Anime And Racing Games

24 February 2026

Recently I had a bit of a racing game itch which led me to buy GRID: Autosports for my phone on a whim. A little before that, I was downloading PS2 racing games that looked interesting and that I've missed out on. While I'm not a racing or car fan (in fact, in some ways I dislike cars in the ways it affects urbanism and probably never want to own one), I've always been a sucker for racing games.

Whether it be the constant insanity of barrel rolls and jumps in Asphalt, thrilling yet scary speed in the Need for Speed franchise, or the "rhythm game"-like allure of sightreading roads of rally in games such as the surprisingly very competent V-Rally on the GBA or Rush Rally 3 on mobile, it's a genre that compels like no other.

Yet despite enjoying all these games with varying disciplines and styles, there is an itch that's never been scratched in my time playing this genre...

Where are the anime racing games?

To clarify

Before we dive into things, let me make things clear so we are all at the same level of understanding:

I am not considering kart racers. As much as Miku may be in one, and as much as their gameplay does evoke a lot of the checkboxes for wacky fun that anime invokes - it's not what I'm thinking of. I see them as a separate genre entirely, more closer to a party game than a racer in the same way I don't really see Rhythm Heaven as a rhythm game coming from a more hardcore background.
The booby jetboat game IS NOT what I'm looking for when I say I want an anime racer. That and from my understanding it's still somewhat a kart racer... and apparently its mid.
Umamusume is not a racing game despite all the racing. It's a princess maker stat raiser horse talent management game, which is also not what I'm looking for in this discussion (even if I really do like it).

The Conondrum

You'd think with the ubiquity of car culture and rapid rise of video games in the 90s and 2000s, someone would have capitalized on the simple idea of anime girls and cars, but apparently not.

While there are stylized games and anime-based games such as Art of Rally and the Initial D series still being released, it's not really anime. In the former, it would be like saying Valorant is anime. In the latter's case, the games still look like the real world with the cars and courses, with the only "anime" bits being the insane dorifto handling model and the character voice lines that occur every now and then.

And I'm not even referring to Japanese-made racing games either, as much as those are a dying breed (if not already dead back in like the PS2 or PS3 generation, alongside the decline of arcade racers in general really).

Arguably, the last "anime" racer to come out from a big publisher was Auto Modelista on the PS2 — a game that combines cell-shaded graphics with the arcade handling and over the top style that was par for the course in the 2000s. And even then, I would be hesitant to call it an "anime racer".

There's no straight up anime girls or anything. It's just... cell-shaded cars with the bouncy futuristic UI and cool-factor Capcom had in that era, which to clarify isn't bad, just not exactly what I'm looking for.

So clearly then, no one has really attempted to do an anime racer that isn't Initial D or inspired by it.

So, what the hell am I looking for exactly?

Well, I'm glad you asked. Here's a playlist or two to try and give you a glimpse of my (probably deranged) vision.

Side note: I highly recommend trying these playlists out on NFS: Most Wanted and Asphalt 8 respectively as these were the games I played when making them to really feel the concept.

In the first playlist, I based the track list off the grungy vibes of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, having a mix of rock and electronic. In the second, it's more so based from fast paced, hyper rhythm game tracks that feature future bass such as from MEGAREX (PSYQUI, lapix, rejection) or, probably more familiar to most, gacha game OSTs similar to Blue Archive (YUC'e, Mitsukiyo, etc.).

Now, imagine for a second, an offroad rally game that takes place in a world not too disimilar from something like Arknights. A world familiar yet so alien to our own, ravaged by the collapse of order and society. It's a very different way of seeing that world, being on the road, running away from it all. Or maybe you are literally running away and chased by Most Wanted-like enemies, but they are straight up armed with cannons or are aliens.

Or perhaps a bouncy/cutesy tuner-focused game taking place in a futuristic yet wacky city like Blue Archive. Drift boost mechanics like in NFS Unbound, art that would actually full-ass the cell-shaded aesthetic unlike NFS Unbound, crazy jumps and routes like Asphalt, anime avatar cosmetics to bring in the moolah.

Or hell, meet in the middle and do a NIKKE. I know calamities happen in racers, Asphalt does it, and from what I understand the Motorstorm series has those moments.

That is something that has never been attempted much if at all in this genre that I feel should very much exist.

Japan has so many music artists that would fit so well in games that do not exist.

It only seems reasonable to extrapolate that these fast-paced, blood pumping tracks would fit into a similar genre that incites said blood pumping. However that genre I'm eluding to, racing, has been stuck in a malaise of just doing the same mediocre arcade or semi to full-on simulator type games that lack a striking identity, artstyle, and gameplay for years. The indie scene are doing a heck of a good job of filling in the niches, but not in the quantity or quality the general audience want, and definitely nothing quite like what I'm describing.

And unfortunately, it's not as if we can just hope that Chinese devs could somehow reinvigorate this stale genre with their free to play magic, even if it's only in the looks department and not much in the substance. Even the gacha games that attempt to do that live service model with racing still commit to the realistic look (I'm referring to Racing Master here).

Conclusion

I'm not really all too sure how I want to end this blog. Just that I really think what I'm describing should exist. It seems like a match made in heaven that, even if it's derivative and only looks like anime superficially, it would at least be more than enough given the lack of interesting output in this stagnating genre for years, if not a whole decade.

This whole article is basically based off of Raycevick's video on how the genre hasn't had a cohesive game with an identity and proper singleplayer offering release in quite a while. I just added on some of my own thoughts and observations because, seriously, how has there been no proper racer with anime girls come out yet? It's a bit absurd.

TL;DR: Cygames, Mihoyo, or whoever gacha game developer is out there: PLEASE MAKE A RACING GAME OH MY GOD.