Best games
Best Racing games of 2004
The 8 best Racing games released in 2004, ranked from 5,631 critic and player ratings.
The best Racing game of 2004 is Burnout 3: Takedown, with a critic score of 94/100 — updated September 2026.
How this ranking is built
- Games are ranked on the aggregated critic score out of 100 imported from IGDB and Metacritic, never on Tier's own grades.
- A game only enters the ranking with at least 30 external ratings, so a single enthusiastic review never outranks a proven classic.
- Each game is ranked in one genre only, the one that defines it best, so the same title never tops two different genre charts.
- Community grades from F to S are shown next to every game, and only stated as a fact above 5 Tier ratings.
- Release window covered: 2004.
- 8 games are listed on this page, carrying 5,631 ratings between them.
- Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 28 September 2026.
Top 8
01
Burnout 3: Takedown
Take anarchic driving destruction on a world tour and experience the pure arcade adrenaline-rush of Burnout 3: Takedown. Combine aggressive high-speed racing with the ultimate in slamming crash action to boost your way to the top. Takedown the competition across the USA, Europe and the Far East in over 60 Race events, or crush all comers with Burnout 3: Takedown's junction-jamming Crash event pileups. Push it to the next level with five competitive multiplayer models, then move the mayhem online to compete against up to seven players. Reap the rewards of dangerous driving, earning Crash $ and Burnout Points to unlock over 60 hot vehicles, coveted skill trophies, front-page headlines and much more. (Source PS2 Game Manual)
94
/100
02
S
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Returning after his mother's murder to the semi-fictional city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles), Carl Johnson, a former gang banger, must take back the streets for his family and friends by gaining respect and once again gaining control over the streets. However, a story filled with crime, lies and corruption will lead him to trudge the entire state of San Andreas (based on California and Nevada) to rebuild his life.
93
/100
03
Gran Turismo 4
Gran Turismo 4 is a racing video game, and the fourth installment in the Gran Turismo series. It is also the final game to support the Sony PlayStation 2. Gran Turismo 4 is one of only four titles for the PlayStation 2 that is capable of 1080i output. GT4 was delayed for over a year and a half by Polyphony Digital, and had its online mode removed. The game features over 700 cars from 80 manufacturers. The game also features 51 tracks, many of which are new or modified versions of old Gran Turismo favorites, with some notable real-world additions.
87
/100
Burnout 3: Takedown
Take anarchic driving destruction on a world tour and experience the pure arcade adrenaline-rush of Burnout 3: Takedown. Combine aggressive high-speed racing with the ultimate in slamming crash action to boost your way to the top. Takedown the competition across the USA, Europe and the Far East in over 60 Race events, or crush all comers with Burnout 3: Takedown's junction-jamming Crash event pileups. Push it to the next level with five competitive multiplayer models, then move the mayhem online to compete against up to seven players. Reap the rewards of dangerous driving, earning Crash $ and Burnout Points to unlock over 60 hot vehicles, coveted skill trophies, front-page headlines and much more. (Source PS2 Game Manual)
94
/100
02
S
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Returning after his mother's murder to the semi-fictional city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles), Carl Johnson, a former gang banger, must take back the streets for his family and friends by gaining respect and once again gaining control over the streets. However, a story filled with crime, lies and corruption will lead him to trudge the entire state of San Andreas (based on California and Nevada) to rebuild his life.
93
/100
03
Gran Turismo 4
Gran Turismo 4 is a racing video game, and the fourth installment in the Gran Turismo series. It is also the final game to support the Sony PlayStation 2. Gran Turismo 4 is one of only four titles for the PlayStation 2 that is capable of 1080i output. GT4 was delayed for over a year and a half by Polyphony Digital, and had its online mode removed. The game features over 700 cars from 80 manufacturers. The game also features 51 tracks, many of which are new or modified versions of old Gran Turismo favorites, with some notable real-world additions.
87
/100
04
FlatOut
FlatOut is adrenaline-filled muscle car racing game packed with explosive physics, spectacular effects and graphics, innovative game play mechanics and good old fun!
80
/100
05
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Colin McRae Rally and more recently; Dirt, is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters. Colin McRae Rally and Dirt 2 have since been developed and published for Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. Started in 1998, the franchise has been a critical and commercial success and is generally acknowledged as a pioneer of realistic rally sports racing games. The series is named after the World Rally Championship driver Colin McRae, who provided technical advice during development. Despite McRae's death in September 2007, Codemasters retained the use of his name on their rally games until the release of Dirt 3, where the moniker was dropped.
