Round this time final 12 months I criticised The Recreation Awards for regularly forcing racing video games to share a widespread class with sports activities video games, to compete for recognition at what’s described (by The Recreation Awards) as “gaming’s greatest night time.”
Up till this 12 months it was an award no conventional sports activities sport had ever truly gained. The class had been completely dominated by racing video games, apart from 2015 (Rocket League, which nonetheless has vehicles in it) and 2020 (Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater 1+2, which remains to be… on wheels).
This 12 months FC 25 received the gong. Simply a single racing sport made the shortlist: F1 24. A fantastic racing sport, little doubt, however one which’s laborious to argue was an instantly important improve for those that already owned F1 23, or F1 22, or so on. What else might’ve made it? Monster Jam Showdown? Good enjoyable (which shouldn’t be shocking given the developer’s current type with the Scorching Wheels Unleashed collection) however I wouldn’t fancy its probabilities at The Recreation Awards. Le Mans Final? Effectively, that’s nonetheless ostensibly in Steam Early Entry, regardless that they’re… already promoting in-game DLC earlier than the sport’s formally “completed.” Check Drive Limitless Photo voltaic Crown? No likelihood.
The unhappy actuality is there merely weren’t sufficient racing video games launched in 2024, full cease. For the primary time I can bear in mind in my almost 14 years at IGN, we didn’t even hand out an award for the 12 months’s greatest racer. There simply weren’t sufficient of them to even pad out a checklist of finalists.
Unhappy stuff.
Now, for readability, I have had a variety of recent causes to slip behind a steering wheel this 12 months, however the bulk of those alternatives have arrived as updates to present racing video games I already personal. Most months of 2024 have seen an injection of latest vehicles and content material for Gran Turismo 7. As is normally the case with GT, not all these vehicles have had a stable racing pedigree, however I gained’t faux I’m not no less than mildly considering seeing how briskly an eight-year-old Toyota Hiace can lap the Nordschleife.
A 2024 enlargement to EA Sports activities WRC added a number of new vehicles and two new nations: Latvia and Poland. The brand new nations function some glorious levels, and it makes a lot extra sense for Codemasters to enhance WRC this manner than instantly put it on a yearly, F1-style cadence (if solely the asking value for the DLC wasn’t as uncomfortably near the price of a completely new sport anyway).
On the flip facet, The Crew Motorfest actually turned 50% bigger for free, with all gamers gaining access to your entire island of Maui, added to Motorfest in November. Maui is just not a bespoke space; it’s been seamlessly injected into the sport’s present world (and developer Ivory Tower has even added a fantasy connecting bridge, that means you will have a option to both fly, boat, or drive to Maui from O’ahu with none loading screens. It admittedly hasn’t turned me into a Motorfest common, however there are some satisfying stretches of highway and a few good areas on Maui – which is clearly a lot quieter than the extra densely-populated O’ahu.
Check Drive Limitless Photo voltaic Crown has grown in a comparable vogue with its Ibiza enlargement (though don’t count on a bridge from Hong Kong to the Mediterranean). Photo voltaic Crown’s Ibiza map is a pretty small part of the island that will come as a nostalgic bonus for these gamers who recall blasting across the Spanish get together paradise in 2011’s Check Drive Limitless 2, however it’s laborious to say whether or not it’ll flip round Photo voltaic Crown’s sluggish begin. The map, in spite of everything, wasn’t Photo voltaic Crown’s primary drawback.
Mount Panorama has lastly discovered its method again into Forza Motorsport in its most-recent replace, however I’ve to confess I’m extraordinarily dissatisfied with all of the faux sponsors used all through the monitor. It simply makes it seem completely inauthentic in comparison with Bathurst in Assetto Corsa Competizione, Gran Turismo 7, and even Forza Motorsport 7 – all of which function actual sponsors. It appears like a weird step backwards for the collection, however hopefully it may be redressed. The replace arrived together with a bunch of antipodean vehicles which have largely been seen within the collection earlier than, however nonetheless enchantment to me as a devoted Australian meathead. There’s just one new automotive, however it is a nice one: a 1991 HSV Commodore VN Group A SV. If there’s one factor I like greater than Australian vehicles, it’s the Nineteen Nineties, so this fills each of these standards.
And talking of the ’90s, Want for Pace Unbound simply added a bike, which is a shocking and spectacular first for a collection that’s actually celebrating 30 years since its 1994 debut this month.
So, positive, there’s been loads of tinkering nonetheless happening beneath the bonnets of many of the greatest racers within the enterprise, however little or no new blood within the style in 2024.
That’s worrisome, significantly as youthful generations proceed to exhibit an rising disinterest in vehicles on the whole, however I do assume 2024 might be simply an aberration.
I say this as a result of 2025 is trying extraordinarily thrilling within the racing house. Assetto Corsa Evo guarantees to be one of many greatest racers of the 12 months and, with the 1,600-square kilometre open world map in improvement for it, I do imply that actually. JDM: Japanese Drift Grasp from Polish studio Gaming Manufacturing unit has proven promise for a while, and you may already try a free demo of this on Steam now. Tokyo Xtreme Racer is about to return after a almost 20-year absence. Undertaking CARS non secular successor Undertaking Motor Racing is scheduled to reach in 2025. It’s received the Lister Storm in it.
Sure please.
And that’s simply a few of what we learn about already. Will Wreckfest 2 arrive in 2025? The deliberate launch date for that’s but to be confirmed, however that needs to be one thing particular. Is 2025 the 12 months we hear about the way forward for Forza Horizon? Subsequent 12 months will mark 4 years since Forza Horizon 5, in spite of everything.
Both method, I’ll see you on the beginning line.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN critiques staff. You may monitor him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him issues about stuff.