Best PC racing games in 2026

Forza Horizon 5 is our number one among the best PC racing games in 2026, with Assetto Corsa Competizione second and BeamNG.drive third.

We ranked these 10 on what happens in the driver's seat, not on how many cars are in the garage. A car that tells you what the front tires are doing beats a longer roster, and that single test sets most of the order below.

All 10 are paid downloads on Steam, and three currently sit at a discount. Use the table to pick a discipline, then read the entry for the catch.

Our top 10 picks compared

The best racing games on PC, ranked

Here are the 10 picks, best first, with the current price and the catch on each one.

1. Forza Horizon 5

Playground Games put a whole slice of Mexico under your tires, and the racing there is optional in a way nothing else on this list allows. Street races, off-road events, and open lobbies all run on one map, with co-op and PvP on the listing next to the campaign.

First place goes to the widest net. Forza Horizon 5 tops our best racing games on Xbox list too. A newcomer on a controller and a driver chasing lap times get the same amount to do here, which is why it is the one we hand to anyone unsure where to start.

• Best for: Drivers who want an open world instead of a menu of tracks
• Standout: Simulation-leaning handling wrapped in an open world you can just cruise
• The catch: Holds at $59.99 with no discount on the listing, and the sprawl means less structure than the focused sims below
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, $59.99
• Rating: 89 out of 100 on Steam (278,869 ratings)

2. Assetto Corsa Competizione

This is the official game of the GT World Challenge, built around the GT3 championship with its real teams, cars, and circuits. Kunos Simulazioni went narrow deliberately, and the reward is a grid that behaves like the series it reproduces.

Second place is a focus call. The driving model pays back repetition rather than variety, which is exactly what a one-championship sim should do.

• Best for: Sim racers who want a single championship treated seriously
• Standout: The licensed GT World Challenge grid, with official teams and circuits
• The catch: A 2019 release limited to GT3 machinery, with no co-op or local play on the listing
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, $39.99
• Rating: 93 out of 100 on Steam (47,780 ratings)

3. BeamNG.drive

Crash a car here and every panel folds the way sheet metal actually folds. BeamNG built the whole thing on soft-body physics, so vehicles bend, break, and shed parts instead of playing a canned animation.

Third is where the strongest player rating on this list meets the loosest definition of racing. Nothing models a wreck better, though the races here are something you set up yourself.

• Best for: Players who want a physics sandbox more than a race calendar
• Standout: Soft-body vehicle physics that deform and break in real time
• The catch: Single-player only on the listing, still carrying an Early Access tag, and a 2015 release
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, $24.99
• Rating: 97 out of 100 on Steam (412,594 ratings)

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4. Forza Motorsport

More than 500 cars and 30 circuits ship with this one, Fujimi Kaido among them, plus a 20th Anniversary Tour that hands out its own rewards. Turn 10 pointed everything at circuit racing, and online play and PvP sit alongside the single-player career.

Fourth place splits the difference between content and reception. The car list and track roster rank with the best here, while Steam owners have been harder on this listing than any other.

• Best for: Licensed circuit racing with a career to work through
• Standout: A 20th Anniversary Tour layered over a roster of 500-plus cars and 30 tracks
• The catch: The weakest player reception here, and the highest price of the 10 at $69.99
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, $69.99
• Rating: 51 out of 100 on Steam (12,672 ratings)

5. F1 25

The current Steam listing bundles F1 25 with the 2026 Season Pack, so the newest grid comes with the game. Codemasters kept the full spread of modes, and this is the only pick here with local multiplayer. F1 25 also features in our best PS5 racing games list.

Fifth place recognizes the freshest content on the list. An annual sports release dates the moment the next one lands, which is the thing to weigh before paying $49.99 for a licensed season.

• Best for: Following a real Formula One season, solo or on the couch
• Standout: The 2026 Season Pack bundled in with the base game
• The catch: Tied to one season, so the content ages fast once the next edition arrives
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, $49.99
• Rating: 87 out of 100 on Steam (28,083 ratings)

6. Automobilista 2

Dynamic weather, shifting track conditions, and the VR support the store page leads on are what carry this pick. Reiza Studios built it as a catch-all simulator, with a car and track collection reaching well past any single series.

We call this one the deep cut of the list. The feel through a corner holds up against everything above it, and the spread of cars, conditions, and disciplines is why sim regulars keep it installed.

