With fewer and fewer games featuring split-screen these days (looking at you, Halo Infinite), it is getting increasingly harder to find excellent co-op experiences you can play alongside a friend on one console, especially in specific genres. The racing genre is a perfect example of one of the few remaining genres that attempt to keep this slowly fading feature in their games.
As games become more demanding and move away from the Xbox One or start removing expected features from the platform, it's easy to lose sight of the immensely fun and exhilarating racing games that thrive on last-gen hardware and offer the experience you are looking for. While the bells and whistles of current-gen are absent, these titles still hold up and are endlessly entertaining to play, which is all that matters in the end.
8 Trials Fusion
While there is a more recent release in the series with Trials Rising, Trials Fusion remains one of the best couch co-op racing experiences you can get your hands on. The futuristic setting, the detailed and robust course creator, and the immense sense of speed make for an exhilarating experience that is only enhanced when played alongside a friend.
The uniqueness of Trials' platform and physics-based racing will always be a joy to experience and sink your teeth into. This series continues to have tremendous potential, but Rising seemed to harness it the best, making it the standout choice to represent the capabilities of this franchise.
7 Redout
Instead of patiently waiting for Nintendo to reignite the F-Zero franchise, you should check out Redout. This game is clearly inspired by the series and offers a blazingly fast and unique racing experience. Despite its steep learning curve, Redout is a blast to play, more so if you're sat next to a friend in the game's split-screen co-op modes.
You will constantly upgrade your crafts, making them handle better, go even faster than before, and much more, which makes this game inherently much more complex than most other racing games, but it's worth the time and effort it takes to get the hang of its systems. There is nothing like Redout on the market, making it a must-try for fans of the genre, especially F-Zero.
6 Forza Motorsport 7
When in doubt, play Forza Motorsport. It will fill any racing void you may have in your soul. Despite being five years old at this point, Forza Motorsport 7 still looks and performs extraordinarily well on the Xbox One, and its split-screen co-op mode is a dream come true if you and a friend want to kick back and experience one of the best racing sims together.
Unfortunately, this will be the last Forza Motorsport game on the Xbox One, as the next one will be exclusive to the Xbox Series consoles and PC, so enjoy it while it lasts. Forza Motorsport has been a staple of the Xbox for quite some time now, making this entry an expected but well-deserved one.
5 Trackmania Turbo
Moving to a game that's the polar opposite of Forza Motorsport 7, we have the arcade racer Trackmania Turbo. Trackmania Turbo is the perfect split-screen co-op experience, offering one of the well-designed tracks, over-the-top chaos, and adrenaline every single second you're racing.
Trackmania Turbo is calling your name if you're looking for a stakes-free, casual, and relentlessly fun racing game. Aside from its wide range of gamemodes, you can also craft your own tracks to race on, adding near-endless tracks for you to download and race alongside your friends.
4 Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a remake of the 1999 classic Crash Team Racing and was released as part of the restoration of the series, which eventually led to an all-new Crash Bandicoot game several years later. While no Mario Kart, Crash Team Racing is still an excellent arcade kart racer that will have you on the edge of your seat throughout the course.
Despite implementing microtransactions, Nitro-Fueled is a faithful recreation of the original that many players know and love from years ago, offering lots of content and endless amounts of exhilaratingly fun kart action. On the Xbox One, there is nothing quite like this game on the market, making it one of the best party split-screen racers out there that's not exclusive to a Nintendo platform.
3 Dirt 5
If Forza Motorsport 7 is your simulation racing game, then Dirt 5 is the more arcadey version of that, making it one of the most accessible racing titles on the Xbox One. Dirt 5 looks excellent, handles smoothly, and offers an immediately fun split-screen racing experience, giving you lots of courses to drive on with a near-endless amount of cars.
In short, if you love driving real-life cars but don't want to worry about adequately tuning them or how to take turns correctly, Dirt 5 is an excellent choice for you. While you won't get the level of quality expected from the Forza series, you will still get fun and interesting courses and a bunch of fast cars to drive around on.
2 F1 22
Growing ever more popular by the minute is Formula One Racing, simplified as F1, and F1 22 showcases the beautifully unique design of the F1 cars. The ultra-fast-paced nature of the sport is exhilarating to play and experience, and the Xbox One surprisingly holds up well in terms of visuals, performance, and split-screen capabilities.
F1 22 may seem daunting to many outsiders, but the game can be just as complex as you want it to be, allowing you to tune down the more demanding settings to make it a more welcoming and fun experience for newcomers. If you've ever wanted to dive into F1 with a friend, F1 22 will be as good a place to start as any.
1 Riptide GP: Renegade
Lastly, we have Riptide GP: Renegade, an exhilarating hyrdojet-based racing game that offers tons of content, in-depth courses, and much more. Each stage will have shortcuts to discover, secrets to find, and death-defying stunts for you to pull off as you speed weave through the water, trying to lose the cops hot on your trail.
Riptide GP: Renegade is an excellent couch co-op experience, allowing you to make use of nearly everything it offers while sitting alongside a few friends. With the unfortunate lack of water-based racing games of late, it's fantastic to see one as fun and engaging as this make its way to the Xbox One.