and yet I would hesitate to call it as good as this one simply because no game from then stands out like these two games do.

MK8. Racing GOTY.

Out of those iv only played MK8. Im not really into racing games though.

MK8.

It must be painful for cows to try and vote for 5club

Mario Kart

It's the only racing game/franchise in existence that doesn't become mind-numbingly fucking boring after a mere 10 minutes

DC was the only option listed that I played and it was rather bland. It's ok until the A.I. goes up to high where they're rather ridiculously aggressive...as if a bunch of 15 year olds stole some cars or something. The tracks were a lot shorter than I envisioned. But since I also played the beta of Pcars, it's definitely far superior. Out of the options however i'm confident I would really enjoy Mario Kart 8 as much as I did Sonic's.

I was going to put you down for DC, but your last sentence confuses me.

Since you haven't actually played Kart, should I just go ahead and put you down for DriveClub anyway?

Forza Horizon 2 by far. LOL Mario Kart and Fiveclub.

DriveClub obviously.

Mario Kart 8 had potential but everyone stopped playing it after only a week.

And LOL at garbage like Forza Horizon 2 even being included in the list.

Are you for real?

I was most interested in Mario Kart 8 looking at the three contenders, and but to be fair, I hardly had much interest as I'm not a racing buff. There is also the nostalgia factor as I own MK1-Mk7.

MK8 FTW (even if it's a micro-victory in my home :) ).

A Nintendo fanboy starts a thread and says MK8 is the best racing game - seems legit.

And invites everyone to get their own votes in and faithfully records them, I see you missed that part.

Seems legit indeed.

Voting Mario Kart because racing games that aren't Mario Kart are shit.

Put me down for MK8 for the shits and giggles.

I enjoyed both MK8 and FH2, hard to decide between the two. I played FH2 way more, so I guess I'll lean toward that one just because of me having played it more. Honestly both were fun games.

Mario Kart 8, although I only say that because I don't own a PS4 or an Xbox One to judge the other games.

@BattleSpectre: Done. Obviously this makes me happy :-3

Grid Autosport came out this year and I thought it was pretty damn good. Comparing it to a kart racer like MK is apples to oranges but its definitely a hell of a lot better than Drive Club since it at least works

MK8 was fun for awhile, so it gets my vote.

That's it for racers? Wow, MK8 had no competition.

@BPoole96

Yeah but Autosport still wasn't better than the Original GRID... :(

FH2 By far, Mario Kart 8 was fun in one hour increments though.

Of course Playstation fans are going to vote Mario Kart 8 out of spite since Drive Club is utter garbage.

@Higherarkc

you can double that increment by adding more players, unfortunately theres dimininshing returns as the number of players increases i.e. 2 Players doubles into two hours but 3 only adds 30 Minutes. And 4 only adds 15.

I'm a big MArio KArt fan actually I used to play the older games a lot....comparing it with Horizon 2 is tough, different kind of racers

Wish I could vote. Played fh1 this year and the fh2 demo. Honestly, the tiny bit the demo gave me was OK. It felt a lot like the first game but at 1080p. The weather effects and offroading was friggin fantastic, but I didnt see much of that. The stuff they showed in the video after the demo looked more impressive and different from the first. Also, the demo was 10 fucking GBs. da fuq.

MK7 was the last one I played. Played it A LOT. I hear great things about MK8. itll be one of my first purchases when i get my Wii U.

I doubt anybody here played all three of these. I've only played Mario Kart 8... It's whatever. I still think Mario kart is a generally broken experience. It's one of the few Nintendo games that straight out has design choices that are basically gaming sins IMHO.