Dirt Rally. Codemasters’ Dirt Rally has surpassed its predecessor, Dirt 3, and is arguably the best game Codemasters have made in years. With a far more authentic handling model, Dirt Rally does away with many of the arcadey touches that continue to persist in the core series. Shift 2. Shift 2 might be the best compromise between realism and accessibility of any game on this list. It’s not just the ways the car handle — menacing, but capable — but the way it consistently thinks about what players need to perform at a high level. Rather than lock your view gazing out over the hood, or ask you to spring for TrackIR to let you turn your head, Shift 2 has a dynamic view that subtly changes based on context. Project CARS. Project CARS is not without its issues, and a plethora of minor but noticeable bugs have definitely dampened enthusiasm for what was one of the PC's most exciting racers. Still, it's one of the best racing packages on offer, with tons of rarely-seen racing series and UK circuits that set it apart from its competition. TrackMania 2: Canyon. Any genre veteran will tell you that good track design is an essential part of any quality racing title. While in most games a hairpin bend, g-force-laden camber or high speed straight might suffice, for TrackMania 2: Canyon track design takes on a terrifying, Hot Wheels-inspired new meaning. Sweeping barrel-rolls, nigh-impossible jumps and floating platforms that give two fingers to physics are what set the TrackMania series apart from other arcade racers. Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Add the thrilling chases of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit to the sandbox elements of Burnout: Paradise and you get Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Putting players behind the wheel in the gorgeously detailed city of Fairhaven and offering them instant access - provided you can locate them - to a roster of 31 cars, as well as 10 additional cars, which can be unlocked by beating challenges. Driver: San Francisco. Every arcade racer should be as cool as this game. If Steve McQueen were digitized and turned into a videogame, he would be Driver: San Francisco. F1 2013. Purists may raise their eyebrows at the inclusion of Codemasters' F1 series in the simulation group, but F1 2013 is definitely more demanding than the games listed above. Even a slightly tamed rendition of an F1 car still has more torque and oversteer than most of what you’ll find above, and it demands expert-knowledge to guide these around F1’s tracks at competitive speeds. Race: Injection. You can’t put together a list of great simulation racing games without having something from SimBin. While the studio appears to have lost its way a bit with the dubious free-to-play RaceRoom Racing Experience, SimBin were sim racing royalty during the mid-2000s. Race: Injection is their capstone game, the package that combines just about everything they accomplished with the GTR series and Race 07. Assetto Corsa. Assetto Corsa is less a great racing game than it is a great handling model with a game built-up around it. But damn if it doesn't feel like driving a real car around a real track, to the point of being uncanny at times. iRacing. iRacing exists at the place where a game blurs the line between play and work. Its cars and tracks are recreated with a fanatical attention to detail, and its league racing rules are about as serious as you’ll find in any racing club or at any track event in the world. This is a racing game for people who want the real thing and are willing to spend hours training for it. It is perhaps the pinnacle of Papyrus legend David Kaemmer’s career. For those of us who cut our teeth on the IndyCar and Grand Prix Legends game, that name alone is recommendation enough. follow us :. . Facebook -.
