Top 5 Free Maps In BeamNG.drive

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Alongside vehicles, modded maps are the bread and butter of BeamNG.drive. Regardless of whether you crash, drift or truck your way through the environments of BeamNG, there is a modded map that is perfectly suited to you.

How To Install BeamNG Maps​

These five BeamNG map mods are all available from the official repository and can be downloaded with ease. To start with, open up BeamNG and then tab back out to the repository. Click on the map you want to download and select the option ‘View in-game’. This will then take you back to BeamNG where the mod will be installing its latest version ready for use.

GridMap v1​

This is a classic version of the base GridMap that comes from early 2021, just before the terrain received its huge facelift into the map it is today. You would be correct in thinking downgrading a map would not make it into any top five. The reasoning, however… Nostalgia.

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Image Credit: BeamBot
This map was most people’s first experience with BeamNG. GridMap and the blue or white pickup truck are a combination that many BeamNG players have nostalgic, positive memories with. The pipes and ramp sections especially are synonymous with the original scenarios and missions. As well as the pipes, the terrain sections were a testing ground for new mods and vehicles created by the community in the early days of BeamNG.

Huge Youtubers like Jacksepticeye, Markiplier and the now infamous BeamNG content creators like Muye and WhyBeAre all started their BeamNG content off on this version of Gridmap.

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Mount Coot-tha​

This 10 km loop of mountainous public road near Brisbane, Australia would be incredibly fun to drive in real life if not for the abundance of cyclists and heavy police patrol presence. Thanks to BeamNG modder B25Mitch, you can finally unleash your inner hoon on this high-speed circuit.

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Image Credit: B25Mitch
Outside of free-roaming and street racing with the AI, there is a rainy variant of the map included with the mod as well as five separate time trials to test your nerves on the infamous Mount Coot-tha.

What sets this map apart from a lot of other recreations of real roads is the usage of publicly available Lidar data, accurately placed street signs as well as modelled roundabouts and armco barriers.


Car Jump Arena​

If you have ever watched BeamNG content on YouTube or TikTok, you have most likely seen Car Jump Arena. Youtubers like Neilogical, CrashBoomPunk and even Jimmy Broadbent have made multiple videos on this map. Unlike others on this list, updates are plentiful and it continues to evolve into 2024.

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Image Credit: MysteryManGER

Originally released back in September 2016, Car Jump Arena quickly acquired cult status within the BeamNG community. It is known as the map that introduced BeamNG to a good percentage of its current audience. Car Jump Arena has cemented itself into the history books with its consistent updates and social media presence.

There is a second variation of Car Jump Arena available with lots of added elements, too. However, the first map is still the most iconic and the documentation of its evolution proves that it has stood the test of time. Outside of the iconic ski jump section, there are plenty of other elements on the map for you to explore. From a hamster ball to a parkour course, there are hardly any limitations.


Roane County, Tennessee, USA​

Enjoy 175 square miles of real Roane County, Tennesse terrain. With thousands of development hours put into it and almost 200 miles of roads on this map, Roane County is larger than GTA V’s Los Santos and, in my opinion, much more interesting.

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image Credit: bob.blunderton
The latest update to the map includes about 16 miles of real US Highway 40 in Tennessee USA. The update includes cities or the beginnings of which:

  • Kingston (60% done)
  • Rockwood (35% done)
  • Harriman (60% done)
  • Westel (not yet built)
  • Glen Alice (not yet built)
  • Mid Way (not yet built)
  • Main road network (95+% done)
  • AI’s use of roads and parking lots (95% done)
The US 40 highway goes from Kingston-Kentucky on the east end to almost two miles west of Westel Rd on the west end, and a big jog up the side of the almost-2000ft elevation Cumberland Plateau includes most of Roane County, and some of Cumberland County, Tennessee. This BeamNG map does everything you could ever want in a realistic recreation of a section of the beautiful state of Tennessee.

Looking at the percentages above, the map is not nearly complete. In my opinion, this makes it an exciting map for now and the future. The future should be bright for Roane County in BeamNG with lots of updates throughout 2024 inbound.

Altitude​

Altitude is a 17 km high-speed track with large, narrow asphalt roads. Race, drive or truck your way through summer grass fields, forests and dangerous roads built into the sides of cliffs. There are some big structures for jumps, banked turns and concrete tunnels. Not only can you explore, but you can create some of the most spectacular crashes possible on this elevated map.

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Image Credit: DoullPepper
‘Altitude’ was released back in 2016, and since then, updates have been unbelievably sparse considering the successful nature of the map. Being the second-highest-rated map on the entire repository, the map has to be fantastic to have survived this long with just one update in its entire lifespan.

The YouTube link below is a video overview of Altitude from 2016. If you decide to give the map a try today, you will not see any differences to what this 2016 video is presenting.


The map features banked structured corners that encourage you to launch your car into the stratosphere. The hidden jumps and cliff edges all combine to make this one of the best jump-based BeamNG maps available.

Which maps do you think deserve a place on this list? Let us know on X @OverTake_gg or down in the comments below!
About author
Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

Comments

too heavy game..they need to make this game work better in low end systems.or normal end system.its not that good looking game.
Works fine on my five-year-old lower-mid-tier laptop. Afaik it's hungry for memory, however, and I gotta upgrade someday just for BeamNG. Also, I haven't really used large maps from the repo, so perhaps those pose some problems.

To my knowledge, the game's architecture somewhat limits its prospects on really weak systems: it has a bunch of Lua plugins talk to each other via network sockets. Dunno how deep into the engine this goes, but's sure not the same as having machine code swap info over shared memory.
 
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Shifting method

  • I use whatever the car has in real life*

  • I always use paddleshift

  • I always use sequential

  • I always use H-shifter

  • Something else, please explain


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