Burnout is an arcade racing game made in three-dimensional graphics. The game focuses on racing with an emphasis on crashes and dangerous driving, forcing the player to adopt an aggressive driving style and be extremely careful when cornering. The cars in the game are represented by fictional models, somewhat reminiscent of real cars, and receive realistic damage as a result of collisions.
The game features 8 competition modes:
- championship consisting of 1 or 3 races (Championship);
- single race with 3 opponents under computer control (Single Race);
- race with a second player with the ability to select the number of computer opponents and difficulty level (Head To Head);
- single race against time without computer opponents (Time Attack);
- 1 on 1 race with an opponent controlled by AI (Face Off);
- survival, in which the player must complete the race without a single accident to win (Survival);
- single race without traffic on the roads (Free Run);