Cartorque Vol 14 - ‘The best car game debate’

Right, let’s get one thing straight before we start: there are hundreds of car games out there. Some are ridiculous simulators that make you feel like you need a degree in quantum mechanics just to change gear. Others are arcade nonsense that feel like you’re driving a shopping trolley down the Autobahn. But the best car game ever made? That, my friends, is something else entirely.

Now, you might expect me to launch into a furious argument about classics like Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, or even the morally dubious joy of Burnout Paradise. All brilliant games in their own way. But the one that towers over the rest, like a McLaren 720S over a fleet of supermarket trolleys, is Forza Horizon 2. Yes, Forza Horizon 2. I can almost hear the scoffs, the “Adam isn’t that a slightly beige choice?” Well, perhaps. But hear me out.

Forza Horizon 2 isn’t just a racing game. It’s a festival of speed, a celebration of everything that makes cars wonderful. It has the sense of freedom you get when driving down a winding coastal road with the windows down and the stereo cranked to eleven. It has the attention to detail that makes every car, every curve, every drop of rain feel real. And it has that rare thing that makes you come back again and again: fun. Pure, unadulterated fun.

And here’s the dirty secret: we might be a little biased. The office, where we write these things, is practically infused with Forza Horizon 2. It’s how friendships were forged. Grown men and women, shouting at each other over who hogged the best cars, bonding over epic cross-country races, learning that a Mini Cooper can, against all odds, beat a Ferrari in the right hands. It’s nostalgia as much as it is gameplay. Our friends grew up with it; we grew up with it.

So yes, if we were to be ruthlessly objective—and who am I kidding, we’re never objective—Forza Horizon 2 might still top the charts. But honestly, the fact it lives in our hearts and our office computers, that it shaped the way we remember gaming as much as driving, gives it an edge over any simulator that tries too hard, or any arcade racer that doesn’t bother to care.

We love the thrill of all car games, even stupid ones like Shrek Kart Racing (not an ad), but there’s something about FH2 that makes us always come back in an almost soulmate level, no matter the timescale we always find ourselves back to where we belong, on the streets of nice in a obnoxious hatchback.

In conclusion, the best car game ever made isn’t just about graphics, speed, or physics. It’s about joy, memory, and the sheer ridiculous thrill of throwing a Lamborghini down a sunlit Italian road while your friends scream abuse at you through headsets. And for us, for this office, for the friends who bonded over it, that game is—and always will be—Forza Horizon 2.

If you don’t agree… well, you clearly need to get out more.

Adam Woodruff

Writer