Upcoming Racing Games and Updates We Should See in 2022

New Sim Racing Games for 2022 01.jpg
After several years of rapid growth, this should be another exciting year for the racing game and racing sim genres. Here are some things that should be released in 2022.

One of the things that benefitted from more people staying home for entertainment over the past two years is sim racing. Whereas a celebrity or real world racing driver posting a picture of their home sim rig in 2019 would have made news in our niche community, in 2020 and 2021 it has become almost expected. This surge in popularity is sure to continue into the next calendar year and bring with it some exciting new titles and content for all of us to enjoy. Here are some of the things we should see released next year.

1) Assetto Corsa Competizione Updates - Kunos' most recent major update to ACC brought a new car, improved performance, and some subtle news that more was to come. Their official launch video of the 1.8 update was tagged with a rapid-fire image showcase featuring American tracks and the newest edition of the Porsche Cup car. This is in addition to the Super Trofeo EVO2 that made a brief appearance to the public earlier this year. Lastly, let's not forget that ACC will be released to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X quite soon. So 2022 should be a big year for this sim.

2) F1 2022 - Codemasters is surely hard at work getting things ready for the next installment of the F1 series. The past two seasons of Formula 1 have been significantly disrupted, and three tracks added to F1 2021 post-release showed Codies' efforts to try and keep up. 2022 will bring a substantial update to the car regulations in Formula 1, and hopefully we see those updated cars well represented in the official F1 game.

3) Automobilista 2 Updates - Reiza Studios has made a habit of releasing updates at least once per month since AMS2 was given to us, and that pattern should carry in next year. The third installment of the popular Racin' USA DLCs could drop in 2022, along with other new content and game improvements. The online rating system has been released already in beta form, but as the title gains more users that system will be refined and will hopefully make for some great racing in a title that shows massive potential for multiplayer competition.

4) Gran Turismo 7 - More details from the upcoming Gran Turismo title are being released each week, and it seems like it'll be a return to what made this series a favourite to many of us over the past decades. Whereas Gran Turismo Sport seems to have always been tailored to the online competitive racing realm, GT7 should include the car customization, game modes, and even some of the tracks that made GT famous.

5) Forza Motorsport 8 - 2021 was a massive year for the Forza franchise, with Horizon 5 posting incredible sales figures and garnering awards. Horizon's more serious circuit racing sister-franchise, Forza Motorsport, could seem its eighth installment released next year. Where it falls in terms of realism and an appeal to hardcore sim racing fans remains to be seen, but a likely scenario is that similar to the Gran Turismo series, Turn 10 will play to their strengths and release a title that falls in line with what millions of players have come to love about the franchise.

What are you expecting in the world of sim racing next year? Is there any new content on this list or otherwise that you'd really want to get your hands on in 2022? Let us know in the comments below.
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

D
Spazmok said:
Looking forward to Studio 397 making a few long winded blog posts about minor changes to the "competition system" while ignoring everything else wrong/missing mixed in with some meh DLC to be sold through their awful DLC shop system and maybe one game update next November that fixes a spelling mistake on the credits/exit screen. Going to be a great year for the sim.
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Haven't you heard? Blogs are cancelled for now, & Roadmaps have been suspended. The DLC game shop is what it is. They have no plans to alter that. They have worked with Valve repeatedly to allow 100's of mods while still having DLC sales and Valve keeps telling them 'this is the way.'
I'm shocked, shocked I tell ya, that you didn't even mention the return of driver labels.
 
wombat999
Premium
Just a personal opinion but I'd really like Reiza to slim down Automobilista 2.
Perhaps an 'update' to allow less categories might be the way to go.
;)
 
O
I hope AMS2 keeps making big strides in its updates and GT7 gets announced/leaked-from-a-reputable-source for PC.

I wish there was more to look forward to, but this is all i can reasonably expect at this moment.
 
K
delpinsky said:
Taking a look inside ACC main pak file, I found out this interesting numberplate:
iNt4rR.jpg

TCX, which is TC America Series. Will we ever see this Touring Cars Series in ACC? :D
My hope is to see some more Amarican Series in ACC and GT2!
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Wow! If this is for real, it will be a really interesting addition to ACC!

Have you found anything about an upcoming US track pack? :D
 
Formula24
delpinsky said:
Taking a look inside ACC main pak file, I found out this interesting numberplate:
iNt4rR.jpg

TCX, which is TC America Series. Will we ever see this Touring Cars Series in ACC? :D
My hope is to see some more Amarican Series in ACC and GT2!
Click to expand...
TCX is mostly the M2 CS Racing which we already know is coming to ACC via the teaser video. The more interesting thing is that in that teaser they show 3 "one-make" series cars which are all sanctioned by IMSA in US not the SRO.
dp158IhRT92CMeLO29Nbew.jpg
 
mopro
I'm hoping for some modding team to port Pcars2's Porshe 961, 935, 944GTP and Ferrari F40 Competizione to AMS2
 
jonnysev
- FM8, being a PC only user, let's hope it's on par with Gran Turismo, as direct competition, and is more simulation than its predecessor, and with a better FFB, because FM7's is bad, to say something decent.

