Most Played Racing Titles on Steam in July 2023

Steam Most Played July 2023 The Crew 2.jpg
The popularity of racing games and simulations is hard to gauge, especially since they seem to vary considerably around the releases of new content, big updates or even influences of real-world events. What can be gauged, however, is cold, hard numbers - so we did just that for the most important racing titles on Steam in July 2023.

Image credit: Ubisoft

Just like in previous months, not much has changed at the top of the list for most played racing titles on Steam. The podium spots remain unchanged yet again, but a somewhat surprising switch of positions pushes one big title out of the top five for July.

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.

Surprises in the Top Ten​

After immediately cracking the top five in the month of its release, F1 23 has slipped down a spot already with a noticeable loss of average player count, posting a 26,22% deficit compared to the previous month. Instead, the official Formula One game has been overtaken by SnowRunner, which received two new locations and two new trucks as part of its July update. The title has seen an improvement of almost 35% of its average player count.

However, even SnowRunners' numbers pale in comparison to the biggest mover of July 2023: The Crew 2 saw an increase of almost 280% in average players and gained eight positions in the ranking, easily cracking the top ten this time. The game's most recent update has been deployed in May already, though - maybe the previews of its successor The Crew Motorfest have reignited interest in the title.

Meanwhile, Need for Speed Unbound jumped its predecessor Heat again following the release of the Vol. 3 Update, as well as its inclusion in the EA Play program in late June. Further down the order, Need for Speed Heat (39,98%) and Automobilista 2 (21,6%) have seen significant increases in interest as well, the latter due to its big update to v1.5 including the revised tire physics and the Adrenaline Pack DLC.

Continue Reading​

The Numbers
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

AC cost something like $8, has almost unlimited content and will run on a potato or look as stunning as a current title.

No surprise its worth a purchase for anyone with an interest in any form of car games..
80-90% of the AC audience aren't sim racers. Most are kids that drive on the Japanese highway and the Tourist ring to show off their digital cars. Serious part is drifting, very small part are serious sim racers as in AMS2/rF2/iRacing (maybe equal number as AMS2 player count here or a little bit more).
 
AC cost something like $8, has almost unlimited content and will run on a potato or look as stunning as a current title.

No surprise its worth a purchase for anyone with an interest in any form of car games..
I wil run on a potato if you leave it vanilla. It certainly does not run on a potato with latest CSP and decent PP, especially in VR.
 
Indisputable logic, it's the best sim, therefore it has the lowest players count.
Forgot to respond on this in my previous message. Your logic is even further away:

rFactor 2 is considered as one of the best sims too, on average if you ask sim racers, sim racers rate it's physics/ffb/handling higher than ACC/AMS2/AC/iRacing. And rF2 has the lowest player count(while before it had more than double compared to AMS2).

rFactor 2 plagued by the same 3 issues/points that I described for AMS2 in my previous:
- no audience for niches, sim racing is a niche
- most racers are kids for that reason AC mods and Forza are way more popular
- multiplayer empty (main reason) but for other reasons than AMS2
And some others: bugs/ui/ai.

The "best racing sims" are not the most played race games. The simple gamer is not looking for that at all. So I'm not sure what your point is.
 
80-90% of the AC audience aren't sim racers. Most are kids that drive on the Japanese highway and the Tourist ring to show off their digital cars. Serious part is drifting, very small part are serious sim racers as in AMS2/rF2/iRacing (maybe equal number as AMS2 player count here or a little bit more).
that is simply not true. If you open online in ac you will see there are a lot of players playing shutoko, but there are also a lot of players playing Nordschleife and many other's tracks and cars. But must of all, ac's player-base is in singleplayer, not multiplayer, and there is simply no way for you to know that most of the players are kids, which is totally wrong, kids play beamNG not ac, also just because you see a lot of youtube videos about Japanese tracks does not mean players are playing that the most.
 
Premium
AC haters are out in force. Who cares what they do with it (seeing as you can do anything). The figures speak for themselves. We all choose sims for different reasons, i as an example can race online 4 days a week even on RD if i wish and it costs me zip if i choose to. No brainer for me and yes, i do own the other main sims which take up space on my second hard drive.
 
Thanks to the modular concept stemming from the engine being formerly used for professional simulation, AC is very easy to mod and add some functionalities. It should have been dead for years now, but modders have found a place where not only they can work and be creative: they can also make money. Lots.

Your main drive for it may be drifting and roaming. But you also know that if you want to go racing competitively, it has lots of stuff available. So it ends up being a convenient sandbox.

I don't put as many hours on it as a couple years ago, but it stays on my drive, and it's not going.
 
