Best PS4 Drag Racing Games: 6 Picks for the Strip and the Street

Updated October 3, 2026. There are only a handful of real drag racing games on PS4, and most racers treat drag as a side event. We split this list in two. First come the games built around the strip: launches, staging, gear changes and tuning. Then come the open-world racers whose drag events are good enough to keep you coming back. Every game here runs on a PS4 and, through backward compatibility, on a PS5.

The best PS4 drag racing games at a glance

Pure drag racing games

These three are built around the strip. Most of your time goes into launches, reaction times and tuning, not corners.

1. NHRA Championship Drag Racing: Speed For All

Genre: Drag racing sim. Released on PS4: August 2022. Type of drag racing: The whole game, from street cars to pro classes.

This is the only officially licensed NHRA game on PS4, and it is the closest thing to real drag racing on the console. Speed For All was developed by Team6 Game Studios and published by GameMill Entertainment. It covers the NHRA pro classes, including Top Fuel and Funny Car, with real teams, drivers and tracks.

The core loop is simple, but it takes practice. You stage the car, watch the Christmas tree and launch at the right moment, because a slow reaction time loses races that the car should win. Between rounds you tune the car and pick a strategy. The career starts in slower cars and works up to the 300+ mph pro classes, so the game teaches you as you go.

It is not a big-budget game. Menus are basic and the presentation is plain. But if you want real drag racing, it has no competition on PS4.

2. Street Outlaws 2: Winner Takes All

Genre: Street and drag racing. Released on PS4: December 2021. Type of drag racing: Main mode: street drags and grudge races.

Based on the Discovery TV show, Street Outlaws 2 takes the drag racing off the official strip and onto public roads across the United States. It comes from the same team and publisher as the NHRA game, and it plays like a looser, street-focused cousin.

You buy, build and tune cars, then race for cash and reputation. The sequel adds more cars, more locations and online races against other players. Like the first game, it is a budget release with rough edges, so manage your expectations on graphics. Still, there are very few games on PS4 where drag racing is the whole point, and this is one of the best.

3. Street Outlaws: The List

Genre: Street drag racing. Released on PS4: 2019. Type of drag racing: Main mode: climbing the List.

The first Street Outlaws game has one goal: earn a place on the List, the ranking of the top 10 street racers from the show. You build and customize cars, race your way up and take on the racers above you one by one.

The sequel does almost everything better, so start there if you can only buy one. The List is worth it if you find it cheap, or if you are a fan of the show and want more of its racers and cars.

Open-world racers with great drag events

These games are not drag racing games first. But each one has proper drag events and lets you build a car just for them.

4. Need for Speed Heat

Genre: Open-world street racer. Released on PS4: November 2019. Type of drag racing: Event type.

Heat is the best overall racer on this list. It is set in Palm City, a city based on Miami, where daytime events are legal and night races put you in trouble with the police. Drag races are one of its event types: short straight-line sprints where launch speed and top speed matter more than handling.

The real reason drag fans like Heat is its garage. Engine swaps and deep performance upgrades let you turn an ordinary car into a straight-line monster. Players still run their own drag tournaments in the game, which says a lot about how well the cars handle a straight line.

5. Need for Speed Payback

Genre: Open-world action racer. Released on PS4: November 2017. Type of drag racing: Dedicated Drag car class and events.

Payback has a dedicated Drag car class, with its own events and leagues across Fortune Valley. Drag races here are about timing: a good launch, quick gear changes and dodging slower traffic in your lane.

The story is pure action-movie nonsense, and the speed card upgrade system was widely criticized at launch. But drag races are one of Payback's more fun parts, and the game is usually very cheap now.

6. The Crew 2

Genre: Open-world motorsports. Released on PS4: June 2018. Type of drag racing: Discipline in the Street Racing family.

The Crew 2 lets you race cars, bikes, boats and planes across a scaled-down United States. Drag racing is one of its street disciplines, with its own cars and events. You have to time the launch and every gear change, so it is more involved than in most open-world racers.

Ubisoft has also added a hybrid mode, so you can now play The Crew 2 offline as well as online. That matters for a game you might still want to play years from now.

Drag racing tips that work in every game

The details change from game to game, but the basics of winning a drag race stay the same.

• Win the launch. Keep the revs in the launch zone before the start. Too few revs bogs the car down, too many spins the tires.
• Shift on time, not by ear. Watch the shift light or prompt. One late gear change can cost you more than a power upgrade gives you.
• Save nitrous for traction. Using it while the tires are still spinning wastes most of it. Hit it once the car is hooked up.
• Tune for the distance. Shorter gearing helps on a short strip. Longer gearing helps when the race runs to half a mile.
• Practice reaction time. In NHRA and Street Outlaws, a good reaction time on the tree often decides close races.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources checked on October 3, 2026 against the Steam store listings and the official trailers linked above.