There are tons of driving and racing games out there. Withal, almost of them have an arcade feel: fast-paced, forgiving, and using but the blank minimum level of physics. These games were made to be fun and fiddling more than. But on the other finish of the spectrum, we have simulators.

These are games built from the ground up to offer a realistic portrayal of driving. Whether you're hurtling down a hill in a Subaru or cruising the European countryside in a large truck, these ten driving sims are perfect examples of games that attempt to be as realistic equally possible. They are tough, unforgiving, and mastering the vehicles is a challenge in itself.

Updated by Madison Lennon on February 24, 2020: Driving simulators have go increasingly popular over the years every bit video gaming consoles have grown more than sophisticated. Information technology'south piece of cake to get caught upward in the earth of racing and driving when you're situated in the comforts of your living room.

If you're a fan of these types of games, you should check out the post-obit list, which we've recently updated to offer even more than choices. There is a wide variety of driving simulators out in that location, some of which have story missions and others that are more suited to gratis play, hopefully, you can discover the all-time ane for you and your tastes!

15 Driver: San Francisco

If you like driving around the massive fictional maps of 1000 Theft Motorcar, so you should consider checking out Driver: San Francisco, which is the 5th game overall in this particular franchise. It allows you to play a story fashion as a detective who fell into a coma trying to pursue his nemesis.

Y'all tin too play with over 140 real licensable vehicles and damage them totally if that is what you lot're into. Not only that, but the game allows you to teleport and swap cars during gameplay, and information technology's bachelor on multiple platforms.

14 TrackMania 2: Canyon

If you like to perform stunts and to get creative past making your own tracks, then you might want to consider getting TrackMania 2: Canyon, which allows players a level of customization non seen in many other games.

There are a lot of gamers who share their tracks on YouTube and in online gaming forums, like to what people share from the Sims community, with a desire to personalize their racing experience and to raise the stakes essentially. You can also edit video footage and brand your own highlight reel to showcase your talents.

13 Autobahn Constabulary Simulator

Autobahn Police Simulator and its sequel are dissimilar than some of the games on this list since information technology gives y'all a existent goal and missions. If you like driving simulators merely you get bored running tracks all day, you lot can opt for something like this, which attempts to give you lot a 18-carat experience of what it's similar to exist a police officer on the German Autobahn.

There is a gratuitous play mode but in that location are as well more than 30 missions to send y'all toward blow sites and car chases where you'll need to hunt people down to inspect their vehicles for drugs and more than.

12 RACE: Injection

This game is the final in the overall RACE 07 series, which has won several awards during its run. Players are offered more than than 20 unlike auto models in boosted to nine tracks placed in areas across the globe.

You tin also compete in five different classes and fifty-fifty compete title tournaments based on real-life. Plus the game offers up to 25 slots for multiplayer or yous can just race against AI counterparts, you go to decide. For those who like to customize their cars, the game offers over 400 different car skins.

11 *Shift 2: Unleashed

Shift 2: Unleashed is a direct sequel to Demand for Speed: Shift and the 17th installment to the Need for Speed franchise. The game aims to redefine realism in driving and racing simulators. It creates dynamic crash scenarios to make the entire experience more immersive.

There are more than 140 cars to choose from, over 30 tracks, and 37 different manufacturers. The level of option and customization give players enough of options to choose from to brand the game that much more personalized to the thespian'due south ain desires.

x EURO TRUCK SIMULATOR two

Via Excalibur Games

Euro Truck Simulator ii is the opposite of the other games on this list when it comes to difficulty. The driving sim is peaceful, slow-paced and the perfect way to spend a lazy afternoon.

In the game, you drive a number of large trucks which haul a range of dissimilar cargo - everything from propane tanks to pocket-size cars. You can drive through well-nigh of Europe, from the U.k. to Scandinavia, in various weather atmospheric condition. At that place are traffic rules to follow, and speed limits, but you tin ignore all of them; though the consequences are normally crashing your truck into a ditch.

9 Dirt RALLY 2.0

This is i of the best rallying games always made. It embraces the insane difficulty of real-life rallying, where fast, powerful cars hurtle downwardly rough terrain at breakneck speed. You lot need to follow your co-commuter'due south pace notes since those will make up one's mind whether you will stay on the road or miss a hairpin plough and fly off a cliff.

