We've been told that if you remember playing the 1984 game called 'XZAP' by Commodore Business Machines, which was released for the Commodore 16 and Plus/4. Then as of today you can download the Commodore Amiga version by Electric Black Sheep. A recreation of that classic game, whereby your objective is to destroy all the aliens on each level, and so progress through 140 different levels. To
Developer: Pack-In-Video Publisher: Pack-In-Video Release: 12/22/89 Genre: Action I was never a fan of Knight Rider. I get that KITT was cool but in my opinion that is all the show had going for it. It says...
Escaping the Chaos: Why Lobby Racing Just Isn’t Enough
I started doing simracing a couple of years ago, and after some rocky days of learning where I was basically just trying to keep the car on the black stuff and not end up in the grass every second corner, I found myself playing Assetto Corsa Competizione the most. Eventually, you get tired of the AI. They are predictable and they don’t make the kind of human mistakes that make racing exciting, so you start to play online. And yeah, that’s a big difference, especially in ACC, playing the AI and playing the people. It’s much more unpredictable, much more fun, and much more crashes, which is the darker part of it.
Low Fuel Motosport – Total LFM registered users and currently racing
But yeah, this is very good overall. Assetto Corsa Competizione provides competition races within the game itself, but this service doesn’t have much deeper something in it. It’s quite boring after a while because there is only one option in one time, and sometimes when you don’t have all the stars for the given track, you cannot even join at all. But there is another option, the lobby service, which is where most people start their e-racing career – Low Fuel Motosport independent racing portal.
There is always around 900 active servers where you can race at any given moment. A lot of them have a pretty full list of people racing, so it’s a big fun when you get a good grid, but it’s dangerous, especially when you are not experienced enough. You will lose your safety rating very quickly because people are crashing like crazy over there. You have to build up the good SA and go to the lobby server where you have to have some amount of SA to join it. Those servers are much, much better than without any restriction, which is basically like Destruction Derby and killing your rating in ACC.
Low Fuel Motosport – Racing statistics
The Independent Powerhouse: Choosing LFM on PC
So after a lot of crashes, a lot of yeeting discussions in the chat where people are just screaming, and quite a lot of races actually on the lobby, I started to look around for even better option to race. And I came across Low Fuel Motorsport as the leading independent platform for racing. Low Fuel Motorsport is mostly focused on ACC, which is excellent for me, and it’s a big service. There are huge amount of organized races, they have a system when and how to join, and so forth. I chose another option on the market. This is for PC players only. If you have a PlayStation or Xbox, you would probably choose SimGrid, which goes for the consoles as well. Another option, similar, is Pitskill.io, but Low Fuel Motorsport is the largest sim racing platform at this very moment in 2025, by far. So this should be your first option, probably, if you are on PC and you want to race a lot with kind of the same quality persons like you on daily races. So I opted out for Low Fuel Motorsport like two years ago, and here is my experience with it.
Low Fuel Motosport – FAQ is collabsible list, no search possible
The License Hurdle: Proving You Belong on the Grid
To join Low Fuel Motorsport and be able to race, you have to prove yourself as a kind of experienced driver, although you don’t need to be that super fast as the top of the race, but you have to be reasonably good. I like the system to join because it makes the good selection and those destruction derby players are filtered out with this system and this is a very good system. So if you want to join races, they have a practice server which is reachable via internet. You can find it within the free lobby servers. Just type in Low Fuel Motorsport LFM into the server selection and you got it. You have to find which is it on the server. To register you can use Steam or Discord. Then you have to go to the race and try to make 7 clean rounds and be within the range of the best times, maximum 5% on the top of the best times. This is the 107% rule they use to keep the pace consistent. After 2 or 3 attempts I was able to reach and I obtained the license to race. So my journey begins here. If you want to race Nordschleife, you have to make a similar license, but I didn’t go for Nordschleife yet. I just like shorter tracks and Nordschleife still has to wait for me. I’m not that interested to get into that.
