Most Played Racing Titles on Steam in May 2023

mopro · Jun 5, 2023

Surprisingly Wreckfest is not on the top 10. It seems "moddability" and arcade style visuals, physics and maybe storyline/career mode is the main ingredients for commercially successful car driving/racing games.

VFX Pro · Jun 5, 2023

I'm surprised not to see AMS2, especially with the new incredible physics update. Much better than AC on many fronts.

delpinsky · Jun 5, 2023

Woow Assetto Corsa!

Neverending story...

OldLeo · Jun 5, 2023

The dip in numbers is mainly due to longer days in the Northern Hemisphere, but also there just might be too many on the market.

Deleted member 197115 · Jun 5, 2023

Some things never change, yawn.

SixxeGunnar · Jun 5, 2023

At first glance I'm surprised by the numbers, but further inspection it looks like most of the hardcore sims are lower in order and the more arcade type game are leading. But then again, the list is peppered with titles I've never played so still figuring it out. Great to see AC is holding strong!

Stelcio · Jun 5, 2023

Are BeamNG and Snowrunner even racing games? Maybe let's include Euro Truck Simulator as well then? Or Car Mechanic Simulator? Or GTA V?

Enagee · Jun 5, 2023

VFX Pro said:
I'm surprised not to see AMS2, especially with the new incredible physics update. Much better than AC on many fronts.

Bit of a naive expectation , not much has changed on the multiplayer structure ..New physics is only on the release candidate and a handful of cars.

I know so many AMS2 owners who just don’t play it.

I thought I’d see ACC at least 4th ..it be more relevant if it was sim titles only

Deleted member 197115 · Jun 5, 2023

Enagee said:
I thought I’d see ACC at least 4th ..it be more relevant if it was sim titles only

It's 3rd after AC and F1 22.

Leonardo Chaves · Jun 5, 2023

I wonder if there are many players that run Forza outside of Steam(the windows store has it), similarly the EA games (they still have their own client right, haven't opened that thing in centuries).
But the Kunos games have a nice niche.
Let's see if AC2 can expand it.

Kurupt CDN · Jun 5, 2023

VFX Pro said:
I'm surprised not to see AMS2, especially with the new incredible physics update. Much better than AC on many fronts.

AMS2 has been averaging a peak of a little over 500 of late during the week and usually peaks on Sundays.
The latest build had a rise of 100 players on Sat and peaked yesterday at 780.

It just needs 12000 more players to potentially contend on this list lol

On the upside, it's player counts are much higher than AMS

boomn · Jun 5, 2023

Stelcio said:
Are BeamNG and Snowrunner even racing games? Maybe let's include Euro Truck Simulator as well then? Or Car Mechanic Simulator? Or GTA V?

BeamNG has good-enough tire and suspension physics to be a pretty competent racing game, and it includes timed single-player challenges that are definitely racing. From what I've seen and tried, BeamNG's strong points right now are in rally, desert racing, and drifting. It still relies on mods for small things like lap timers and big things like multiplayer though

Kingkoenig · Jun 5, 2023

VFX Pro said:
I'm surprised not to see AMS2, especially with the new incredible physics update. Much better than AC on many fronts.

I'm not surprised. AMS2 is very much a "niche" title. It offers lots of tracks and cars that probably don't have much appeal to casual gamers. (These rare cars and tracks are also why I love it.)

guidofoc · Jun 6, 2023

boomn said:
BeamNG has good-enough tire and suspension physics to be a pretty competent racing game, and it includes timed single-player challenges that are definitely racing. From what I've seen and tried, BeamNG's strong points right now are in rally, desert racing, and drifting. It still relies on mods for small things like lap timers and big things like multiplayer though

I have tried BeamNG multiplayer and the issue seems to be the overall complexity of the cars. Every time someone joins the server or changes his car the other players literally need to stop and wait a few seconds for the information to reach everyone. I do enjoy fooling around in multiplayer but so far it doesn't seem to be the best solution for racing. Any competition against the clock though is pretty good. In terms of driving "feeling" (at least on tarmac) though, AC is vastly superior IMHO. This is why I find myself spending way more time in AC than BeamNG. My usage patterns are: ACC for multiplayer racing, AC for driving, BeamNG when I just want to fool around.

