The Forza Horizon games are the obvious choices here: all of them have huge, beautiful, varied maps you can roam around in essentially whatever car you want. One you seemed to have forgotten about is Need for Speed Heat, it's a similar concept but in not-Miami. I think the cities in it are way better than the cities in Forza, so if you are into street racing it's a good choice, but the areas outside the cities are significantly worse than Forza. I found the Crew and it's sequel disappointing, in my opinion the game simply has poor art direction, tons of pop in, and uninspired map design. However, when it comes to massive, varied, realistic worlds that you can lose yourself in for hours, nothing can beat Truck Simulator. Okay, you might not find trucks cool now (I was the same) or as exciting as supercars, but once you get into it you will. Euro Truck Simulator takes literally 3 hours to drive across the map....in both directions. There are almost 300 cities with all expansions. The scenery, signage, and road design are, in all but the oldest area, immaculate, and essentially identical to real life. It is the closest thing to a driving version of Microsoft Flight Simulator as a faithful representation of the real world that you can interface with exactly how you would with a real vehicle, and yet it scales enough that (like MSFS) it can be fun with just a controller or even a keyboard or mouse. It's an incredible game, even if you don't like trucks. Yet. Answer from dmklinger on reddit.com
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/simracing › does anyone know any free (or very cheap) open world racing games (like forza horizon, carx street, nfs unbound, the crew 2/motorfest)
r/simracing on Reddit: Does anyone know any free (or very cheap) open world racing games (like Forza Horizon, CarX Street, NFS Unbound, the Crew 2/Motorfest)
October 5, 2024 -

ok a little background:

for my birthday about 6 months ago i got a 2nd hand G27 wheel and i drift in assetto with it but i really like the look of forza, carx street etc... but they all cost alot of money and i dont have too much.

i got JDM: Rise of the Scorpion but ive finished that game and then i got the forza horizon 4 demo on the microsoft store but deleted it after a week because doing the same thing over and over again because its doesnt save progress was annoying.

so to get to the point does anyone know and free (or very cheap) open world racing games that support a wheel and have decent graphics?

all comments help and ill try to reply to most of them

(P.S. sorry for bad grammmer)

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Softonic
en.softonic.com › downloads › open-world-racing-games-for-windows
Download Open World Racing Games For Windows - Best Software & Apps
CarX Street, developed and published ... racing video game published by Electronic Arts and is the 24th installment in the Need for Speed… ... Need for Speed Underground 2 is a free racing game....
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/shouldibuythisgame › [wsib] "racing" games with vast open world that you can mindlessly traverse for hours
r/ShouldIbuythisgame on Reddit: [WSIB] "Racing" games with vast open world that you can mindlessly traverse for hours
July 6, 2022 -

Obvious choices just to get this out of the way:

  • The Crew

  • Forza Series

  • American Truck Simulator - actually not sure if I should play this, if I'm not a fun of trucks?

  • Euro Truck Simulator - same as above?

  • Burnout Paradise

  • Mad Max - its more of a automotive fighting game I guess

  • Rage - same as above

  • Fuel - same as above

  • Test Drive Unlimited 1, 2 - loved these, but they're dated

Are there any other games I should consider?

Basically I want to play Microsoft Flight Simulator, but with (preferably high performance) cars.

