The Best Driving Games to Play in 2026 | Feature

Racing games are in a funny old place in 2026. In a triple-A gaming world where huge development cycles and long-lasting live service titles are now the norm, major console releases and new IP are fairly rare, and it’s an event when they do come along.

At the same time, though, sim racing is enjoying greater popularity than ever, and the indie racing world is having a bit of a moment too. Nevertheless, there are plenty of gems out there from major studios and indie developers alike, so we’ve put together our guide to our favourite racing and driving titles in 2026, split into arcade, sim and indie categories.

Arcade racers

Forza Horizon 6

Xbox Series S/X, PC; PS5 release coming later in 2026

After the longest gap in between titles, the undisputed champ of modern open-world arcade racing titles is back, and surprise surprise, it’s better than ever. Horizon 6 doesn’t particularly rewrite the rulebook, but it doesn’t need to: with a vast and stunning open-world rendition of Japan, a sprawling and ever-expanding car list and the most perfectly-judged arcade handling model in the business, Horizon 6 pretty much nails the brief.

Gran Turismo 7

PS5

We can argue all day about whether GT7 is an arcade or sim title, but as it’s fairly accessible even to racing game newbies, we’re lumping it in here. Long-time Gran Turismo fans may not be happy with the somewhat watered-down career mode it features, but for beautifully realised, broad and accessible circuit racers, there’s simply no competition for it. Over four years on from release, it’s still getting reasonably frequent free updates too, keeping things fresh for long-time players.

The Crew Motorfest

Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC; Switch 2 version coming in October 2026

It can’t match the juggernaut that is Horizon 6, but the third entry in Ubisoft’s open-world racer is by far the best-realised yet. It swaps the first two games’ mainland US map for a smaller but more detailed and vibrant rendition of multiple Hawaiian islands, and features a big and varied career mode as well as a diverse list of highly customisable cars. It’s not afraid to experiment, either: you can also drive boats and fly planes, and RC cars were added in a recent update.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer

PC, PS5

An unexpected revival of a long-dormant title became one of our surprise gaming hits of 2025, and it’s still worth playing today. TXR’s premise is simple and refreshingly old-school: you engage in one-on-one street races on Tokyo’s network of expressways. This can get repetitive, but a big car roster composed of JDM icons and deep cuts and plenty of customisation should keep you coming back.

Mario Kart World

Switch 2

You know what to expect with Mario Kart. Family-friendly, potentially Christmas-ruining kart racing with power ups and weapons, fun visuals, and handling that’s approachable but gets challenging to nail as you work your way through the classes. Mario Kart World is more of the same, with the added twist that the action takes place in an interconnected open world. Truthfully, this doesn’t revolutionise the series, but it hardly detracts from it either, and helps cement MKW as the kart racer to beat.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Switch 2, Switch, PC

Mario Kart World doesn’t have the kart racing market all to itself, though. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds centres around everyone’s favourite high-velocity hedgehog, but features a huge array of characters from across the Sega universe and beyond. It’s got solid handling and customisation too, and its own USP: the CrossWorlds feature sees players teleport between different circuits mid-race. Its huge range of platforms means that unlike Mario Kart, you don’t have to have a Switch 2 to enjoy it either.

WreckFest 2 (Early Access)

PC

This one’s still only in Early Access, but we can’t help but include it. Follow-up to Bugbear’s smash-happy 2018 cult hit Wreckfest, Wreckfest 2 is, funnily enough, more of the same. That means contact-heavy races and full-on demolition derbies in a range of beat-up vehicles with spectacular soft-body damage modelling and fun, slidey handling, all wrapped up in a significant dose of tongue-in-cheek humour. The Early Access version is still relatively light on content, but updates are frequent and it feels like a full release isn’t too far away.

Forza Horizon 5

Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PS5, PC

It may have been overshadowed by its younger, shinier sibling, but 2021’s Mexico-set Forza Horizon 5 is still available and still worth a punt, especially if you’re on an older Xbox console or a PS5, which it got a surprise release on in 2025. Four years of content updates means that it currently has a significantly bigger car list than 6, and it still offers the same approachable, fun driving experience and brilliant graphics that the Horizon games always have.

Need for Speed Heat

PS4 (with PS5 backwards compatibility), Xbox One (with Series S/X backwards compatibility), PC

It’s not the most recent Need for Speed game – that’d be 2022’s Unbound – but 2019’s Heat is still available to buy new, and is comfortably the best of NFS’s modern (and quite possibly) final era. You get satisfying handling, great car customisation, beautiful neon-drenched graphics and the neat split gameplay between sanctioned daytime competition and illegal nighttime street racing. For now, the online servers are still alive and reasonably active too.

Screamer

PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC

The release of this sci-fi arcade combat racer, from Italian developer Milestone, came and went without much fanfare earlier in 2026, but it’s well worth digging into for a fairly unique arcade racing experience. It has brilliant cyberpunk visuals and car designs accompanied by an anime-style story mode, and a twin-stick steering system that’s difficult but satisfying to master.

Sims

iRacing

PC

This is about as close as you’ll get to actually being a professional racing driver without forking out the vast amounts of money to do it for real. The subscription-based service has been steadily growing since 2008 and now encompasses pretty much every corner of top-level motorsport, from dirt ovals to state-of-the-art open wheel racing, all topped off with plenty of professional ranked leagues and underpinned with some of the best physics in the business. The only downside is that it can become very expensive, with only a small amount of content available with the most basic subscription.