Low Fuel Motosport – History of my races
Tools of the Trade: Technical Requirements for Serious Racing
To join the races you have to obviously sign up for the specific race in time and the other thing you must have is to download the utility which is called ACC connector which somehow translate the IP address of the server to your local IP address and then you have to go to local servers like on the LAN and the server when it goes online it will appear there. This is one extra tool you have to have when you want to race on the Low Fuel Motorsport and well this is a decision they made because you know the ACC had some outages and actually they still have the outages of the network. Low Fuel Motorsport didn’t want to rely on the public multiplayer service of the game and they are building like local servers independent of the race so when the ACC multiplayer is down you can still play Low Fuel Motorsport. This is sometimes problem because when the network is down you cannot even load your LAN server somehow so sometimes it’s struggle but it’s better. It’s more stable the servers especially those which are located in European area has a great ping and technically the servers are very good. Another thing you may want is the LFM Livery Tool.
If you don’t have this, everyone is just driving around in a plain white or carbon car and you can’t see the cool designs that teams put together. It makes the grid look much more professional when you can actually see the sponsors and the colors of the other cars. You also have to get used to their custom Balance of Performance, or BoP. LFM adds weight or restrictors to certain cars to make sure the field is even. So even if the game developers made one car too fast, LFM balances it out so you can still drive an older car and not be totally out of the race. This keeps the variety high which is good.
Low Fuel Motosport – Gamification is her as well . I got some trophies
The Daily Grind: Sprints and the Rating Struggle
So I did this basic license and I started to race. The options were to race, it’s quite big, but at the end you don’t have that much when you start. You can only race the 15 minute sprint races at the moment and that’s it because you are not building up your safety rating and your ELO enough yet. So you are doing these 15 minute races. Last year it was 20 minutes, now they push it to the 15 minutes. Well, that’s how they decided. So when you start to race you have to join the race. Every 45 minutes there is another 15 minute race. So you have plentiful options to race during the day, as much as you want, you don’t have any restrictions. You just click and wait a bit and you can join the races. So once you do that you go to practice. There is not allowed to race in the practice, it’s just to prepare your setups and so on. Then you go to qualification which is usually 7 minutes and then 15 minutes race. Races are much better than lobbies. This is the best advantage of Low Fuel Motorsport.
Low Fuel Motosport – Support via patreon
Here the races have its quality, even though when you are on the low tier the people are not trying to hit you as crazy and there are not that many accidents as there are on the ACC lobbies, especially those without SA filter. Here your journey starts, you are building up your ELO and you are building up your SA. When you reach the threshold you can join another races which are only filtered for the people with the higher ELO and higher safety rating. So ELO and safety rating decide everything. I’m not the greatest racer, so I was kind of struggling and stagnating because the ELO and SA rise slower than it falls. So you can build up for several clean races and then you have one wrong race where you get caught in someone else’s mess and it falls down instantly. But this is a fair play system which makes you focus on the safety first and then on the speed. This is the way how you should really learn driving in general. So you know your car, you know the spatial awareness and everything is much more important when racing here than when doing lobbies. So this really makes a big distinction and for those people who want real racing, they will like it a lot.
The Problem with Variety: GT4s and DLC Barriers
You are building up, and once you reach some threshold you can do the endurance racing 45 minutes or a higher league of 20-25 minutes races. They provide even the races for the GT4 cars or like specific BMW M2 races. But I don’t do that because especially those are the GT4 cars. You have to have the DLC and let’s be honest, how many people really do have this DLC? It’s a fraction of those having the base game. So if you really want to play all the races during the whole season, you have to have the DLCs actually because some tracks, some cars are not allowed in the base game so you have to pay for those DLCs of the base game. So here GT4 races are pretty empty. So if nobody is racing, it’s boring.
