What Is the Best Sim Racing Game for a Beginner?

Best Sim Racing Game for Beginners 01.jpg
The holiday season always brings with it a new group of sim racers. Here are some great titles to try if you are new to sim racing.

Sim racing is a rapidly growing hobby, and the holiday season is among the the most popular times of year to try it for the first time. If you received a new wheel, a new computer, or a console for Christmas, or perhaps just have a bit more free time over this period to try a new hobby, here are some sim racing games to try if you are a beginner.
  • RaceRoom Racing Experience - RaceRoom is a great way to dip your toes into the sim racing world without spending any money. This title is well-loved by even hardcore sim racers, and has the bonus of being a free-to-play model with optional add-on content. You'll need a PC and a Steam account, and then you can download and play RaceRoom for free. There is a huge selection of cars and tracks that can be added later a la carte, but the free cars and tracks included with your download will be enough for you to try your hand at sim racing and have hours of fun for no cost.
  • Gran Turismo Sport - If you own a PlayStation 4 or 5, GT Sport is a solid option for trying out sim racing. PS compatible wheels are supported by the title, and there is a license test mode that will train you in the fundamentals of performance driving.
  • Assetto Corsa - Assetto Corsa is offered on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, and offers drivers a great selection of cars and tracks. The driving physics are very realistic, and when combined with a wheel and pedal set it offers an outstanding virtual driving experience with both road cars and race cars. Assetto Corsa is a huge value these days thanks to its age, making it a well-rounded starting point for new sim racers that doesn't break the bank.
  • F1 2021 - The official game of the most popular motorsport series in the world is a logical starting point for sim racers. The 2021 edition of the F1 series has an immersive story mode, which allows you to drop into the life of a race driver making the jump from Formula 2 to Formula 1. The story is engaging and fun, and the game offers forgiving driving assists for those feeling overwhelmed while learning to drive racing simulators.
These are just four options in the sim racing game genre, but these selections should be good starting points for those new to the hobby. Above all, pick a title that you have fun playing.

If you have questions about sim racing, the RaceDepartment Forums are a great place to ask, or find advice from replies to other, similar issues.

If you're an experienced sim racer, let us know which racing sim you would recommend to those starting out. If you're new to the hobby, let us know which title you might start with and why.
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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

BearWalken
If you want to start simracing, try Test Drive from Accolade. All you need is a decent Intel 8086 MS DOS PC a CGA screen and a keyboard. Thats how I started my career in the mid 80s. ;)
 
GTxForza
To me, GT Sport, Forza Motorsport 7 and Codemasters' F1 are pretty much consoleish racing games in my personal opinion because they're are being Simcades, meanwhile, Assetto Corsa and RaceRoom Racing Experience are both more official for PC because they're proper Sim Racing.

Hmm... I can see that Simcades are also more optimized for both controller pads and racing wheelbases with force feedback, meanwhile, the developers of Sim Racing had a hard time optimizing with controller pads so they end up optimized for the racing wheels with force feedback instead.
 
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W
Premium
Surely its al a bit dependent on what “type” of sim racer you want to be.

Some people like cars and racing but have no interest in messing about optimising a game or adding mod content so they probably need something that works and is “good enough” out of the box. Similarly if you have no interest in racing online iRacing is going to be a bit pointless. If you only want to hotlap (something I don’t understand :)) the quality of AI doesn’t matter, if you don’t have time to mess with setups what game is best on defaults etc

We all know there are hundreds of views on this forum of what maketh the best “sim”. A friend of mine wants to get himself a rig and has a decent budget, he’s now played a chunk of time on my setup and all of the usual games, he wants to be able to play AMS2 and RF2, maybe Raceroom. Whether he gets into any of the other who knows.
 
IceColdBeard_24
Well most sims are affordable since a beginner will use assists.....so no matter what you get you will have fun ;)
 
wolftree
As much as its milquetoast physics annoy me compared to everything else, the answer is probably RaceRoom. If you can buy the Premium or Starter packs cheaply, it has a solid package of content, a working multiplayer system that can be a lot of fun, and predictable understeery cars with stable default setups. Just don't expect it to be much more than a good intro to sim racing before moving on to greater things.
 
