8 Best Open-World Racing Games
The open road, your car, and you.
In some computer games, you can just hop in your car and drive off into the sunset. There’s no need to think about traffic or going over the speed limit. Just step on the gas and go as far as you want. The map still has room for you.
Some games, like Grand Theft Auto and the sadly underrated gem Fuel, make you feel like you’re on a road trip right in your living room. You’re going to have a good time here whether you like the action of competition or the laid-back vibes of just cruising.
Grand Theft Auto
It’s crazy how many things you can do with a car in Grand Theft Auto‘s game mode. You are free to steal a car from the street just because you like the way it looks in the sun. Everything is fine, but you can do a lot more with your cars in Grand Theft Online.
Sure, there are heists and other bad things, but did you ever want to drive a Hot Wheels car on a track when you were little? You’ll be able to drive high in the sky and make as many loops as you want around the red and gray tracks. There are lots of other ways to get around town. You just need to find the one that fits your style the best.
Saints Row: The Third
Turn everything you know about GTA up to eleven and then throw it out the window. That crazy thing you did is Saints Row the Third. It’s a fun game that pokes fun at people who take themselves too seriously. With one name, the Third Street Saints can take over the country and solve all the problems in the world.
This game’s driving is more like driving in an arcade. The more crazy tricks you do and the better you drive, the more prizes you get throughout the game. You can also make a lot of changes to the cars, so you can drive the car of your dreams while causing trouble everywhere you go.
Test Drive Unlimited 2
In Test Drive Unlimited 2, you can drive around and discover not one but two islands while competing in high-stakes races, that is, when you get a break from your valet job and daydreaming. There is a tough race going on just below the main streets of Ibiza and Oahu. This time, you can try to get to the top and make your collection perfect.
To play Test Drive Unlimited 2, you have to drive. By the time you finish the game, you’ll have eaten, slept, and played minigames, time trials, and the story itself. Do your best not to fall asleep at the wheel.
Mad Max
In Mad Max‘s post-apocalyptic hellscape, your car is not only the best way to get around in the desert, it’s also your best weapon and only way to stay alive. In the Fury Road movie, you play the part of Max Rockatansky. He is having a hard time dealing with his past and staying alive in a dangerous place where gangs are hungry for blood.
As Max, you’ll be trying to make the Magnum Opus, the best car ever, by improving its body, weapons, and engine. This will allow you and Max to bring his original car back home. A myth also says that there will be a messiah who will drive the best car to heaven, but that’s not important when you’re driving.
Forza Horizon 5
When it comes to map size, Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t compare to other games because it only has one open world area. However, it more than makes up for it in detail. You will have to do a double take to figure out if you are looking at the real world or the game.
You are dropped at the beginning of Eggy Car on the snow-covered tops of a mountain, and you have to race to get to the bottom. It gets you started quickly without wasting time on stories, and it makes you feel like you’re out on the road alone.
Burnout Paradise
Burnout Paradise wasn’t the first game in the series to have an open world, which may come as a surprise. Burnout Dominator, which came out quietly a year before Paradise, was the first game in the series to use this idea for gameplay. But Burnout Paradise became a well-known polished world very quickly, so you have a lot to find out on your own.
Of course, it won’t be easy to travel and find those secrets. You could hit ten or more cars by mistake while you’re driving, which would give you a lot of crash points. It’s very important to find good crash points in the Burnout games, so why not make Paradise City your home of destruction?
Fuel
Fuel is two different experiences wrapped up into one driving journey. One is a high-octane game where you, as “The Stranger,” have to fight other “nameless strangers” to get to “The Wilderness.” The world is falling apart, so you have to do anything to stay alive.
All the races and tasks are optional, but you can do them if you want to. You can also just get in your car (or another vehicle of your choice) and enjoy the views in The Wilderness. The map is famous for being one of the biggest in any open-world game, giving you plenty of room to drive as much as you want.
Midnight Club 2
Do you need a deep story to get through a game that looks this good and is put together so well? Everything about this game screams the quality that we knew and loved from Rockstar back when they made games for the PS2. It’s a crime that the series has been quietly dropped.
This game was fun in every way. The online mashups were fun, but if that’s not your thing, there’s also a lot of fun to be had by yourself. Also, the music! Just like the GTA games, Midnight Club 2 had really great songs that you could play over and over.
