Extreme G (N64)

Forget F-Zero, this game came first and although it isn't as good you shouldn't compare it to F-Zero. The game is incredibly fast and the graphics are amazing, the way the scenery whizzes by while your going 500 miles per hour without a hint of slowdown is fantastic. There are lots of courses and bikes to unlock. The tracks are varied and very fast. The tracks are like roller coasters, except your driving against 14 other riders and they're going to stop at nothing to come first and leave you a smoking pile of wreckage by the side of the track. The weapons are the usual missiles, homing and manual, speed boosts and mines to lay to kill your opponents. These are the weapons you pick up off the track but unlike most racers you also have an onboard weapon, allbeit with limited ammo. The basic use of this weapon is not to damage your opponent, it does this as well but it more importantly slows them down. This adds a big tactical side to the racing. When you're behind some one you constantly fire your onboard gun at them untill you've past them, this leaves them going like a snail and you about 2 miles ahead.
The game does get hard as you battle your rivals through a seris of races that get longer the further through the game you get, and earn points. If you have the most poimts at the end of the tornament you earn a new bike that may or may not be better.
On the down side, the controls could have been made a little better. It is hard to make slight adjustments while going fast and therefore is hard to accurately shoot the other racers. But this aside this is a good game, not a great one but still good.