Low Fuel Motosport – Nobody much racing GT4 due to DLC restriction
I tried a couple of times but only a few players joined so I think this is almost useless category on the Low Fuel Motorsport. Endurance is good because and I really love to do the low tier endurance races last year. Because you have to make some tactics, there is always a pit stop so you don’t need to be the fastest but you have to think more strategically because of the pit stop and amount of fuel and it makes it really good. There is not that much players playing 45 minutes but quite enough to enjoy the race. Actually here I’m pretty angry on the Low Fuel Motorsport. They wanted to tweak it up for the ongoing season which is ending by the new year and they made a feedback and forum what to improve. I told them my way, what I want and actually everything happened was the opposite. So instead of 25 minutes like spring race, now we have only 15 minutes spring race and the 45 minutes endurance race is not yet reachable for me because I don’t have enough SA and ELO. So actually I can only do 15 minutes races right now which is ok but I was trying 45 minutes sprints and endurance like almost the same amount of races I did. So now it’s not possible for me. Yes, if I reach the level of SA, of the safety, I can join it but I’m not yet there. As I told you it’s quite tricky to improve but I’m not the best racer. What happened is that the options for me to race narrowed down pretty steeply and especially considering they were asking what to improve and they did the opposite, I’m not that happy with it.
Low Fuel Motosport – Track records and ELO evolution graph
Climbing the Ranks: Licenses and Tier Divisions
Even though the sprint races are short, the system behind them is very deep. When you join for example the 15 minutes sprint, there are a lot of people really in the tables, so it’s divided to even six divisions. So you’re usually playing the lowest tier division and as your indexes go up you are joining the higher divisions in the tier, like tier one, tier two. So there are six divisions for example. So you are not just attending more professional races, but even within those races you are divided to the division, so it’s pretty complex and you are racing against people on the similar skill set that you have and comparing to them. This leads to the actual License Tiers which are the backbone of the whole thing. You start as a Rookie and you have to grind your way through Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and eventually the Alien tier if you are fast enough. Each of these tiers has specific Safety Rating (SR) and ELO requirements. It’s a proper hierarchy that keeps the racing clean because nobody wants to lose their hard-earned indexes. But like I said, when they change the rules and lock you out of the endurance races you used to love because your ELO isn’t high enough yet, it feels like the goalposts are moving.
The Frustrating Reality of the Appeal System
Now, how to handle all these situations like accidents, appeals, and penalties. This is something which works technically, but I have to say I don’t like it very much. If you think somebody crashed you, you can appeal, but you have to make a video on YouTube, you have to put some specific information into that video, and then you can place an appeal. You spend a lot of time doing videos and stuff, and then the appeal might go wrong anyway. I didn’t do this yet because it’s a pretty time-consuming process to appeal, so I don’t appeal when I’m being crashed by people, but other people do appeal against you. I had some penalties where you have to agree with the decision of the arbiter who said that you did a mistake. Usually, you get some deduction of your Elo and you lose some seconds in the race results. But when they decide that you hit someone by purpose, like a retaliatory accident, you can get even 28 days of ban, and I actually got one. The situation looked like I really did it on purpose, but I know myself and I know what really happened. The guy who went against me in this appeal made the video in a way that looks like I was the one at fault, but actually, it was his fault. Because I didn’t make my own video, I couldn’t prove anything. What really hurts me is that there is no easy possibility to appeal against these big ban penalties. For small penalties, you can appeal right away from the form, but for a 28-day ban, you have to go to some hidden menu, create a ticket, and it really sucks. They don’t give you any guidance or a simple button to click, so they really don’t care much about this process or hearing your side.
