The Wii U was a strange place to be a racing fan. A lot of the big racing series skipped it, and the ones that did show up often came late. What the system did get, though, it got right, and the GamePad gave a few of these games tricks the other consoles never had.
Sega brought its whole cast to the launch. EA sent over Criterion's open-world Need for Speed with the extra content already on the disc, and the small studio Shin'en made one of the fastest games the console ever ran. Here are the 6 best Wii U racing games.
6. Cars 3: Driven to Win (2017)
Cars 3: Driven to Win is a racing game from Avalanche Software, published by Warner Bros. and based on the 2017 film of the same name. It is the sequel to Cars: The Video Game and Cars 2, and it came out in North America in June 2017, a few months after the Switch had launched. Besides the normal races there is Thomasville Playground, a sandbox mode where you can do stunts or just cruise around town. In the Master Level Events you race against bosses.
Players hardly ever brought this one up, so it earns its spot through the outlets that cover Wii U racers. Fatso Gamer calls it "a fun and accessible racing experience for players of all ages", and it also sits on OpenCritic's list of Wii U racers. It is a game for kids first, and it knows that. If you have one in the house and a Wii U under the TV, it is an easy pick.
5. F1 Race Stars (2012)
F1 Race Stars is the first kart racer Codemasters ever made, a cartoon spin-off from its serious Formula One games that first came out in November 2012. It is loosely based on the 2012 Formula One season, with the real circuits redesigned around loops and jumps. All 12 teams and 24 drivers that started that season are playable, so you can put Michael Schumacher in a kart and point him at Lewis Hamilton. Codemasters said it was designed to put entertainment ahead of simulation. The Wii U port, the Powered Up Edition, arrived in January 2014.
That late arrival is part of why so few Wii U owners remember it, and it lands here on the word of the outlets that cover the console's racers. Fatso Gamer calls it "a fun and lighthearted kart racing game", and WhatOPlay ranks the Powered Up Edition among the Wii U's best racers as well. Just do not count on racing anyone online: the servers were shut down on 21 March 2024.
4. Need for Speed Most Wanted U (2013)
Most Wanted is the nineteenth Need for Speed, made by Criterion Games and first released on the other consoles in 2012. It takes the style of the first Most Wanted, minus a story, and drops you into an open city where Autolog keeps comparing your times with your friends' times. It won Best Driving Game at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards. The Wii U version came out in March 2013 with the Ultimate Speed Pack included as standard, although it never got three of the later DLC packs.
Players point to the GamePad as the reason to pick this version. A second person can play co-driver on it while you race, distracting cops and scouting out the map. They also say it is the best-looking console version, because it was built from the PC version. One fan called it "a very simple, but fun racing game", and that is the honest pitch.
3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012)
Transformed was a Wii U launch title in North America and Europe, and its name is its big idea: your car turns into a boat or a plane depending on the stretch of track. Some tracks even change as you race through them, so one lap can play quite differently from the next. The weapons include exploding hot rod engines and swarms of wasps, and in the Japanese version the blowfish are swapped for garbage Puyos from Puyo Puyo. The Wii U version also got one extra racer based on the console's avatar system.
It received positive reviews, and critics praised both the roster and the big improvements over the first game. It is often called one of the best kart racers outside the Mario Kart series, and players agree, putting it on their lists of Wii U must-plays again and again. Nobody else on the Wii U came this close to the plumber.
2. Fast Racing Neo (2015)
Fast Racing Neo is Shin'en Multimedia's sequel to Fast Racing League, released on the eShop in December 2015, with a boxed version later only in Europe and Australia. Its main trick is the phase system: parts of the track are either blue or orange, and switching your vehicle to the matching color gives you a speed boost. Get it wrong at the wrong moment and you can watch the whole pack fly past. Shin'en said the game's Hero Mode was inspired by F-Zero. The sequel, Fast RMX, launched alongside the Switch in March 2017.
Critics gave it generally positive reviews, and OpenCritic ranks it second among Wii U racers. With Nintendo keeping F-Zero on the shelf, players treat it as the F-Zero game the Wii U never got. If you want a racer where skill decides the race instead of a lucky item, this is the one players send you to.
1. Mario Kart 8 (2014)
Nintendo confirmed Mario Kart 8 in a January 2013 Nintendo Direct, unveiled it at E3 2013 and released it in May 2014. Its big addition was anti-gravity sections that changed how you approach the courses. Both paid and free DLC followed, with new tracks and a new difficulty setting. Critics praised the gameplay and the presentation, though the battle mode was criticized. It became the best-selling Wii U game at 8.46 million copies, and Deluxe, the Switch version, is the best-selling Switch game at 71.08 million.
Players recommend it far more than any other Wii U racer, and many of them call it the best Mario Kart ever made. Critics see Deluxe as the definitive version, but the original with its DLC still holds up on the Wii U. A sequel, Mario Kart World, finally arrived as a Switch 2 launch title in 2025.
Which one to play
There you have it, the whole list of the best Wii U racing games. The console never had many, but the top of this list is as good as racing got in its day.
If you are not sure where to start, play Mario Kart 8. If you want pure speed and do not mind losing a lot, Fast Racing Neo is the one. For a kart racer that gets you out of the car now and then, pick Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. If you would rather drive real cars through an open city, Need for Speed Most Wanted U is the version players prefer. For racing with small kids, Cars 3 is made for it. And for a hidden pick, try F1 Race Stars.