- Maybe Grid Legends, although with so many cinematics and actors that worked I don't know where and history of I don't know what, it doesn't give me good expectations of what it's going to be, let's hope that, at least, it's a good game and according to the current demand of modern simracers and etc etc, I hope it's not another eFootball.

- Also see what happens to the Dirt Rally x.0 saga, with Codemasters now having the rights to WRC from '22 onwards, I hope they continue this saga as such, and that it is a DR 3.0 and not a Dirt 6, if you get the idea.

- Also, as the good man said, that they keep improving Automobilista 2, an excellent simulation option, quite underrated.

- And finally, to finally see news about a future development of a continuation of Assetto Corsa, excellent and wonderful simulation game with infinite options of official mods, but with a serious problem in the permissiveness in collisions, especially online, and some BIG improvement in the performance optimization of AC Competizione, not all of us can afford to have a rtx3060tixp etc, I have 1050ti and I had to uninstall it.

(I'm not a native english speaker, I used a translator)
 
Snaxist
Trebor901 said:
Really don't understand people that rave about the btcc super tourers. Yeah they were cool at the time but even the drivers who have driven the newest cars say the newer cars cost a 10th of the price to build and develop and yet drive ten times better.
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this comment is funny because it's like saying we don't need a Supermarine Spitfire (say IL-2 Sturmovik) because it was cool at the time but now there's the F-16 (say DCS World) and it flies ten times better.

Why can't have more ? More is always better.

As for me I would love a racingsim featuring old races from the 20s to the 90s, that would change of all the newer cars we have in every sim.
 
Eugene Abramoff
ACC also had Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO, what looked like BMW M2 CS Racing and the background shots were of COTA. So the game can now have 4 single make, standalone series which is epic. The M2 is a fantastic entry level racecar, so there is progression path from that, to GT4, GT3 and hopefully GT2 as well. Very excited for the content and the studio for being a go to simulator for almost all top tier GT racing classes/series. That further expands already vast content opportunities and future longevity of the game life cycle.
 
T
delpinsky said:
Taking a look inside ACC main pak file, I found out this interesting numberplate:
iNt4rR.jpg

TCX, which is TC America Series. Will we ever see this Touring Cars Series in ACC? :D
My hope is to see some more Amarican Series in ACC and GT2!
Click to expand...
The BMW M2 CS is in tcx class. Currently it's the only car in that class
 
Eckhart von Glan
the four yearly updates for iRacing are enough to keep me happy and it would be great if the player participation stayed at the level it is now (about 40% more than three years ago if I figure that correctly);
I wonder if there will be a WRC11 or if the studio does not bother developing the new hybrid era WRC cars we'll see this year and leave that to Codemasters picking up the licence a year(?) later;
plus: it would be cool for ACC to fill the gaps between their 2020 and 2021 DLC and the real life 2020 and 2021 seasons, I think at least one track is still missing

my favourite item, though, would be an update of titles from 15 years ago to current level graphics and ffb, so Race07, GTR2, McRae4 etc.. one could have some golden memories in a more polished version.
 
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Robin_NL
Premium
Are there any images/footage of M2CS Racing in ACC already?
My real life car is an M2Comp so I'm excited to try the M2CS R also in ACC just like I do in AC and RF2.:thumbsup:

Cheers
Robin
 
Kurupt CDN
Eckhart von Glan said:
Race07
Click to expand...
After ten yrs of hoping Sector3 would build on the Raceroom engine, I now wish they would have done what Reiza did with AMS....and remastered the Race07 engine.
Update some shaders
Add in the newer Raceroom audio.
Update the physics
Add in track rubbering and I would be extremely happy as the engine already had 24hr day to night transition and weather.
Instead we got awesome audio and an engine equivalent to Forza motorsport 3

I second your wish....it would be great to see some older titles remastered to current standards.
 
Pay_Driver
Definitely an exciting year ahead. That might be the first time in years that I will consider buying F1 Codemasters because of the new F1 cars. But what I am more excited about for 2022 in simracing is the new Porsche Cup in ACC ;)
 
Rot Teufel
Jonny Austin said:
Much as I like the current BTCC the Super Touring era was a golden era with great cars,teams,manufacturers,huge crowds & top drivers.The series before the super touring era was nothing more than club racing.