Blerpa · Jun 6, 2023

Leonardo Chaves said:
I wonder if there are many players that run Forza outside of Steam(the windows store has it), similarly the EA games (they still have their own client right, haven't opened that thing in centuries).
But the Kunos games have a nice niche.
Let's see if AC2 can expand it.

Forza games are played even more out of Steam, since they are often bought on Xbox PC store and included in Gamepass.

Out of the games in this list if we would also consider other PC launchers (so Xbox and Gamepass as stated above) Forza Horizon 5 and 4 would be first and second, and by miles far ahead of third place and all the other games.
Like... the comparison would be brutal.
F1 2022 would be a long distant third and iRacing would be the only sim barely keeping up to those numbers.

Badwheels · Jun 6, 2023

So I am going to assume that with all of the negative gains, everyone took their asses back to work.

On another note, if the numbers are accurate, people who denigrate "simcades" need to be quiet. It seems more people play those than "real sims".

pinkimo · Jun 6, 2023

Like last time, those numbers are surprising. Seeing rFactor 2 above AMS 2 and R3E is a bit surprising, seeing Wreckfest as low as rF2 is very surprising, I always thought it was a game with a vastly wider audience, even more than BeamNG (a lot more approachable). And on the opposite side, surprised by the success of BeamNG (is it an "always online" game, so anyone playing is counted?). And DR2.0 is not that high if anyone playing the game is counted (or only people in career mode?).

micro-impact · Jun 6, 2023

If console numbers would be included (and with that GT7) , the difference between arcade/simcade and sims would increase even more.
Seems only AC and iRacing can compete there.

Stelcio · Jun 6, 2023

boomn said:
BeamNG has good-enough tire and suspension physics to be a pretty competent racing game, and it includes timed single-player challenges that are definitely racing.

All that applies to GTA V as well though. Sure, BeamNG is better at that, but GTA V is also "good enough for a pretty competent racing game".

Also, what about Snowrunner then? Are challenges there also racing? If yes, are timed deliveries in ETS2 also racing?

You either include all those games or none of them. You can go either way, but there should be consistency, or those charts don't really make much sense.

nepal roade · Jun 6, 2023

delpinsky said:
Woow Assetto Corsa!
Neverending story...

I'd be curious to know how many in those AC figures are either drifters or cruisers, AC seems pretty popular for both those activities.

Title	Avg. players	Peak players	Gain % from previous month
Forza Horizon 5	9.598,2	20.689	-10,52
BeamNG.drive	9.210,8	15.571	-7,4
Assetto Corsa	7.783,6	14.258	-9,04
Forza Horizon 4	6.044,4	14.258	4,68
F1 22	3.739,3	9.971	-25,87
SnowRunner	3.098,7	6.808	-14,39
CarX Drift Racing Online	2.509,3	4.488	14,53
Assetto Corsa Competizione	2.501,8	6.316	-7,49
Need for Speed Unbound	1.522,9	4577	136,19
F1 Manager 2022	1.499,5	2.872	-27,63
Need for Speed Heat	1.482	2.785	0,87
DIRT Rally 2.0	1.114,2	2.129	19,02
The Crew 2	778,4	1.391	-16,37
F1 2021	509	1.105	-11,23
rFactor 2	456,5	1.126	-8,89
Wreckfest	449,7	1.155	-18,47
Automobilista 2	363,2	852	-3,18
RaceRoom	360,5	857	-0,99
RIDE 4	346,2	378	18,02
WRC Generations	161,2	378	-9,03

Most Played Racing Titles on Steam in May 2023

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More games, period

Better graphics/visuals

Advanced physics and handling

More cars and tracks

AI improvements

AI engineering

Cross-platform play

New game Modes

Other, post your idea

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