2023 RaceDepartment / OverTake Awards: Presenting Your Winners

With the 2023 RaceDepartment / OverTake Awards, we wanted to honor the best of the best in sim racing. You voted for your favorites – here are your winners!

2023 was full of exciting updates, saw much-anticipated game releases and incredible mods being created. Of course, there was more – so we settled on 11 categories for the 2023 RaceDepartment / OverTake awards.

Of course, we wanted to involve you, the community, as well. So ahead of the actual voting, a suggestion phase determined community nominees in multiple categories. How did they do? Spoiler: Some of them even took the honors in their respective categories.

For the 2024 edition of the RaceDepartment / OverTake Awards, we are looking to involve the community even further. More on this as we approach the end of this year! But for now, without further ado, let’s meet your 2023 winners.

Game Release of the Year​

While 2023 did not exactly see a slew of new hardcore sim racing releases, at least two games were eagerly awaited in Forza Motorsport and EA Sports WRC. Neither had smooth starts, but still had to be considered the favorites to win Game Release of the Year, but they had to compete with F1 23, of course. Your winner is...



The first rally title of EA Sports and Codemasters featuring the World Championship’s license did not launch in the best of states, but EA Sports WRC still topped the charts in our 2023 RaceDepartment / OverTake Awards voting. Find the full results below!

• EA Sports WRC: 49.2%
• F1 23: 14.6%
• Super Woden GP 2: 11.8%
• Forza Motorsport: 8.3%
• The Crew Motorfest: 6.3%
• TT Isle Of Man: Ride On The Edge 3: 6%
• RIDE 5: 3.8%

RaceDepartment Mod of the Year​

Sim racing would not be what it is without the countless mods created by the community. The result of their passion and talent is that we get to race almost any car imaginable at an incredible amount of circuits around the world. And do not forget all the fictional content!

It is not all about cars and tracks, however. Although the majority of the nominees fell into this category, your community nominee did not – and it took the win for RaceDepartment Mod of the Year by a big margin!



Congratulations, @paoloambrosio, your Automobilista 2 Content Manager is our Award winner! The handy little tool made modding AMS2 much easier than previously – no more getting bootfiles or updating text files for drive trains.

To reward taking the honors, the creator wins a year of RaceDepartment Premium for free!

• Automobilista 2 Content Manager: 48.7% – Community Nominee
• Renault Clio RS Cup V – Assetto Corsa: 19.6%
• IndyCar 2023 – Automobilista 2: 14.6%
• Maserati 8CM – Assetto Corsa: 11.9%
• Autodromo de Palmadera – Assetto Corsa: 3.5%
• Fenix 30-6 Chinook – Assetto Corsa: 2.5%
• Ferrari F500 F1/F2 – Assetto Corsa: 1.9%

Sim Racing Driver of the Year​

With sim racing being so different in so many aspects, it is hard to determine one best driver. In addition to several esports aces, you added community member Kevin Troschinski to the list – not for taking several high-profile honors, but rather for his comeback to online racing after a 15-year (!) absence.

He had to prevail against big names from the esports scene, however, and one of them was your clear favorite. Your Sim Racing Driver of the Year is…



…’Mabix’ Marco Bischoff! The German sim racer and YouTuber was the first-ever driver to reach the “Alien” rank on the Low Fuel Motorsport platform. Hats off and congratulations, @Mabix911 – you also win a free year of RaceDepartment Premium!

• ‘Mabix’ Marco Bischoff: 31.3%
• Thomas Ronhaar: 15.6%
• Josh Rogers: 15.2%
• Max Benecke: 14.7%
• Kevin Troschinski: 11.8% – Community Nominee
• Chris Harteveld: 6.2%
• Pol Urra: 3.3%
• Jordan Caruso: 1.9%

Most Innovative Sim Racing Product​

It is not just the software side that keeps continuously evolving in sim racing. Of course, new hardware keeps raising the bar, and 2023 saw the release of multiple interesting examples, ranging from small additions to big setup improvers.

