All Racing Games with Pre-Orders (2024)

Assetto Corsa is a racing sim developed by an Italian studio KUNOS Simulazioni and published by 505 Games for the current-gen consoles. The game prides itself on realism and features an advanced physics system, over ninety authentic cars reproduced in collaboration with automotive manufacturers, and more than twenty track configurations recreated using laser scan technology. There is both single player and multiplayer functionality, with different game modes available.

Assetto Corsa has been out on PC since 2014, and several “Dream Packs” containing new circuits and cars have been released for the platform. All of these will be included as part of the base game ($49.99) on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

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Need for Speed is an upcoming reboot of the franchise developed by Ghost Games (responsible for the 2013 racer NFS: Rivals) and published by EA. Its key features are nocturnal open world, extensive car customization, and street races similar to those in Undergound or Most Wanted. EA boasts that their collaboration with car culture website SpeedHunters allows them to deliver an authentic urban car scene experience to the players.

Like its 2013 predecessor from the same developers, the new Need for Speed runs on the modern Frostbite 3 engine. It has a fresh soundtrack featuring 61 artists from 16 countries. The game also comes with a controversial always-online requirement.

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Forza Motorsport 6 is an upcoming Xbox One exclusive racing sim developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft. Compared to its predecessors, the game boasts improved graphics, audio, AI, and physics. The latter is said to be particularly impressive, with Forza 6 featuring accurately simulated rain and puddles, as well as all the hazards associated with racing in wet weather such as hydroplaning.

The ambitious game includes more than 450 cars and 26 tracks, ten of which are new to the franchise. The story mode offers 70 hours of content, and multiplayer allows for races with up to 24 cars. Forza Motorsport 6 also includes nighttime driving for the first time in the series.

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Project CARS (short for Community Assisted Racing Simulator, as the game was crowdfunded) is an upcoming motorsports sim from a British developer Slightly Mad Studios. It aims to provide a realistic driving experience for different types of cars and forms of racing. Players can experiment or practice in Solo mode, immerse themselves in their driver’s Career, compete against each other using the Online mode, and participate in various Community events. Project CARS supports a wide variety of steering wheel peripherals, 4K surround setups, and even Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus VR gaming headsets.

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The Crew is an MMO racing game developed by European video game studios Ivory Tower and Ubisoft Reflections. It requires no monthly fee to play.

The game takes place in the United States and offers a massive open-world environment to drive across, a multitude of cars that can be tuned and customized, and various challenges and activities to keep the players occupied. There are missions ranging from delivery to race and takedown, different mini-games for testing your skills as a driver, and PvP races.

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Gran Turismo 6 is an upcoming racing simulator developed by Polyphony Digital for the PlayStation 3 platform. This sixth major release of Gran Turismo boasts 71 layouts of 33 tracks – including brand new locations for the series – and as many as 1,200 different cars.

Other improvements in GT6 include a fresh handling system, more detailed environments complete with accurate constellations during night racing, and a variety of challenges for the player to enjoy.

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Need for Speed: Rivals is an upcoming open world racing title developed by a new Swedish studio, Ghost Games, and published by EA. This latest NFS installment features gameplay similar to that of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, in that it gives the player a choice of playing either as a cop or a racer, with the option of switching between careers as you please. The game uses Frostbite 3 engine and offers seamless transitions between single and multiplayer.

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Grid 2 is an upcoming racing game developed by Codemasters for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC platforms. Like its predecessor, it is said to toe the line between arcade and simulation. Chief among the new features of Grid 2 is a handling model called TrueFeel, which is based on real-world specs and driving characteristics, yet fine-tuned to make it more accessible. The game doesn’t have driver assists anymore, but it is still a lot easier to master compared to a full-on simulator.

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EA’s new Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a reboot of the 2005 game of the same title. It shares many features with its predecessor, including a Blacklist of racers and cop chases. The game has an open-world environment; for example, the players can choose their own routes from start to finish during races, and there are supercars hidden in secret locations around the city to discover.

