Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game of rare quality; a meticulously polished open world ode to the outlaw era.
Forza Horizon 5 is the result of a racing studio at the peak of its craft and the best open-world racing game available.
I'll always have a massive soft spot for the down under delights of Forza Horizon 3, but open-world racing has never looked as good as it does in Forza Horizon 4. It combines a beautiful world that's really four hugely distinct maps in one with a constantly rewarding and self-renewing racing experience and I really can't tear myself away from it. Playground Games hasn't just upped the ante once again; it's blown the bloody doors off.
Forza Horizon 3 is a masterclass in open-world racing and bigger and better than its excellent predecessor across the board. It looks fantastic, the car selection and customisation is second to none, and the size and variety of the sprawling Australian outback is magnificent. Above all, Horizon 3 never loses sight of the fact that tearing through postcard-perfect locations should be fun, and it puts the tools in our hands to keep it that way, always. This is the racing game I’ve been waiting for, and it's officially my favourite thing on four wheels. A fair dinkum triumph, mates.
Accessible yet tough and grimy yet gorgeous, Dirt 4 sets a new standard in rally racing – and its well-considered career mode and endless stages inject it with tremendous stamina. Absolutely stonking brilliant.
Microsoft pitched Forza Motorsport 7 as the ultimate automotive playset, and it's hard to argue otherwise. With enough cars to fill a dozen museums and the most generous selection of tracks to date in the series, the amount of driving, experimenting, and racing here is absolutely mammoth. Accessible as always for beginners but crammed with content targeted at lifelong car junkies, Forza Motorsport 7 is Turn 10's finest love letter to speed and style this generation, no matter what language you speak.
Project CARS 2 plays like a pumped-up version of the classic TOCA Race Driver 3 from 2006, redressing many of the complaints levelled at the original. The handling has been tuned to a T, the content is excellently curated, and the amount of variety and racing available in it is delightfully daunting.
It's a racer informed by many others but, when it comes to open-world racing games, Forza Horizon 2 is best-in-class.
Forza Motorsport 6 boasts some of the finest racing you can find on console. Easily worth the upgrade from Forza 5.
Back in 2011, pro racer, stunt driver, and X-Games gold medallist Travis Pastrana successfully launched his Team Hot Wheels trophy truck further than any other four-wheeled vehicle in history. He did it from a giant jump assembled at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, built to appear like a life-sized length of bright orange Hot Wheels track. Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels is Pastrana's enormous toy ramp surrounded by a city-sized network of equally insane stunt tracks: a bedroom floor on an unlimited budget. What's not to love? A delightful, daring, and different expansion that reinforces Forza Horizon 3's reputation as one of the best racing games ever made.
F1 2020 is simultaneously the deepest yet most accessible Codemasters Formula One experience to date.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 proves that going backwards has been the best step forward for the series in 15 years.
Rich, rewarding, and highly replayable, Hitman 3 is one of the barcoded butcher's best appearances.
Carefully detailed, highly customisable, and buoyantly uncynical, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a surprising and brilliant arcade racer.
Mixing the original GT's trendsetting format with GT Sport's stern but very successful focus on competitive online racing, Gran Turismo 7 makes a few errors but is a potent podium performance from developer Polyphony Digital.
A gorgeous and well-honed remake of one of the biggest boppers in the PlayStation pantheon, The Last of Us Part I is the best way to play – or replay – Naughty Dog's esteemed survival classic.
Deep and demanding but incredibly user-friendly, Project CARS is real racing done right.
There's a specific corner during one of the German stages in Dirt Rally where your co-driver will supplement his flurry of warnings with a professional request: "Be brave." It's a slight left kink, framed on both sides by half-buried stones. To be honest I'm not certain what it is about this corner in particular that warrants the added advice – there are plenty of deceptive corners in Dirt Rally you can take faster than you'd expect – but "be brave" potently sums up how you need to approach Dirt Rally. Dirt Rally is a brilliant looking and incredible sounding racing sim that feels absolutely outstanding, but it won't tolerate the timid.
Small in size compared to the full map, Forza Horizon 3: Blizzard Mountain nonetheless packs in a huge pile of fresh races and challenges. It’s kept me busy for days already, and I’ve already played Forza Horizon 3 more than any other game this year. Boasting an absolutely gorgeous environment, terrific snow effects, and just about everything else that’s made Forza Horizon 3 the best racing game this generation, Blizzard Mountain should be a compulsory stopover for anyone looking to expand the Forza Horizon 3 experience, or seeking a good reason to dive back in. The weather outside is frightful, but this game is so delightful.
F1 2017 isn't light years ahead of the already very good F1 2016 but the new cars, retro content, and the juiced-up career mode make a very strong case for the upgrade, and I really appreciated the enhanced force feedback on a wheel. Rich with details and faithful to just about everything that makes contemporary F1 tick, F1 2017 is about as good a simulation of a single, modern motorsport as you can get.