The Best Simracing Games for VR

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Virtual Reality is probably the most exciting piece of tech in simracing at the moment. More and more simracers are trying it out, but which are the best games to do so with? Here's our list of the best racing games in VR.

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Able to literally place a simracer behind the wheel of their dream car, virtual reality is an amazing tool. In fact, alongside Direct Drive wheels, it is probably the most exciting piece of hardware in the industry right now.

New VR headsets seemingly release every day, all offering different specifications designed to entice gamers. Last year, we listed the best headsets for simracing in different price ranges. From the plucky, entry-level Oculus models to the jaw-dropping price tag of the market topping bits of kit. This guide has everything you need to know about the screens some of us strap to our faces to go racing.

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Racing in VR compared to a traditional screen setup dramatically alters how one drives. Whilst many believe it to make you quicker, that is simply not the case for the majority of users. Sure, VR means you can easily spot apexes and judge distances to walls and other cars in a more effective way. But when it comes to car control, things get tough.

On a single screen, simracers get used to the visual signs of a rear end losing traction. However, you don't get the same point of view in VR meaning it's more difficult to hold a car on the limit. As a result, VR racers depend much more on force feedback to feel what the car is doing. The best VR games often have the best FFB.

You now know which headset to buy and how it will affect your driving. So it's probably about time you knew which games work the best in VR and which probably aren't worth attempting.

Here's our run down of the best racing games for VR. Click the button below to navigate to the next pages. As always feel free to add your favorite VR titles in the comments below.
About author
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

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Looking in the rearview mirror there have been many levels of what was considered acceptable and good VR performance.

Mostly it has all centered around reaching 90fps with whatever the latest CPU/GPU/Headset combos were.

I've gone through the following so far( slightly abbreviated )
At each step I managed 90fps mostly. DCS has always been painful until now.

I5 , 1080Ti, Oculus Rift CV1 ( Dirt Rally 1.0, PC2, Eve Valkyrie, tried DCS couldn't run it)
I9-9900K, 2080Ti, Valve Index (iRacing, Dirt Rally 2.0, DCS )
I9-13900K, 4090, Varjo Aero ( iRacing, Dirt Rally 2.0, DCS, MSFS2000 )

There have been hiccups. The initial Dirt Rally 2.0 was horrible for non-Oculus headsets in VR, but a few months later improved dramatically. Drivers improved and most recently OpenXR has exploded onto the scene.

The irony is that DCS now looks the best of all. Varjo builds high end professional headsets for use by the military. So DCS actually wrote native dynamic foveated rendering supporting the Varjo headsets using eye tracking. Technically they wrote it for the 4 display XR-3, but a developer wrote an OpenXR plugin that embraces that. That means it is the only title I have that supports 39ppd and that the the native DFR actually comes with a 30+% efficiency gain.

Obviously this is at the high end of VR and the costs are high.

OpenXR is where all the action is happening right now and it's where people with dev skills who care about sims and VR are contributing a lot.

I just added an HTC Vive Tracker 3.0 to my rig and because of an OpenXR plugin, I can add motion compensation to most games to make my cockpit more stable while I'm bouncing around.
That native Varjo DFR plugin was recently added by another great guy.
Yet another came out with a color shift correct tool for people who noticed an issue there.
There is even a plugin for flight called "neck safer" that is supposed to save your neck by letting you press a button to flip your VR view point behind you so you can quickly look around with hurting your neck.

The list goes one, but watch the OpenXR space closely and see what kind of support you have for your headset there.
Just don't go down the proprietorially driven Oculus route. If we are to go by the various forums, that range is dying as Meta (Facebook) force an account on you, insist on them receiving telemetry and personal details from your PC (fingerprints your Documents), and has begun closing off new games from using the system without the payment of an ongoing licence fee.
"Meta: You will own nothing and you will be happy with what we provide."
 
Premium
Just don't go down the proprietorially driven Oculus route. If we are to go by the various forums, that range is dying as Meta (Facebook) force an account on you, insist on them receiving telemetry and personal details from your PC (fingerprints your Documents), and has begun closing off new games from using the system without the payment of an ongoing licence fee.
"Meta: You will own nothing and you will be happy with what we provide."
My understanding is that Meta is still running from OpenXR which is becoming a standard everything works on.

I'm was actually recently surprised by the smooth integration I'm getting now with the Oculus store app I hadn't tried to access in a long time. ReVive appears to run seamlessly for the small number of titles I have there, (Robo Recall, The Climb, Lone Echo)

So that's all going away without additional authentication and information?
I keep very little of interest on my gaming computer.
All the docs are just instructions for controls and software.
 
