GOTY 2025: Gamereactor's Best Racing Game

We're a good way through our annual Game of the Year coverage but we still have plenty of categories to discuss. One such example is today's focus, as we're looking specifically at Racing games, building on our former teaser when we talked about the top Sports games of 2025 a couple of days ago.

Once more, our choices are all based on games that have launched this calendar year, since January 1, 2025, so don't expect any December 2024 surprises here.

5. Wheel World

Beginning this list is the indie delight from Messhof. Unlike much of what's coming up, this game isn't about racing vehicles and cars but rather pedal bikes, all in a collection of unique biomes. Wheel World is set in a cyclist's paradise and follows a young rider named Kat who teams up with an ancient cycling spirit in an effort to race other bikers and eventually save the universe. With great and simplistic cycling and racing mechanics, a truly unique premise and visual aesthetic, and quirky and memorable characters, this is one of the finest indies of 2025.

4. Mario Kart World

It feels almost surreal to say that in a year when a new Mario Kart arrives, it isn't by far the finest racing game of the season. But this is the case with Mario Kart World, as the game delivered a polarising open-world and a more limited wealth of content when compared to the behemoth that is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It didn't run away with the genre at all, but it's still Mario Kart and that means you get a refined and precise karting experience that is effortlessly easy to pick-up and play, and a game that is a delight for all ages and abilities. Timeless, you could say.

3. Kirby Air Riders

It's one of the strangest kart racing experiences we've ever encountered, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad experience in any sense. After helming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for years, Masahiro Sakurai returns with a sequel very few would have asked for, but which dripped with the personality and charm that we've come to expect from the legendary Japanese developer. Kirby Air Riders is a bizarre combination of kart racing, brawling, and party games, and while it might not be for everyone, when it does click, it's something truly special.

2. Assetto Corsa Rally

Considering the uneven nature of the rally sub-genre in recent years, the folks at Supernova Games Studios had a mighty big task ahead of them when it came to getting things back on the gravely track with Assetto Corsa Rally. And while this game is only an Early Access project that will continue to be expanded and refined in the years to come, already the base build is compelling and detailed enough to give us immense hope and faith for the eventual complete variant. Offering quality and vibrant visuals matched up with a demanding and challenging to master driving suite, Assetto Corsa Rally has all the key traits and hallmarks to become one of the finest rally-sim titles of all-time. And it will only get better so stay tuned as you will likely see this project popping up much more in the future.

1. Sonic Racing: Crossworlds

2025 has been the year of the kart racer and out of the many spectacular options that have been served up, Sega's alternative is the one that stands out among the pack. Sonic Racing: Crossworlds looked like it could be shafted and forgotten in the wake of a new Mario Kart, but instead it found its own footing and became the standout contender thanks to its fast-paced action, its broad array of characters, tracks, and karts, and excellent cross-platform multiplayer support. Truly this is the best and most exciting kart racer of 2025 and it's a must-play for anyone who enjoys racing as a genre.