Your community nominee falls into the former category, with the Simagic Haptic Pedals Reactor Module being a small piece that can increase pedal feel considerably. It had to prevail against stiff competition, however – and the winner for Most Innovative Sim Racing Product is…



…the Simucube Active Pedal! Skipping the springs and elastomers that the vast majority of pedal sets use, the first pedal foray by the Finnish company is a revolutionary one. The pedal uses an active motor instead, allowing sim racers to adjust the pedal feel with just a few clicks in the accompanying software. The Active Pedal could well usher in a new age in sim racing pedals.

• Simucube Active Pedal: 43%
• MOZA Racing R3 Bundle: 22%
• Simagic Haptic Pedals Reactor Module: 15.2% – Community Nominee
• Fanatec Button Module Rally: 6.7%
• Asetek Invicta Quick Release Adapter: 6.7%
• P1 Sim Mistral Haptic Feedback Pedals: 3.4%
• Varjo XR-4 AR/VR Headset: 3%

Best Update of the Year​

While sim racing releases were not that plentiful, 2023 was packed with big updates that improved their respective titles considerably. As a result, choosing one should be difficult – or so you would think.

The community nominee of BeamNG.drive 0.27, for instance, did not crack the top five despite the update being a big step forward for the game. The initial update dropped in December 2022 already, but two complementary ones and a hotfix in early 2023 added some more shine to it. It was a different release that took the top spot, though, and by quite a margin!



Reiza Studios created the basis for the following improvements of Automobilista 2 when version 1.5 went live in the summer of 2023. Ironing out a significant flaw in the tire model enabled the following updates that culminated in the big Le Mans and Endurance Pack releases on New Year’s Eve to take the sim to new heights.

• Automobilista 2 v1.5: 57.5%
• rFactor 2 Online: 16.8%
• Assetto Corsa Competizione v1.9: 15%
• iRacing Season 4 2023: 3.7%
• RaceRoom Tire Update/DTM 2023 Pack: 2.8%
• BeamNG.drive 0.27: 2.4% – Community Nominee
• Gran Turismo 7 Spec II: 1.7%
• The Crew Motorfest Season 2: 0.2%

Best Sim Racing Service of the Year​

Sim racing has become much more than just the games or sims themselves in recent years. Sim racing services have popped up seemingly everywhere, changing the competitive landscape in particular.

While iRacing has an industry-leading competitive multiplayer system baked in, other titles do not – but said services are there to fix this externally. Additionally, sim racers can get setups, coachings and more on the internet if they wish. One of these services stood out to you, though.



The top spot for Best Sim Racing Service of the Year in 2023 goes to Low Fuel Motorsport! Having started as a competitive platform similar to that of iRacing, LFM is the go-to for countless sim racers who want a ranking and organized racing in Assetto Corsa Competizione at all times of the day.

• Low Fuel Motorsport: 43.7%
• Racecraft.online: 24.8% – Community Nominee
• The SimGrid: 18.8%
• Coach Dave Delta: 4.6%
• Simracing.GP: 4%
• Driver 61 by Scott Mansell: 2.8%
• Popometer.io by Nils Naujoks: 1.4%

Community Screenshot of the Year​

Screenshots are an art form of sim racing. They can look virtually indistinguishable from real life, they can use angles and perspectives that would not be possible in real life – there is practically no limit to one’s imagination when trying to create the perfect shot.

Ten nominees took to the Community Screenshot of the Year grid, all having been crowned as OverTake Picture of the Month throughout 2023. Four of them feature the Nürburgring-Nordschleife – but only one could come out on top.



Lighting is important to create atmosphere in sim racing, and Zois Wallpapers played with this to create the winning shot of a number of GT3 cars going through the Carraciola-Karussell. Add in the glowing exhaust of the Porsche in the foreground, and you have a visually impressive pic what would make a great poster as well.



Congratulations to Zois Wallpapers (@datastin)– you also win a free year of RaceDepartment Premium!

• 9 – Zois Wallpapers: 22.3%
• 1 – Amatertu: 20.6%
• 7 – Rafael Stadelmann: 13.6%
• 2 – Piero Alfonso 80: 12%
• 3 – StarGamer857: 9.6%
• 8 – Leclerc: 8%
• 5 – Rafael Stadelmann: 7%
• 4 – Amatertu: 5.3%
• 10 – PGS nbr pic: 1%
• 6 – Xeno: 0.7%

Best On-site/Offline Event​

While sim racing is mostly discipline happening at home, be that online or offline, getting together is always a fun time. Several events have offered the opportunity for sim racers to do just that. From Esports finals to exhibitions, there was plenty to do in 2023.