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Interesting, so what AA are you using to remove all those jaggies?
Hm, no issues here whatsoever. And since GFX upgrade even added more candy.
Shortly after acquiring my Quest 2 as a first to-to played with AC PP filters, where I created this troubleshooting thread where you'll see my settings by that time - and this was by using usb-c cable, Oculus Dev settings and OpenVR in CM.
Now mostly using cable-free Virtual Desktop with SteamVR and from VR in VD menu swithing off a setting typically creating jaggering, stirring, strabismus etc, especially when going high in-VR SteamVR settings.
Now forgot the name of the VD parameter, but easy to swith off. Will update my post with the name during the weekend
 
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I love the older sims. Somthing about the rawness of those titles that really comes across well in VR. GTR2, AMS1, RBR all utterly exhilerating. The visuals are less processed, performance is a non issue and the gameplay is more focussed and less hand holdy which is great for immersion. After that I'd have to say AC. Seeing AC with CSP/SOL/Pure cranked up to the max in VR is just amazing.
So nice to read someone enjoying the same things. Well said about "hand holding" ruining the immersion. Also, when I was implementing GTR2 VR and first saw it in the headset, I was really surprised how simple graphics in GTR2 look clear and sharp in VR, there's something about post processing that just does not look good in VR.
 
not sure who is making the list, but ACC's VR would be at the very bottom, just underneath masked midgets drawing track images on billboards for you, they would still have better FPS at least...
 
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I'm not too sure about the lists people are making here, placing rf2 above iRacing for VR support is a bit laughable. I would say iRacing's VR implementation is probably the best with the most crisp visuals and mirrors you can actually use. Considering one can actually race in a multiplayer field with 50+ competitors and still hit 90 FPS is also a huge plus for iRacing- You can't do that in AMS2 or rF2 and most definitely not in ACC, I'm not sure about AC, as I have not tried VR in that title for ages.
 
I'm VR-only and have tried modded AC, ACC, AMS2, R3E, rF2, DR, and DR2.0. I gotta say, AC used to be my go-to and I still really like AMS2 but rF2 with its updates over the last year has taken over as my favorite sim overall and it's pretty much all I race now. It's got my favorite FFB, I haven't had any stability issues, and the graphics with recent
first-party content just feel more lifelike than the competition (AMS2 looks a little cartoony and modded AC looks over-processed IMO). The sounds in their newer cars are also great.

Seems like an...interesting choice to put ACC on any kind of VR-quality-focused list what with the issues so many people, myself included, have had when pretty much any other sim objectively has better support.
 
When they run well, they're all great in VR. Big problem is: Some of the sims require rediculous amounts of hardware performance to run well in VR:

- ACC: is the "king" in that regard: Can't get this to run well AND look well at the same time. Unreal Engine + Deferred Renderer = not got for VR.
- RaceRoom: runs well if there's a cpu with lots of single thread performance (upgrade from Ryzen 3600x to 5800x3d did the trick for me). Still hope for an engine update in the future for proper multicore support
- rF2: same as RaceRoom
- Not racing sims, but still driving sims: Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator both have the same limitations as RaceRoom + horrible anti aliasing, so they require rediculous amounts of supersampling to look good. Still like driving them both because it's very relaxing. Heard there might be an engine upgrade coming this year to improve performance and features.

AC, AMS2 (some stutters on certain points on certain tracks), PC2, Dirt 2.0 mostly run very well in VR on average gaming hardware.
 
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just took LFS out for a spin (not played it in the 7D release), I dont think any changes to its VR implimentation?, but, gotta say that fact it runs nearly as few polygons as Quake1 and R3E means it performs DAMN well in VR.
 
just took LFS out for a spin (not played it in the 7D release), I dont think any changes to its VR implimentation?
I try LFS in VR, good enough. But what's interesting - if in other sims the mirrors in VR (I've tried everything from the list, except iRacing) are just "plates" with glued pictures, in LFS they look the same as without VR :)
 
I try LFS in VR, good enough. But what's interesting - if in other sims the mirrors in VR (I've tried everything from the list, except iRacing) are just "plates" with glued pictures, in LFS they look the same as without VR :)
can do the same in AC with real mirrors turned on in CSP

Settings\custom shaders patch\smart mirror\(tick real mirrors)
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For me the best game for VR is whatever is the best game to drive - with maybe one exception. I enjoy driving Assetto Corsa Competizione and I admit I have spent a disgusting amount of hours tuning the VR settings and it shouldn't have to be like that. But I have it working fine. There are other games where I don't feel connected to the FFB or whatever aspect and it doesn't help if they run smooth otherwise.

Okay, ACC is not the best optimized game for VR in general (I feel like it's just not the best optimized for any occasion) but at this point I am more bothered by the quality of the mirrors and them not being true to my viewpoint.

Now the exception may be DiRT Rally 2.0. It wasn't straightforward setting this one up either but once it's working, VR makes it an absolute experience. Ironically, it may just be so intensive that I end up playing it less than many other games. It can simply be exhausting, but I appreciate it hugely nevertheless.

I am in the "yes VR, yes buy" camp where it's a feature in every modern game I play and as long as it's working, it's other features that elevate any particular game.
 

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What's needed for simracing in 2024?

  • More games, period

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  • AI improvements

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  • Cross-platform play

  • New game Modes

  • Other, post your idea


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