• Best for: One simulator covering several racing disciplines
• Standout: Dynamic weather and changing track conditions, with VR support front and center on the listing
• The catch: A 2020 release with a much smaller following than Forza Horizon 5, at 15,819 ratings
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, $39.99
• Rating: 92 out of 100 on Steam (15,819 ratings)

7. DiRT Rally 2.0

Getting a stage wrong in rally means ending it, and that consequence is the entire experience here. Codemasters spread the stages across iconic rally locations and put serious off-road machinery on them, one car at a time against the clock.

Seventh place matches how narrow the appeal is. No corner on this list asks more of you, and running solo against a stopwatch is not what most people picture as racing.

• Best for: Drivers chasing stage times instead of wheel-to-wheel racing
• Standout: Rally stages across recognizable global locations, timed rather than raced
• The catch: A 2019 release, and the least forgiving driving in the 10
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, listed at $13.99 with 30% off
• Rating: 89 out of 100 on Steam (48,287 ratings)

8. Wreckfest

Contact is encouraged. Bugbear wired soft-body damage into a demolition derby racer, so bodywork crumples over the course of an event and surviving matters as much as pace.

The outlier lands at eight. Conventional track races are in here too, and the derby side is what we keep reloading it for.

• Best for: Wrecking cars with a group, then racing whatever still runs
• Standout: Demolition derbies sitting alongside normal track races, with damage modeled panel by panel
• The catch: A 2018 release, and the crash focus leaves less driving depth than the sims above
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, listed at $7.49 with 75% off
• Rating: 88 out of 100 on Steam (41,286 ratings)

9. EA SPORTS WRC

Rank nine goes to the only game here carrying the official World Rally Championship license. The 2024 season supplies the content, from locations and stages to the cars and licensed crews.

Reception is what puts it below DiRT Rally 2.0 despite being four years newer. Steam owners have it at 61 out of 100 from 11,345 ratings, well under the older rally game, so the 50% discount does a lot of work.

• Best for: Rally fans who want the official championship and its crews
• Standout: The licensed World Rally Championship built around the 2024 season
• The catch: Mixed player reception, from the smallest rating pool on this list
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, listed at $24.99 with 50% off
• Rating: 61 out of 100 on Steam (11,345 ratings)

10. Assetto Corsa

More than a decade after launch, the original still holds 93 out of 100 on Steam from over 170,000 ratings. Laser-scanned circuits, Laguna Seca among them, and a car list that kept growing through updates are why it never dropped out of rotation.

Age alone keeps it at 10. The newer Competizione sits at number two on merit, and this one stays because the base driving model still holds up at $19.99.

• Best for: A cheap entry point into serious sim racing
• Standout: Laser-scanned circuits, with update content like Laguna Seca and the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
• The catch: A 2014 release, the oldest here, and its own successor covers GT3 racing in more depth
• Platforms: PC (Steam)
• Price and monetization: Paid download, $19.99
• Rating: 93 out of 100 on Steam (172,855 ratings)

How we picked these 10

Every rank above is our editorial recommendation rather than a benchmark result. Official store listings supplied the hard specs, and five things decided the order.

• Genre fit: how much of the design is really about driving
• Quality: how well the handling, content, and presentation hold together
• Current relevance: whether it is still sold, supported, and played now
• Accessibility: how fast a newcomer reaches a competitive lap
• Replayability: whether a second season or discipline offers anything new

Developer, publisher, play modes, price, discount, and rating counts all come from those listings, and the player ratings there use a 100-point scale that carries owner sentiment rather than our view.

Where a listing stayed quiet, that line stays blank. How each game drives, and where it lands, is our own call.

Which PC racing game to install first

Start with Forza Horizon 5 if you are undecided, because it is the only pick that works as a cruise, a race, and a group activity on the same map. That open-world cruise has more in our open world PC games list. Anyone who wants the driving itself to be the challenge should load Assetto Corsa Competizione and run one car on one circuit until the braking points stick.

Budget settles this for plenty of people. Wreckfest at $7.49 and DiRT Rally 2.0 at $13.99 cost less than lunch, and neither one feels like a compromise.

• Easiest to pick up: Forza Horizon 5, F1 25, Wreckfest
• Licensed circuit racing: Forza Motorsport, F1 25
• Rally stages: DiRT Rally 2.0, EA SPORTS WRC
• Most demanding sims: Assetto Corsa Competizione, Automobilista 2, Assetto Corsa
• A physics sandbox instead of a race: BeamNG.drive