Horsepower still reigns supreme as the primary figure to compare cars against one another and for outright bragging rights. Automakers have made massive strides in powertrains and aerodynamics in a bid to achieve top speeds. Like lap records, top speed runs are purely for bragging rights. There’s no incentive to having one of the fastest cars in the world beyond giving automakers the ability to say that they have one of the fastest cars in the world. It really does come down to that.
Unlike other figures that are used to differentiate vehicles from one another, like zero-to-60 mph times, cornering G-force, or quarter-mile times, setting a new top speed record is insanely difficult. Beyond ensuring that a car has the right amount of power and efficiently flows through the air, finding a long enough stretch of road to wind a car out is nearly impossible. That’s why top speed records rarely get broken.
Here are the top 10 fastest cars in the world.
| Rank | Car | Top speed |
| 1. | SSC Tuatara | 316 mph (509 km/h) |
| 2. | Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ | 304 mph (490 km/h) |
| 3. | Koenigsegg Agera RS | 278 mph (447 km/h) |
| 4. | Koenigsegg Agera R | 273 mph (439 km/h) |
| 5. | Hennessey Venom GT | 270 mph (435 km/h) |
| 6. | Bugatti Veyron Super Sport | 267 mph (430 km/h) |
| 7. | Bugatti Chiron | 261 mph (420 km/h) |
| 8. | SSC Ultimate Aero TT | 256 mph (412 km/h) |
| 9. | Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 | 253 mph (407 km/h) |
| 10. | McLaren Speedtail | 250 mph (402 km/h) |
