What was the best motorsport game released in 2022? · RaceFans

As the end of another year approaches, there’s no better time to look back at another swathe of motorsport racing games released over the last 12 months.

As ever, Codemasters and Milestone served up another entry into their annual game franchises for Formula 1 and Moto GP, respectively. Kylotonn also produced their final World Rally Championship game, WRC Generations, with the WRC licence now in the hands of EA and Codemasters as of next year.

There were some new titles released that saw the Dakar Rally and World Superbikes represented virtually for the first time in a long time. Frontier Developments released F1 Manager 22, an eagerly anticipated management game that was the first of its kind in 20 years. Also, PlayStation’s flagship racing franchise Gran Turismo released its first mainline entry for nine years with GT7 arriving in the spring.

But what was the best motorsport game released in 2022? Review the main contenders here and then have your say in our poll.

Dakar Desert Rally

Saber Porto – PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox S|X, PC

Based on the famous annual off road challenge considered as possibly the most gruelling and dangerous motorsport event on the planet, Saber Porto released the first official Dakar game in four years just a few months ago.

Spanning over 20,000 square kilometres of virtual Saudi Arabian terrain, Dakar Desert Rally is easily the largest game on this list by scale.

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F1 22

Codemasters – PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox S|X, PC

Codemaster’s official Formula 1 game franchise shows no signs of stopping after the developers were acquired by industry giant Codemasters. As ever, the new game features all the teams, drivers and circuits from the 2022 season, with physics changes to reflect the major rules changes for this season that saw heavier cars, larger wheels and ground-effect aerodynamics.

Introducing VR as a supported mode on PC for the first time and adding driveable supercars to the game, Codemasters even patched in the Algarve circuit and Shanghai into the game after release.

F1 Manager 2022

Frontier Developments – PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox S|X, PC

A unique game on this list as, unlike the other, there is zero driving or riding involved. F1 Manager 22 instead focuses on how Formula 1 championships are won at the factory and on the pit wall by allowing players to become the team principal of any of the ten teams on the grid.

Making impressive use of Unreal engine, F1 Manager 22 was the…