There have been plenty of excellent open-world racing games over the years, but which among them are the greatest of all time?
Open-world gaming has become a powerful commercial force in the industry today, with many iconic IPs ditching their tried and tested gameplay formulas to try and get a piece of the success, including famously linear franchises like Sonic. Unfortunately, this has led to numerous lackluster releases that shoehorn in an underwhelming open world for marketing and advertising purposes. Still, when an open-world game is done right, it can create a fantastic gameplay experience for the player that is hard to top.
When people think of open-world gaming, they tend to imagine action-adventure games and RPGs. Although these genres do indeed dominate the open-world market, there have also been a handful of fantastic racing games over the years taking take place in enormous game worlds that players are free to drive around and explore. The following open-world racing games on this list all struck gold with excellent driving mechanics, interesting events, and tantalizing maps that are begging to be explored.
Updated on November 3, 2023 by Ritwik Mitra:Open worlds and racing games are a match made in heaven, with pretty much every high-profile racing game out there incorporating a sandbox that players can explore in ultra-fast cars to their heart’s content. While some people just want their racing games to be rather simple after this overexposure to wide-open sandboxes, there are more than enough quality racing games that justify the inclusion of an open world. 17 American Truck Simulator
Driving sims can seem rather odd to players who aren’t fans of the genre, especially ones that don’t even feature racing as a core dynamic. Instead, games like American Truck Simulator let players control a bevy of heavy vehicles as they traverse the North American countryside.
The simple act of driving a truck becomes an oddly relaxing and hypnotic affair, making it clear why so many people are fans of this niche title. It helps that the environments are detailed and the graphics look pretty impressive too. 16 The Crew Motorfest
Most people had just assumed that Ubisoft had given up on The Crew, despite the understated brilliance of the second game. Thankfully, fans were proven wrong with the release of The Crew Motorsport, which is a great title for fans of open-world racing games to check out.
Players explore the faithfully recreated Hawaiian island of Oʻahu, which makes for some exotic racing backdrops and beautiful visuals. It may not be groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, but The Crew Motorfest is a great title with solid racing mechanics that deserves all the praise it gets. 15 Crazy Taxi 3
Arcade driving games are all the rage, and Crazy Taxi 3 is easily the best game in the series that fans can go back to time and time again. This game is absolutely bonkers, using the simple premise of driving a passenger to their destination and turning it into something so incredibly enjoyable that players can find themselves lost in this game for hours and hours.
It helps that this title features many massive maps where players can get lost as they furiously drive passengers to their destinations. The areas of West Coast, Glitter Island, and Small Apple are all rife with detail and feature boundless opportunities for crazy stunts as players try to rack up the highest scores possible. 14 SnowRunner
SnowRunner is a game that has taken the sim driving scene by storm, and many players are still baffled by how many fans this title has! Trucks are some of the slowest-moving vehicles of all time… and yet, any game that manages to nail their configurations and how they feel becomes so popular within a particular niche that other casual players just can’t understand this craze!
Of course, not everything needs to be dissected down to a T. Sometimes, games just need to scratch a particular itch to endear themselves to a particular section of passionate fans, and the offroading shenanigans of SnowRunner have made it such a surprise hit for the same reasons. 13 Forza Horizon 3
The Forza Horizon series has churned out hit after hit, with the fourth game being no exception to this rule. These titles feature massive open worlds that are full to the brim with races, challenges, car customization, and fun stories.