Although I said these figures can't be used to draw any serious conclusion, we can see a trend on Steam (which should be a good sample of the general PC player base) about racing games (except F1 games, which are a special case due to their strong real life IP) : the racing sims are still niche games (at the bottom of the list), and the top games are experimental games ; yes I include AC in this category, as its modding aspect makes it more an (amazing) experimental game than a true racing game (which it has never been from the beginning). This is pretty logic, as "fun" and "experimentation"' are strong key features of games in general. Nothing new, do we need these articles stating the same thing each time and just bringing more (stupid) division between the RD community?
 
Premium
Indisputable logic, it's the best sim, therefore it has the lowest players count.
Takes one lap in GT3 car in ACC and AMS2 to see how far apart on "simulation" level these two are. You should take your VR goggles off and try it one day.
Better VR experience is not the same as better racing simulation.
The thing is everyone is arguing but none of them are that realistic, it's just a case of how close each one is to what each persons interpretation of realistic is.

This guy is a current GT3 driver talking about ACC


So from this perspective you're likely comparing two things neither of which are right.
 
Premium
Although I said these figures can't be used to draw any serious conclusion, we can see a trend on Steam (which should be a good sample of the general PC player base) about racing games (except F1 games, which are a special case due to their strong real life IP) : the racing sims are still niche games (at the bottom of the list), and the top games are experimental games ; yes I include AC in this category, as its modding aspect makes it more an (amazing) experimental game than a true racing game (which it has never been from the beginning). This is pretty logic, as "fun" and "experimentation"' are strong key features of games in general. Nothing new, do we need these articles stating the same thing each time and just bringing more (stupid) division between the RD community?
Well you see, if RD didn't keep stirring the fan pot nobody would be bickering about 'who do what to who' and 'why mine's better than yours' well, the advertisers wouldn't get their share of views.
So, every time we bicker over some inconsequential article back and forward, we fulfill RD's dreams.

We're good people ;)
 
D
AMS2 has a way better racing experience to me. It's subjective but to me the cars simply feel more alive in AMS2 and less artificial than ACC. No need to argue about it since I know that you feel the opposite about it and that's okay.
Completely fine with difference of opinion, just saying that whoever is not onboard with AMS2 are "young kids" just looking for easy fun and not a proper simulation is just upside down argument, sorry.
 
D
The thing is everyone is arguing but none of them are that realistic, it's just a case of how close each one is to what each persons interpretation of realistic is.

This guy is a current GT3 driver talking about ACC


So from this perspective you're likely comparing two things neither of which are right.
For the reference this very guy praises iRacing for physics and realism. So opinions are just that.
 
Premium
For the reference this very guy praises iRacing for physics and realism. So opinions are just that.
But your comment

"Takes one lap in GT3 car in ACC and AMS2 to see how far apart on "simulation" level these two are"

implies that this is quantifiable not just opinion.

At the end of the day ACC has to got two ish classes of car to get right. It's recent update seems to have been a significant update on what went before and is now the definitive version. So even in a sim with just those GT cars to simulate it's taken quite a few years and some fairly fundamental changes to get to their version of what is right.

Whether it is or isn't is still opinion but I don't think other Sims should be trying mimic how ACC drives for there GT Cars, they should be going for what they think is right.

I'm looking forward to AC2 but if it drives how ACC did for the first few years of its development I'd be a bit disappointed.
 
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Completely fine with difference of opinion, just saying that whoever is not onboard with AMS2 are "young kids" just looking for easy fun and not a proper simulation is just upside down argument, sorry.
That's not what is wrote at all! I never stated that everyone that doesn't play AMS2 are young kids and that everything else is not proper simulation! What a nonsense you just wrote here.

I wrote that 10-20% of AC racers are sim racers probably, you can see that clearly in the server list. ~80% of the racers are simply not sim racers, most are "lifestyle racers" as in Forza which is in the top of the list here(Japanese highway tracks, tourist ring, drifting, all to show of cars to friends, all okay but that are not serious sim racers).

And those lifestyle racers are mostly kids. It are just facts, you can like it or not but there's no reason at all to state what you just stated here.

I never wrote anywhere what you just said! That's absolute nonsense, don't put words in mouth that I didn't state and stand behind.

I never wrote and think that "whoever is not onboard with AMS2 are kids" and especially not "that all other sims are not simulation". I think that iRacing/rFactor 2 even have an older audience than AMS2 for example. I don't understand how you came to such nonsense.

Pathetic, you know better than this.
 
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that is simply not true. If you open online in ac you will see there are a lot of players playing shutoko, but there are also a lot of players playing Nordschleife and many other's tracks and cars. But must of all, ac's player-base is in singleplayer, not multiplayer, and there is simply no way for you to know that most of the players are kids, which is totally wrong, kids play beamNG not ac, also just because you see a lot of youtube videos about Japanese tracks does not mean players are playing that the most.
Nordschleife is mostly the Tourist ring in practice and it's also showing off cars, the same as Shutoko.

Yes, true, I don't know what people play in single player. It's an assumption from me that the audience that plays single player is quite equal to the multiplayer racers.

