5 racing games that nailed realistic driving physics – and 3 that didn't

Mario Kart

Bringing up the rear in the realism stakes is Mario Kart, and it's pretty stunning how badly Nintendo dropped the ball on this one. Despite being one of the biggest companies in gaming, the Japanese giant failed to even get the basics right. Surely everyone knows that bananas don't really make karts spin like that in real life?

And for racing sim purists, the physics on the red shells were a huge disappointment. Are we supposed to believe that they're capable of jumping over gaps in the road to hit their target?

Not even the speed boosts in the countdown were convincing. In Mario Kart, you get the boost if you hit the accelerator on 2 – yet any professional racing driver will tell you that you actually get a rocket boost if you put the pedal to the metal on 3. Come on Nintendo, you're better than this.