But sometimes you crave a bit of freedom, to veer off the predetermined track and break free.
The best Nintendo Switch racing games for when you want to be on the go and on the gas.
That’s what a good open-world racing game offers you.
You aren’t confined to a single street, but free to roam all of them.
And why stay on just the roads?
Head off-road to wherever your heart desires.
The entirety of the continental United States, in the original game at least.
The race never has to end, no matter where it may take you.
7BeamNG.drive
Not all games that are called ‘racing games’ are strictly all about racing.
From arcades to simulators, there’s at least one racing experience for you on Xbox Game Pass.
BeamNG.drive doesn’t feature just one open-world, but multiple.
These range from deserts and dunes to urban cities and low terrain that let you speed across the world.
And like many Rockstar Games, it was of course an open-world adventure.
Street races were the norm, including the law-breaking nature of them.
Cops could chase you across the city, but you could just as easily outmaneuver them.
That credit goes to the Driver series.
Starting back in 1999, the series both returned and ended with Driver San Francisco in 2011.
Split-screen titles are a rarity these days, especially in racing games.
Luckily, the Xbox One offers excellent titles that fit these conditions!
No need to get out of your car or unlock it.
It’s a unique idea presented in a fun way.
Burnout Paradise wants you to understand that cars are destructive.
Previous Burnout games had this too, though in a more staged way.
Paradise is pure carnage.
It’s an endurance test marked by dramatic explosions wherever you go.
3Need For Speed
There are few racing game series with the prestige of Need For Speed.
The series has underwent so many different changes, from street racers to more linear racing.
It has never truly lost that heart though, of urban racing and a flair for the dramatic.
Not every game in the series is open-world, though quite a few are.
Underground is a beloved entry, but the open-world designed really shone in Need For Speed Heat.
It has that, of course, but where Fuel shines is in the sheer scale of its world.
Approximately 14,00 km2 of purepost-apocalyptic North America.
Scorched by the sun, you just drive and drive.
With fuel as a scarce commodity, winning races is how you get more.
And that’s while bracing yourself against sandstorms and tornadoes.
Forza Horizon is, in the typical sense, the pinnacle of open-world racing games.
Every region in which they are set is meticulously detailed.
It is not just cars that are the highlight, but the regions themselves.
