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.
I recently played NFS Heat, and that somehow twists it into street racers being good (at least relative to the corrupt cops). I haven’t played all of them, but the only one I remember where the racers just unapologetically villains is the BMW Driver Simulator, aka NFS Most Wanted (2005), and I absolutely loved it for that.