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The Indie Games Corner

As time goes on, there are increasingly many interesting indie racers that I follow and talk about. As I started losing track of some individual games and people started asking me for recommendations, my own list of noteworthy games can help everyone!

I wish to highlight any kinds of games: released, in development, even unnamed and unannounced projects that show promise. I played most of the games on those lists (the ones that have a full or a demo release), and if I have not, I make it clear in the description. I think all games on this list deserve a shout-out, because even if I don’t love the goal of each and every one of them, I think they are all done well and will inevitably interest someone looking for something to play.

Last update:

This page contains affiliate links (marked with an asterisk*), meaning I get a commission for every purchase made through them.

Racing games

Strictly racing/rally games, nothing else.

Released

Classic Sport Driving
A retro-styled 2.5D racer inspired by OutRun, with a short single-player campaign and multiplayer challenges on procedurally generated courses. A simple game, but it utilizes procedural generation very well by using phrases instead of numerical seeds, so it’s really easy to get others to play against you online on “your” courses. It’s also priced extremely well. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
#DRIVE Rally
An arcade rally racer with pastel graphics and quirky co-drivers. It boasts 25 fantasy cars inspired by well-known rally cars from the 80s and 90s, and sets up its rally stages in multiple open environments that can be roamed freely in Free Ride. GOG.com*, Steam, PlayStation Store, App Store, X/Twitter, Bluesky
FLOW
A chill, stylized drifting game where the player performs long drifts in tandem with the AI racer. Has a nice range of cars and surprisingly many visual customization options. It’s a short and simplistic game, but it costs next to nothing. Steam
Highway Warriors (series)
A 1v1 highway racer with cel-shaded graphics and semi-realistic handling. Vibes borrow heavily from the Tokyo Xtreme Racer games, but with regular closed-circuit races with traffic. The first game can be finished in a single session (but it’s free!); the second game promises to be bigger in scope once it’s released. X/Twitter
iRacing Arcade
Slightly stretching the definition of “indie” by including this game, but it has all the indie values to it. An enjoyable, cartoonish arcade racer with an excellent, calendar-based career mode, plays like a sequel to Circuit Superstars with a chase camera. That said, right now it’s severely lacking in content: it has only 8 cars, 6 of which are unlicensed! Steam, X/Twitter, My review
JDM: Japanese Drift Master
An ambitious open-world, story-driven racer set in Japan, with a heavy focus on drifting. The game has a mix of licensed and unlicensed vehicles and extensive visual and mechanical customization. I haven’t finished the story yet, but I enjoyed cruising and listening to the game’s soundtrack a lot. It also looks beautiful if your PC can handle it. GOG.com*, Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, X/Twitter, My review
Parking Garage Rally Circuit
A fast-paced arcade time-trialing game with a Sega Saturn-styled presentation, where you race through courses set exclusively in the parking garages. I liked the demo version for its tight control and for scratching that itch to improve your times over and over again, just like in Trackmania. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
Rainy Day Racer
A much older game than the ones I list, but I only discovered it in 2025 after it received an update. A small, time-trial-focused game with a moody, PSP-like atmosphere and on-rails drifting similar to the Ridge Racer games. For its price, I consider it a nearly perfect game; I spent hours in it trying to improve my times and beat my friends. Steam, Bluesky
Rush Rally 3
An impressive rally game made by a solo dev on a custom engine. It started as a mobile game before getting ported to consoles and PC, so the handling is noticeably simplistic, but the amount of content is impressive (albeit unlicensed), and the visuals are reminiscent of the late 2000s games. I’m yet to try the full game, but I liked what the demo showed. On top of that, Rush Rally 4 is in active development. Steam, Nintendo eShop, App Store, Play Store, X/Twitter
Speed Demons 2
A side-scrolling highway racer, where the player needs to race enemies and/or survive, all while weaving through heavy traffic at insane speeds. So far, I have only played the demo, but I thought it’s solid, reminding me of Mashed a bit with its vehicular combat action. Steam, X/Twitter
Super Woden (series)
A series of excellent solo dev arcade racers with a huge and diverse roster of unlicensed cars, Gran Turismo 2-like progression, and a unique, semi-realistic handling. GP games are isometric, while Rally Edge opts for an overhead chase camera, so it’s far more accessible than the previous games. Rally Edge is my personal favourite rally indie of the last few years. X/Twitter
SuperSpec Rallycross
A small arcade rallycross game, not unlike a scaled-down Circuit Superstars. It drives well, and I think the art style of the cars is excellent, but it has relatively little content and can be finished in a session or two. It’s good for its price, though. Steam, X/Twitter
Tokyo Xtreme Racer (2025)
A now-legendary 2025 release of Tokyo Xtreme Racer was essentially the reason I started covering racing games, so it needs a spot. After 18 years, Genki released a new TXR independently and delivered exactly on what the fans wanted: it’s the same classic TXR formula, but with modern cars and visuals. One of my top games from 2025. Steam, X/Twitter, My review