It was one of those eras like late 80s DTM,Group B Rallying ,Group C,Turbo F1,Earnhardt in Nascar.If you cant get excited about any of those eras of racing then you are not much of a race fan.In 20 yrs time I doubt many people will be excited about the 2021 BTCC Ford Focus being included in a sim.
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don't forget that was an era were even privates could done sometimes a good place. Then the nostalgia effects plays a great part too (Murray Walker and Giovanni Di Pillo commentary too), races were transmitted and sponsorized full on public TV.
Basically until the diesel Seat era, Cruze and C-Elysèe absolute dominion, races were great.
And i feel better on 80s-90s turing cars, imho more natural to drive and hard to push to the limits.
Second that, each car was much more distinctive, with their own shapes and liveries, wich made them more recognizable that modern ones wich (imho) looks more the same...

Crawdad97 said:
I dont mind career modes as long as they focus on the racing. My son drives me insane with the MLB, NBA, games. He spends 30 min to figure out what uniform he is going to wear and batting gloves AND creating a character. Whatever happened to playing the game. When did these games become dressup??
Click to expand...

character creation and custom teams were a thing always included in sport games (i'll not speak about MMO, there you can spend hours). I still remember NBA Live '98 editor, or the 2003 version wich include a portrait importer.
i prefer too good gameplay than zero gameplay and tons of customization (too much under paywall in those times), but it's a nice addition if (and i say once more IF) is well done and doesn't take away gameplay. Someone like more have this type of immersion with their custom character.

jonnysev said:
- Also see what happens to the Dirt Rally x.0 saga, with Codemasters now having the rights to WRC from '22 onwards, I hope they continue this saga as such, and that it is a DR 3.0 and not a Dirt 6, if you get the idea.
Click to expand...
considering those licenses are made for annual game, i highly doubt that we could have a DR like game.... they'll come to the most cheap development for the masses like for F1....
 
DC WOLF
jonnysev said:
- FM8, being a PC only user, let's hope it's on par with Gran Turismo, as direct competition, and is more simulation than its predecessor, and with a better FFB, because FM7's is bad, to say something decent.

- Maybe Grid Legends, although with so many cinematics and actors that worked I don't know where and history of I don't know what, it doesn't give me good expectations of what it's going to be, let's hope that, at least, it's a good game and according to the current demand of modern simracers and etc etc, I hope it's not another eFootball.

- Also see what happens to the Dirt Rally x.0 saga, with Codemasters now having the rights to WRC from '22 onwards, I hope they continue this saga as such, and that it is a DR 3.0 and not a Dirt 6, if you get the idea.

- Also, as the good man said, that they keep improving Automobilista 2, an excellent simulation option, quite underrated.

- And finally, to finally see news about a future development of a continuation of Assetto Corsa, excellent and wonderful simulation game with infinite options of official mods, but with a serious problem in the permissiveness in collisions, especially online, and some BIG improvement in the performance optimization of AC Competizione, not all of us can afford to have a rtx3060tixp etc, I have 1050ti and I had to uninstall it.

(I'm not a native english speaker, I used a translator)
Click to expand...
hoping a xx50 card is for serious gaming, is like hoping to get real world physics tweaked to drive a bicycle over 100kph.
Though its marketed a "gaming" card, its just a middle end office card. Low memory, small bus. Good for home photoshop.
Gaming starts at xx70, as it allways was some years ago. Just nVidia tells it isn't so. And it is a lie ;)
 
S
Did somebody already mention the upcoming F1 manager by Frontier? That's what I am most hyped about! I will stick to Motorsport Manager in the meantime
 
VirtuaIceMan
StijnPro said:
Did somebody already mention the upcoming F1 manager by Frontier? That's what I am most hyped about! I will stick to Motorsport Manager in the meantime
Click to expand...
Forgot all about that. Can you let rogue F1 drivers loose in the paddock to eat people?
 
kadosibz
Acc
New 992 cup and m2cs.
New tracks, Valencia, magny-cours and hockenheim.
Modifications of zandvoort and Barcelona.
 
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angelonl
Cote Dazur said:
"What are you expecting in the world of sim racing next year?"

Reading this prediction, I hope something really exiting appears at some point as rehash of arcade titles is of no interest to me and a few updates to some title is good, but again, more of the same.

I feel blessed that I have AC that I can keep enjoying with the constant updates and new content from the modding community on top of the ton of existing content, until something really new and exiting comes our way.

So 2022 looks good to me. :)
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I just bought AC in the Winter steam sale with all DLC's for 8 euro.

I would like to try some mods in AC, like driving the Cupra Leon.
 

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What's needed for simracing in 2024?

  • 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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