Assetto Corsa Competizione – New Liveries for Haas RT on Audi R8 LMS evo II
Utility Over Community: The Patreon Model
The communication with the creators and the arbiters is very weak in my opinion. Even though they have a sophisticated website and a Discord server, the feedback feels read-only. You make a question, they reply, and that’s it. If the reply isn’t good enough, you have to create a whole new thread. It makes Low Fuel Motorsport feel more like a utility or a tool rather than a community-building service. They will likely have a problem with this at some point because there is no emotional attachment. They are even very strict about the in-game chat; if you say “sorry” to someone you crashed by mistake, they might penalize you for chatting, which is crazy to me. This cold environment is visible in how they handle the business side too. There are premium options where you can become a Patreon donator. This gives you things like deeper statistics and the ability to sign up for races sooner. I think the early sign-up is pretty useless because the servers usually only get full right before the race starts anyway. They probably make a couple of ten thousand euros per month from these donations and affiliations with brands like Fanatec or Syncmesh, but it’s a donation model. I don’t donate yet, especially after being angry about how they handled my ban. Most people don’t donate, and since the communication is so weak, you don’t feel like you are part of something you want to support with money.
The Road Ahead: ACC Stagnation and Future Sim Titles
The system is super reliant on ACC, and as we know, ACC is getting less focus from the developers because of the new games they are building. This might be the end of the road at some point. LFM is trying to move into games like Le Mans Ultimate or the original Assetto Corsa, but those races are often empty or feel like a beta. 90% of the players are on ACC. They are scared that the game is at the end of its life cycle and they are making petitions like the #SaveACC one to the developers, but it feels like they are just trying to save their own business model rather than the community. Everyone is waiting to see if they will move to Assetto Corsa EVO in 2026. If you are looking at this from a global perspective, it is mostly a European service. During the day, the European servers are packed, but the US servers during the night are pretty empty. I estimate only 10-15% of the players are from outside of Europe. You can still join with a higher ping and it’s playable, but it’s not the same experience. To conclude, the racing on Low Fuel Motorsport is unmatched in the current environment—only iRacing is on this level. It’s a great service for the racing itself, but do not expect to join a community. It is a utility to get clean races, and the moment a better option comes along, people will probably just jump off to that. If you want real racing, go for it, but keep your expectations low for the social side.
Developer: Kaneko Publisher: Kaneko Release: 01/31/92 Genre: Action The Sega Genesis’ popularity in the West is a bit of an anomaly. Because the platform was so successful in Europe and especially the US publishers were constantly on...
Developer: KID Publisher: VAP Release: 08/09/91 Genre: Action In the mid-90s there was an odd surge of 2d platformers featuring soccer. I suppose if cavemen and witches can have their day than football deserves its turn too....
Developer: Red Company Publisher: NEC Release: 12/13/91 Genre: Action I have lamented the lack of platformers for the Turbo Grafx-16 many times. At a time when the mascot platformer and action games reigned supreme the system was severely...
The surprise pairing of the Master Chief and the Arbiter that turned these bitter opponents into unlikely allies was one of the best parts of the original Halo trilogy… for both of them to be the heroes that their situations required, they had to put the pain they had previously caused each other behind them and choose to work together. While letting the past actions of the “villains” of each other’s respective stories go wasn’t easy, the mission at hand and the lives that were at stake were much larger than the grudge they were carrying. By releasing their grip on the anger and bitterness that they were carrying towards each other, their hands were finally opened up to receive the help and support the other could give.
Forgiveness is more than a willingness to simply let something go… it is an intentional decision to allow someone who has wronged us in the past to grow. Just like the example that Ananias and Saul showed us, it’s only when we choose to release each other from the burden of the sins that we’ve committed against each other that healing can occur for BOTH of the parties involved. When we show the same grace, mercy and forgiveness that the Lord has given to us to those who have acted in an adversarial manner to us in the past, we will often find the support we have been seeking and praying for was hidden in plain sight all along.
Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21
Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.” Acts 9:13-15
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Sports Interactive has included the women’s game after its tireless effort of collating a comprehensive database
Within minutes I am in the deep end as the Arsenal manager before the start of the 2025-26 season, sizing up a transfer budget that does not match my ambitions for the club. I am immediately at odds with the board when I launch a rogue bid to sign Aitana Bonmatí, which is immediately rejected.
