Best Racing Games

[AthlonX2]

Im looking for some of the best racing games available that support the use of a steering wheel. ive done a few google searches and have gone back and forth with the NFS series. I prefer games like Formula 1 and Dirt 3 are there any lesser known games that are insanely fun with a wheel?

[Animalpak]

Not much on PC...

Try with NFS Shift 1 and 2 they are well balanced games with steering wheels.

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by Animalpak

Not much on PC...

Try with NFS Shift 1 and 2 they are well balanced games with steering wheels.

When Project Torque Came out initially it was highly tweakable in steering and response levels but its became arcadish

[Animalpak]

Originally Posted by eidairaman1

When Project Torque Came out initially it was highly tweakable in steering and response levels but its became arcadish

Agreed but is spectacular with many effects Shift is still nice to see, the dirt all the flames and feel the vibrations of the road and gear change.

He likes simulations types so we can nominee many others :

WTCC, RACE ON, RACE 07, GTR + GTR Evolution

[AthlonX2]

I have WTCC and it seems like a pretty good game,really high end sim game steering physics seem spot on. Has anyone tried NFS the Run?

[Animalpak]

Originally Posted by AthlonX2

I have WTCC and it seems like a pretty good game,really high end sim game steering physics seem spot on. Has anyone tried NFS the Run?

Me... forget it !! A big FAIL.

[Widjaja]

Could try rFactor 2

[insane 360]

auto club revolution, its still in beta and not perfect, but gets my "forza-wanna-be" fix in they are adding a lot of content now though that its open beta

[micropage7]

flat out
kinda old game and thats pretty fun where you can crush the car/ the other cars

[Hybrid_theory]

Originally Posted by AthlonX2

I have WTCC and it seems like a pretty good game,really high end sim game steering physics seem spot on. Has anyone tried NFS the Run?

Played NFS the run a bit of it using an xbox controller. Its alright.

Im a wheel person myself.

Live for Speed has a really good driving engine. http://www.lfs.net

You can also check out project CARS. It's currently in pre-alpha. You can pay $$ to get access now and get the builds either monthly or weekly. I have to say its currently quite good. They recently implemented some awesome 20km long driving roads.
http://wmdportal.com. It's currently due for spring next year.

[KingPing]

Sim:
rFactor
rFactor 2
Live for Speed
iRacing
pCARS Q1 2013 http://www.wmdportal.com/
Assetto Corsa Q4 2012-Q1 2013 http://www.assettocorsa.net/?lang=en
netKar-Pro http://www.netkar-pro.com/main/
Race07 + exp: WTCC, WTCC2, GTR Evolution, etc.
GTR2: great FFB IMO, 2006 game
GT Legends: same as GTR2
Simraceaway: F2P, currently in BETA http://www.simraceway.com/
Richards Burns Rally: Best rally game ever

Real:
SHIFT 1
SHIFT 2 patched and modded only
Auto Club Revolution: F2P, currently in BETA http://autoclubrevolution.com/en/
F1 2010-2011
Wrc 2 http://www.wrcthegame.com/

Real Arcade:
GRID
DIRT 1,2,3



About pCARS: You can become member and try the Builds currently in Pre-Alpha / Alpha, when the game sells you will get a share of the sales profit. Membership start at 10 euros. I recommend to become a member since you also gain access to the private forums where you can see and read how the game is made, share your opinion with the Devs, and help make the game.

About Simraceway: Currently in BETA, there are few tracks and only 2 are graphically good, but since it's F2P there is no reason not to try it.

About Auto Club Revolution: If you are looking for a sim experience look somewhere else. Graphics are Ok, some tracks like Spa, Infineon, or silverstone look quite good. But some parts of the track itself are not accurate, like some curbs at Spa, Eau Rouge, etc.

I would say this is a Realistic game (not sim) closer, but not in the same league, to GT5 or Forza, i tried the game with the 360 pad, and it bothers me that there is no deadzones, speed sensitivity, etc customization. I really don't feel comfortable with the current controller setup. Rumble is set really low to the point it doesn't exist (maybe a bug).

Online races: so far there is too few people so you are always waiting in the lobby until is full or almost full, half the time the game refused to load the race. I can't say it's bad because it's in BETA but it can improve a lot. Once the race start you realize all cars, even if they are the same, are different due to engine, tires, gearbox, etc upgrades. So you end up racing against no one since slower cars are left behind rather fast, while at the same time you are left behind by faster cars, it remind me of GT5 online, waiting more time on the lobby than actually racing, freezes, and crappy races.

How it works the currency system: You start with a free Opel Corsa, the more you race either online races or time trial, the more credits and experience you earn, you can upgrade your cars with those credits, some few special parts (slick tires, some rims) cost real money. New cars are bought with real money, although once you unlock a certain Xp level, they give you a free car (Mazda RX 7).

I think of this game as something you have when, i don't know you are bored of all the others great games you can play like pCARS, Rfactor, RACE07, GT5, Forza,...(insert game name here)... etc. This is more aimed at casual public, teens, etc.

So far there are 5 tracks and and like 50 cars.

i forgot, the is no onboard camera, that alone is a huge let down.

[Hybrid_theory]

Originally Posted by KingPing

Sim:

About pCARS: You can become member and try the Builds currently in Pre-Alpha / Alpha, when the game sells you will get a share of the sales profit. Membership start at 10 euros. I recommend to become a member since you also gain access to the private forums where you can see and read how the game is made, share your opinion with the Devs, and help make the game.

