10. The Crew
The launch of a new generation of consoles is always particularly kind to racing games, able as they are to showcase new graphical capabilities and wow audiences. Both Sony and Microsoft scheduled at least one racing game to accompany their respective console launch. The Xbox One will be accompanied by Forza 5, packed to the gills with cars and courses, there's little doubt that it will continue on the series' path of unrelenting excellence. Sony's Drive Club, in the meantime has already been delayed, this was supposed to be Sony's answer to Forza, a racing game with a social side and team-based challenges, it also looks exceptionally gorgeous. So, how come we've gone with Ubisoft's The Crew then? The answer is pretty simple, Drive Club and Forza both look like safe bets, they look like graphically superior racing simulation games and for hard-core petrol-heads they're the ones to watch. The Crew on the other hand has an absolutely gigantic open-world map - we can drive through fully realized cities modelled on real locations on an estimated 5,000 sq kilometre map. What's more, the game puts a focus on teaming up with friends in a variety of modes. For instance we can form a four man 'crew' of friends to combine and compete in taking down a speeding Humvee as it careens across the expansive landscape. Put simply it will allow us to live out our own Fast and the Furious fantasies. It's somewhat baffling that no game has yet plundered that particular decade old film series for ideas, its particular brand of high speed thrills and over the top camaraderie seems tailor made for gaming. As such, The Crew could set a new standard for what to expect in racing games.