I manage to recruit Alex Greenwood to shore things up in the wake of Leah Williamson’s injury and my late bid for Patri Guijarro, who wants to be part of my project, falls through at the last minute with the budget once again the problem. I demand answers from the board as to why they will not release more funds when the player-in-question wants to join, pointing out that our scouting report says she’s a necessary replacement for Lia Wälti.
Valve and Epic say Horses violates their sexual content policies. Humble hasn’t yet said why it banned the game. However, Santa Ragione claims neither Epic nor Valve has clearly explained what exactly in the game is objectionable, and that these decisions have put the studio in peril of shutting down. The back-and-forth has catapulted Horses from a little-known prestige indie title to the next battleground in the fight between game storefronts, indie developers, content policies, and creative expression.
Though all the action kicked off late last month, Horses’ story officially began two years ago. In a lengthy FAQ, the developers explained that in 2023, Horses was rejected during Steam’s review process without explanation. “Steam’s policy grants broad discretion to refuse titles without providing detailed explanations. In our case, they simply stated they could not legally distribute Horses without clarifying why,” the FAQ reads.
In an interview with IGN, Pietro Righi Riva, one half of the team at Santa Ragione, said that the ban might have been caused by a scene involving a man and his daughter visiting a ranch where the titular “horses” are humans wearing horse masks. The daughter wants to ride one of the horses, which the player facilitates. “What followed was an interactive dialogue sequence where the player is leading, by a lead as if they were a horse, a naked adult woman with a young girl on her shoulders,” Riva said.
He said that scene was part of a rough demo sent to Steam to satisfy the platform’s request for a playable build so Horses could get a “Coming Soon” page. Riva said that, ultimately, the character was changed in the final build. “We have since changed the character in the scene to be a twenty-something woman, both to avoid the juxtaposition and more importantly because the dialogue delivered in that scene, which deals with the societal structure in the world of Horses, works much better when delivered by an older character.”
“Our requests for review and appeal were denied over and over.”
The studio stresses that Steam never explicitly explained why Horses was banned nor responded to any of Santa Regione’s follow-up appeals and communications. “For two years we asked for clarifications and a path to compliance, but we were directed to Steam’s general guidelines and our requests for review and appeal were denied over and over,” the FAQ reads.
“After our team played through the build and reviewed the content, we gave the developer feedback about why we couldn’t ship the game on Steam, consistent with our onboarding rules and guidelines. A short while later the developer asked us to reconsider the review, and our internal content review team discussed that extensively and communicated to the developer our final decision that we were not going to ship the game on Steam.”
The studio says the Steam ban put the company in financial peril, as it “completely erased our ability to find an external supporting publisher or partner to fund the rest of the game as no one in the industry considers an indie game that cannot be released on Steam to be viable.” Though the developers were able to continue work on Horses through investments from friends, unless the game’s a hit, they say the studio will shut down.
In the two years since Horses’ ban from Steam, Santa Ragione found several new homes for the game, including Itch.io, GOG, Humble, and the Epic Games Store. In a post on X, DRM-free storefront GOG said, “We’re proud to give Horses a home on GOG, giving players another way to enjoy the game. We’ve always believed that players should be able to choose the experiences that speak to them.” Humble, however, banned the game shortly after launch, though it was eventually re-listed. Santa Ragione told IGN that Humble temporarily pulled the game to re-evaluate it following recent headlines.
HORSES is currently the best-selling game on GOG 😱
None of those stores has near the market share of Steam, but among them, Epic’s has the most name recognition — making its last-minute ban a major blow.
As with Steam, Epic didn’t explain what in Horses triggered the ban, only referring to the policy on inappropriate and hateful / abusive content and the fact that games rated AO, or Adults Only, could not be distributed on EGS. (Unless it’s an NFT / blockchain game, of course.)
