Top 5 PC driving games

There are thousands of driving games out there for the PC, many of them brilliant, and many of them absolutely terrible. These five games are the ones which stand out for me as the best of the best.

5) Need for Speed Carbon:

The Need for Speed franchise is one of the biggest names in the business. Despite this, many of the latest NFS titles like Pro Street and Undercover simply haven’t been all that enjoyable. For me, the best Need for Speed game was Carbon. In Carbon you have your own crew, and together you gradually take over the city by winning races, until you get to the top, at which point you have to win a number of exciting canyon races. The game has a reasonable selection of cars, and very good options for tuning them, both visually and in terms of performance. The best part is the races, which are varied and interesting. The canyon races which you encounter at the end of the game are challenging, but really fun. The handling physics could feel better and the career seems to be over quite quickly, but otherwise, if you want a great street racing game, NFS Carbon is one of my top recommendations.

4) Test Drive Unlimited:

Test Drive Unlimited is a very unique game. The way the cars handle and feel will seem strange at first, but after you get used to it driving becomes really enjoyable. The game has a great selection of cars, although it doesn’t give you too many options to tune them. The game is set on a Hawaiian island, with thousands of miles of road to explore. It features a wide variety of challenges, from simple races to slow-paced delivery missions. The scenery looks great, and the races can be really engaging, although the game play does get a bit repetitive, with no real story driving the career foreword. The game features police chases, but these do not provide the same level of excitement as police chases in other games. All in all, Test Drive Unlimited offers a unique and enjoyable experience, although it isn’t what I would call an absolutely gripping game.

3) F1 2010:

PC gamers have waited years for a decent Formula One game, and it’s finally arrived in the form of F1 2010. The game features all of the cars and tracks from the 2010 season, a good career mode and nice driving physics. The cars are really detailed, and the tracks look beautiful, being lined with very pretty scenery. Not that you will spend too much time looking at the scenery, as you’ll be too busy enjoying the busy races and brilliant dynamic weather system. The career mode is excellent, allowing you to start from the bottom with a team like Lotus or HRT and gradually work your way to the top teams like McLaren and Ferrari. Despite this, F1 2010 has some annoying bugs, and the AI is quite terrible, being seemingly absolutely incapable of overtaking cleanly. These annoyances prevent F1 2010 from being truly sublime.

2) DIRT 2:

Good rally games are few and far between, but Dirt 2 is a really excellent PC driving game. It features an engaging career mode, where you work your way up driving various off-road vehicles in a number of different challenges, from traditional rallies to tight x-game races. The handling, although probably not very realistic, is challenging and responsive. The tracks are dazzling, with all different kinds of corner and some great scenery. Dirt 2 is constantly throwing completely new challenges and races at you, which is really great. As off-road racing games go, this is probably the best, although the fact the only 20% of the game is proper, old-fashioned rallying prevents it from being my number one.

1) GTR2:

GTR2 may be an old game, which many of you may never have heard of, but it is a truly excellent game. It is a hardcore simulation game, with ultra-realistic car handling and physics. This means that it is very challenging, but also very rewarding when you get good at it. GTR2 has a brilliant learning centre, which takes you through a number of progressively more difficult challenges which teach you the art of race driving. If you’re new to simulator games, the GTR2 learning centre is absolutely the best place to start. The skills you learn on GTR2 will help you in most other driving games as well, and even when you go karting, I have discovered. To play GTR2 properly, you will probably need a wheel, but trust me, it will be really immersive once you get it all set up. If you want the ultimate, realistic driving experience, then GTR2 is the only game for you.