You had one clear favorite, though, and it was the community nominee as well. Your winner for Best On-site/Offline event…



…Sim Formula Europe 2023! The sim racing exhibition held in Maastricht prevailed against big esports events like those ofESL R1 or the Gran Turismo World Series Finals. And if the 2024 edition is anything to go by, the event is going to be a strong contender for this year’s Awards as well.

• Sim Formula Europe 2023: 32.6% – Community Nominee
• ESL R1: 19.1%
• Gran Turismo World Series Finals: 17.2%
• Porsche Esports Challenge USA: 12.6%
• eNASCAR Coca Cola iRacing Series: 9.3%
• F1 Sim Racing (F1 Esports): 9.3%

Best Community-driven Series​

Big, official events are one thing, but the sim racing community is just as capable of creating exciting events and even entire series. Whether it is charity races, championships or special events that should be on the official calendar but are not, creativity knows no bounds in this regard.

It was a relatively tight race for the top spot in this category of the 2023 RaceDepartment / OverTake Awards – in fact, the top three were all within striking distance of each other. Your winner is an series that has been around for quite some time now, and it is…



…the Virtual Endurance Championship! Often shortened to VEC (like the World Endurance Championship is WEC), the series originally started all the way back in 2008 (as ILMS-ERL) and has become the premier online endurance series in sim racing, utilizing rFactor 2 and providing professional broadcasts of its events. Its next race of the current season takes place on March 9 with the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

• Virtual Endurance Championship: 31.8%
• Jimmy Broadbent’s Race for Mental Health 5: 26.8%
• Low Fuel Motorsport Caseking Pro Series: 24.4%
• RaceDepartment Racing Club Fat-Alfie Championships: 8.3% – Community Nominee
• The SimGrid VCO Grand Finals: 3.6%
• Premier Sim Gaming Leagues: 1.8%
• Apex Online Racing GT3 Season XIV: 1.5%
• Firecracker 400 by eRacr: 0.6%
• World Online Racing: 0.6%
• One Hub Racing: 0.6%

Indie Project of the Year​

The spotlight may be on the big releases each year when it comes to racing games and sims, but taking a peek at indie projects is very much worth it as well. And it showed in 2023, as there were a few genuinely good, fun titles that saw the light of release.

In fact, we had fun with multiple of them in various live streams, including our Christmas Stream with most of the OverTake team. Which one was your favorite, though? Well, we found out – your Indie Project of the Year is…



…Super Woden GP 2! The top-down racer is probably best described as a cross between Gran Turismo and Circuit Superstars, with tons of cars to unlock, upgrade and race. We thorougly enjoyed it, and it seems like you did, too. Not bad for a one-man project!

• Super Woden GP 2: 40.1%
• Japanese Drift Master: 26.3%
• Karting Superstars: 20.3%
• GeneRally 2: 12.4%
• Make Way: 0.9%

Best Car in Sim Racing​

Finally, on to what is arguably the most subjective category of the 2023 RaceDepartment / OverTake Awards – Best Car in Sim Racing. Countless cool cars have been released in 2023, including both modern, up-to-date machinery and classic racers from decades past.

Again, your community pick prevailed in this category. And it was not for a lack of competition, as it included Automobilista 2‘s McLaren MP4/8 – one of the cars that featured a simulated active suspension for the first time in sim racing. That was not enough to propel it to the top spot, however.



Instead, the Cadillac V-Series.R took the crown! The current LMDh/GTP prototype is rather popular in real-life endurance racing in WEC and IMSA as well due to its thundering V8 engine. While the car is also in iRacing, your community pick was the AMS2 version – and the majority of voters agreed. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we are going to hop in for a few more laps!

• Cadillac V-Series.R – Automobilista 2: 36.3% – Community Nominee
• McLaren MP4/8 – Automobilista 2: 28.3%
• Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) – iRacing: 15.8%
• BMW M2 CS Racing – rFactor 2: 12%
• Seat Córdoba WRC – EA Sports WRC: 5%
• Ferrari Vision GT – Gran Turismo 7: 2.8%

What do you make of the 2023 RaceDepartment / OverTake Awards winners? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!