Shacknews Best Racing Game of 2022 - Buck Up and Drive!

Racing was pretty fun in 2022 gaming. We got ourselves a decent variety of sims and arcade racing experiences to take us through the year, not the least of which were F1 2022, Gran Turismo 7, and Need for Speed Unbound. However, it was a much more modest (if not completely ridiculous) contender that captured our hearts in 2022. Fábio Fontes rocked our socks off with their hard-to-the-paint racer in Buck Up and Drive! and, in doing so, captured the podium for our Shacknews Award of Best Racing Game of 2022.

Buck Up and Drive! is an arcade racer in the vein of classic titles such as OutRun and Cruis’n USA. You race against the clock to try to hit checkpoints before time runs out. Along the way, you have to contend with other traffic, the police, and rival drivers at various points of the trek. Moreover, the game features an absolutely ridiculous trick system that includes being able to do jumps and flips and grind your vehicle on guard rails along the edge of the road.

If it wasn’t enough that Buck Up and Drive! features an insane array of arcade racing awesomeness, it’s also a highly challenging and rewarding game. It’s quite difficult to get to later sections and checkpoints of the game. You’re going to have to go white-knuckle on the wheel if you want to defeat some of the rivals and make the checkpoint before time runs out. New car types and other fun cosmetic customizations are the fruits that await you for your efforts.

There was a lot of incredible racing to be had in 2022, but Buck Up and Drive! stood out for just how fun and ridiculous the game was in its checkpoint-chasing arcade-racing style. That’s why it’s the Shacknews Best Racing Game of 2022.

Check out our Year of the Games: 2022 article to see all of the other Shacknews Awards that have been announced so far.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.