The Best Xbox Racing Games in 2026

I’m a sim racer and amateur racer with a passion for Motorsport, good racecraft and the technical and setup aspect of sim racing.

The Xbox has quietly become one of the best places to race. It has the console genre-defining arcade racer in Forza Horizon, a proper GT3 simulator, iRacing-grade stock cars, and now the biggest racing launch of the year. This is the list I would give a friend who just picked up a Series X or S and asked what to play – split into the serious sims that reward a wheel, and the arcade picks built for a pad and a good time.

One thing to be upfront about, because it shapes how I have written this. We live on PC and PlayStation more than Xbox here – that is just where the sim racing hobby has pulled us – so we have had far less time on the newest Series X|S releases than I would like. We will get round to putting proper hours into them; we just have not yet. So where I have put the hours in myself, I will tell you straight; where I am leaning on the reviews, the player numbers and the wider consensus, I will say so rather than pretend otherwise.

Every game here is native on Xbox Series X|S, every one gets our score out of ten, and there is a comparison table to skim first. And the one big racing game Xbox does not have is Gran Turismo 7, which stays a PlayStation exclusive – worth knowing before you go looking. Everything else, Xbox does very well.

The list at a glance

Game	Best for	Our score
Forza Horizon 6	Open-world arcade	9.0
Assetto Corsa Competizione	GT3 sim racing	8.5
NASCAR 25	Stock-car / ovals	8.0
F1 25	Formula 1	7.5
EA Sports WRC	Rally	7.5
The Crew Motorfest	Open-world arcade	7.5
Wreckfest	Demolition racing	7.5
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds	Kart / party	7.0
Forza Motorsport	Circuit racing	6.5

Now the detail, game by game.

The serious sims – where a wheel earns its keep

These are the games that justify a direct drive base and a load-cell brake. They ask more of you than the arcade picks, and they give more back. If you are reading SimRacingCockpit, this is probably your half of the list.

Assetto Corsa Competizione

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: GT3 sim
Wheel: Fanatec, Logitech, Thrustmaster, Moza
Our score: 8.5/10

For the closest thing to a proper GT3 simulator on Xbox, ACC is still the answer, and it will be until Assetto Corsa EVO finally arrives on console. Kunos shipped a dedicated Series X|S build back in 2022, so it holds 60fps and carries the same tyre and aero model that made the PC version the sim of choice for real GT3 esports. On a decent wheel it feels superb, and it is the one game here that truly rewards a direct drive base and a load cell brake.

The trade-off is focus. ACC does one thing – modern GT racing on a fixed roster of real circuits – and it asks more of you than any arcade racer on the platform. The car will step out if you are clumsy with the throttle, and the setup screen is a rabbit hole. The content is locked to the 2018-2023 GT3/GT4 grids, so it is showing its age, but nobody buys ACC for the newest cars. They buy it for the way a GT3 car loads up mid-corner, and on that measure it is the Xbox sim to beat.

NASCAR 25

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: Stock-car sim
Wheel: Fanatec, Logitech, Thrustmaster
Our score: 8.0/10

Here is the one that quietly became essential. NASCAR 25 is the first NASCAR title built by iRacing Studios, on Unreal Engine 5, and having iRacing DNA behind a console stock-car game changes everything. It launched on Xbox and PlayStation in October 2025, and the thing everyone came away talking about is the AI.

Oval racing lives and dies on the AI, because the whole discipline is 30-odd cars running inches apart for two hours. NASCAR 25 runs genuine multiple grooves – the AI will run the high line to get temperature into the tyres, drop to the bottom to defend, and side-draft you down the back straight. After years of NASCAR games that felt like driving against a train on rails, it is a proper step change, and iRacing has treated it as a live platform with rolling updates rather than forcing an annual sequel. If you have written off ovals as boring, this is the game that changes your mind.

F1 25

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: F1 sim-lite
Wheel: Fanatec, Logitech, Thrustmaster
Our score: 7.5/10

If open-wheel is your thing, F1 25 is the obvious Xbox pick – the official licence, every 2025 car, driver and circuit, and the polish you expect from an EA-backed release. The handling sits on the sim-lite side: approachable on a pad, rewarding on a wheel, which for most players is exactly right.

The point worth knowing in 2026 is that Codemasters did not ship a standalone F1 26. Instead F1 25 got a 2026 Season Pack in June, folding in the new active-aero regulations, the new Madrid circuit, and the incoming Audi and Cadillac teams. So the game on the shelf is current, and you are racing this year grid without waiting on next year box. My Team career remains the deepest single-player package in any console racer.

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EA Sports WRC

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: Rally sim
Wheel: Fanatec, Logitech, Thrustmaster
Our score: 7.5/10

Rally is its own discipline, and on Xbox the rally sim to own is EA Sports WRC. It is the Codemasters rally team most ambitious stage game – long, properly modelled stages, a deep Builder mode, and a handling model that finally captures the pendulum weight of a rally car on loose gravel. On a wheel with the right settings it is a genuine test of car control.

There is a caveat that shapes its future, though. EA and Codemasters paused development on the series, and the WRC licence has reverted to a Nacon studio whose own title is not expected until 2027. So what is on the shelf now is the finished article rather than the start of a series – which is fine if you want a great rally game today, less so if you were hoping for years of updates. Taken as it stands, it is the best pure rally sim on the console.

