Junior Boys' "Work": I find a steady beat can really help me find a groove (ha!) when hunting down lap times. I first heard this years ago in a clothing store, and it prompted me to actually download Shazam to figure it out. Admittedly, it's a bit more cruisy than pedal-to-the-floor madness, but that works in longer races.
Public Service Broadcasting's "Go!": This was a very recent addition, thanks to Spotify's Discover Weekly. My original, larger list of options had a whole bunch of French electronic music — seriously, I could've submitted 10 Daft Punk songs — but I wanted to go left-field with this. It reminds me of Random Access Memories' album-closer "Contact", what with it having space exploration voice overs and all.
LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous!": I wouldn't feel like myself if I didn't save a slot for my favourite band. The driving beat of Get Innocuous has stuck with me all these years. Gamers may remember it from
the excellent old UK ad for Grand Theft Auto IV. Try and watch that and not want to walk around everywhere with James Murphy & Co as your backing soundtrack.
Royksopp & Robyn's "Sayit": As mentioned above, I was tempted to add Daft Punk. But this topped it. This collab from a few years back is a fantastic little EP, blending Royksopp's dark electronic scores with Robyn's pure pop goodness. It might seem a little jarring, but I love the mid-track shift; it's where things really start to pick up, like the last lap of a long race.
MIA's "Born Free": Born Free feels like it was made for a driving game intro. That drum build up erupts into a distorted sample of Suicide's "Ghost Rider", and it never slows down after that. It conjures up images of cars being driven over the edge, sliding by the camera in a quick cut every time the song is punctuated by the "woo" in the background. Just uh, don't watch the official music video.
Death From Above 1979's "You're A Woman, I'm a Machine": This album was a revelation to me in 2004. It was so unlike anything I was listening to at the time, and I loved the sheer primal energy on display. There were a lot of options from this Canadian duo's debut, but I settled on the eponymous song because of its relentless base. When they broke up shortly after this album came out, I was sad I never saw them live. Fast-forward a few years, and driving to London Ontario (blasting the album, of course). I saw them perform in a sweaty basement setting, and it seemed completely appropriate.
Deltron 3030's "Positive Contact": I (correctly) predicted the playlist would be light on hip hop. So I went with one of the greats. I think that speaks for itself.
Simian Mobile Disco's "Sleep Deprivation": This is an appropriate title when I think of how many hours I've sunk into racing games. It's backed up by a persistent, ever-growing wall of sound. I feel like every race with it playing is a mad dash for the next checkpoint, even when there aren't any!
Blood Red Shoes' "It's Getting Boring By The Sea": Edgar Wright is a genius with music in his movies. This gem from Scott Pilgrim is a straight-forward rock song with a fiery female vocalist. You can almost hear the fire in Laura-Mary Carter's voice. It feels like it'd be right at home on an updated version of GT2's soundtrack, sitting alongside another great vocalist: Shirley Manson. I figured that game's songs would be well represented here thanks to the rest of the team (and I wasn't disappointed), and listening to the whole playlist over the last week or so, they all mesh.
The Chemical Brothers' "Horse Power": Oh, come on. This entire album is fantastic, but that GT5 video? This was too easy. You know when a movie trailer nails a feeling so, so well that a song is forever tied to it? Like
Where The Wild Things Are's Arcade Fire treatment, or
Logan's Cash? Yeah, that, but in game form.
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You really should look into Wolf a Raven's works. A lot of good drivers amongst their catalogue. Star Goddess is a nice cruiser. Also TimeCop 1983 is a handy artist 