“We immediately appealed their decision through all suggested channels,” the developers’ FAQ reads, adding that when Horses was submitted to the ESRB for rating, it received an Mature rating (ages 17 and up), which is, as of this writing, still prominently displayed on the game’s EGS page. Epic did not respond to a request to clarify the age rating discrepancy or the timing of the ban, referring instead to the statements Santa Ragione shared in its FAQ.
Santa Ragione is very clear about the kind of content Horses contains. The lengthy content warning on the game’s website lists “physical violence, psychological abuse, gory imagery (mutilation, blood), depictions of slavery, physical and psychological torture, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and misogyny.” It also makes sense that, out of an abundance of caution, Steam would ban the version of the game it saw with the father-and-daughter scene.
“The scene is not sexual in any way, but it is possible that the juxtaposition is what triggered the flag,” Riva told IGN. But what makes less sense is the platform’s refusal to reevaluate the game or at least explain its reasoning. “We believe Steam intentionally keeps its policy opaque so it does not have to stand by clear rules and can adjust decisions to whatever best serves the platform at a given moment,” reads the FAQ.
According to Santa Ragione, Epic’s ban is even more confusing. It said EGS had a more complete version of the game for two months, “with the final achievements-ready build being approved for release 18 days prior to launch.” Epic’s decision to ban Horses reads like decision-makers getting scared in light of all the attention on the game.
In spite of all this, Horses still is available, and the smattering of reviews have been mostly positive. But with large storefronts having significant power over games and studios, the reception may not be enough to keep Santa Ragione alive. The studio says that the combination of the Steam ban and the money it owes investors “puts us in a completely unsustainable financial situation unless the game somehow recoups its development costs.”
Update, December 3rd: Added that Humble has since re-listed the game.
Steam’s 2025 Summer Sale is heating up, and racing fans have no shortage of high-octane discounts to burn through. From hardcore sim racing to open-world arcade mayhem, there’s a title for almost every kind of speed junkie in this year’s lineup. Whether you’re into GT3 realism, mud-plugging truck runs, or leaderboard-crushing time attacks, this breakdown will help you pinpoint the best value deals—and figure out which type of racer suits your style.
Accessible Arcade or Experimental Chaos? The Casual Corner
Let’s kick things off with games that don’t demand a sim rig to enjoy. At the forefront is Trackmania—which remains completely free to play for its base experience. Despite a modest Metacritic score of 74, the game thrives through its competition-driven loops. The draw here isn’t depth; it’s precision. With short user-made tracks and constant seasonal content, Trackmania thrives on community involvement and perfectionist time-hunting. It’s a simple formula, but it works, especially at zero cost.
If you’re leaning more toward chaos and anime flair, Haste enters as a stylish underdog at €13.29. It lacks a Metacritic rating, but it positions itself clearly: anime kart-style combat racing with a heavy emphasis on arcade mechanics. There’s no official score yet, and because it’s from an indie studio, this one’s more for those who prize aesthetic and energy over engineering detail.
BeamNG.drive straddles the line between simulation and experiment. While there’s no formal Metacritic rating, Steam classifies it as “Overwhelmingly Positive,” and honestly, that seems fair. With its advanced soft-body physics, BeamNG lets players simulate car crashes, suspension tweaking, or build full-blown off-road obstacle courses. It’s not structured racing per se, but if your inner gearhead enjoys vehicle dynamics above all else, this €18.00 tag (-20%) feels justified for the sheer depth of toys at your disposal.
Sim Racing Core – For the Purists and Pedal Pushers
If you’re into straight-laced realism, several standout titles deserve immediate attention. Automobilista 2 is practically a giveaway at €3.69—a jaw-dropping 90% discount off its original €36.99 price. Sporting a 78 Metacritic score, it’s a sim that delivers a surprisingly in-depth South American motorsport catalog with dynamic weather and solid handling. Built on the Madness Engine, it carries a polished driving feel that never quite hit mainstream fame—making this deal a hidden gem for sim enthusiasts.
