Autobayng News Team
The state of the simracing genre is anything but united in 2025.
On PC, pickings are rich. Established giants like iRacing continue to provide the most authentic virtual motorsports experiences possible, while Reiza Studios punch above their weight with their Automobilista franchise and even Motorsport Games appear to be in the midst of a comeback story with Le Mans Ultimate.
Not to mention future titles already having been introduced in early access, such as Assetto Corsa Evo.
On console, however, this generation has not delivered the same wealth of racing experiences many would have hoped to see five years into the cycle. Aside from the yearly Formula 1 games, a seventh Gran Turismo title which is equally baffling as it is brilliant and an upgraded port of Assetto Corsa Competizione, there aren’t as many serious motorsport titles available as many PlayStation and Xbox owners would like.
But the final quarter of 2025 could be about to change that. After an iRacing-adjacent NASCAR game pleased long-suffering stock car fans with a solid first entry in an all-new series, there are multiple other motorsport-focused games set to release in the coming months that have players rightly excited. And the first of these, officially releasing this week on console and PC, is Rennsport – the long-awaited release of one of the most intriguing if peculiar simracing projects of the last two decades.
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After years of betas, early access on PC and multiple high-profile esports events featuring the new simulator, Rennsport finally has its official public release. With so many years of development under its belt, many players have been eagerly anticipating getting behind the wheel of a full released version of Rennsport, hoping it could deliver on its apparent promise and offer a true alternative for those who want to immerse themselves in an authentic motorsport simulation.
Sadly, it is RaceFans’ duty to report, those players will be left disappointed.
In a modern gaming climate where negativity and ragebait earn engagement and bad faith creators are ravenous for any opportunity to jump on the latest pile-on, it would be easy to assume the negative reception that the launch of Rennsport has received might be overblown. However, in its current form, these critiques are disappointingly justified.
Rennsport attempts to provide a truly authentic racing experience to players. Using Unreal Engine 5, which has proven tricky for developers to mould racing games with, the game has only the hardcore racing enthusiast in mind.
Cars consist of a modest selection of current racing models that players can enjoy watching race in many current real-world championships: GT3 and GT4 machines alongside two Hypercars in the form of the BMW M or the Porsche 963 down to a handful of TCR touring cars like the Hyundai Elantra and even the aggressive and racy Praga R1.
Rather than being shackled to the license of a real series, Rennsport’s circuit selection – like its car roster – feels like the developers have only chosen tracks that they truly enjoy, rather than are obligated to make. Monza, Spa-Francorchamps, Road Atlanta, the Daytona road course and the Nurburgring Nordschliefe are the pick of the bunch here. The Jeddah Corniche Circuit feels a little out of place as part of the line-up – like having Ozzy Osbourne on stage with the Beatles – but perhaps unsurprising given the game’s history with Saudi Arabia.
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The game also includes no fewer than four fictional tracks, including an extremely long course that winds its way around lakes in a mountain ridge and an original track set around some of the same Singapore streets as the Marina Bay circuit. It might feel like a hodgepodge collection of cars and circuits with no obvious rhyme or reason to unite them, but it is somewhat refreshing to have some new locales to learn and enjoy over, say, racing around Circuit de Catalunya for the 7,000th different game.
Handling is, naturally, the most critical element for many players. And this is where Rennsport demonstrates its quality and potential. The handling and physics certainly feel more authentic than, say, Gran Turismo 7, with the GT3 cars having believable weight and overheating your tyres actually causing your grip levels to drop away dramatically.
But overall, the physics model feels closer to a game like Project CARS than ACC. Driving around alone on track is enjoyable, but anyone who considers themselves as being competent at simracing games will likely get up to speed almost immediately with Rennsport as cars rarely feel as if they are on the verge of breaking away from the driver’s control. Whether this is truly more realistic than, say, ACC is a question that can only be answered by real-world drivers, but it’s hard not to assume that ACC is closer to reality than this.
Unfortunately, Rennsport’s core and fundamental problems begin to surface as soon as the player is joined by other cars on track.
Although clearly focused as a multiplayer esports title, Rennsport has a single-player element. But to say Rennsport has a “single-player mode” is similar to saying that the Lola Formula 1 team “competed” in the 1997 world championship: it technically exists, but it does not come close to representing a complete experience.
While players do have the option to create custom races — with circuits, cars, and race lengths set to their liking — the bulk of the game’s single-player comes in the form of short championships using the various cars available. But unfortunately, what AI there is to ‘race’ against is simply broken to an undeniable degree.
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Limited to no more than 12 cars, the AI is totally incapable of successfully navigating a circuit. If you jump into a practice session around the fictional Orchard Park street circuit in Singapore, AI cars will barely be able to complete a single lap without multiple meetings with the wall. In races, they operate nothing like actual GT3 drivers and more like the AI-driven autonomous cars that competed at Yas Marina in 2024, making racing against them trivial and shattering all hope of immersion. Anyone who was considering Rennsport for any kind of offline, single-player experience should abandon those ambitions immediately. Or at least, not until the game has received major updates and patching (which will likely require significant patience).
It is abundantly clear that online multiplayer is the core focus of the game. With several official contests being held daily and a fully-featured rating and incident penalty system that is fully multi-platform integrated from the start, it’s obvious this is what the game was built with in mind.
Sadly, even this area of the game feels like it needs more time in the oven. The rolling start system is confusing and easy to exploit. One race, for instance, resulted in all the top-three starters receiving penalties for infringing the start rules. Upon traveling through the pit lane to serve the penalty, the team’s pit crew were eagerly awaiting the player’s arrival… while levitating two meters in the air.
It’s a shame, as when you’re out there in the middle of a race, fighting alongside players cross-play across both consoles and PC, throwing cars into corners confidently as you try and close the gap to cars ahead, it’s a reminder of what makes simracing so addictive to begin with. It’s a glimpse at the kind of game Rennsport has the promise to be, but is still so far away from being.
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Visually, Rennsport is a mixed bag also. Car models and tracks look passable, but in motion, the typical UE5 hallmarks of ghosting become impossible to ignore, especially on a base PS5. The game also suffers from pop-in and the resolution of rear-view mirrors looks like something out of the PS2 era, but perhaps the most striking observation is how the trackside grass is so tall, it’s like driving around a country town where the local council workers have gone on strike.
But maybe the ugliest element of all is in livery customisation. Rather than allowing players to design their own liveries, they must pay to download a handful of pre-designed DLC liveries by buying in-game currency. While Rennsport is far from the only game to take a similar approach, the measly volume of options available and the amount players are asked to pay for the privilege leaves an especially bitter taste in the mouth.
Ultimately, Rennsport is so obviously an unfinished title that has been forced to release under the irresistible pressures of the modern gaming industry. It is just another example of the fundamental rot eating at the heart of the games industry, where the complexities and challenges of modern games development crash head-on against corporate fiduciary duty – leaving players with yet another game that feels under-cooked and underwhelming. It’s frustrating that players are yet again being asked to invest their money and faith in the promise of how good a game could become in the future, instead of buying a fully finished product that delivers a complete and satisfying experience.
There is clearly potential in Rennsport, but it will take a recovery to rival that of No Man’s Sky to see it realised. For now, the game that players are being charged £50 for on consoles falls far short of justifying that price tag.
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Rennsport
Platform(s): PS5, Xbox Series S|X, Steam, EGS
Developer: Competition Company
Publisher: Nacon
Released: November 13th
Price: Free-to-play version on PC, £41.99 (Standard – Steam), £49.99 (Standard – console), £64.99 (Deluxe Edition – console)
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