Assetto Corsa

PC, PS4, Xbox One

Assetto Corsa is now almost 12 years old, but it remains one of the most prominent sim titles around for two reasons: an incredibly good underlying physics model, and an absolutely enormous PC modding scene. That latter aspect in particular has given it an incredible shelf life, as thousands of high-quality mods now give you the chance to drive pretty much any car and track combination your heart desires, and until its Early Access successor Evo gets a full release, it’s frankly still the mainline Assetto Corsa title to recommend.

Assetto Corsa Rally (Early Access)

PC

It’s not the only Assetto Corsa title to recommend, though. AC Rally came right out of the blue in late 2025 and instantly established itself as the new leader in rally sims. Featuring gorgeous laser-scanned stages and as brutally punishing as you’d hope a proper rally sim would be, its current Early Access incarnation is a little light on content and game modes, but updates are arriving with decent frequency, and besides, that won’t matter when you finally nail that blind three left over crest.

RaceRoom Racing Experience

PC

First released back in 2013, free-to-play RaceRoom Racing Experience (R3E, as it’s known to its friends), spent a while living in the shadow of newer, shinier racing sims. Recently, though, it’s seen something of a resurgence, thanks in no small part to a series of DLC packs that added some fantastic retro touring cars. The new additions continue in 2026 with a series of the latest Le Mans Hypercars and GT3 racers, all of which has given RaceRoom a new lease of life. Just be prepared to spend a bit: you don’t get much as part of the basic free package.

Le Mans Ultimate

PC; console versions in development

Official title of the World Endurance Championship, Le Mans Ultimate has come back from an uncertain future to become one of the most popular competitive sim racing titles there is. Its real-life motorsport tie-in means it’s currently a little limited in scope, and it still lacks a proper solo career mode, but it’s being steadily expanded with plenty of both free and paid DLC, all of which points towards a bright future for LMU.

Euro Truck Simulator 2/American Truck Simulator

PC, console versions in development

We’ve lumped these two in together because fundamentally, it’s the settings that are the major differences between this SCS Software-developed duo. Who’d have thought that sims recreating the experiences of hauling cargo across Europe and the US would be some of the most enjoyable gaming experiences around? A relaxing change of pace from the usual high-octane racing fare, the maps are vast and ever expanding through DLC, and the scope is too: ETS2 is getting coaches, while ATS is gaining a Road Trip mode that’ll allow you to explore its map in a range of licensed cars. Console versions of both are in the works, too.

Dirt Rally 2.0

PC, PS4, Xbox One

It’s now seven years old, but Dirt Rally 2.0 remains perhaps the most complete, satisfying rally sim you can buy right now. It’s a focused game in its scope, but with a big range of modern and historic rally cars, globe-spanning stages and challengingly realistic physics, it’s still about the most fun you can have with a full-release rally title, and that includes its short-lived EA Sports WRC successor. It’s often found with big discounts these days, too.

BeamNG.drive

PC; PS5 version coming later in 2026

Odd one, this. BeamNG first arrived back in 2013 as, essentially, a tech demo for an impressive soft-body damage model. It’s spent the last 13 years slowly expanding to become a massive sandbox-style game that lets you smash up cars in all manner of creative ways. It’s officially never left Early Access, but that might finally change soon with the announcement that a PS5 version is in development, and set to be released later in 2026.

Indie games

Super Woden GP II

PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Switch

Imagine a classic Gran Turismo-style career mode and progression system combined with a retro top-down view: that’s Super Woden GP II. A surprisingly vast title considering it was developed by a single person, Spanish developer Victor Jusot Dacruz (ViJuDa for short), it features a large career populated by close approximations of hundreds of real world cars and dozens of tracks.

Super Woden: Rally Edge

PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Switch; Switch 2 version in development

DaCruz is clearly a busy man, because in less than three years since releasing Super Woden GP II and announcing a sequel, he also managed to create Super Woden: Rally Edge. As the name suggests, it’s a rally-based spinoff: same huge range of cars and locations, top-down perspective, and satisfying physics, but with the action transposed to the rally stage and the player racing the clock instead of other cars.

Art of Rally

PC, MacOS, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android

Similar in concept to Super Woden Rally Edge with its era-spanning roster of close imitations of real cars and top-down view, Funselektor’s Art of Rally opts for a more minimalist, vibrant art direction that just burrows right into the dopamine centres in our brains. It looks gorgeous, and plays beautifully too. Safe to say we’re looking forward to Funselektor’s next title, laid-back off-road sandbox title Over the Hill.

Rush Rally Origins

PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android

Yep, yet another top-down rally racer, quite clearly the current flavour among indie titles. Rush Rally Origins is perhaps less graphically charming than Rally Edge or Art of Rally, but is still a slick, satisfying little arcade-style racer with plenty of replayability.

New Star GP

PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, Android

A rather underrated, retro-style arcade racer centred around Definitely Not F1, New Star GP puts you in open-wheel machinery from the 1980s to the modern era. It’s a lot more in-depth than it looks, though, with tyre wear, pit strategy and component failure all playing into things. Four-player split-screen is a neat complement to the throwback vibes.

Inertial Drift

PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, Switch

Bringing a delightful neon-drenched aesthetic and a series of tracks inspired by the early, underground days of Japanese drifting, what sets Inertial Drift apart is its twin-stick handling system, since adopted by titles like the aforementioned Screamer. The left stick steers in the usual manner, while the right is then used to fine-tune your slide. It’s a model that’s tricky to master but immensely satisfying once you do.

Circuit Superstars

PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch

iRacing Arcade perhaps isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, largely due to its fairly small pool of content. Luckily, it has a spiritual predecessor: 2021’s Circuit Superstars was developed by the same team and features the same top-down aesthetic (albeit with a top-down perspective), but it has a way bigger roster of content and, as the cheaper title, arguably represents the smarter buy of the two games.