I’ve been searching for a fun driving game, after experiencing with a lot of racing & driving games, I now have a better understanding of my own needs of such a game and I found 3 games that are most close to what I want.

My needs for such a game are:

  • engaging roads: twisty and elevation
  • good driving experience (wheel and force feedback support)
  • open feeling
  • car enthusiasts vibe, crowd and celebration

The 3 games are:

  • Forza Horizon
  • Test Drive Unlimited
  • Grid

The specific versions are:

  • Forza Horizon 1
  • Test Drive Unlimited 1
  • Grid 1

Here’s a comparison of how I feel about these games. There are also other games I find interesting, such as driver: san francisco, burnout paradise, but they are similar not as good as these 3 games, so I will not include them here.

  What I like What I don’t like
Forza Horizon 3 Variety of roads (open roads, city, highway, off-road, mountain, dirt, pavement, snow, etc) Lack of car enthusiasts vibe, crowd and celebration (Forza Horizon 1 does this best)
  Beautiful scenery (cars, world, music) Roads are mostly open and flat, lack of elevation and driving engagement (Forza Horizon 2 seemly does this better, haven’t played)
  Tuning, customziation, car collection  
  Open feeling  
Forza Horizon 1 Car enthusiasts vibe, crowd and celebration Roads lack of elevation and driving engagement
Forza Horizon 2 More engaging driving roads (with elevation) Weaker car enthusiasts vibe, crowd and celebration
Test Drive Unlimited Many twisty roads and elevation, very long distance Old graphics
  Real world like driving (realistic roads and traffic) Lack of interesting races
  Open feeling  
Race Driver Grid Very strong car enthusiasts vibe and atomsphere (crowd cheers and celebration) Not many touge circuits
  Night racing Environment feels closed and disconnected
  Twisty mountain roads  
Assetto Corsa / Dirt Rally (For comparison) Pure realistic driving Environment feels closed and disconnected (no crowd celebration)
  Engaging driving roads  
GTA V (For comparison) Realistic roads and traffic Roads are mot so engaging
  Open feeling Not so good handling with wheel
    Lack of car enthusiasts vibe, crowd and celebration