I’m a sim racer and amateur racer with a passion for Motorsport, good racecraft and the technical and setup aspect of sim racing.
With Assetto Corsa EVO now in Early Access, the sim racing landscape is evolving rapidly. Here’s our comprehensive guide to the best racing simulators available today.
We usually focus on elements of sim racing, such as gaming hardware, setup tutorials, and how-to guides here at SIMRACINGCOCKPIT.GG, I thought it would make a nice change of pace to discuss some of the best sim racing games for any driver looking to expand their experience beyond their usual sim platform.
Whether you enjoy a good smash and crash scenario in BeamNG.drive or a serious bit of competition in iRacing, these are the best games sim racing developers have on offer:
Assetto Corsa EVO
Compatibility: PC (Steam Early Access)
Early Access RRP: £TBC
Release: Early Access launched January 16, 2025 | Full release expected autumn 2025
The highly anticipated third instalment in the Assetto Corsa series has finally arrived in Steam Early Access. After years of speculation and development, Kunos Simulazioni has delivered what many are calling the future of sim racing.
Building on the phenomenal success of the original Assetto Corsa, EVO represents a complete overhaul of the franchise. The new title features an entirely new graphics engine, enhanced physics, and perhaps most excitingly, the promise of free-roam driving in the Eifel region.
Early impressions from the community have been overwhelmingly positive, with particular praise for the improved tire model and force feedback implementation. The game launches with a focused car and track roster that will expand significantly throughout 2025.
While it’s still early days, Assetto Corsa EVO looks set to carry the torch forward from its legendary predecessor, offering both hardcore sim racers and casual enthusiasts a platform that could define the next decade of virtual motorsport.
Assetto Corsa
Compatibility: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Ultimate Edition RRP: £19.99 (includes all DLC packs)
Since its release in 2014, a hugely passionate community of sim racing fans has taken Assetto Corsa to its collective hearts, making it perhaps the most popular ‘serious’ sim ever.
Update January 2025: With Assetto Corsa EVO now in Early Access, the original AC remains incredibly relevant thanks to its unmatched modding scene. Many consider it the best value in sim racing.
Developer Kunos Simulazioni combines believable driving physics with attractive visuals to create an immersive racing experience, signing key licensing deals with Ferrari and Porsche to help bring some truly iconic cars to its vehicle roster.
With 178 cars and 19 tracks, there’s no shortage of combinations to enjoy, with VR compatibility enhancing the experience further.
However, AC’s modding capabilities keep it relevant eleven years on; name a car or track and someone has likely created it in AC (although mods are only available for the PC version and not on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S).
The most important mods, however, relate to how the game looks, bringing the game’s graphics up to current standards.
Mods like Sol, the Custom Shaders Pack and Pure variously introduce day/night cycles, dynamic weather and jaw-dropping effects, while Content Manager offers a handy way to consolidate everything into one, easy-to-use package.
Thanks to its popularity with road, dirt and drifting communities, AC has a plethora of written and video tutorials to help newcomers get up and running with mods too. Therefore, in many ways, AC is the perfect gateway into the sim racing scene.
Although its driving physics perhaps lack the fidelity of rFactor 2, AC captures so much of the essence of sim racing that it should be part of any racing enthusiast’s library.
Assetto Corsa Competizione
Compatibility: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Ultimate Edition RRP: £54.99 (includes all DLC packs)
After its full release in 2019. Assetto Corsa Competizione was a surprise hit for Kunos Simulazioni, especially after its success with Assetto Corsa.
Based on the Blancpain Endurance Series (now known as GT World Challenge Europe) for GT3 racecars, ACC is an officially licensed game that moved away from using Kunos’ proprietary game engine towards Unreal Engine. This stepped up the visual presentation of the game but also made it far more resource-intensive.
The way it looks is secondary to the overall driving experience, however, with genre-leading sound design and believable physics it immerses the player in the hot seat of a trick GT3 car.
DLC packs have bumped the laser scanned track list up to 25, including perhaps the best-ever version of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, while the range of cars – although limited to SRO-sanctioned series – includes GT2, GT3, GT4, TCX and single-make series vehicles like the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and Ferrari Challenge.
With a fairly limited single-player experience, ACC players mostly find their kicks online, with the official SRO Esports series impressively blurring the line between real and virtual motorsports thanks to its slick presentation and fierce competition.
As the SRO-run GT World Challenge has covered the globe with its championships, the popularity of GT3 racing and ACC has skyrocketed. As such, once Assetto Corsa Evo is released it will be interesting to see whether ACC will continue to be developed.
Update July 2025: ACC continues to receive updates and remains the premier GT3 racing simulator, even with AC EVO now available. The game’s laser-focused approach to GT racing ensures it remains relevant for competitive online racing.
Read the setup guide to Assetto Corsa Competizione here.
