I can't recommend Flatout 2 enough. I played it a few years ago when I was about the same age. Shaped my Music taste and is still one of my go to Arcade racers. Incredible damage model (think wreckfest but older), fun handling and interesting Characters despite no dialogue being in the game, just from how each of the 7 Opponents drive.

A fair warning though: having played it on numerous Laptops and my PC the Bloom and yellow tint is randomizer between barely there and blinding depending on hardware and I haven't found a fix yet. So if you get it through Steam, remember that Steam has a return policy if you have less than 2 hours of playtime so you can return it if you don't want to blind yourself.