The money you pay gets you money off the game on release. As they changed it from free2play to a retail item, they changed the reward as well for signing up now.

[Bow]

I play a racing sim. Race2play.com
It cost more money but is an amazing place to race.

[FordGT90Concept]

Friend of mine apparently had a blast playing Test Drive Unlimited with steering wheel and pedals--especially if you put the game in simulator mode. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is basically an improved Test Drive Unlimited so you could skip TDU and go straight for TDU2.

I enjoyed playing them with keyboard.

[Mindweaver]

I've never played it, but steam has Pole Position 2012 on sale.

[RejZoR]

One of the best games that i've driven with a steering wheel was Mercedes World Racing. It was in fact so good to drive i could drive freely on massive open worlds for hours.

It's the way how cars behave, how they handle and grip. It's not some excessive simulation, but it just feels like a proper car, not like a jet boat on office chair wheels like in nearly all other games.

Massive thematic worlds with really awesome road layout, massive elevation changes make the driving a real joy. Coastal roads, japan mountains, nevada canyon desert, sunny and snowy alps etc. Also the graphics are very good considering the age of this game. You have an awesome selection of Mercedes cars to drive, all cars have authentic 3D dashboards, self shadowing and lighting of car interior is also excellent (especially in tunnels with multiple lights). And what i especially like is the cabin feedback, the way how it leans if you're accelerating, braking or steering.

I used to drive this game a lot with regular non force feedback wheel and it was superb to drive.
In fact i have to take it for a spin again.

[GIGGLA]

Trackmania Forever and it's free! One of THE best especially if you upgrade it to Trackmania United Forever.

[THE_EGG]

LFS (no not NFS but Live for Speed), is a very good simulation game. It is quite old but gets new updates every few months. I found it particularly useful as you can use the full turning circle of the G25 (900 degrees? or something like that). The S3 expansion pack will be coming soon with new graphics (apparantly) as well.

My favourite racing games for using wheels would be;

LFS
CMR 2005
CMR DiRT 1
RBR
NFS Shift 1
NFS Porsche Unleashed (don't laugh, it's actually a very good game, especially for 12 years old)
RACE 07
TDU 1
And finally; Xpand Rally (fantastic graphics, great damage modelling and superb feedback through the wheel across different surfaces).

[Hybrid_theory]

Originally Posted by THE_EGG

LFS (no not NFS but Live for Speed), is a very good simulation game. It is quite old but gets new updates every few months. I found it particularly useful as you can use the full turning circle of the G25 (900 degrees? or something like that). The S3 expansion pack will be coming soon with new graphics (apparantly) as well.

My favourite racing games for using wheels would be;

LFS
CMR 2005
CMR DiRT 1
RBR
NFS Shift 1
NFS Porsche Unleashed (don't laugh, it's actually a very good game, especially for 12 years old)
RACE 07
TDU 1
And finally; Xpand Rally (fantastic graphics, great damage modelling and superb feedback through the wheel across different surfaces).

See a few rally games here. Any that you prefer the most? I really like dirt 3, but an open to others. gonna download the demo of xpand rally. Any others i should try out?

[AthlonX2]

I have to say this.,i downloaded GRId to try it with the wheel and its absolutely terrible,the cars are so twitchy. i did mess with some setting to calm them down a bit but still almost unplayable.I have downloaded simraceway,LFS and am now a member of the pCARS beta so ill give thoswe 3 a shot along with mercedes game rejzor was talking about.i like the idea of open world driving

[Hybrid_theory]

Originally Posted by AthlonX2

I have to say this.,i downloaded GRId to try it with the wheel and its absolutely terrible,the cars are so twitchy. i did mess with some setting to calm them down a bit but still almost unplayable.I have downloaded simraceway,LFS and am now a member of the pCARS beta so ill give thoswe 3 a shot along with mercedes game rejzor was talking about.i like the idea of open world driving

Yeah I tried GRID a while back on PC and the handling was bad. PS3 I found it to be better. pCARS I find its a bit easy to oversteer right now. Make sure to check out the wheel settings thread for your wheel on their site.

[RejZoR]

For the rally games i always prefered Rally Championship 2000. It's quite old now but with its really long routes (i think they are in fact authentic rally routes from year 1999 or 2000) makes it the most authentic of them all. I mean, some routes can take 20 minutes of racing to complete which requires quite serious concentration and almost zero error tolerance if you want great times.
Only downside is that the game is a bit glitchy on modern systems but still great non the less.

The other rally game that i liked was Rally Sport Challenge. It's more to the Colin McRae Rally series, but the car feel is just superb. Well, at least with keyboard that is.

And if you want the proper rally simulation, try RBR or Richard Burns Rally. It's a great tribute to this legendary rally driver. Good graphics and very realistic car handling.

Oh, there is one more game. Not a rally one but worthy of the wheel driving. NFS Porsche 2000.
Looks a bit washed out on modern systems due to some glitch, but the car handling is the same and it's superb to drive. Tracks are also very fun with many shortcuts and elevation changes. Especially fun is the Factory Driver mode where you have to make various driving tricks on a Porsche factory test track. Which is quite challenging for a steering wheel control.

[de.das.dude]

DiRT 3

period.

[Yo_Wattup]

Originally Posted by de.das.dude

DiRT 3

period.

Meh, game is a bit too linear for me... I Really like open world racers like test drive unlimited and I loved the need for speed underground series when I was younger; lots of customizability and again, open world. But to each his own. I guess it's like comparing FPSs to RPGs.

[Solaris17]

love the dead mou5 avatar.