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.
Stock Car Pro Series, formerly known as Stock Car Brasil, is a touring car auto racing series based in Brazil organized by Vicar. It is considered the major Brazilian and South American motorsports series. Starting in 1979 with Chevrolet as the only constructor, the series has also seen other constructors joining in and leaving such as Mitsubishi, Peugeot and Volkswagen, currently the only other besides Chevrolet is Toyota. The series is composed of 12 rounds, with the most important race, the Corrida do Milhão being worth double points and has a prize pool of R$1 million. The competition has seen many internationally famous drivers in its ranks, such as Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Jacques Villeneuve, Lucas di Grassi, Nelson Piquet Jr., Ricardo Zonta, Tony Kanaan and António Félix da Costa.
TORCS is an open-source 3D car racing simulator available on Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, AmigaOS 4, AROS, MorphOS and Microsoft Windows. TORCS was created by Eric Espié and Christophe Guionneau, but project development is now headed by Bernhard Wymann. It is written in C++ and is licensed under the GNU GPL. TORCS is designed to enable pre-programmed AI drivers to race against one another, while allowing the user to control a vehicle using either a keyboard, mouse, or wheel input.
rFactor is a computer racing simulator designed with the ability to run any type of four-wheeled vehicle from street cars to open wheel cars of any era. rFactor aimed to be the most accurate race simulator of its time. Released in November 2005, rFactor did not have much competition in this market, but it featured many technical advances in tire modeling, complex aerodynamics and a 15 degrees of freedom physics engine.
Microsoft Flight Simulator X is a 2006 flight simulation video game originally developed by Aces Game Studio and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and the tenth installment of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, which was first released in 1982. It is built on an upgraded graphics rendering engine, showcasing DirectX 10 features in Windows Vista and was marketed by Microsoft as the most important technological milestone in the series at the time. FSX is the first version in the series to be released on DVD media.
GTR 2 – FIA GT Racing Game is a sports car racing simulator developed by Blimey! Games and SimBin Studios and published by 10tacle Publishing in 2006 for the x86 PC. it is a sequel to GTR. Not only the game simulates the official 2003 and 2004 FIA GT Championship racing series, but also open practice, race weekend, championships, time trials, endurance race events and Driving school, 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 steering command by sensitivity, dynamic lighting, damage modeling and 3 different game modes.
VDrift is a cross-platform, free/open source driving simulation made with drift racing in mind. It is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) v3. It is currently available for Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.
Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. This includes automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, military vehicles, and a variety of other vehicles. The main challenge is to master driving and steering the vehicle from the perspective of the pilot or driver, with most games adding another challenge such as racing or fighting rival vehicles. Games are often divided based on realism, with some games including more realistic physics and challenges such as fuel management.
Slightly Mad Studios Ltd. was a British video game developer based in London. Founded in 2009, it was best known for the Project CARS series of racing games that it developed from 2015 until the series' discontinuation in 2022. Codemasters acquired Slightly Mad Studios in 2019 and was itself acquired by Electronic Arts in 2021.
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.
Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends is a racing video game developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Rombax Games under license from Atari for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The game is a departure from the semi-simulation open world sandbox-gaming style seen on Test Drive Unlimited and its sequel, and returns to closed circuit racing that was last used in Test Drive 6, and also resembling another racer called Le Mans 24 Hours, which was branded as a Test Drive title in the United States on some platforms.
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.
Project CARS 2 is a motorsport racing simulator video game developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published and distributed by the Bandai Namco Entertainment group. It was released worldwide on 22 September 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.
RaceRoom Racing Experience is a free-to-play racing simulator for Microsoft Windows, developed by KW 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.
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 is a simulation video game developed by Polish studio Red Dot Games depicting the work of an automotive mechanic. It was released on July 28, 2017, for Microsoft Windows; in 2019 on February 15 for Nintendo Switch and June 25 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A simplified version for mobile platforms was released in June 2018. The game is the third in the Car Mechanic Simulator series, following Car Mechanic Simulator 2014 and Car Mechanic Simulator 2015, the game is the predecessor of Car Mechanic Simulator 2021, which was released on August 11, 2021.
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.
