Ranking All 16 Crash Team Racing Tracks

Hockey hasn’t started yet. Basketball hasn’t started yet.

There’s not a lot to write about in between football weeks.

So, when a friend of mine asked me to rank all 16 Crash Team Racing (CTR) tracks, I figured “why not?”

Without further adieu, ranked from 16-1, here is my list of CTR tracks.

16. Coco Park

We start with the track for novices.

There aren’t many jumps. There are no shortcuts. The track is just an oval.

It may as well be a NASCAR track. And I love NASCAR, but when I’m driving around as a dingo/crocodile hybrid (yes I strictly use Dingodile) I want something a little more in depth and fun than a copy of Chicagoland.

15. Dragon Mines

Dragon Mines is similar to Coco Park in the sense that there aren’t many fun aspects of the track. It’s just more complex than an oval.

That’s not going to help you rank wise, especially when a big part of it is a horrible boardwalk section that I can never get right.

It frustrates me.

14. Roo’s Tubes

Another not very exciting track, which makes sense as it is part of the first world where the tracks are generally easier as you get through the game.

But the other easy track’s don’t have Ripper Roo in them.

And just imagine driving this boring track while having to listen to this…

13. Mystery Caves

Mystery Caves got its name from the mystery of which turtle’s back would be raised to jump off and which side the giant fireball was going to be coming up from.

Tricky!

Well, it would be if it wasn’t so easy to figure out which one was going to do which.

But again, it’s in the first world. It’s going to be easier.

12. Sewer Speedway

This one has a bit more obstacles which make it a bit more tricky, but it’s still just lots of barrels going from side to side to run someone over.

While it’s harder than the previous, it’s still relatively boring and a lazy way to make things tough on the player.

11. Cortex Castle

Cortex Castle is the first track on the list that I genuinely find fun, so having it rated 11th out of 16 may seem a little harsh.

But this track would have shot so far up the list if every single turn wasn’t exactly 90 degrees.

Make the track a bit more flowing, I wouldn’t play any other track.

10. Tiger Temple

Tiger Temple is a classic.

It’s like a version of Coco Park in that it’s very straightforward, but lots of jumps and shortcuts make it so that you don’t know what to expect every time you race there.

9. Crash Cove

We’re at roughly the halfway point, so why not put the first ever track you race on here.

Crash Cove is like Tiger Temple in the sense that it is a classic. It’s not difficult, but it’s still quite fun.

The perfect middle ground.

8. Tiny Arena

Tiny Arena is shameless theft of Wario Stadium from Mario Kart 64.

Although, I get why they stole from it. That’s one of my favorite tracks in that game.

Still, you have to lose points when you don’t even try to differentiate yourself from the thing you’re stealing.

7. Dingo Canyon

You know I had to put Dingodile’s home track high up the list.

But even without bias, this is a fun track.

There are multiple paths and loads of power up boxes to make sure the racing stays close.

It’s a slightly more advanced and difficult version of Tiny Temple and Crash Cove.

6. Oxide Station

Now we start getting into the really fun tracks.

Oxide Station is an absolute blast. There are so many jumps and speed boosts that you are flying through a hefty majority of this track.

But there’s no danger factor.

There are no places you can screw up. No places you can fall off.

It’s just a very fast track, which makes it great in it’s own right.

Just not the best.

5. Hot Air Skyway

And at 5 we have a track with much more danger than Oxide Station but just a tiny less fun to drive.

But despite it being a less fun version of Oxide Station, the constant threat of falling off at any corner and being passed on multiple paths and shortcuts give it the edge.

Not to brag, but I am quite good at this children’s game where a 26 year old probably should be better than the other AI competitors.

Despite this, I finished 5th out 8th at Hot Air Skyway.

It’s tough. It will humble you.

Not that I was getting an ego from playing this kids game…

4. Polar Pass

Polar Pass is almost as good as it gets.

In a lot of other situations, it’d be number 1.

There are some multiple paths, extremely fun and fast jumps.

It’s almost perfect. There’s just a little bit of things that are better than it.

3. Papu’s Pyramid

Remember earlier when I talked about how Cortex Castle needed some turns that weren’t 90 degrees so it could be a bit more flowing?

That’s what you get with Papu’s Pyramid.

There are still some 90 degree turns around the pyramid itself, but the rest of the track are wide and banked turns to make it easier to drift and get boosts.

Throw in multiple paths, shortcuts and unforgiving piranha plants, and you have the third best track in the game.

2. Blizzard Bluff

I could talk about Blizzard Bluff for a while, but I’ll just talk about the last bit of the track.

Because it is so fast.

If you get all the jumps and boosts correctly, you are flying through the last half. It may be the fastest you go in the game apart from Oxide Station.

And right when you’re going as fast as possible and can see the finish line, you’re rewarded with a sheet of ice that will slow you down in an instant if you aren’t going straight on and need to correct yourself.

When replaying the tracks again to make this list, I legitimately tied at this track because I got the ice wrong at the very end.

Seriously. The game gave it as a tie.

Which is very lazy of Naugthy Dog to not dive into the milliseconds to see who got the win, but whatever I guess.

1. N Gin Labs

And finally, we have the best of the best.

Super fun corners? It’s got it.

How about a ton of speed? Oh yeah, it’s got that too.

So what makes it the clear number 1?

The Rainbow Road effect.

There are no barriers on the side of the track. Just drops and pit falls.

You can go from first to last with one mistake and falling off the track.

N Gin Labs is incredibly fun but wildly unforgiving.

It can be incredible or it can be frustrating.

It is the best track in Crash Team Racing.