I kind of like a mix. I put the most time into Wreckfest over any other game I can think of during the past ten years.

I think Wreckfest doesn’t quite have rubber banding.
What it has is an AI on the highest difficulty setting that prioritises hitting the human player at any cost.
So an AI will completely wipe out its own chances of a podium finish if it sees the chance to take you off the track.

Hopefully they find a bit more balance with that with their next game where they are still more aggressive against the human driver at the top level, but have some semblance of self preservation at the same time.

Kind of weird having them being so crazy near the player, but focused on racing clean with tight lines a few car lengths in front and behind.

My first racing game was Pole Position. I remember it had billboards for Tang and Dentyne gum.

One of my early favorite racers was The Great American Cross Country Road Race, which was a sequel to Activision's 2600 game Enduro for the Atari 8-bit computers. It was a sort of precursor to games like OutRun and Cruis'n USA.

I remember Daytona USA, Ridge Racer, and Cruis'n USA in the mid-90s and how they were used as proving grounds for the Saturn, PS1, and N64, respectively.

I did try Gran Turismo and Forza in the 2000s. They really weren't what I look for in racing.

Nowadays, the only racing game I really play is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It pretty much satisfies any racing needs I have and is one of three or four online games I play regularly. I'm playing it now. I think Mario Kart spoiled me for more conventional racing games. Much more fun to lob turtle shells at people.

I'm more of an arcade racing fan rather than realistic simulators.

Crash Team Racing, Need for Speed, Midnight Club, Motorstorm, Modnation Racers, were some of my favorite racing games ever. I could never get into Driveclub, Forza Motorsport, or Gran Turismo. I never played much Mario Kart aside from having people over but I think its one of the few racing series that I would enjoy. With that said, the racing genre is one I fell off of hard, I haven't played a racing game thoroughly since Modnation Racers.

I was super into Super Off-Road in arcades. That was the only game I could get my dad to play against me. It was/is an incredible multiplayer game.

The 1st F-Zero holds a special place in my heart. I felt like I was good at it and even timed myself/friends on tracks like Death Wind.

San Francisco RUSH and 2049 were a lot of fun for all the hidden shortcuts you would find plus the ramps gave you major hang time.

Wave Race and Blue storm were delightful for all the water physics and ramp tricks. Again, I actually felt like I was good at this series. Love the graphics.

Wreckless for Xbox was a visual masterpiece! So much particle destruction and glittering flare!!!!! The sheer amount of consideration for what was in your way is astounding.

I was never good at realistic racers. I tried to get into Tokyo Xtreme Racer but it wasn’t for me.

I probably spent the most time on Hydro Thunder!

More into sims. Forza motorsport 5 and 7 have ben played to death as well as F1 games.

Loooking forward to forza 8.

I really only like Mario Kart.

Realistic racers and even things like Need for Speed are beyond boring to me.

I played Need for Speed II a whole lot back in the days. It was an amzing little game, too bad newer entries of the series suck so bad.
When I got my PSP in 2005, I played Ridge Racer and enjoyed it quite a bit. And of course I played Mario Kart since the very first one on the SNES and you really can't go wrong with that game.

Other than that I don't play too many racing games. I remember getting Gran Turismo for the PS4 when I got the PSVR. But the graphics were just utterly disgusting, Driveclub looked a whole lot better. Oh, and Wipeout in VR was pretty darn amazing!

All in all I prefer arcade style racing games. I don't need realism. That is true for every genre in my case though.

I'm a GT fanatic =p
But karts are also good for some fun (don't play them regularly) and arcade racing usually I don't care much, but have played a few NFS.

Simcade Driveclub was a pretty good game though.

I don't play many racers so I'm just picking my favorites from each subgenre :
Hydro Thunder did what Wave Race didn't do correctly, race in the "open" instead of slalom around pillars.
Forza 2 because you had to work for stuff whereas the latest editions are getting you in OP cars after a few spins. ( and the only edition i didn't mind doing endurance races )
Need for speed underground, drifting, drag races it did everything that the fast and the furious made you want to do.
Mario Kart i'm generally indifferent which one is the best, i rate those before the gamecube version lower due to "2D" and shitty rainbow roads