Even if you follow the pace notes, sometimes the cars are so powerful and unwieldy that y'all but tin't avert crashing into a tree. And you volition crash many times in the game, especially if you pick anything more powerful than a classic Mini.

eight PROJECT CARS two

Some track-based racing sims mistake authenticity for difficulty; they make a car impossible to control, and the track feels like it's covered with ice. Projection Cars 2 doesn't have this problem though. The cars experience almost true to life, though the handling takes some getting used to, and it understeers a little more it oversteers. The game also has varying weather conditions - the effects are but sublime - and the weather often changes in the middle of a race. This is more than eye-candy, though, every bit you take to arrange to the new conditions earlier you lot spin out of control.

seven ASSETTO CORSA

Via Games Republic

This game doesn't accept the all-time AI or game modes. Even so, it more than makes upwards for that when it comes to the pure sensation of driving a race motorcar. According to PCGamesN, Assetto Corsa delivers an unbeatable sense of immersion and realism, with arguably the all-time physics of any racing sim. But that's not all. The game is highly customizable, so you lot tin tweak settings still you like until you tin comfortably bulldoze a car that was previously impossible to control. The game too has an active modding community which adds tons of features, from supercars to custom tracks.

six IRACING

Via iRacing.com

If in that location's one racing sim that every serious gamer knows, it's iRacing. It's also the most polarizing, because you have to pay over iRacing just for a subscription if you're not new, and every motorcar or rails non included in the base model costs over $x to obtain. Yep, the price of entry is loftier - exorbitant, according to some. Simply what no one can deny is its authenticity. All the cars are modeled with impeccable attention to particular, and the racing rules are merely as serious as the rules y'all'll observe in a real-life track event. Its physics engine is also i of the most accurate out there.

5 SPINTIRES: MUDRUNNER

Via Microsoft

If you've e'er wanted to know how extreme off-route driving feels like without actually getting an SUV and going to a muddy area, this is the closest you can get. Spintires: MudRunner is a game that drops you into a big area with an unforgiving terrain. At that place's a ton of mud, uneven roads and tracks, deep rivers, jutting rocks, deforming terrain, and steep hills. To navigate this terrain, you become a number of off-road vehicles, from SUVs to big trucks. It'southward easy to go stuck in the mud, with your tires fast getting chock-full, according to Rock Paper Shotgun. MudRunner demands patience and adding; annihilation less and it can apace get frustrating.

4 RFACTOR 2

Via RaceDepartment

Launched in 2013, rFactor 2 is reasonably old. However, it has aged like a fine wine, with developers still making DLCs and the modding community still churning out tons of mods. And it's also incredibly complex; so much so, in fact, that it'south turned away more than than a few beginners.

According to DriveTribe, it has features like a condom line, which forms on the runway over fourth dimension and affects the grip of your car, whether it's dry or raining. The game also uses aerodynamics accurately, and making even minor adjustments will affect your car's speed and even its fuel consumption.

3 BEAMNG.DRIVE

Via RaceDepartment

Information technology'southward not easy to make a driving simulation fun from the showtime, but BeamNG.drive achieves this easily. It's still hard, since the cars experience as realistic as any other sim on this list. But racing isn't a priority with this game, even though you have that option. The harm model is what makes BeamNG.drive special; you can destroy your machine just past driving over a bump at 60 mph, and all crashes look and feel real. This is thanks to the game's soft-body physics which has been implemented in every role of the bachelor cars. The modding scene is also pretty active.

two RICHARD BURNS RALLY

Via Red Balderdash

This is the game that all other rally sims are compared to. It set the bar for ultra-realistic races, relentless difficulty, and the terror of knowing that even the smallest slip-up might cost you the race. Some diehard fans withal insist that the Dirt Rally games still don't come up close to Richard Burns Rally.

Since its release in 2004, the game has received plenty of mods from passionate fans. These mods take tweaked everything from the interaction of tires to various surface types to intermission improvements. All these take resulted in a game that trades blows with DiRT and, in almost cases, comes out on summit.

1 FORZA MOTORSPORT seven

Via Motor1.com

This is ane of the most forgiving racing sims you tin get. Small mistakes won't ruin your race, and information technology'due south not too hard to master. That said, it is still tougher than your average racer, and the cars yet require a bit of patience to learn; peculiarly the fast ones. Its principal appeal, however, is just how vast the game is.

It has over 700 cars, ranging from classic cars to muscle cars, simple vans, and even trailer trucks. It also has numerous tracks and locations, custom liveries and active multiplayer. For players new to sim games, Forza Motorsport seven is a welcoming entry bespeak.

NEXT: 8 Reasons Forza Is Ameliorate Than Gran Turismo (And vii Reasons It'southward Not)