Three, Two, One, GO! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Super Mario Kart

'Super Mario Kart' started the 'Mario Kart' phenomenon in 1992-93, and instantly became a favourite with gamers. Eight characters from the 'Mario' series pitted their driving skills against each other in a series of cups, each containing a set number of races.

Item boxes on the track awarded any driver who drove over them with a random item which they could use to get a speed boost or disrupt a driver ahead of them. Coins littered around the track increased the kart's speed when collected, but were lost when the kart crashed into a hazard or was hit by another player's item.

The second game in the series, 'Mario Kart 64', was released in 1996-97 for the Nintendo 64.

Answer: F-Zero X

In much the same way that 'Mario Kart 64' moved into the world of three-dimensional graphics for its debut on the Nintendo 64, 'F-Zero X' stood out from the rest due to its difficulty and intense but enjoyable gameplay. Unlike its 'Mario Kart' counterpart, graphically, it wasn't up to the same standard. One of the most notable things about 'F-Zero X' was the low detail when it came to graphics.

The hardware limitations of the Nintendo 64, coupled with the fast-paced gameplay of the game, meant that the quality of the graphics suffered in favour of the game running smoothly at a frame rate of 60 FPS.

Despite this, though, critics and gamers alike praised the game, and it became one of the most popular titles in the Nintendo 64 era.

Answer: Gran Turismo

'Gran Turismo's slogan does indeed come into effect when playing any of the games in the series. Players start out with a relatively poor car and use it to win various races and earn credits, which they can then spend on new cars or tuning up existing ones. Polyphony went to great lengths to ensure that the series is as realistic as possible, ensuring the cars handled very much their real-life counterparts, and the environments and race tracks were exactly as they were outside the game. All in all, the series has been a modest success, consistently being some of the most popular racing games on PlayStation consoles.

Answer: Colin McRae

This series honours Colin McRae, a British rally car driver who won the World Rally Championship in 1995 and who helped with the development of the first title, offering tips and advice based on his own rally experiences. The first game, 'Colin McRae Rally', hit the shelves in 1998-99 for the PlayStation and PC.

The game's popularity saw many sequels appear in later years. Sadly, Colin McRae passed away in 2007, but his name still lived on in a few more Codemasters games, before the release of 'Dirt 3' where the 'Colin McRae' name was removed from the title.

Answer: Need for Speed

'Need for Speed' has for many years been a popular racing series, and over its lifetime, development has shifted between studios, though its publisher has always remained as Electronic Arts. 'The Need for Speed' was the very first title in the series, created by Distinctive Software (later EA Canada), and was released in 1994 for the 3DO and being ported across to other consoles from 1995 onwards.

The series focuses on illegal street racing and being able to improve and customise vehicles, with some games in the series actually involving police chases and evading capture.

Answer: Diddy Kong Racing

Adding to the Nintendo 64's repertoire of fun racing games was 'Diddy Kong Racing', a game that has seen some of its characters achieve very high success in their own series, most notably Banjo and Conker in the 'Banjo-Kazooie' series and in the short-lived but cult classic 'Conker's Bad Fur Day', respectively.

The basic racing formula is present - pick a character, pick a vehicle, pick a race, and off you go. Despite being compared to 'Mario Kart 64', 'Diddy Kong Racing' did fare well, with some critics preferring this game to the former.

Answer: ModNation Racers

While the karting genre has totally been done to death, United Front Games sought to shake up the formula a bit by introducing User Generated Content to their game, 'ModNation Racers'. Players can create their very own tracks and then upload them to the PlayStation Network where other players from around the world can race on them.

This simple but highly effective element, which took its inspiration from 'LittleBigPlanet', saw it gain positive reviews from those in the business, and good sales. A sequel, 'ModNation Racers: Road Trip', developed by San Diego Studio who co-developed on the original title, hit shelves in 2012 for the PlayStation Vita.

Answer: Wipeout

'Wipeout', the first game in the series, was released in 1995-96, and was instantly singled out from the rest for its unique setting and fast-paced atmosphere. Featuring a kicking electronic soundtrack, the game set in motion one of the most popular racing series to be created. 'Wipeout 2097' came in 1996-97, 'Wipout Fusion' in 2002, 'Wipeout HD' in 2008, and 'Wipeout 2048' in 2012, though these aren't the only titles in the series.

Answer: Jak X

Also known in some regions as 'Jak X: Combat Racing', the game doesn't form part of the official 'Jak and Daxter' series, but does reference some of the events from previous games and introduces characters that the duo have met on their travels. The game centres around Jak and his team participating in the dangerous Kras City Championship so that they can acquire the antidote to the poison which they had all unknowingly consumed.

The vehicles in the game are more akin to buggies than they are cars, though a robust customisation system allows players to change the way their vehicle looks and performs. Like the previous 'Jak and Daxter' games, this game received positive reviews from players and critics alike.

Answer: Pure

Along with racing, one of the core elements of 'Pure' is pulling off tricks to earn more points. An intuitive in-game system tracks the tricks you perform and deems a trick 'stale' if it has been used too much, or 'fresh' if it is a new trick. Performing more fresh tricks increases your score significantly, which is calculated at the end of the race, based on what position you finished in and what tricks you performed.

The game features three modes: sprint and race, which are essentially the same save for the fact that sprint is played on small tracks and race on longer tracks, and freestyle, where players try to perform as many tricks as they can before their ATV runs out of fuel and they are forced to stop.