Demo & Early Access

Driftline Peaks
A touge drifting game heavily borrowing from the aesthetics of the Touge Max PS1 games, designed to be period-accurate and with optional PS1-style filters. A demo with several time trials is available. Steam, itch.io*, X/Twitter
iGNITION 2000: Origins
A 2000s-styled street racing game with (planned) extensive visual customization, paying homage to Midnight Club. Currently available in Early Access, but very early in development. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
OVERCRASH
A “Crash Mode”-inspired game with cartoony graphics. It currently has an early demo on itch.io that I’m yet to try, but I heard good things about it. Steam, itch.io*
Pico Drift
A tuner racing game on open tracks, similar to Midnight Club’s checkpoint-based races. It’s set to feature a map editor that can build tracks or entire parts of the city. Steam, X/Twitter
Race Jam
A cel-shaded arcade racer full of 90s references and a load of game modes, stunting, customization, and more. While I personally don’t vibe with the fact that the game is trying to do “everything” and includes every random 90s reference you can think of, the driving itself is quite nice, everything in the game is done competently, and it has a lot of content, so those who like this style will have fun. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
Super Polygon Grand Prix
A Virtua Racing-inspired retro racer with loads of tracks and multiple different car classes, like the formula cars, karts, and stock cars. I have not tried the game yet, but I regularly see the game updating with new, interesting content during its Early Access phase. Steam, X/Twitter

