Some games like the EA/Codemasters F1 series have release a game every year and then there are games that show up every four or five years like the Assetto Corsa series. To us, the yearly games are likely to be more of a reskin of the previous year's game without any real improvements or features and tend to represent more of a cash grab than an actual attempt to provide a proper, new racing experience.
We think that 2023 will be similar to previous years with a combination of both types of game releases with one or two surprises.
Rennsport
Rennsport is a brand new sim racing game from developer Competition Company GmbH. It will be PC-only with the possibility of console support in the future. It seems like the game will initially feature GT3 cars with additional vehicles added later. Rennsport is planning to release the game as free-to-play, Raceroom-style with a small amount of base content that should include popular cars and tracks, and all other content will be sold as DLC.
The game should have stunning graphics since it will be using the Unreal 5 engine coupled with custom-built physics. VR will be supported, but triple-screen support may not be available with the initial release. Interestingly, Rennsport claim that the content you purchase belongs to you, and you will be able to sell your cars and tracks via the marketplace. We're not sure how this will work exactly, but if it's anything like how the items on CSGO works, then this will become a unique feature in sim racing.
Rennsport should be released as a beta in the next few days with the release build being made available by the end of March 2023. We're looking forward to playing Rennsport and see it as a potential challenger to Assetto Corsa Competizione. If they have an excellent multiplayer system with proper skill-based races, they may even challenge iRacing.
Le Mans 24 Hour
We wrote previously about Motorsport Games and the Le Mans 24-Hour game they are supposed to be launching this year. We're hoping for a proper racing sim with physics similar to rFactor 2, iRacing and Assetto Competizione but with a modern game engine like Unreal 5. We're also hoping that it not only has the Le Mans track in all its glory including dynamic weather and day/night transitions but the rest of the tracks from the FIA World Endurance Championship.
However, we've seen very little on this game that's expected to be made available sometime this year, and it's very concerning since we should have seen some development work/screenshots or anything to give us a bit of confidence that there is indeed a Le Mans 24 Hour game forthcoming from Motorsport Games.
Indycar Series
Similar to the Le Mans game mentioned above, this game is also due this year from Motosport Games, but there's been some official info available that shows it's indeed in development.
We're expecting something similar to the EA/Codemasters F1 series with a handling model that will be better than arcade, but less than a sim like rFactor 2 or iRacing. The game will, however, use rFactor 2 as a base for handling physics with the Unreal engine for graphics, but we think it will be simplified for more widespread acceptance amongst all levels of racers.
We will obviously give this game a go because good racing is always good racing regardless if it's "simcade" or a proper sim. You don't always need to drive a sim to experience the thrill of side-by-side racing action, so we're hoping that this game at least, comes close to the upcoming F1 23 and if we're lucky, surpasses it.
Honourable mentions
The three games we mentioned above are the games we are looking forward to the most in 2023, but there are a few more games that we think have the potential to surprise us:
- World Rally Championship 2023
- F1 23
- Forza Motorsport 8
We're expecting nothing special from F1 23 and foresee the usual re-skin and one or two small changes to the career mode. We're hoping for a total rebuild with better graphics, a better tyre model, and vastly improved physics but we highly doubt that will happen.
However, that's probably exactly what will happen with WRC 2023 since the series has now move to EA/Codemasters where they can draw from their long experience building Dirt Rally 1 and 2 as well as the Dirt series of games. This will be the case with Forza Motorsport 8 as well since it's been so many years since version 7. It should have a massive range of cars and tracks, but we're hoping for proper driving physics and not an arcade-style game.
Final thoughts
2023 promises to be a bumper year for new racing sims/games and if everything is released as planned, then we will be driving a lot more than we did last year.
