Whether you love realistic simulations or swing for arcadey racers, driving games offer a thrill that other game genres struggle to beat. Hone your competitive edge, build the biggest garage or take your dream ride out for a spin; driving games are the perfect pick-up-and-play choice, designed to provide a quick race or hours of multiplayer competitive play.

All detailed up with nowhere to race? From the official GT World Challenge game Assetto Corsa Competizione to the legendary F-Zero: these are our top picks for the best driving games to play in 2022.

The Best Driving Games To Play In 2022

1. Forza Horizon 5 – best driving games

Drift through the deserts of Mexico in Forza Horizon 5, 2021’s standout racing game with a huge open world map and evolving garage of cars. One of the best driving games for people who love collecting vehicles and challenging high scores, this is a social racing experience with both a dynamic map and mini challenges for short gaming sessions. Winner of several GOTY awards, and for good reason: Horizon 5 might just be the best-looking racer on current gen consoles. Customise your cars, so your friends can laugh at your reg plate as you leave them in the dust.

2. Dirt Rally 2.0 – best driving games

A must-play for fans of rally driving, in Dirt Rally 2.0 the cars are something you need to tame, with authentic handling and surface feedback that feels incredibly realistic. With environments based on 6 real off-road races from around the world, Rally 2.0 offers a competitive experience where a single racing mistake will see you thwarted. There’s no rewind here: you’ll need to master each track and your car, with in-depth vehicle tuning for fans of customising their racing experience. Play in VR, if you’ve got the perseverance.

3. Assetto Corsa Competizione – best driving games

Developed by and for experts: that’s the premise behind Assetto Corsa Competizione, the ultra-realistic driving game that provides the most accurate GT3 experience yet. You’ll most likely need a full wheel and pedal setup to fully enjoy your races, but if you’ve got that or are happy to spend time configuring your controller, Assetto Corsa Competizione is the hardcore sim you should be playing in 2022. The car list is smaller than in other titles – currently you can choose from 43 models – but they’re all faithfully reproduced with Unreal Engine 4.

4. Trackmania

Love shaving seconds off your top times? Few games do time trials better than Trackmania, the hyperactive racer that’s all about chasing high scores on increasingly crazy tracks. Ridiculously floaty (in a good way, honestly) and with that frantic edge found in all the best kart racers, Trackmania offers a robust community suite of weird and wonderful tracks to fly around. There’s a subscription model, but if that’s not your thing, earlier entries still offer hundreds of hours of user made content. Driving straight off the course to Cher’s Believe will never get old.

5. Wreckfest

Drive hard and die last in Wreckfest, the spiritual successor to FlatOut that puts its demolition derby heritage front and centre. Crashing expensive cars is almost as fun as winning races with them, and Wreckfest does this very well, offering players an expansive soft-body damage modelling system designed to really see those chassis crunch. One of the best driving games for fans of banger racing, no-rules rallying and out-there vehicular combat à la Wacky Races. An arcadey pick that’ll have you nostalgic for the PS1 racing era.

Not quite the finish line – read more of our choices for the best driving games to play in 2022!