D
Wilko Jones said:
How would someone be able to get a copy of FM7 on PC, now that its no longer on sale?
Click to expand...
You can't anymore, the train is gone, if purchased earlier you can still install it from MS Store.
You can still find physical copy for XBox.
Hopefully 2022 brings FM8, they call it FM without number for whatever reason.
 
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Shannon Flynn
Couldn't quite put my finger on my answer to this. But the recent PCars 2 post made the light bulb in my head light up.
I'd say PCars2 would be my answer.

It has a ton of racing disciplines and eras to explore which could give good insight into which "more sim" sim they'd like to tackle next.
 
graham123
OK gonna pull the pin on this one..... project cars 3!!!!!
why well for a complete newbie having very little or no experiemce of car/sim racing its straight out the box no set up reliance .

But the biggest thing is it shows the best way on how to take corners, with the markers for turn in apex and exit.
 
M
Premium
It is a difficult choice, but i would say ACC.
The content is not that huge, the wheels are well supporter, it is easy to instll and set.
Plus the base presets safe and agressive are top notch out of the box.

And yes, the AI and multiplayer are very nice for a beginner
 
sbz
Jason Chamberlain said:
Forza Motorsports 4 was my gateway drug. If someone is using a controller, then I'd say GT on the PSx or Forza on the XBox would be fine. I know that purists will disagree about Forza, but we're talking about the first steps. You can learn a LOT of tracks even without DLC and of course, there are a lot of cars as well.

What I'm getting at is that if someone only has an XBox and wants to try this Simracing thing, then playing FM7 or FM6 would be an adequate way to go.
Click to expand...
I'm personally having the most fun with Forza Horizon 4 and I think it's best for beginners to get a feel even though hardcore people will say its not a "true sim". Whatever - its a "simcade" but I think it's best for beginners.

But for the pure sim's - Assetto Corsa (including ACC) and AMS2 and rFactor 2 are the way to go.
(For Rally) - Dirt Rally 2.0 and Richard Burns Rally with the Rallysimfans hu plugin someone else mentioned here.

I just got R3E last night haven't tried it yet ;)
 
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gamer19
Actually.... I would say.... Wreckfest !
it's well known fact that rookies are crash prone.
and a little contact didn't killed anyone :cool:
ok, maybe a few :cautious: but nevertheless....
 
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E
The question of the right sim is superfluous in the dialog and TMI.
Therefore, the heading must be: What questions should the prospective simulator ask himself!
What must the sim be able to do?
Some good friends have motorsport experience or are motorsport fans and want to use mainly the cars and classes they are enthusiastic about. There is also the willingness very high to deal with the topic setup. Here in the Eifel, there are many rally and hillclimb fans in addition to the Nordschleife.
Which cars and tracks?
Others just want to drive, so do the second most awesome thing in the world ;-)
Online?
Offline?
competitions?
or cruising?
How well does the prospective simulator know hard and software?
Explain to a friend with little experience on the phone, while you are walking your dog, Or among us pastor's daughters, at 200 km/h on the highway left lane, how he installs a mod in rf2, which he just downloaded from racedepartment.
That could cloud the joy of the new hobby for all involved.
Fun must be, when rf2 was on sale I sat down at his computer and bought and installed it for him, because the time will come when he will go for it.
It also depends on the personality and the TMI.
TMI is explained by a scientist in the educational advice show Southpark.
This knowledge can also be applied here.
We first have to define how we can use TMI here and take the character traits of the respective TMI groups and their preferences.
What works for buying a car, works even better for Sims.
Where does the expression "balls of steel" come from? TMI!
We can now do a group work, everyone posts times his einsteigersim and next to it his TMI here in the forum.
We can then design a spreadsheet based on numbers and science.
That way the prospect would only have to determine their TMI and make their selection based on the table. Problem solved, or question answered?!
 

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