5 racing series that DESERVE their own game

We love the official F1 game, even if we wish Codemasters would expand the junior ladder in-game. We're excited by WRC 10, even with its unforgiving learning curve. An official IndyCar game is also on its way. What other racing series deserve the full-on official game treatment?

IMSA SportsCar Championship

IMSA is the American cousin of the Le Mans organisers the ACO and they manage their own ladder of sports car racing series, from the super-competitive Mazda MX-5 Cup and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo up to the headline championship. This is multi-class racing like the World Endurance Championship and it travels to all of the greatest circuits in the USA.

There isn't a track on the calendar that I wouldn't include in my ultimate fantasy racing game. It also could have a career mode where you start off in the Mazdas or in the touring cars and work your way up to the Daytona Prototype class.

While a lot of these circuits and many of the vehicles appear in other games, I'd still shell out for an IMSA game that packaged all of this up into one bundle.

Extreme E

This series is very much in its infancy, with rules still being tweaked round to round. Electric SUVs compete in a range of stunning locations, from the beaches of Senegal to the glaciers of Greenland. They're first against the clock and then racing head-to-head in semi-finals and finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBfgk-CR40o

Extreme E is a new and amazing motorsport category

We like Extreme E for its message of reversing climate change and the brilliant decision to make each car be shared between a male and a female driver. This has given rally talents like Catie Munnings and Molly Taylor a chance to show their skills against the greatest on dirt, such as Sebastian Loeb and Johan Kristoffersson. But what we like best is that this is just fantastic racing and we'd love to give this a go.

British Touring Car Championship

It's been 23 years since the classic TOCA 2 was released and I just want to see circuits like Thruxton and Croft recreated in a modern video game. There's potential to have a career ladder including the Ginetta Junior series or the Mini Challenge. With a mixture of front and rear-wheel-drive cars in the main BTCC series there is opportunity to master the different types of driving.

Again, some cars from the BTCC and some circuits on the calendar (well, Brands Hatch and Silverstone) do appear in modern games but we want the full experience.

Icelandic Formula Offroad

Competing to ascend quarry walls and traverse lakes, Icelandic Formula Offroad has a bit of a cult following. If you're not familiar, here's the most recent round in Hafnarfjordur:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hfb-xcUgfU

Icelandic Formula Offroad is some of the most extreme motorsport around

You might have seen Top Gear presenters Chris Harris and Andrew Flintoff taking part in a recent episode. The rules are relatively straightforward: head from the start to the finish while clipping or missing as few marker points as possible. There are additional penalty points for reversing, as well as some stages which are against the clock.

This would make a great game for a range of reasons. The stages frequently look impossible but these crazy custom-built machines rip through the terrain like nothing else. With realistic physics and surface deformation, it'd be a hugely challenging but highly rewarding skill to master.

Formula E

Now an official FIA World Championship, and run on entirely unique circuits with the kind of qualifying format that keeps every driver in the championship hunt, there is plenty to love in Formula E.

While some major manufacturers are now leaving the series, it has seen plenty of sensationally talented drivers compete and is still a hotbed for electric vehicle innovation.

With the best Formula E content currently found in rFactor 2, there is plenty of scope to create a standalone game that lets you chase the crown through season after season of action.