Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games.
Simulated racing or racing simulation, commonly known as simply sim racing, are the collective terms for racing game software that attempts to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings. To be competitive in sim racing, a driver must understand all aspects of car handling that make real-world racing so difficult, such as threshold braking, how to maintain control of a car as the tires lose traction, and how properly to enter and exit a turn without sacrificing speed. It is this level of difficulty that distinguishes sim racing from arcade racing-style driving games where real-world variables are taken out of the equation and the principal objective is to create a sense of speed as opposed to a sense of realism.
Driving simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical research, to monitor driver behavior, performance, and attention and in the car industry to design and evaluate new vehicles or new advanced driver assistance systems.
GTR – FIA GT Racing Game is a sports car racing simulator developed by SimBin Studios AB(later Sector3 Studios) and published by 10tacle Publishing for the x86 PC. Simbin has also released an "add-on pack" called "Kings of Ovals" which contains a set of new oval-style tracks. A sequel, GTR 2 – FIA GT Racing Game, was released in 2006.
Image Space Incorporated (ISI) is an American independent video game developer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, specializing in the fields of video game development, man-in-the-loop simulator architectures, computer image generation, and entertainment systems integration. ISI was originally founded by Kurt Kleinsorge who added partners Joseph Campana and Gjon Camaj. ISI began with the development of vehicle simulators used for military training. They have worked on many different types of software, but focused most of their development time over the years on racing games and simulators. ISI also developed the ISImotor game engine, which is used for creating many racing games like GT Legends, GTR 2, ARCA Sim Racing '08, Race 07, and others. ISI has not released games for any console; Shadowgate Rising was in development, but ultimately cancelled. Sports Car GT for the PlayStation was made by another company Point of View and all the original EA Formula 1 games for consoles up until 2002 were made by Visual Science.
A number of video games have been made of Le Mans 24 Hours. The race, the Circuit de la Sarthe, and competing cars have been featured in racing games such as the Gran Turismo series.
NASCAR Racing is a series of car racing video games originally developed by Papyrus Design Group in the 1990s. The series started in 1994 and ended with the release of NASCAR Racing 2003 Season in 2003. Later NASCAR games were released by Electronic Arts who, through their EA Sports brand, took over the official NASCAR license. This article deals with the original series release, NASCAR Racing.
GTR 2 – FIA GT Racing Game is a sports car racing simulator developed by Blimey! Games and SimBin Studios and published by 10tacle Publishing for the x86 PC. it is a sequel to GTR. The game simulates the official 2003 and 2004 FIA GT Championship racing series, with more than 140 high detailed cars from the GT and NGT classes as well as 34 different track-layouts. Since its release in September 2006, the game has received widespread acclaim. Extending the physics engine from GTR, it features realistic physics including dynamic lighting, damage modeling, 3 different game modes, open practice, race weekend, championships, time trials, endurance race events and Driving school.
Race is a racing simulator computer game based on the World Touring Car Championship released in November 2006. The game was developed and published by SimBin Studios, who had earlier produced critically acclaimed racing simulators like GTR and GT Legends, and distributed by Eidos in Europe and by Valve across their Steam network. The first expansion pack, Caterham Expansion was released in June 2007 featuring new cars and tracks.
Race 07 is a racing simulator computer game from SimBin Studios. The game is the sequel to the 2006 title Race – The Official WTCC Game. Like the original Race, the title is officially licensed by the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).
iRacing is a subscription-based online racing simulation video game developed and published by iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations in 2008. All in-game sessions are hosted on the publisher's servers. The game simulates real world cars, tracks, and racing events, and enforces rules of conduct modeled on real auto racing events.
A racing wheel is a control device for use in racing games, racing simulators, and driving simulators. They are usually packaged with a large paddle styled as a steering wheel, along with a set of pedals for the accelerator, brake, and clutch, as well as transmission controls. An analog wheel and pedal set such as this allows the user to accurately manipulate steering angle and pedal control that is required to properly manage a simulated car, as opposed to digital control such as a keyboard. The relatively large range of motion further allows the user to more accurately apply the controls. Racing wheels have been developed for use with arcade games, game consoles, personal computers, and also for professional driving simulators for race drivers.
Live for Speed (LFS) is a racing simulator developed by a three-person team comprising Scawen Roberts, Eric Bailey, and Victor van Vlaardingen. The main focus is to provide a realistic racing experience for the online multiplayer game and to allow single player races against AI cars. Users can set personal bests which can then be uploaded to LFSWorld in hotlap mode, and take driving lessons in 'training' mode.
rFactor 2 is a computer racing simulator developed by Image Space Incorporated and released for Windows in 2012. Like its predecessor rFactor, rFactor2 is designed to be modified and used by professional racing teams for driver training and race car development. Much of its source code is derived from rFactor Pro, which is also used by professional racers and most of the Formula One teams and NASCAR manufacturers.
Project CARS is a motorsport racing simulator video game developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published and distributed by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was released in May 2015 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Assetto Corsa is a sim racing video game developed by the Italian video game developer Kunos Simulazioni. It is designed with an emphasis on a realistic racing experience with support for extensive customization and moddability. The game was first released through the Steam Early Access program on 8 November 2013, and officially left Early Access as final release version on 19 December 2014.
Grid Autosport is a racing video game developed by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch and Android. It is the third game in the Grid series. It aims to move the series back towards "more authentic racing games" following the release of Grid 2, which Codemasters felt was not as well-received by the company's core fanbase as it was hoped for. The developers consequently introduced major modifications to the handling model and built a lean, race-first oriented design for this title.
RaceRoom Racing Experience is a free-to-play racing simulator for Microsoft Windows, developed by Sector3 Studios, and published by RaceRoom Entertainment AG. Their aim is to provide an authentic racing experience through detailed car and track models as well as realistic car behaviour and sounds. The game provides a selection of free-to-play race cars and tracks to drive in multiplayer and single player games modes. Sponsored competitions and other free-to-play events allow users to use premium game content at no cost.
Assetto Corsa Competizione is a racing simulation video game developed by Italian video game developer Kunos Simulazioni. The game focuses on GT3 and GT4 cars and is an officially licensed simulation of the 2018 and 2019 Blancpain GT Series season Sprint and Endurance Cups and the Total 24 Hours of Spa, and is set to serve as a platform for esports.
rFpro, originally rFactor Pro, is a driving simulation software used by racing teams and car manufacturers for advanced driver-assistance systems, self-driving cars and vehicle dynamics. rFactor Pro was created in 2007 as a project of a F1 racing team, using Image Space Incorporated's rFactor as a codebase. It has since been used by more F1 racing teams, top road car OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and motorsport manufacturers. It was originally developed for driver-in-the-Loop simulations, but has since been used for autonomous vehicle training as well. It is not licensed to consumers.
