Street racers aren’t criminals. To me, being a criminal means intentionally hurting people, scamming, stealing, or exploiting others. Street racing is illegal, sure, but most people do it as a hobby because they love cars and racing and just becuase you break the law doesn’t make you a “criminal”. I hate how games like Need For Speed always paint racers as villains when the reality is way less black-and-white.
In Need for Speed, how many other cars did you hit or do you play with traffic off? In a video game there are no consequences, so you end up hitting dozens and can keep going as you learn the game. In real life, you hit one car and someone is either dead, wishes they were, or incredibly lucky.
How about hitting the trees, the road barriers, going through grass? All that stuff costs the community money to fix.
Let’s say you’re the best (or luckiest) player in the world and never hit anything, how much did your little cousin hit when you first gave up the controller?
Street racing is a crime because its dangerous to other people. You are intentionally putting other people’s life at risk for your own personal entertainment.