There are many incredible sim racing games on the market and it is not always easy to choose one. We are here to help you in your choice with our humble advice.
For the sake of this recommendation, let me first state that we will exclude all the games that are not considered to be 100% simulation racing game such as the excellent Forza Horizon 4 and the very good Codemasters F1 series.
According to us, the best simracing game on the market is, as you have guessed from the pic, Ascetto Corza Competizione. In short, it takes every Ascetto Corza does great and had some very good features. First it allows you to customize everything: tyre compounds, tyre pressures, fuel, suspension settings like anti-roll bars, wheel rates, ride height, packer rates, travel range, damper settings like bump stops and rebounds, heave dampers, alignment setting, etc.
It allows you to set your triple screens perfectly, which is something not all sim racing games allow. It has great graphics and the cars and their interior are rendered perfectly. The sound is also rendered perfectly and takes into account the gravels, the movement of the suspensions, etc. Pretty incredible. The AI is also very impressive. It is programmed to be difficult and able to make mistakes, it is realistic. The game has very good physics and very nice graphics.
Check it here
The only caveat in my opnion: there is free content but a lot of things have to be downloaded and you need to be able to install the content and mods. So not great if you are not familar with this or if you don’t have the money for additional content.
Now this is our opinion. If you want to do your research thoroughly on your own, then keep reading.
What to Look For in a Sim Racing Game
Realism. Obviously this is very important, it is called sim racing for a reason. Check the physics of the game, the feeling of in-game driving.
Graphics. There is not much to add, you want a beautiful game, with beautiful cars.
Customization options. You need to be able to tweak the game as much as you want. Some games don’t allow the use of a triple screen (a big no no in my opnion), some other games limit the customization you can make.
Available Content. On very popular games, the community creates content such as tracks and cars in order to provide to other players a better experience. You should avoid games with low content or community.
Online Competition. As already stated above, some games have a huge following meaning a good level of competition online. This is very important. Some games, like iRacing, are particulary notorious for this.
Compatiblity. You want a game that runs on your system.
Price. Obviously important, we recommend going for games that have been released a few years back, or to avoid monthly subscription games (like what you can have on iRacing) or games with a lot of additional payable content.
Top Games To Consider
rFactor 2– A very good game with good physics and realism. Graphics might be outdated since the game came out in 2012 and its customisation options might appear complicated for non-serious sim-racers. Overall very good, but more oriented towards heavy and expert online racers.
Project Cars 2– A solid choice with not much drawback. The game has great physics, great graphics, a tone of options and content. It is also more accessible to new sim racers.
iRacing– iRacing is one of the references on the market. What is great about it is that it is really a game made for racing competitions online. You race online all the time and improve and get a better ranking that allows you to get on more difficult races. A big drawback is that it can start to cost some money to buy additional cars and tracks, the additional content is not free and each car costs money. In addition to that the game is also expensive. Contrary to other sim racing games, you need to subscribe and pay each month to play.
Codemaster F1 Series- They are more a simcad than a full simracing game. But the F1 2018 and onwards (2019, 2020, etc) are also incredible games. Graphics, the F1 ambience, etc. We highly recommend it. The only drawback is that the physics are simplified and not realistic.
Parting thoughts
It is quite easy to choose a good simracing game considering the fact that the references are know in the community. In my opnion you shoud go with Ascetto Corsa Competizione (
check it here) if you are serious sim racer. Any other game mentionned here could also do the trick.
Pay particular attention to graphics, options, in game physics, content and price.
If you are looking for other sim racing gear recommendation, we have other pages just like this one on our recommended products section. We also have a section for karting and racing equipment. This is the best gear on the market in our opinion.
