The popularity of racing games and simulations is hard to gauge, especially since they seem to vary considerably. Considerable influences are he releases of new content, big updates or even real-world events. What can be gauged, however, are cold, hard numbers – so we did just that. Here are the most played racing games on Steam in August 2023.
Note: While iRacing is available on Steam as well, its numbers are not representative as most players acces the sim through its own UI. As a result, its statistics are not included in this article.
While the order remains mostly unchanged compared to previous months, the numbers show an interesting trend. Even the top dogs Forza Horizon 5 and BeamNG.drive were not immune to an almost universal drop in average players across August. With its successor Motorfest on the horizon, The Crew 2 racked up the biggest loss in average players at 60,05%.
Most Player Gains in August 2023
On the other hand, a few titles posted significant gains. My Summer Car‘s incresed its average by 35,71%, and F1 Manager 2023 even jumped up by 45,29% on average compared to July. Additionally, RIDE 5 immediately eclipsed its predecessor despite its late-August release.
Looking at the four-wheel based simulations, only two have gained players throughout August. Automobilista 2 has slightly increased its average player count by 7,79%, and DiRT Rally saw a gain of 2,24%. The game’s average remains low at 114, however, which is why it does not feature on our list.
You can check out the numbers of August’s most played racing games on Steam below.
Steam: Most Played Racing Games in August 2023
| Title | Avg. Players | Peak | Gain % |
| Forza Horizon 5 | 12974,2 | 35120 | -8,78 |
| BeamNG.drive | 10561,7 | 16988 | -5,30 |
| Assetto Corsa | 7949,1 | 14020 | -8,71 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 5607,2 | 13507 | -15,00 |
| SnowRunner | 3365,8 | 7316 | -20,29 |
| F1 23 | 3239,6 | 8023 | -19,95 |
| CarX Drift Racing Online | 2397,7 | 3958 | -5,88 |
| F1 Manager 2023 | 2363,3 | 6352 | 45,29 |
| Assetto Corsa Competizione | 2000,3 | 4560 | -9,27 |
| Need for Speed Heat | 1334,9 | 2352 | -36,64 |
| F1 22 | 1259,5 | 2820 | -30,59 |
| My Summer Car | 1248 | 2418 | 35,71 |
| The Crew 2 | 1140,5 | 2310 | -60,05 |
| Need for Speed Unbound | 1100,3 | 1979 | -53,08 |
| DiRT Rally 2.0 | 831,1 | 1454 | -14,12 |
| F1 Manager 2022 | 703,9 | 1665 | -34,78 |
| Automobilista 2 | 493 | 1164 | 7,79 |
| Wreckfest | 479,9 | 1292 | -2,92 |
| RaceRoom | 456,1 | 1141 | -6,38 |
| RIDE 5 | 414,6 | 799 | 0,00 |
| rFactor 2 | 380,2 | 878 | -5,52 |
| F1 2021 | 354,3 | 816 | -23,25 |
| RIDE 4 | 352 | 906 | -5,33 |
What do you make of the most played racing games on Steam in August 2023? Are there any surprises to you? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!