This genre seems to be fairly popular, and I can see why. Instead of just building a deck for the sake of building it (like in Dominion), adding a racing element makes the game more interactive, tense, and tangible. I’ve only played a few, and I’m interested in how Heat compares to for example.
I really enjoy Clank! and The Quest for El Dorado. I’d say Quest is the better game. It’s cleaner, has fewer rules, and more variety in terms of maps. However, Clank! can be more fun. All the weird cards, the fights, drawing from the Dragon bag, and trying to get out alive make it a more lively (but also more random) game.
I’ve only played two (Summer Canp and the Quest for El Dorado), but the Quest for El Dorado is my favorite of the two.
Summer Camp was my first deck building / racing game. It’s a good intro game with cute visuals and plenty of variability as you mix and match different decks. My one qualm with it is that there’s no way to trash cards.
I recently picked up The Quest for El Dorado and have only played it a couple times. So far the racing aspect is more prevalent and seems more tense than Summer Camp. I love that there’s more variability in the different maps you can create with many in the rule book and many more fan-made maps on BGG. I look forward to playing this one a lot more!