There are a lot of video games with top graphical effects, modern with different locations and challenges to waste time on it. Here is the best for gamers:
Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon has risen to become the definitive open-world racing series. Simply put, developer Playground Games gets everything right: detailed car models curated with real passion and care; atmospheric real-world locations that make for some of the best virtual tourism around; superb, smooth-running tech; handling that blends authenticity with arcade accessibility; an enormous, almost overwhelming variety of stuff to do; and an upbeat festival vibe that sometimes verges on cheesy, but mostly makes Forza Horizon one of the most joyful gaming experiences you can have.
F1 24
These games get the balance between authenticity and approachability just right, with handling that is both credible and manageable — no small feat considering the ludicrous speed and cornering ability of the cars. The franchise has also delivered some surprisingly strong story modes, but the real draw is the endlessly engrossing career mode, which lets you build a racing career and drag your own team up the grid, race by race, season by season.
Gran Turismo 7
GT7 — which centrally features a cafe where stock photos of old men regale you with facts about the car you’re driving — is as expansive and delightfully eccentric as any game in the series’ history. But it’s also easier to get along with, with a relatively open structure and a great lineup of cars and tracks honoring the series’ 30 years in production.
Assetto Corsa Competizione
2019’s Assetto Corsa Competizione is still the champ. Competizione is a motorsport-focused spinoff of the upstart sim racing series from Italian studio Kunos Simulazioni, and it’s got official GT World Challenge Europe licensing (i.e., cool road cars in aggressive full racing trim). Kunos boasts what might be the best, most tactile handling model around, as well as some astonishingly true-to-life laser-scanned circuits capturing every bump and camber.
iRacing
iRacing might not be the most cutting-edge sim racer out there, but it has kept pace with the field, and there’s no question that it’s the leading racing esport. Invest the time, the money, and the practice, and you’ll be rewarded with thrilling, fair competition you won’t find anywhere else, even in the humblest events.
Burnout Paradise Remastered
A joyous exception is 2008’s Burnout Paradise, the apex of Criterion’s crash-happy arcade racing series, which, thanks to its lack of licensing and this 2018 remaster, is still easy to play today. It still beggars belief how well Criterion got Burnout’s nitro-fueled action and extravagant crash physics to work in this daringly free-form open-world format, even if its Paradise City location feels compact next to later examples like Forza Horizon or The Crew.
Wreckfest
It is a game about limping across the finish line with half the panels hanging off your (cheekily unlicensed) mid-1980s Jaguar XJ-S. The rough-and-ready front end only adds to the charm. In a genre that tends toward white-knuckle intensity, here’s a lean-back, devil-may-care game that’s just fun for the sake of it.