The 8 best kart racing games money can buy

Ever since Super Mario Kart invented the genre, everyone from Sonic to Garfield has had a go at kart racing.

Traditionally easy to pick up and play, and featuring well-known characters firing off themed weapons, you usually know what you’re getting into when you pick up anything with the word ‘kart’ at the end of its title.

But that does mean it’s easy to be suckered in by a beloved license and end up with a barely playable mess of a game.

Thankfully, Traxion is here to play the dross (like Dreamworks All Star Kart Racing – ugh) so you don’t have to! You’re very welcome. So these are the eight best kart racers available on current systems. Wait for the green light… go!

8. Smurfs Kart

• Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S – plays on Switch 2 via backwards compatibility

Eden Games’ Smurfs Kart is a surprisingly solid racing game, essentially copying Mario Kart 8 blow-for-blow with identical drifting mechanics, small hop jumps, boost pads and weapon pick-ups.

Let’s be clear The Smurfs are a comparatively niche IP, but kids’ parents will likely remember them fondly, and the Smurfs themselves are harmless enough. As with 3D platformer The Smurfs Dreams, the game features pretty, polished visuals and oversized worlds around you.

A lot of the games on this list are ‘stimulating’ to say the least, so if you really like Mario Kart, want something gentle and child-friendly but don’t own a Nintendo console, this is highly recommended.

7. Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway

• Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S – plays on Switch 2 via backwards compatibility

The original Nickelodeon Kart Racers remains one of the worst games we’ve ever played, but somehow it’s all been turned around by this third instalment, offering far more intense and spectacular racing than every other game on this list, bar one.

From second to second, there is always something to do in this game. From an IP point of view, you get Spongebob Squarepants, CatGod, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Red & Stimpy, Rugrats and more, making for a pretty stellar cast of cartoon favourites from the modern era, even if you’ve only heard of CatDog as discussed by a drunk Peter Griffin.

“That’s gotta be some kind of living hell, Brian”, indeed.

6. Lego 2K Drive

• Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S – plays on Switch 2 via backwards compatibility

Now we’re really into the good stuff. Once you get past the opening area, which is even coloured more brightly to appeal to the youngest of audiences, the game opens up into a true free-roaming playground, full of wholesome LEGO humour, and packed full of challenges.

With several large biomes to discover within LEGO 2K Drive, destructible scenery and vehicles that can drive/float pretty much anywhere, there’s a lot of fun to be had here. The races themselves are strong, too.

There hasn’t been a bad LEGO game for a long time, and even though this isn’t developed by Traveller’s Tales (it’s actually by Visual Concepts, who were wowing people even back on Sega Saturn), it still feels like the LEGO universe we know and love. 

5. Team Sonic Racing / Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed

• Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed: PC (previously available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS)
• Team Sonic Racing: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC – plays on Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S via backwards compatibility

This spot on the list goes to Sonic’s two most recent outings. You can still buy Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on Steam, and it remains the better game compared to its successor, Team Sonic Racing, which is available on pretty much everything.

But with All Stars Racing Transformed still available for PC, that’s the one we have to recommend if you have the means. Taking in decades of Sega’s glittering gaming history, the game sees you driving, flying and riding waves through tracks based on all-time classics like Panzer Dragoon, After Burner, Shinobi, Jet Set Radio and more.

Characters have bespoke ‘All Star’ moves to dazzle you with nostalgia, and the rearranged music on the soundtrack is phenomenal. But best of all, it’s developed by Sumo Digital, who handled the home conversions of OutRun 2, so you get similar challenges to that game’s Heart Attack mode. And of course, we look forward to the new Sonic Racing Crossworlds, which is very likely set to take a place on this list.

4. Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled

• Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One – plays on Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S via backwards compatibility

Taking in content from the original Crash Team Racing and Crash Nitro Kart, this remaster of PS1 and PS2 kart racing magic is astonishingly good.

Graphically it looks absolutely splendid thanks to some stellar work by the conversion dev team Beenox. Gameplay-wise, it’s exactly as you remember, with classic tracks like the seafront dash by the shipwreck, or drifting sideways through ice caverns.

But it must be said the game is very much on the difficult side. Not difficult to play, but certainly difficult to win. And while longtime fans will love the characters from the Crash Bandicoot universe, the roster will be less well known to a lot of younger gamers. Still, you can’t fault the quality of production or design – this is superb.

3. Disney Speedstorm

• Nintendo Switch 1, Switch 2 via backwards compatibility, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Apple (iOS), Android

This is the only free-to-play game on the list, but the level of quality is right up there with the very best.

Taking in countless characters from Disney and Pixar’s cinematic history, this is a dream come true for fans of Frozen, Toy Story, Mickey Mouse, Hercules and even The Nightmare Before Christmas. Content keeps coming and it’s two years into its run now, so it’s as good a time as any to get involved.

You get Mickey Mouse plus one other free racer for free, so anyone can enjoy it in some form. It’s also on every major platform right now, right down to Switch 1.

It’s the only game more overwhelming to witness than Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3, with frantic gameplay and a surreal Disney/Ibiza hybrid mashup of a soundtrack. It’s also chock full of loot and wants you to spend your money on characters, upgrades and kart decoration, but put all that to the side and you’ve got one of the best kart racers of modern times. Really cool. 

2. Mario Kart World

• Nintendo Switch 2

It’ll no doubt be controversial putting the newest Mario Kart game second to its predecessor, but at this point in time, the previous game has more to offer and is better balanced.

But Mario Kart World is nonetheless an astonishing video game, crammed with much-loved characters, tonnes of content and brilliant flourishes like dynamic water that reacts to a blue shell landing and creates a wave you can trick off.

It does switch from 60fps to 30fps when played in 3P or 4P split screen, but otherwise it’s an absolutely jaw-dropping showcase for the power of Nintendo Switch 2 and one of the most easily and universally enjoyable games you’ll ever play.

It’s far from cheap, however, but we can’t imagine anyone buying a Switch 2 and not owning this one. Get on it.

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

• Nintendo Switch 1 (plays on Switch 2 via backwards compatibility)

Having started life as a slightly feature-light Wii U game back in 2014, the Deluxe version on Switch is simply the best kart racer ever made.

Glorious HD visuals show the racers in exquisite detail, their face expressions changing with the action and shown off in the brilliant highlights reels after each race. The weapon set is classic, the balancing decent (though you’ll come to hate the Blue Shell with a passion if you’re any good), and it works incredibly well in split screen and online.

It’s massive, too. If you buy the optional Booster Course Pass downloadable content, the track list doubles from an already impressive 48 to reach an astonishing 96 circuits. The game was already good on Wii U, but the Switch version adds more characters and comes with the 200cc speed mode, which requires greater skill in actually controlling your kart.

Whether with the stabilisers on for young children or with everything down to you, it’s just so much fun. Even if you have a Switch 2 and Mario Kart World, this is still worth having in your collection. An all-time classic.