Forza Motorsport

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: Circuit racer
Wheel: Fanatec, Logitech, Thrustmaster
Our score: 6.5/10

The 2023 reboot of Forza Motorsport is the circuit-racing Forza – the track-day counterpart to Horizon open-world romp – and on paper it should be the Xbox sim flagship. In practice it has had a rocky life. It launched to a mixed reception, and in December 2025 Turn 10 confirmed it was ending new content for the game to move the whole studio onto Forza Horizon 6. So what you get today is the finished game as it stands, and no more.

That is a shame, because there is a good car list and a strong set of laser-scanned tracks in here, and it plays perfectly well on a wheel. But with development stopped and the community thin, it is hard to rank it above the sims that are still being actively supported. Worth it if you want a polished, single-player circuit racer on Game Pass and you are not chasing an online scene – just go in knowing it is a finished chapter, not a living one.

Arcade and fun – grab a pad and grin

Not every night is a two-hour endurance stint. These are the games for the sofa, the split-screen evening, and the friend who says they do not like racing games until you hand them one of these.

Forza Horizon 6

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: Open-world arcade
Wheel: Basic wheel support
Game Pass: Yes, day one
Our score: 9.0/10

This is the big one, and by every measure I can point to, the easiest recommendation on the whole list. Forza Horizon 6 launched in May 2026, set in a gorgeous open-world Japan that runs from neon Tokyo streets to the touge mountain passes and Mount Fuji, and it landed hard: it crossed six million players within its first fortnight and reviews called it the best in the series. If you own an Xbox and you want one racing game, this is it.

It is the pinnacle of the arcade genre – a ridiculous car list of 550-plus, seasons, a living festival, and the sheer generosity that makes Horizon the game you hand to anyone who says they do not like racing games. It is not a sim and does not pretend to be – wheel support exists but it is built for a pad – but for pure “put it on and grin” driving, nothing on Xbox comes close. And because it is a first-party Xbox game it is on Game Pass from day one, so a lot of you already own it without realising.

The Japan setting is the masterstroke. Blending the car culture the whole hobby grew up idolising – the Initial D mountain runs, the Tokyo tuner scene – with Playground open-world craft makes this the must-play racer of the console generation. If you buy nothing else here, buy this.

The Crew Motorfest

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: Open-world arcade
Wheel: Basic wheel support
Our score: 7.5/10

The Crew Motorfest is the festival-racer alternative to Horizon, set on a lovely rendition of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and it is one of the better-looking arcade racers on the platform. Where it earns its own identity is the Playlist structure – themed campaigns that walk you through a slice of car culture, each with its own vibe and soundtrack, and a slick vehicle-switching mechanic that lets you swap car, boat or plane on the fly.

It is unashamedly arcade, built to be enjoyed with a controller on the sofa. If you have exhausted Forza Horizon 6 and want more of the same energy on a different island, it is an easy recommendation, and it is frequently on offer. It leans on always-online and the progression can nudge you toward the store now and then, which is the genre usual tax, but look past that and it is a warm, generous open-world racer.

Wreckfest

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: Demolition racing
Wheel: Wheel support
Our score: 7.5/10

Sometimes you do not want to hit an apex, you want to hit another car. Wreckfest is the best banger-racing game there is – a proper soft-body damage model that turns every race into a war of attrition, and a demolition-derby mode that is as much fun as anything on the platform. It came from the people behind the old FlatOut games and it shows.

What surprises people is that under the carnage it is a seriously decent racer. The cars have weight and slide around on the loose surfaces in a way that is satisfying on a wheel, and the campaign has more depth than a game about crashing needs. It is the ideal antidote to a frustrating night on the sim – twenty minutes of trading paint and you are grinning again, and it is usually cheap in a sale.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Platform: Xbox Series X|S (native)
Type: Kart racer
Wheel: No
Our score: 7.0/10

Every console needs a great kart racer, and on Xbox – which has never had a Mario Kart of its own – Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is the answer. Released in late 2025, it is the most polished the Sonic racing series has been, and its defining trick is the CrossWorld mechanic that warps you between dimensions and reshapes the track mid-race.

It is the natural home for the family and party end of the racing shelf – split-screen chaos, weapons, and pick-up-and-play accessibility that a sofa evening wants. Nobody is bringing a direct drive wheel to this one, and that is exactly the point. If you have kids, or you just want the racing game that gets the party going, it does that job better than anything else on Xbox.

Coming to Xbox (worth the wait)

Assetto Corsa EVO – Kunos’ successor to the original Assetto Corsa is in Early Access on PC, and a full 1.0 with an Xbox Series X|S version is planned but not yet dated. When it lands it will be the new console GT sim to beat. Le Mans Ultimate – the official Le Mans and WEC sim, one of the best endurance sims on PC, is confirmed for consoles with a target window of late 2026 or early 2027. If multi-class prototype racing is your thing, it is worth holding out for.

So which should you buy?

If you buy one game, buy Forza Horizon 6 – it is the best racer on the platform, it is on Game Pass, and it is the easiest recommendation on this whole list. If you want a proper simulator to pair with a wheel, Assetto Corsa Competizione is the console sim to own, and if ovals interest you at all, NASCAR 25 will surprise you. For rally it is EA Sports WRC, for open-wheel F1 25, and when you just want to switch your brain off, Wreckfest and The Crew Motorfest never miss.

Whatever you pick, a wheel transforms the serious end of this list – even a modest belt-driven wheel is a night-and-day upgrade over a pad for ACC, NASCAR 25 or F1 25. If you are thinking about taking that step, our Xbox sim racing wheel guide covers exactly which wheels work on Xbox and why. And if you race on other platforms too, we have the same rundown for the best PS5 racing games and the best PC sim racing games. Have fun, and I’ll see you out on track!