• The list in brief
1. Best overall
2. Best simulation
3. Best arcade
4. Best open-world
5. Best Formula One
6. Best GT
7. How to choose
8. How we test
Racing games may not often make it onto games of the year lists or feature prominently at rewards ceremonies, but it's still a competitive video games genre packed with excellent racing games and driven by a passionate community of car lovers and racers. Xbox and Windows PC platforms are some of the best places to enjoy amazing racing games of all types and focuses, but it can be overwhelming to choose the one you'll play next.
From open-world arcade racing games to meticulously crafted simulation racers, and everything in between, there's something for absolutely everyone in this space. Even if you're just a casual enjoyer of cars and are instead looking for a relaxing romp through beautiful worlds, racing games have you covered. If you want to face off against skilled opponents on diverse real-world circuits in real-life race cars, you can do that, too.
Whatever you want to play, Xbox and Windows PC have something for you. And I have the list of the very best racing games currently available for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, Xbox and PC Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and any combination of those platforms.
Zachary Boddy is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, and has provided years of expertise on all things Microsoft, with a special focus on Xbox, Minecraft, and the Forza series of racing games.
The quick list
If you're in a hurry, here's a quick list of all the very best Xbox and Windows PC racing games compiled by yours truly. You can take your picks and head out, or you can follow the links below for more information.
The latest masterpiece from Playground Games and Xbox Game Studios takes players to a condensed, diverse, and beautifully rendered Mexico. The visuals are astounding, the performance is flawless, there are over 700 cars and dozens of hours of content, and it continues to evolve over time. Yeah, it's that good.
Turn 10 Studios has been working for over six years to deliver the next-generation Forza Motorsport, an all-new simulation racing platform that will enjoy years of updates and content. The driving experience is the best in the industry, more than good enough to make up for the game's various basic stumbles.
Need for Speed is one of the longest-running and most legendary racing franchises, but modern entries have been controversial. Need for Speed Unbound revisits the series' roots by focusing on slick arcade racing, epic car customization, and heavily stylized visuals.
Forza Horizon may be the open-world racing champion, but Ubisoft came out swinging with the surprisingly good The Crew Motorfest. The game massively improved over its predecessor, providing a fun, casual racing experience for those who simply love cars.
EA's Formula One simulation racing series has been going on for years, with annual releases steadily improving the series. F1 23 is the best the franchise has been in many ways, despite carrying over many of the same flaws, too. It's still your best (and only) option for true F1 racing.
Assetto Corsa Competizione is another officially licensed simulation racing game, but this one is focused on the GT3 and GT4 class of high-performance racecars. There are few racing games as detailed and focused as this one, and it's perfect for the hardcore racers.
The best racing games on Xbox & Windows PC in 2023
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Here's all the information you could need on the best racing games on Xbox consoles and Windows PCs (with a particular focus on Xbox). Whether you're fancying an open-world arcade racing game or a hyper-focused simulation racer, it's here. Peruse to your heart's content, and bask in the roar of high-powered engines.
The best overall
When it came to choosing the very best racing game available on Xbox consoles and Windows PCs, there really wasn't any other choice. Forza Horizon 5 hands-down takes that crown, and the list of reasons why stretches longer than the entirety of its vast open-world map. This is the latest Forza Horizon game from the masters at Playground Games (part of Xbox Game Studios), and everything the studio has learned from years of developing these games is reflected here.
Forza Horizon 5 takes place in a stylized, condensed version of Mexico. Don't get me wrong, though, this is the largest map in any Forza Horizon game and is properly massive. It's also filled with endless content for every type of player, with hundreds of races, challenges, collectibles, and so much more. When it comes to choose which vehicles you'll use to explore that content, the Forza Horizon 5 car list is over 700 cars long and continues to grow to this day.
That's because Forza Horizon 5 is a live service game that has already enjoyed over two dozen content updates adding new cars, features, and reasons for players to dive in. The Festival Playlist's weekly updating may lead to possible FOMO and burn-out for some players, but it does ensure that there's never a shortage of new things to do. Either way, Forza Horizon 5's "simularcade" handling, fantastic accessibility, and approachable game design means the game can appeal to the most casual gamers and hardcore racers with extensive setups and car building knowledge. It's a masterpiece of a racing game.
