Best racing game on Steam? [No Giveaway]

grid, shift, dirt 2 and f1 2012

• F1 2012, extremely well made, but challenging, and very limited in terms of vehicle variety.

• Dirt 2/3, both are a joy to play, have great controls, and are relatively challenging.

• Grid 1, a bit dated, but it is just as fun to play as the dirt series, large car variety. Grid 2 is the best looking game codemasters has ever made, but it just isn't fun to control. The physics and handling are trying to be realistic, but they fail considerably. If you know how real cars operate, F1, Dirt 2/3, and Grid 1 all feel grounded in reality, even if they are slightly arcade-ish. Grid 2 on the other hand, is far more arcadey, and the cars just do not feel like actual cars. For instance, you can drive full speed in a straight line, swerve vigorously left and right, and the back end will slip and slide all over the place, and you can still keep driving just fine. Do that in ANY of the other games I've mentioned, or in real life, and the tires won't drift all over like they do in Grid 2, and if they did drift like that, you would crash. The game looks great, its well polished overall, but the gameplay is just not fun, because it breaks physics and your understanding of how cars work.

• NFS Shift 2 Unleashed, large car variety, relatively fun to drive but not as much as the codemasters games, but that is ONLY with THIS MOD. That mod makes the game go from unplayable, even worse than Grid 2, to a decent semi-sim racing game, and the closest thing to GranTurismo/Forza that is currently available on the PC. That will definitely change though, once Project Cars, rFactor 2, and Assetto Corsa release.

• Driver San Fransico and Test Drive Unlimited 2 are both quite fun, have open worlds, and have cockpit views. They are definitely not sims, and they really aren't the games you'd want to spend time getting good at.

• Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed, specifically the transformed game, as the original sucks. This game, is in my opinion one of the best kart racing games of all time, and definitely the best karting game on PC by far. The controls/handling is downright sublime, and the skill ceiling is absurdly high for a kart racer. You have A LOT of room to get good at this game, but all the levels can be played through even if you suck. So it is great for skilled players and noobs/children alike. If you liked Crash Team Racing, you'll like this. It doesn't have an overworld, but it is similar in gameplay, and is just excellent overall. Even the graphics look fantastic.

• Trials Evolution and Joe Danger 1/2, I know these aren't really racing games, but I did want to mention them. Trials is great fun, can be very challenging, and the level editor is quite detailed. Joe Danger 1 and 2 are downright excellent, and TONS of fun. You can get both JD games for $15 now, or just wait a few months for another sale.

FLATOUT 2! I had so much fun with this game. And btw. even though it says on steam that it is single player only, you can play mp over tunngle or hamachi.

The best racing games for me are:

• Gran Turismo
• Richard Burns Rally
• Shift 2

Project C.A.R.S will be soon. (from the creators of GTR, GTR2, GTL and Shift 2)

http://steamdb.info/app/234630/

Definitely Dirt 2 for fairly realistic rally racing (yes, it is quite a lot better than Dirt 3). NFS: Hot Pursuit for arcade-style street racing in expensive cars.

GTR and GTR2

Test Drive Unlimited 2

For most is not good but I love this massive open world. It is not only racing, there is exploration, collecting e.t.c. You can go racing or just roam witth friends.

GRID & Dirt series
and also RaceRoom

F1 2012 is pretty hard but I highly recommend it. Feels good when you nail it!

Race Injection, Raceroom and GTR 2

Wait for upcomming Assetto corsa (this one will be best racing game on steam for many many years)

Also, if you want to try simracing (and you have good wheel), on steam is awesome Race 07 with DLCs

Edit: for fucks sake, didnt see that this was an older post, damn you whoever brought this to top :p

Since you said CTR I'm thinking of Blur . Very good game. There aren't any kartgames that are worth it but Blur is a good racer with powerups like kart games.

Edit: after thinking a bit, i was wrong about the kart games. Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing and Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed are also worth it! :p
Reminder: Do not buy F1 RACE STARS, its crap imo.