"Drivers, fire your engines. Three, two, one, GO!!!" What follows is the sound of tires screeching (sans the smell of burning rubber), engines screaming, and horns honking. Almost instantly you find yourself in a frenzy, flooring the gas pedal, shifting gears, maneuvering through the crowd of cars, all in an effort to get that vital lead upfront. In case you are wondering what in the name of God have I been talking about, let me clear the air. I've been referring to Need for Speed, which happens to be one of those crazy car games (which I must admit, are equally popular if not more with adults!). Car racing games have completely revolutionized the term 'PC' games. Kids (and just about everyone else) have taken to car racing games like a fish to water. They are extremely enjoyable, addictive, and thrilling. There is an ever-increasing number of computer car games to play online. And the best part is, most of these games are free! Here is a list of some of the most popular games for kids who fancy having a speed monster in their porch! Computer Car Games The following is a list of the most popular games that you need to install on your computer before you can play them:

• Need for Speed
• Monster Truck Madness
• Formula 1 Grand Prix
• Nascar '09
• Midtown Madness
• Burnout Paradise
• Dirt 2
• Race Driver: Grid
• Test Drive Unlimited
• Blur
• Muscle Car 3
• Midnight Club
• Hard Truck - Wheels of Steel
• Forza 3
• Grand Turismo 4

Online Car Games In addition to the above, there are plenty of online car games that kids can play. Most of them are free and do not require any installation.

• Burning Rubber 3
• Extreme Trucks 2
• Police Pursuit
• Rural Racer
• Vengeance Rider
• Crazy Mustang Monster Truck
• Redline Rumble
• Metal Mayhem
• Sunset Racer 2
• Park My Ride 2
• Hey Taxi
• Dune Buggy
• Ice Racer
• Hell Cops
• Speeding Wheels
• Ambulance Rush
• Drift Runners
• London Bus
• Vroom
• The Fast and The Furious
• Zip Zaps
• Counter Drift
• Speed Racer
• Brakeless
• Power Driving
• Pimp My Ride
• Mercedes Drift
• Cheetah Chase
• Grand Prix Challenge
• Microracers 2
• Mafia Driver
• Santa Car Driving
• Desert Rally
• Highway Madness
• Tubo Tanks

Computer car racing games do offer certain benefits as well.

• They help in developing a child's skills in the areas of image processing, real-time response, cognitive processing, etc.
• It has been found that car games help in improving hand-eye coordination, and in making kids understand the concept of parallel parking.
• Additionally, today's computer games are designed for multiple operating systems. Therefore, if your child likes a certain popular car racing game, in most cases you can install it regardless of which operating system you have on your desktop computer.

In addition to the above computer games, car racing games are also widely available in the form of Xbox 360 games which are a current rage among kids. With the availability of plenty of free car games for the little ones to play, parents can surely take a breather from buying endless amount of toys. However, it often happens that kids get so engrossed in these games that they sometimes tend to ignore their studies and their homework. Therefore, parents must ensure that such a situation does not arise by being firm if things begin to get out of hand.