The focus is primarily on drifting, but if that tickles your fancy, there’s no shortage of great mods to sink your teeth into. Much of the Assetto Corsa’s ultra-precise and realistic sim elements port incredibly well to VR, and few games channel the genuine thrill of controlling a racing car to such a convincing degree.Īs we noted above, Assetto Corsa truly comes alive thanks to modding support, which grants access to all manner of cars, tracks, locations, and improvements.
With this in mind, we’d be hard-pressed to recommend PC VR headset owners dart to the shops to pick up a PlayStation 4, but if much of your VR-ing is already on PSVR, Gran Turismo Sport’s VR mode is well worth a visit.Ī legendary entry in the annals of racing game history, Assetto Corsa’s jump to VR was once rough around the edges, but thanks to a vibrant modding community, it has become one of the best VR racing games money can buy. It’s slim pickings for what is otherwise a compelling VR racing experience, and the lack of competitive online play hits is disappointing. In practice, the Tour Mode breaks down to one-on-one races against AI and a somewhat gimmicky gallery to view cars in all their stunning detail. With a PSVR headset, Gran Turismo Sport is limited to what’s called a VR Tour Mode. The car handling is as good as ever, and the details of both the courses and the cars are only limited by the power of the PlayStation 4.Īnd herein lies one of the major drawbacks of Gran Turismo Sport it’s only available on PlayStation VR, and even there, the experience is pared down compared to what’s on offer when playing on a TV. The lighting, in particular, is exceptional considering it runs on what is now considered a previous-gen console. However, there’s naturally a bit of a downgrade to some environments that come with the territory. Gran Turismo Sport is certainly showing its age but remains one gorgeous game, something that’s only enhanced when you plop on a VR headset. The series’ first foray into VR in Gran Turismo Sport, while not perfect, is a must-play for racing game fans. Although quickly passed off as superficial due to the bite-sized qualities of the content on offer, Project Cars 3 isn’t as daunting as other VR racing games and offers hours of light fun.ĭespite being suitable for those looking for a more effortless driving experience, Project Cars 3 requires quite the gaming rig for a palatable experience with no less than an RTX 2080 and 16 GB of RAM, a point to consider if you’re running an older PC.Ī revered name in the motorsport genre, Gran Turismo is synonymous with one of the best console racing experiences.
In VR, this is only intensified, and it’s a real pleasure exploring everything Project Cars 3 has to offer with a 360-degree view.Īlongside, you get the full spread of over 200 cars, 120 tracks, and game modes, both single-player and competitive multiplayer, as the PC and console version. In keeping with what we’ve come to expect from the series, Project Cars 3 is even more stunning than its predecessors with gorgeous environments, dynamic seasons and weather, a genuine hair-raising sense of speed, and explosive collisions. Project Cars 3, on the other end, throws that formula out the window for a far more accessible, arcade-style experience that makes excellent use of VR capabilities for a light, accessible driving game, earmarking it as the perfect first stop for VR newbies before they move on to more unforgiving titles, of which there’s no shortage.
Project Cars 2 rightly turned heads for offering a good balance between realism and fun, free of surplus complexity in the mechanics, but with just enough depth for purists. If you are looking to get into VR try these pages too: So here are our picks for the best VR racing games you can play on various headsets right now. Today, we’ll be sharing what we think are the best examples of how VR propels the genre forward, tapping into the full capabilities of tech to have you almost inhaling the tart fumes of burning tires and feeling the crunch of colliding nose wings. So it’s no wonder developers have turned to VR, the latest and arguably the most exciting frontier in video games, to push the envelope of immersive racing experiences. It’s that drive to match the visceral thrill of rushing metal and fierce competition, to reproduce the sensation of carving the perfect line around the banked curves of a speedway or deftly navigating the streets of Monaco. From rudimentary mechanical racing games in 1930s amusement arcades unrecognizable by today’s standards to modern-day hyper-realistic simulators like iRacing, the love affair between games and racing would take multiple tomes to recount.