Essential Sim Racing Hardware
Before diving into the remaining sims, it’s worth noting that your hardware can make or break your sim racing experience. Here’s what’s currently available for those looking to upgrade their setup:
Budget-Friendly Racing Wheels Under £500
Whether you’re just starting out or looking for a solid upgrade, these wheels offer excellent value:
For a complete guide to choosing the right wheel, check out our comprehensive wheel buyer’s guide.
Automobilista 2
Compatibility: PC and Linux
RRP: £34.99
2020-2022 Season Pass: £79.99
Trying to build on the success of 2016’s Automobilista was always going to be a tough task for Brazilian developer Reiza Studios.
The PC-only title was effectively a heavily improved version of Image Space Incorporated’s rFactor but with more single-player content, more officially licensed series (including Brazilian Stock Car V8s and Formula 3 Brasil) and a greater variety of tracks (including Brazilian gems like Campo Grande and more familiar British tracks such as Oulton Park and Snetterton).
However, its driving physics were second to none, which is unfortunately where its sequel, Automobilista 2, falls down.
Using a version of Slightly Mad Studios’ MADNESS engine (as used in Project CARS 2), AMS 2 features a robust enough handling model but, it lacks the cutting-edge tactility of its top-tier sim rivals.
On the other hand, AMS 2 looks incredible – especially in VR – and its sheer variety of cars and tracks makes it an excellent platform to showcase sim racing to your friends.
Super Trucks, touring cars, Group C prototypes, historic single-seaters, rallycross and up-to-date Formula 1-style machinery are all present and correct, with dynamic weather and day-to-night transitions supplying all the eye candy you’ll ever need.
And the track roster isn’t bad either, with famous venues such as Le Mans, Daytona, the Nordschleife and Spa-Francorchamps all represented, with more DLC and physics improvements promised for future updates.
Update July 2025: Reiza continues to improve AMS2’s physics with regular updates. The v1.6 update in early 2025 significantly improved the tire model, addressing many of the community’s concerns about the driving feel.
The original Automobilista entry received a lot of praise for its phenomenal racing simulation but its successor, Automobilista 2 has upped the ante by providing sim racing enthusiasts with the perfect balance between simulation and realism.
Developed by Reiza Studios and released in 2020, Automobilista 2 is available for Microsoft Windows and Linux only and you can grab this one for just £34.99 on Steam.
Over the years, Automobilista 2 has received regular updates, and new content is added with each update.
In the latest update, Reiza Studios has added the Le Mans 24-hour race and it is arguably one of the finest Le Mans experiences that you’ll ever get from a sim racing game. Everything from dynamic weather changes to day and night transitions is quite phenomenal. And when you’re tired from all the driving, your AI counterparts can drive till the next stop.
It’s an excellent package overall, but a little more work is required to bring the driving experience up to scratch. You wouldn’t bet against the talented team at Reiza nailing it.
In terms of DLC, you can purchase the 2020-2022 Season Pass for £79.99, which includes every DLC pack ever released for the sim. If you’re an endurance racing fan, then the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans track is £8.99, while the Endurance Pack Pt1 adds three LMDh cars and four GT3 cars, again costing £8.99.
However, don’t expect Le Mans Ultimate levels of feedback and enjoyment from the sim’s physics.
Read our guide to AMS2 here.
BeamNG.drive
Compatibility: PC
RRP: £20.99
BeamNG.drive arrived as a Steam Early Access title way back in 2015, providing realistic handling and a genre-leading soft body physics model that allows players to destroy their vehicles in elaborate ways.
Although its development team is small, BeamNG has more regular players on Steam than many of the sims covered on this site, with a burgeoning mod scene allowing numerous new vehicles, environments and Scenarios.
There’s even a multiplayer mod available, allowing friends to hilariously crash into each other online (although your experience will likely be unstable or even game-breaking).
Update July 2025: BeamNG continues to evolve with regular updates. The v0.32 update introduced improved tire physics and new vehicle damage modelling, making crashes even more realistic and satisfying.
The gameplay is largely freeform, with a short single-player career mode (a more comprehensive career mode is accessible but limited) complemented by a variety of zany, separate Scenarios.
BeamNG’s lineup of default cars includes road cars, supercars, dune buggies, trucks and three-wheelers, with diverse landscapes to explore including a re-creation of the Johnson Valley off-road racing hub in California.
It’s fun to explore the game’s various maps, with most of BeamNG’s vehicles feeling intuitive to drive. Some of the game’s off-road vehicles feel a little unsteady, however, especially when it comes to tackling steep slopes.
Using the game’s World Editor, players can also set up elaborate stunts to rival those created by their favourite online personalities, providing almost endless possibilities.
If you enjoy driving with no particular goal in mind, BeamNG is the game for you.
Read our guide to BeamNG Drive here.