With racing games getting a lot of visual fidelity and graphical boosts thanks to current-gen platforms, getting behind the wheel of your favorite cars is now all the more immersive. There have been some great additions to the racing simulator genre over the last couple of years, and 2026 is poised to carry that trend forward into the future with style.
If you’re wondering which of the year’s titles are going to have you burning rubber on the tracks as you let loose and push your engines to their limit, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a list of a few great racing titles that are confirmed, and a few more that might just make an appearance in 2026 and beyond.
1. Forza Horizon 6
The good news is that this one is confirmed for a 2026 release. The bad news is that Playground Games has yet to give us a precise release date for a very ambitious fourteenth addition to the Forza franchise. It takes the action to Tokyo this time around, with some of the city’s iconic locations making an appearance alongside a respectful take on Japanese racing culture being promised.
With Tokyo City shaping up to be the “most complex and intricate drivable space” in the franchise and its largest map ever, this one’s definitely one to watch out for this year.
2. RIDE 6
Milestone Games is all-set to bring adrenaline on two wheels to your gaming systems in February this year, with over 340 different motorcycles for you to climb onto in a game that’s welcoming to both newcomers and veterans. Its Arcade and Pro modes are great ways to take on a Career Mode that’s looking really good.
And speaking of good looks, the visuals on this one are quite impressive, and we can’t wait to see if hitting the circuits on offer feels as real and as good as the real thing.
3. Screamer
This arcade racer is futuristic, fascinating, and just plain old fun from the little snippets of it we’ve been checking out. With a unique control scheme in which you steer with your left stick and drift with your right, coupled with an anime vibe that’s sure to catch your eye, Screamer takes the best of its past iterations and brings them to an experience that’s poised to take the franchise to the future.
There’s also speed boosts on accurate gear shifts, and even Shields and abilities that let you take other racers out of the equation entirely. We’re already drooling at the thought!
4. Gear.Club Unlimited 3 (Switch 2)
With a global fleet of over 40 fully customizable cars, and a Highway Rush mode alongside a story mode that takes you across France and Japan, the Switch 2 debut of this one is sure to give you and your buddies a solid reason to get together for more than a few game nights.
As a timed exclusive on the Switch 2, this one is sure to find a few takers when it releases later this year and eventually makes its way to other platforms later down the line.
5. Tokyo Xtreme Racer (PS5)
We were quite impressed with Genki’s revival of this classic arcade-style racer when it was released for the PC last year. It brought great visual and audio design to an experience that was both fresh and familiar, thanks to its faithful recreation of what put Tokyo Xtreme Racer on the map in the first place.
And now you get to weave in and out of traffic on the PS5, the Shuto Expressway being the stage for some very nerve-wracking racing action that rewards speed and reflexes in a way that makes this one a very satisfying racer.
6. Star Wars: Galactic Racer
If racing around in fancy vehicles in a galaxy that’s both immediately recognizable and yet far, far, away sounds like your thing, this arcade racer is sure to have caught your attention when it was announced at TGS 2025.
With different vehicle classes that vary in terms of their physics, a single-player campaign and multiplayer options, this is definitely a racer you want to try for yourself when it comes out later this year.
7. LANESPLIT
If you’re looking for a plug-and-play experience in which you just hop on your bike and speed away as you weave between vehicles in traffic, this one’s for you. Sure, it may not be the most polished one on this list, but it more than makes up for that with its simplicity.
While the early access demo didn’t have too much of a roster of bikes for us to choose from, the full release, due later this year, comes with a respectable amount of options to use in its no-frills gameplay loop.
8. Super Woden: Rally Edge
Solid driving mechanics, an excellent career mode, class-specific events, head-to-head races, and so much more make this one of 2026’s most well-rounded racing simulators. There’s even an option for four players to play on a split-screen if you buy it as a way to bring the gang together for some racing fun.
There are a lot of cars and stages for you to choose from, and as far as racing games go, this one is sure to bring you many hours of fun if you give it a shot. While there is room for minor improvements, this one is good enough to make you overlook them, thanks to how well-implemented it is and how engaging it is to play.
9. Assetto Corsa EVO 1.0
This one managed to grab quite a few eyeballs when it dropped on early access in 2025, and with the full release poised to bring a lot of excellent additions to the table, we’re definitely excited to see how it shapes up.
With several game modes, a good selection of cars and tracks, and some excellent physics making each race feel as authentic as it can be, this is a title that purists are going to enjoy to the fullest.
10. Carmageddon: Rogue Shift
Carmageddon is making a return this year, and how! You’re driving around in a literal dystopia, with a zombie apocalypse well underway in this arcade-racing roguelite.
With dynamically adjusting difficulties across procedurally generated stages, a bunch of cars, weapon types, and so much more to discover, this is a fun-filled rampage that’s sure to bring some fond memories of the titles that came before it.
11. Wreckfest 2 1.0
With a revamped visual flavor courtesy of the ROMU Engine and a gameplay loop that’s every bit as destructive as fans of the first title would remember, Wreckfest 2 is going to be one hell of a destructive derby racer when it launches sometime in the near future.
The destruction is all there, as are a lot of options to have some fun behind the wheel of a newly customizable car. This one is sure to have you grinning from ear to ear as you let your intrusive thoughts take the wheel.
12. Endurance Motorsport Series
Realistic driving physics coupled with faithful recreations of tracks from all over the world make this one a simulator worth looking into. Adding more flavor to the mix is the fact that it isn’t just your driving that counts in this one, but in the way you and your team adapt to varying conditions out on the track.
Expect to make some fast decisions while you’re trying to get out ahead of your competition, and for an experience that could be as close to the real thing as it can get.
13. F1 2025 Paid Expansion
There won’t be an F1 26 this year, but F1 25 is getting a paid expansion that’s poised to add a ton of new content to the game while switching up its rules and systems to better align with this year’s Formula One season.
That’s great news made even better by the knowledge that the developers now have more time to focus on what’s shaping up to be a very ambitious title being lined up for the franchise in 2027!
14. Akina
If you can’t seem to let go of your Tokyo Drift obsession, this arcade racer set in the Japanese mountains and countryside is going to catch your fancy. Set for release later this year, this one takes you back to an age of Japanese racing that many enthusiasts look back on quite fondly.
With a world that’s charmingly crafted, and the scope for some sharp turns on the cards, Akina might just be the one to beat if drifting is your thing.
15. CarX Drift Racing Online 2
If you’re thinking about taking a more professional approach to drifting, this one might be the perfect choice for you. Realistic physics coupled with gameplay systems that are tuned to mimic competition rules in the real world, along with single and multiplayer modes for you to take on, make this one a viable alternative to Akina and a more serious contender for the genre’s best titles.
Building on its predecessor’s best features while bringing excellent changes of its own, this one has us eager to try it out when it drops in the first quarter of 2026.
And that’s a wrap on all of the racing titles we’re quite excited to try out in 2026 and beyond! We hope to see you on the track.
