Oh geeze... I've always loved racing games. Growing up, I remember playing the Pole Position arcade game at the local movie theater (it was still there last time I went, too). I'm not sure if Spy Hunter on the NES counts or not, but it was good fun. Top Gear and Top Gear 2 on SNES were favorites of a friend and myself. I've owned several of the earlier Need for Speed games on the PS1, as well as Gran Turismo 1 and 2 (GT1 was just mind blowing at the time -- I remember buying up a Mitsubishi 3000GT and getting it up to 999 horsepower
). I've probably rented or played most other racing games for the PS1 and 2. There's also a a 4-wheeler racing game called ATV Offroad Fury that was particularly good fun to duel with my friends.
I've always been a fan of RPG's as well, and got hooked on EverQuest for a long time (years), so that pretty much dominated my gaming for a while. I also did brief stints in EQ2, WoW, and Vanguard Beta before finally giving those MMORPG's up for good... they're just too time consuming when you're "all grown up" and have to pay the bills and do all that other "important" stuff. I've got LFS now and a nice G25 wheel, so that's been soaking up what little free time I have nowadays (when there's not a real race on).
Oddly enough, though, despite growing up loving racing games, I never was truly interested in motorsports until my high school girlfriend's father took me to the local short track one Saturday night. Being there and taking in all the sounds and smells, I was just sucked right in and hooked for life. Nothing else can really get my blood pumping like the the screaming growl of a race engine, vibrating sheet metal, and noxious exhaust fumes.