Another rock-solid buy is the original Assetto Corsa. At €4.99 (-75%) and boasting an impressive 85 Metacritic score, it continues to enjoy popularity nearly a decade after launch. Its modding scene is still on fire, which means the base experience evolves constantly with fan-made tracks, cars, and drift setups. For value, AC is practically unbeatable.
Assetto Corsa Competizione, the more modern sibling, dials everything toward official GT World Challenge accuracy. For €9.99 (-75%), you’re getting a focused GT3/GT4 simulator with precise tire models, dynamic weather, and full laser-scanned tracks. The Metacritic score of 78 reflects its niche appeal—pure focus on GT racing means less variety—but for endurance-minded racers, it hits exactly where it needs to.
Sim heads should definitely also bookmarkiRacing. It’s a unique offer: €3.73 gets you one month of subscription access (-66% off), unlocking what is arguably the most structured competitive ecosystem in sim racing. Metacritic puts it at 79, and its community-driven ride—with licensing, officiating, and SR/IR tracking—is unrivaled. The catch? You’ll need to pay monthly to continue, and meaningful progress requires further purchases. Still, this trial is a great entry point to a meticulous, league-based sim experience.
Endurance and Variety: Bridging Arcade and Sim Ideals
The sim market has been steadily evolving toward long-form racing, and Le Mans Ultimate enters the battlefield as one of 2025’s most interesting releases. While still under development and not Metacritic-rated, its positioning as “successor to rFactor 2” gives it pedigree. It’s €30.44 for now—a bit steep compared to others here—but it’s the only title on this list designed around multi-hour endurance scenarios, complete with day/night cycles and dynamic weather. It’s not done yet, but if you want cutting-edge endurance racing, this is where you look.
SnowRunner deserves mention, even if its focus isn’t traditional racing and its summer . Sitting at €14.99 and sporting an 81 Metacritic score, this off-road haul sim delivers satisfaction in rugged traversal, not breakneck speed. Mud physics, water resistance, and cargo balance make it a surprisingly strategic experience. It’s slow and deliberate but deeply rewarding—especially if you’ve got a steering wheel or a friend to co-op with.
For something that strikes a broader balance,Forza Motorsport (2023) steps in at €34.99. That price doesn’t scream deal, but you do get a full-featured, graphically stunning, sim-leaning racer with a solid 81 Metacritic score. The car customization system, streamlined assists, and competitive online modes give it both accessibility and depth. It’s arguably the most modern sim-style game on this list, and while not ultra-realistic, it supports wheel setups and tuning flexibility better than most semi-casual racers.
Only one major open-world racer made the discount board this year: The Crew Motorfest. On a massive €20.99 tag (-70% off from €69.99), it stands out both by map size and car roster. With a Metacritic score of 74, it’s the most accessible big-box arcade racer on the list. You’re looking at dozens of disciplines in one sandbox—from drift challenges to jet-powered drag racing—and a tone that embraces chaos, customization, and exotic settings. It’s not high-brow, but it’s high-fun. For less than half the cost of a modern AAA title, it fills the “need-for-speed-meets-variety” gap nicely.
GDC Festival of Gaming has released the 2025 Game Industry Salary Report, revealing that almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents support the unionization of game industry workers, with over half of respondents (56%) saying they are interested in joining a union in the industry. The report, based on a survey of 562 game industry professionals from […]
Yesterday, we published part one of our interview with former Xbox 360 boss Peter Moore, where he talked about the creation of Microsoft's beloved machine, the grand idea encompassing it, and how his team had to break from the stuffy office-worker image Microsoft had. "Guys with pocket protectors and thick glasses", as he described it. He also talked about "throwing punches" to provoke the Xbox vs. PlayStation console war.