Those Shutoko/tourist ring racers are lifestyle racers, same audience as Forza. That's my opinion.

But AC has amazing sim racing content too for sure. It's surely one of the best sim racing titles out there and I'm really looking forward to AC2. I think and hope that AC2 is going to be the next big thing in sim racing.
 
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D
That's not what is wrote at all! I never stated that everyone that doesn't play AMS2 are young kids and that everything else is not proper simulation! What a nonsense you just wrote here.

I wrote that 10-20% of AC racers are sim racers probably, you can see that clearly in the server list. ~80% of the racers are simply not sim racers, most are "lifestyle racers" as in Forza which is in the top of the list here(Japanese highway tracks, tourist ring, drifting, all to show of cars to friends, all okay but that are not serious sim racers).

And those lifestyle racers are mostly kids. It are just facts, you can like it or not but there's no reason at all to state what you just stated here.

I never wrote anywhere what you just said! That's absolute nonsense, don't put words in mouth that I didn't state and stand behind.

I never wrote and think that "whoever is not onboard with AMS2 are kids" and especially not "that all other sims are not simulation". I think that iRacing/rFactor 2 even have an older audience than AMS2 for example. I don't understand how you came to such nonsense.

Pathetic, you know better than this.
Pathetic backpedaling from your own words indeed.

"The majority of racing gamers are kids and they will always keep playing arcade (race)games or what feels the closest to it within the sim racing genre, so besides the real arcade titles(NFS/Forza etc.) they look for content in AC that suits them, like: Japanese traffic mod's, drift mod's, tourist ring or what's the most popular within the sim racing genre (GT3 so ACC)."

Is there different interpretation of what you said there?
 
gamma123152
It is like you are trying to insult me. I play Nordschleife every night and literally, nobody is showing off cars everyone is just driving. What is not sim racing about that? There is a server doing racing also not just tourists. I just cannot understand your points of view, just because assetto corsa is offering modded traffic tracks like shutoko that is very popular with a certain audience, what is the problem? Do you think 10 thousand people are playing shutoko? Even tho I don't play that, why are those people not sim racing? They are still playing the real simulation I don't even care if they play forza, who cares... Your tribalistic points of view are really frustrating
 
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Pathetic backpedaling from your own words indeed.
"The majority of racing gamers are kids and they will always keep playing arcade (race)games or what feels the closest to it within the sim racing genre, so besides the real arcade titles(NFS/Forza etc.) they look for content in AC that suits them, like: Japanese traffic mod's, drift mod's, tourist ring or what's the most popular within the sim racing genre (GT3 so ACC)."
Is there different interpretation of what you said there?
Where did I wrote what you said: "whoever is not onboard with AMS2 are "young kids" just looking for easy fun and not a proper simulation"

It's not stated there AT ALL.

I stated that the largest audience of racing games; what this news item is all about in case that you missed it; are kids, as with all games. Not sim racers. There is a clear difference.

A portion of those kids move from Forza/NFS to AC and move to popular lifestyle content: Shutoko and Tourist ring with popular cars.

And a small portion, a minority, moves to ACC too to race in their favorite brand/track since ACC has everything: Benley, Lamborghini, spa, Monza, name it and it's all accessible. But in ACC is a MINORITY in AC it's a majority, you can clearly see that in the content manager.

That's even a positive thing, because in a few years those fun racers probably a good portion of that become serious sim racers too ! That's also how most of us started! So sim racing will grow in the end.

But how you twisted my words is completely pathetic. I stated nothing even close to that!

iRacing/ACC/rFactor 2/RaceRoom/AC etc.etc. all are serious titles when it comes to simulation! It are YOUR words that they are not, not mine.
 
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gamma123152
It is like you are trying to insult me. I play Nordschleife every night and literally, nobody is showing off cars everyone is just driving. What is not sim racing about that? There is a server doing racing also not just tourists. I just cannot understand your points of view, just because assetto corsa is offering modded traffic tracks like shutoko that is very popular with a certain audience, what is the problem? Do you think 10 thousand people are playing shutoko? Even tho I don't play that, why are those people not sim racing? They are still playing the real simulation I don't even care if they play forza, who cares... Your tribalistic points of view are really frustrating
There's no need to feel insulted. The Nordschleife is a serious sim track and I race on it too (multiple times per month probably), it's one of my fav's! And the version in AC is great too for sure.

But that doesn't change the fact that the top list servers in content manager of AC are mostly fun racers/Forza/NFS type of gamers that simply don't drive/take it serious. That's at least my experience.

There is NO problem with it at all ! I'm just explaining that this list(of this news item) is about RACE GAMES and not about sim racing. But this website, racedepartment is mostly about SIM racing. For that reason I tell this here in the comments, a large portion of AC's audience are simply not sim racers, 80-90% is a wild guess but I think that it's not far from accurate. That's all.
 

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