Top answer
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The Forza Horizon games are the obvious choices here: all of them have huge, beautiful, varied maps you can roam around in essentially whatever car you want. One you seemed to have forgotten about is Need for Speed Heat, it's a similar concept but in not-Miami. I think the cities in it are way better than the cities in Forza, so if you are into street racing it's a good choice, but the areas outside the cities are significantly worse than Forza. I found the Crew and it's sequel disappointing, in my opinion the game simply has poor art direction, tons of pop in, and uninspired map design. However, when it comes to massive, varied, realistic worlds that you can lose yourself in for hours, nothing can beat Truck Simulator. Okay, you might not find trucks cool now (I was the same) or as exciting as supercars, but once you get into it you will. Euro Truck Simulator takes literally 3 hours to drive across the map....in both directions. There are almost 300 cities with all expansions. The scenery, signage, and road design are, in all but the oldest area, immaculate, and essentially identical to real life. It is the closest thing to a driving version of Microsoft Flight Simulator as a faithful representation of the real world that you can interface with exactly how you would with a real vehicle, and yet it scales enough that (like MSFS) it can be fun with just a controller or even a keyboard or mouse. It's an incredible game, even if you don't like trucks. Yet.
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I'm not a fan of trucks either and I've always wondered why people praise Truck Simulator so much. Both games (American and Euro) have Overwhelmingly Positive ratings on Steam, which is no small feat - I know that reviews are not the most trustworthy thing in the world, but any Overwhelmingly Positive game on steam is amazing, even if you don't like it I bought American Truck a year ago and I was hooked instantly! It is basically what you said, a vast open world that you can mindlessly traverse for hours. There are short jobs in the beginning that are going to take you from 10 to 30 minutes to complete, and as you get the long distance skill, you get access to longer jobs that can take over 2 hours (the game has a save system, so you don't need to commit 2 hours straight) It isn't a high-octane racing game, but it is indisputably the best "Flight Sim but with cars" (trucks in this case) And if you wonder which version you should get, it comes down to preference: the truck models are different and cities are far from each other in American, while in Euro you will go through urban areas a lot and the landscape is incredible
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YouTube
youtube.com › watch
Top 10 FREE OPEN WORLD Racing Games 2025 (NEW) - YouTube
List of Top 10 Best FREE Open World Racing games for PS4 , PS5, PC. Free To Play Open World driving games, NEW Free Open World racing Games 2025 That You Can...
Published   February 15, 2025
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Game Rant
gamerant.com › home › video games › video news & features › best open-world racing games of all time
Best Open-World Racing Games Of All Time
Putting aside all the actual events, Fuel is at its best when players throw caution to the wind and just roam. ... Arcade driving games are all the rage, and Crazy Taxi 3 is easily the best game in the series that fans can go back to time and ...
Published   November 15, 2024
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Gameranx
gameranx.com › home › best open-world racing games
Best Open-World Racing Games - Gameranx
February 24, 2025 - Need For Speed Unbound is the latest title to enact that feeling. You’ll be in the city of Lakeshore, where a massive competition called The Grand is about to begin. The 4-week competition will put you against some of the best street racers ...
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Hardcore Gamer
hardcoregamer.com › home › 7 best open-world racing games
Best Open-World Racing Games
December 8, 2024 - Its online integration, with shared events and challenges, keeps the world bustling with activity. And the graphics are no slouch, with Forza Horizon 5 being one of the prettiest games on PC, which is a testament to Playground Games’ continued dedication to the franchise.
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Gameranx
gameranx.com › home › 16 best pc open world racing games
16 Best PC Open World Racing Games - Gameranx
February 24, 2025 - If you want arguably one of the most open and free-roaming experiences of racing, you definitely need to try The Crew 2. Why? Because they don’t just give you a “Motornation” to and race through, they allow you to do it on vehicles that ...
Find elsewhere
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TheGamer
thegamer.com › home › triple-a games › triple-a game lists › 8 best open-world racing games
The Best Open-World Racing Games
April 8, 2025 - Open-world racing games offer freedom to explore beyond set tracks and break free from constraints. Games like The Crew and Midnight Club offer massive open-worlds for players to race in, covering the entire US.
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Quora
quora.com › What-are-some-open-world-racing-games-for-a-low-end-PC-I-don-t-care-if-it-has-bad-graphics-as-long-as-it-s-open-world
What are some open world racing games for a low-end PC? I don’t care if it has bad graphics as long as it’s open world. - Quora
Need for Speed Underground 2 took everything that made the first one a success and made it even better! The graphics still look pretty OK in my opinion, although some people might like a high-def texture pack ...
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RacingGames
racinggames.gg › home › opinion
Best Open-World Racing Games
April 16, 2025 - The games you play now have intricate technicalities that allow us to see meticulous details in-game, ranging from dynamic weather conditions and advanced physics engines that mimic tire degradation to aerodynamics. ... Leaping to the front of this revolution is the Forza Horizon series, which essentially pushed the limits of open-world racing. By blurring the line between organized competition and freeform discovery, the game has set a new standard for the genre.
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Steam Community
steamcommunity.com › discussions › forum › 12 › 135513901710276924
What's the best open world driving game? :: Off Topic
Originally posted by Hank Hell:I've been using GTA V, Mafia 2, and Just Cause 3 lately but I was wondering if there was something better. I saw Forza Horizon 3 but that looks like its mostly just for racing missions.
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G2A
g2a.com › news › features › open-world-racing-games
Best Open World Racing Games that Let You Drive Your Way - G2A News
February 10, 2025 - ... Set in Paradise City, BP: Remastered offers a vast, open world of diverse competitions. Race on the city streets, participate in crazy Takedowns, or enjoy spectacular mountain rides!
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MobyGames
mobygames.com › group › 9646 › genre-racing-open-world-driving
Genre: Racing - Open world driving - MobyGames
This group is for racing games where the player is not confined by a race track or circuit but instead can pick his own route and race freely in the world. Notes: This group is only for games that...
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itch.io
itch.io › games › tag-open-world › tag-racing
Top Racing games tagged Open World - itch.io
Find Racing games tagged Open World like The Driver Syndicate, Punk Runner [Early Access], Drift King - Alpha v0.17, Aichi Emperors Zero, FFX Runner HD on itch.io, the indie game hosting marketplace
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Red Bull
redbull.com › int-en › best-open-world-racers-the-crew-motorfest
The greatest open-world racers of all time (so far)
May 24, 2025 - ... When Microsoft’s flagship ... could be argued to have thoroughly overtaken its originator, and the 2021 release of Forza Horizon 5 is by far the best in this series....
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/shouldibuythisgame › what are the best offline open world racing games for pc?
r/ShouldIbuythisgame on Reddit: What are the best offline open world racing games for pc?
February 8, 2024 -

That I can just free roaming and cruising the map I'd love it to be huge map with decent graphics

I don't want online games such as :

The crew 2

Forza Horizon

Nor dated games such as :

Test drive unlimited 2

Looking for relaxing driving around open areas and cities

Thank you

! Tell us what systems you have, what other games you enjoy, or anything that will help us figure out what game would best fit you. You can resubmit once you've fixed this. Keep in mind however that **we typically expect posts to

Please accept the post it's the fifth time posting it

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/gamingsuggestions › what's the best open world driving game for pc?.
r/gamingsuggestions on Reddit: What's the best open world driving game for PC?.
October 27, 2016 -

I'm looking for a game where you can drive in an open world mostly freely with a choice to avoid racing missions or whatever. I just want to drive around and listen to podcasts.

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Steam
store.steampowered.com › search
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