80
/100
06
Need for Speed: Underground 2
Need For Speed Underground 2 takes place in Bayview after the events of Need for Speed: Underground. The prologue begins with the player driving in a Nissan 350Z in Olympic City (though the racing scenes are actually in Bayview), the setting of NFS:UG. He then receives a race challenge from a rather ominous personality who offers him a spot on his crew, but "won't take 'no' for an answer." The player races off — despite Samantha's warnings — only to be ambushed by a mysterious driver in a rage that totals his Skyline. The driver, who has a unique scythe tattoo, makes a call confirming the accident, and the flashback fades out.
78
/100
07
Scrapland
In this game by American McGee you play as D-Tritus, a robot new to Scrapland, an asteroid inhabited entirely by robots inside a giant debris field, who has to stop someone from killing several important robots and taking over Scrapland. "SCRAPLAND is a third person action-adventure game set in a stunningly beautiful and futuristic world occupied by an amazing array of robotic characters. The play experience is driven by a solidly engaging, sometimes humorous adventure narrative. The game mechanic combines proven GTA3 style emergent action with an immersive storyline, diversity of player actions, and complete freedom of movement through the world. Throughout the game the player can: transform into any of 15 character types inheriting unique abilities, build and pilot ships with hundreds of permutations, engage in explosive combat, participate in life-on-the-line races, and freely explore a truly dynamic and living world."
72
/100
08
Driv3r
In the game you take the role of Tanner, the undercover cop from previous Driver games, as he infiltrates a worldwide high-performance car theft ring. Nothing is too dangerous or too risky for Tanner, and you'll be able to hop into any car, truck, or motorcycle and cruise the streets of three re-created cities with over 156 miles of roads, from Miami, Nice, and Istanbul in over 25 storyline missions. Meet up with characters from previous driver games, the story line lives on in this installment.
51
/100
FlatOut
FlatOut is adrenaline-filled muscle car racing game packed with explosive physics, spectacular effects and graphics, innovative game play mechanics and good old fun!
80
/100
05
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Colin McRae Rally and more recently; Dirt, is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters. Colin McRae Rally and Dirt 2 have since been developed and published for Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. Started in 1998, the franchise has been a critical and commercial success and is generally acknowledged as a pioneer of realistic rally sports racing games. The series is named after the World Rally Championship driver Colin McRae, who provided technical advice during development. Despite McRae's death in September 2007, Codemasters retained the use of his name on their rally games until the release of Dirt 3, where the moniker was dropped.
80
/100
06
Need for Speed: Underground 2
Need For Speed Underground 2 takes place in Bayview after the events of Need for Speed: Underground. The prologue begins with the player driving in a Nissan 350Z in Olympic City (though the racing scenes are actually in Bayview), the setting of NFS:UG. He then receives a race challenge from a rather ominous personality who offers him a spot on his crew, but "won't take 'no' for an answer." The player races off — despite Samantha's warnings — only to be ambushed by a mysterious driver in a rage that totals his Skyline. The driver, who has a unique scythe tattoo, makes a call confirming the accident, and the flashback fades out.
78
/100
07
Scrapland
In this game by American McGee you play as D-Tritus, a robot new to Scrapland, an asteroid inhabited entirely by robots inside a giant debris field, who has to stop someone from killing several important robots and taking over Scrapland. "SCRAPLAND is a third person action-adventure game set in a stunningly beautiful and futuristic world occupied by an amazing array of robotic characters. The play experience is driven by a solidly engaging, sometimes humorous adventure narrative. The game mechanic combines proven GTA3 style emergent action with an immersive storyline, diversity of player actions, and complete freedom of movement through the world. Throughout the game the player can: transform into any of 15 character types inheriting unique abilities, build and pilot ships with hundreds of permutations, engage in explosive combat, participate in life-on-the-line races, and freely explore a truly dynamic and living world."
72
/100
08
Driv3r
In the game you take the role of Tanner, the undercover cop from previous Driver games, as he infiltrates a worldwide high-performance car theft ring. Nothing is too dangerous or too risky for Tanner, and you'll be able to hop into any car, truck, or motorcycle and cruise the streets of three re-created cities with over 156 miles of roads, from Miami, Nice, and Istanbul in over 25 storyline missions. Meet up with characters from previous driver games, the story line lives on in this installment.
51
/100
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Racing game of 2004?
Burnout 3: Takedown currently tops the ranking with a score of 94/100 across 161 ratings. Ranking updated September 2026.
How is this ranking built?
Games are ranked on their aggregated critic score out of 100, with a minimum vote threshold so a single glowing review never outranks a proven classic; the Tier community's own F-to-S grades are shown alongside each game.