Read our in-depth Forza Horizon 5 review.
The best simulation
The Forza Motorsport franchise is the older, more serious big sibling to the carefree Forza Horizon series. Yet, while FH5 released in late 2021, the Motorsport half of the franchise hasn't seen a new game since 2017, and it hasn't even been available to purchase for a long time, now. That's because Turn 10 Studios was working on a spiritual reboot for the franchise, going back to the drawing board to rebuild the beloved simulation racing series from the ground up.
The result is Forza Motorsport (2023), a focused, modern simulation racing game focused on competition, the pursuit of skills, and the love of cars. Turn 10 invested heavily into making the core driving experience of this game among the best in the world, and it absolutely succeeded in that respect. Every car has a unique, nuanced personality that you need to master on every track to truly get the most out of it. Driving is dynamic, detailed, responsive, and naturally adapts to every weather and track condition.
From an expansive car list and beautiful track roster to an expansive Builders Cup campaign and epic online multiplayer, Forza Motorsport has most of what it needs to be the best Xbox racing game in the world. It misses the mark compared to the older Forza Horizon 5, though, because of some odd stumbles in car models, animations, and foundational features that FH5 simply does better (like the Photo Mode, career progression, and car upgrades). Still, there are few games that make driving more fun and rewarding than this one.
Read our in-depth Forza Motorsport (2023) review.
The best arcade
Need for Speed has had a complicated life. It's one of the most infamous and recognizable racing franchises in the world, but the series has struggled with identity for a long time. Need for Speed Unbound is hands-down the best NFS has been in a long while, even if it hasn't entirely succeeded in winning fans over. Still, it's a very fun arcade racing game with great style, and that's more than enough for a lot of people.
You get to explore beautiful Lakeshore City, participate in illegal street races, and restore your reputation as one of the greatest racers around. The narrative is a little cliche and the writing is forgettable, but it's all just dressing for what players are really here for: racing awesome cars around a city and evading the police. In that respect, Need for Speed Unbound delivers, with a large number of highly customizable vehicles featuring the series' iconic arcade driving mechanics.
The game isn't perfect — starting with a new stock car can feel tedious, and race restarts are curiously restricted. The open world is also packed with a huge variety of activities, many reminiscent of Forza Horizon, but it can feel repetitive after a while. All in all, Need for Speed Unbound is a unique blend of old and new, revisiting the roots of legendary classic NFS games while infusing modern game design DNA. The visuals are astounding, too, although they may not be everyone's cup of tea.
Read our in-depth Need for Speed Unbound review.
The best open-world
The Crew has been Ubisoft's attempt at creating a compelling racing franchise, with mixed results. Many players enjoyed the first two The Crew games, but left for other racing franchises for one reason or another. Now, Ubisoft is back with The Crew Motorfest, and it may be the publisher's best attempt yet at an open-world racing game that can compete with the Forza Horizon behemoth.
The Crew Motorfest is actually set in a smaller map than its predecessors, but with more dense and intricate environmental detail. It also enjoys major improvements to car models, audio, and driving mechanics, with subtle details that appeal to car lovers and racers alike. The campaign is surprisingly compelling, and the multiplayer can offer a fun experience, too.
The game has been criticized for its heavy use of microtransactions that slow progress, and how the open world can often feel like a less interesting version of the Forza Horizon open world formula. Overall, though, The Crew Motorfest is a worthwhile racing game. It also helps that it's already enjoying frequent sales and is available through the Ubisoft+ subscription (but not Xbox Game Pass).
The best Formula One
Are you a fan of Formula One racing? Well, F1 23 is by far the best way to experience that kind of high-speed, professional racing for yourself. It's also the only official way, too, as EA holds the license for all of Formula One through its long-running F1 series. Still, F1 23 deserves its place on this list, being the best the series has ever been.
