The only normal genre-based game award here and it is as it says
The nominees for the GM GOTY Award 2020 for Best Racing Game are:
- Assetto Corsa Competizione
- Dirt 5
- Hotshot Racing
- Mafia Definitive Edition
- Project CARS 3
Deliberation Summary
OK, this was supposed to be the most normal of award categories, so how in the world that Mafia Definitive Edition ended up here?
Turns out, it may get a snub for Best Remake/Remaster here at GM, but it’s revamped driving physics makes the mandatory racing mission not a nightmare anymore like the original release was. And with few nomination here for this award this year, nobody wanted to argue on cutting this out. So it stays.
On a more serious note are the two Codemasters (and soon-to-be EA) racing games. Dirt 5 and Project CARS 3 have alienated the more hardcore sim racing goes with these new entries. For Dirt 5, it’s a better attempt at sim-cade racing than Grid (2019) with an okay attempt to tell a story. But what makes it stand out is it’s the de-facto next-gen racing game. This is the developer team that made the muddy madness of Motorstorm and the wild weather effects of Driveclub- and you can see that graphical muscle of this former first-party team flexing. Project CARS 3, despite missing so many features that make it less appealing for sim racing fans, have a genuinely good progression system that lets you climb from a weekend clubman to a proper racing driver. And the vehicle upgrade system is fantastic.
Assetto Corsa Competizione is a special case pick. It released out of Early Access last year, and considering how stacked racing games were in 2019 ACC went off our radar, only until this year. The console release this year made it eligible for contention. ACC’s laser-focus on replicating GT3 racing (and with DLC, the GT4 class as well), the game provides a sensational experience. Everything you’d expect you could do- including online racing with shared cars- can be done here. And it’s also pretty easy for newcomers to dip their toes into the world of sim racing with comfortable default settings for controllers and enough assists.
But this is the grim year of 2020, so as a collective, we have favoured something more light in tone for our winner pick. A game with eternal blue skies and a strong aesthetic. A game that replicates everything you expected from a 90’s arcade racer. A competent rubber-band AI that keeps each race tense but not totally unfair (in most cases). And just plain old good fun.
If anything, our history of Best Racing Game winners have always been the more arcade titles- and this continues to be the case in 2020. The winner of the GM Award 2020 for Best Racing Game goes to Hotshot Racing!
Tomorrow’s award reveal will be for Best Aesthetic.