Racing titles are popular all around the world, and for good reason. Getting behind the wheel of an expensive car without the need to spend thousands on the privilege is always welcome after all. There’s also the fact that crashing a virtual car has barely any repercussions.
The genre seems to be getting more popular as well. Checking Google Trends you can see a sharp uptick in searches for “car games online” over the last year, and it’s fascinating to see what type of racing experiences are popular in certain regions.
And it may surprise you as to what format people want to play these games on - desktop. With live service games taking away cars and other platforms costing so much to play titles on it’s perhaps not so shocking though.
So we’ve teamed up with Poki - a leading desktop gaming platform - to take a look at what the current key trends are regarding car games across the world, and some of the titles that are driving those trends.
Over to America
As you might expect, we’ve covered several racing game franchises. By far the majority of traffic for such content comes from the US.
That’s no great surprise as American culture is so closely tied to a huge interest in cars - from sports cars to muscle cars. This general interest can be seen by what type of car games they play.
The analytics on site 42matters shows that there is a huge number of car game subgenres that are popular in America. From sim CSR 2 Realistic Drag Racing to the more arcade stylings of Hill Climb Racing 2.
This ties into what car games are most popular on desktop, with Poki accommodating all audiences with titles such as City Rider and Blacktop: Police Chase.
What About Europe?
Car game based Traffic on our site is a little less focused on Europe though, and that’s likely as in this region the primary motorsport watched is F1. A Forbes report demonstrates where its massive popularity continues to grow - with the United Kingdom up +2.3% and Germany up +4.5%.
As, unlike in America where there’s a massive appetite for all and every type of motorsport, Europeans have a more laser focused interest in F1 - so that trickles down to the types of car games they play.
So more realistic sims like Gran Turismo 7 and Assetto Corsa are more in vogue, with sites like Poki reflecting this with games such as City Car Driving Simulator: Stunt Master and Street Racing: Open World being added.
Desktop Gaming Adjusting
What is common across both markets is the appetite for car games on desktop though, and this is likely because of several factors.
One is that a huge range of car game preferences can be found on these platforms, so American audiences and their range of interests in the genre are easily catered for.
But there’s also more realistic sims - as touched upon above - on the service, so literally everyone from arcade addicts to sim fans will be happy gaming on the platform.
With racing games on console and PC often getting more expensive due to unlockable DLC and overpriced accessories it’s no surprise that one key car game trend is the move to more accessible platforms like desktop gaming.
And here are three games that show desktop car games are here to stay.
City Rider
Now visually City Rider isn’t much to look at compared to some of the high end console and PC titles.
But what it offers is accurate sim style driving, but with a desktop gaming twist - in that a simple one button tap changes the vehicle you’re controlling. So there’s arcade game immediacy twinned with a more realistic racing game feel. Impressive.
Blacktop: Police Chase
Here’s something a little more involved, with the core challenge to outrun the law. You pick up bank robbers and have to drop them off safely while avoiding the police.
There’s an arcade game immediacy, and while it’s nothing to look at it moves fast - which is all you really want from an experience like this.
City Car Driving Simulator: Stunt Master
Tying into the popularity of sim games across Europe and America, this actually mixes some of the action of Blacktop - you often have to avoid the law - with some accurate physics that means this is a bit more complex than your average arcade title on desktop.
So we’ve looked at some of the key global trends in car games, and some of the best examples of the titles that are the most popular in key regions.
We’d recommend you check out the Poki website to find a page full of free-to-play car games so you can check these out yourself - and see why certain genres are helping to drive up interest in web based driving games.