The franchise continues to improve visually and technically every year, and studio Codemasters makes sure to include a number of improvements with each annual release. Year-over-year, the series doesn't feel like it changes much, but whenever you do get the itch for a new F1 game, the latest is almost always the greatest.
That holds true for F1 23, which is the most stunning of every F1 game, and features significant improvements to the driving experience and single-player gameplay features. Unfortunately, the broken multiplayer and inconsistent penalties of past entries persist in F1 23, something long-time players have long been frustrated with. Still, overall, F1 23 is a great simulation racing game outside of the Formula One licensing.
Read our in-depth F1 23 review.
The best GT
Practically everyone knows about NASCAR or Formula One racing, but a surprisingly large, passionate community of car lovers and racers prefer the technical skills and varied builds of GT3 and GT4 high-speed racing. For those that want to experience what it's like to be behind the wheel of these incredible vehicles, there's only one real option: Assetto Corsa Competizione.
This follow-up to the cult hit Assetto Corsa is bigger, bolder, and — most importantly — more detailed and polished than its predecessor. It's a class-A simulation racing game that attracts players with its stunning visuals, incredible driving experience, and diverse array of tracks and cars. This isn't for the casual gamers. In fact, Assetto Corsa Competizione's focus on simulation (including long hours-long endurance races) makes it unapproachable to many gamers.
For those that crave this kind of experience, though, Assetto Corsa Competizione is wonderful. It launched in a rough state, especially on consoles (a large part of its launch-era middling reviews), but the game now runs beautifully on current consoles and continues to grow with new content. Unfortunately, that new content often comes in the form of paid DLC, so playing Assetto Corsa Competizione can quickly get expensive. If this is the only simulation racing game you need, though, it may be worth it.
How to choose the best racing game for you
How to choose
Choosing the best video game of any genre is largely subjective, especially when there are so many amazing video games. For example, this is far from a comprehensive list of all the great racing games available on Xbox. WRC and NASCAR fans both have solid simulation racing games available to them. DIRT appeals to the rally racers, too. To choose the best racing game for you, you mostly have to decide how serious you are about racing.
Do you just want to have casual fun racing around a city and customizing your favorite cars? Need for Speed Unbound is a great choice. Desiring an epic open-world racing game with hundreds of hours of content and one of the largest car lists in the business? Forza Horizon 5 is one of the highest rated video games of all time for a very good reason. Looking for something on a smaller scale, and The Crew Motorfest has you covered.
If you're serious about racing and want your racing game to be as real as possible, simulation racers are where to go. Forza Motorsport (2023) is by far the most accessible and approachable simulation racing game on this list, offering incredible driving fun to basically anyone that can play video games at all. F1 23 and Assetto Corsa Competizione are also amazing simulation racers, but they're definitely more tailored to hardcore gamers looking for a specific kind of racing.
Whatever you choose, though, it's clear that Xbox has no shortage of awesome racing games.
How we test racing games
Reviewing video games isn't quite like reviewing hardware such as laptops or gaming consoles, but we here at Windows Central still adhere to a strict code of integrity and honesty. You can read more about our process in our guide to how Windows Central tests and reviews products, but the short summary is this: we're never compensated for our reviews, we're not afraid to criticize the products we review, and we always thoroughly use and test any product we review.
When it comes to reviewing video games (racing games included!) it comes down to a variety of factors. Does it perform well, and is it stable and bug-free? Does the game feature impressive visuals and technical features, or a unique art design? Is it fun to play? Is it fair to the player? Is it accessible to gamers that may deal with a wide variety of challenges? Is it approachable to casual and hardcore gamers alike?
With racing games specifically, we consider the world (or track list), the car roster, the quality of the visuals and car models, the driving and handling experience, the amount of single-player and multiplayer content, and the fairness and fun of multiplayer racing (if available). In general, we consider every aspect of what makes a video game a video game when reviewing titles, and we're constantly improving our reviews to be more informative and easier to read, so you can find the information you need as quickly as possible.