The multiplayer aspect of the game is also updated. Autolog 2 leaderboards compare your achievements in both single player and multiplayer modes. Perhaps the most interesting addition is the CloudCompete system, which lets you switch between different platforms without losing your progress in Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

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Forza Horizon is the next installment in the well-established Xbox 360 racing game franchise. It is considered a spin-off from the main series, as this title is the first one to feature an open world where you can drive around and challenge other drivers. The game’s premise is as follows: you are at a fictional “Horizon” music festival in Colorado, and your goal is becoming the King of said festival. This can be achieved by winning races, performing stunts, completing challenges, and so on. Fitting with the setting, the game’s soundtrack includes music from several famous artists.

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The new installment in the arcade-style snowboarding series, SSX, is set to release in February 2012. Titled simply SSX, the game features the same fast-paced races and over-the-top tricks that the franchise is famous for, while introducing more serious elements as well.

SSX utilizes actual satellite data and recreates nine real mountain ranges (such as the Himalayas) in the game. A number of old and new characters are available – this time dressed appropriately for the cold weather, and carrying gear like headlamps, ice axes, and even wingsuits. The latter add a new gameplay mechanic that allows you to glide long distances and cross gaps that would otherwise be insurmountable. Despite the more realistic visuals, SSX is still very much an arcade game – consider the Rewind feature that lets you redo a landing or a trick you just messed up, although with a penalty to your score. The game includes a single-player campaign as well as a number of online and social features (you can find out more about these in the trailer below).

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Need for Speed: The Run is the next installment in the seemingly endless NFS series from EA. This new racer is developed by EA Black Box and uses Frostbite 2, the much-touted graphics engine of Battlefield 3. The game is said to feature on-foot scenes and a cinematic storyline.

Need for Speed: The Run centers around an illicit street race across the US, in various settings ranging from urban to desert and icy mountains. The story follows protagonist Jack Rourke (voiced by Sean Faris) who is in debt to the Mob and has to win the Run – the titular race from San Francisco to New York – to pay them off. In the best traditions of Hot Pursuit, he will have to do that while being chased by both the Mob and the police.

Other notable features include unlockable cars and challenges, online matches for up to 16 players, and improved Autolog network for sharing your progress with friends. One of the downsides of The Run is that it won’t offer any car customization.

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Forza Motorsport 4 is an upcoming Xbox 360-exclusive racing simulator developed by Microsoft’s Turn 10 Studios. The fourth installment of the Forza series will feature Kinect support for better immersion, and narration by Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson. Rumor has it, as many as 500 cars from 80 different manufacturers will be available for the players to customize and race with, each with its own virtual showroom. In addition, the game will have car clubs and support up to 16 player online racing.

The graphics of the game will also be significantly improved. According to the article linked above, Forza 4 will have “graphic fidelity 10 times better than the previous version, including new lighting and shading models”. The impressive gameplay videos we’ve seen from E3 certainly serve to back up this claim.

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RAGE is an upcoming post-apocalyptic game developed by id Software and published by Bethesda. It is going to be primarily a first-person shooter, but it will also have some extreme dune buggy racing thrown into the mix.

The players will be able to upgrade their vehicles using the money won from races – and these upgrades are going to offer not only more durability and speed, but some serious firepower in the form of chaingun and rocket launcher turrets, too. Likewise, it will be possible to upgrade your own weapons with things like clip extenders and aim stabilizers.

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TDU2 is the long-awaited sequel to the open-world racing game Test Drive Unlimited. It is developed by Eden Games and published by Atari. The game will be released for all three major gaming platforms (Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC) in February 2011.

The developers of Test Drive Unlimited 2 call it a “M.O.O.R.” game, which stands for Massively Open Online Racing. The multiplayer will be pretty similar to the first game and require no subscription fee to play. Players will be able to build and grow racing clubs, join free roam sessions and walk around in shops, clubs and the new racing lobby.  It will be possible to customize the club logo, the look of your avatar, your home, and, of course, the cars themselves.

The game will feature highly realistic racing tracks in the Oahu island (Hawaii) and Ibiza (Mediterranean) created with the help of satellite imagery. The single player mode of TDU 2 will have a storyline to follow; in order to advance, the players will have to earn experience points through Competition, Social, Discovery and Collection means. The maximum level is 60, and additional 10 levels are available with the TDU2: Casino Online DLC.

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