Upcoming

ASUKA x Redline Reverie
A stylized arcade touge racing game with a manga-inspired story and extensive customization. Currently in active development, with regular development updates on Patreon. Steam, X/Twitter
Blow
A PS1-style racing game inspired by Ridge Racer, recreating its visual and drift-on-rails system. Currently very early in development, with regular development updates. X/Twitter
Busted Metal
A PowerVR-style vehicular combat racing game with extremely fast-paced racing against 50+ CPU racers at once. Appears to be in semi-active development, but currently has no updates since . X/Twitter
Exo Rally Championship
A brutally realistic off-road racing game, where racing is held by remote-controlled rovers on unexplored planets, based on real-world Dakar events. Currently in active development, it used to have a demo on Steam that I liked a lot, despite its harsh difficulty. Steam, X/Twitter
Formula Circus
A simcade F1-esque game promising an in-depth career mode, customization, and an extensive damage model. Right now, the game is very early in development, so far, they’ve shown several in-game trailers that look ambitious. Steam, X/Twitter
Grand Pro Circuit
A solo dev formula racing game using a custom engine, inspired by the 80s F1. A modern (but period-appropriate) take on Grand Prix 4. Currently in active development. Steam, X/Twitter
Kaido Genkai
An open-world CarPG game with an anime style, set in the 90s Japan. Inspired by Road Trip’s (ChoroQ HG2) open world exploration and racing. Currently in active development. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
Lead The Dragon
An open-world street racing game set in the US, with a heavy focus on pursuits and customization. Inspired by the 2010s Need for Speed games and with realistic visuals, but with heavily stylized filters. Currently in active development. Steam, X/Twitter
LINEAR S
A Sega Saturn-stylized arcade racing game with a novel transmission system. What’s unique about this game is that it does not simply emulate the Saturn visuals but uses a system devised to simulate the way the Sega Saturn rendered the visuals, including all its limitations. No public updates since . Steam, X/Twitter
Mach-1
A supersonic racing game on fantasy courses with twists and loops, almost like an anti-gravity racer, but on wheels. Currently in active development. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
Mayonaka (真夜中) RUSH
A 2000s-inspired street racing game with open areas and simplified, cartoony visuals. The dev footage makes it resemble the first Midnight Club to some extent. Currently in active development. X/Twitter
Perfect Lap
A cel-shaded arcade racing game inspired by Auto Modelista. In development, but with relatively infrequent updates. Steam, X/Twitter
REV UP
An open-world cyberpunk racing game with a multiplayer Cops vs Racers system. In very early development, with no public updates since . Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
RREV: Racing Revolution
An open-world CarPG with life-sim elements. Currently in very early development, with very little development footage published. X/Twitter
Sick Street Racer
A 2000s-inspired street racing game drawing inspiration from NFS Most Wanted with its heavily stylized UI and customization. Currently in early development, but with regular development updates. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
SILKRUN
An arcade racing game focused on drifting around exaggerated tracks. In early development. Steam, X/Twitter
unnamed Driver-inspired retro game project
A PS1-styled, Driver-inspired game made by a two-man team. Not much is known about this project yet, but the retro art style and the choice of cars are on point, and the physics shown in the gameplay clips look similar to the original Driver. X/Twitter, Bluesky

Other car games

Any other games involving vehicles, but not necessarily racing. Trucking, vehicular combat, exploration, etc.

Released

Easy Delivery Co.
A cozy PS1-styled delivery game where you transport packages in a mountain town inhabited by cats. I really liked the game’s presentation and its twists, as well as the DnB soundtrack. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom
An arcade collectathon game with lots of platforming starring a wind-up toy taxi. GOG.com*, Steam, X/Twitter

Demo & Early Access

Denshattack!
A stylized, fast-paced game about racing trains whilst performing insane tricks. Style-wise, it resembles Jet Set Radio, with a simplified trick system. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
FUMES
A car combat game set in a wasteland, with retro aesthetics and fantasy cars inspired by vintage Eastern European automobiles. The gameplay loop in Early Access is made less punishing on purpose, but I think in the current state, the game offers a lot of fun driving around and transporting cargo. Steam
Honcho
A kei truck simulator set in a procedurally-generated rural Japan. From the development footage, it seems to have a heavy emphasis on car maintenance and upgrading. An early demo (which I haven’t tried) is available for Patreon members. Steam, X/Twitter
Pocket Wheels
A collectathon/platformer game with toy cars, exploring, racing through different rooms of a house, and working towards diverse objectives. I had a pretty good time with the demo, exploring the two available areas and taking on various challenges available in the world. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
Tristan Cole’s Pro Driver
Crazy Taxi meets Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater in this game, where you transport passengers and win races while performing elaborate stunts. It has a demo on itch.io that I haven’t tried yet, as I only learned about it while working on this list. Steam, itch.io*, X/Twitter
Truckful
A cozy delivery adventure game with elements of physics-based cargo management and a small town vibe. A demo is available, but it’s in a pretty rough state – the game’s premise is nice, but it’s yet to deliver on that promise. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky

Upcoming

4x4 in a Furniture Store
A physics-based rock crawling game set in a furniture store. Currently in early development, but I had the chance to playtest the development version, and I like its unique idea (much like most other games from Walaber) and the way the game integrates weighty physics into its gameplay loop. You can hold on to the rollcage and wiggle the car around! Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
over the hill
An off-road exploration game for up to 4 players and a pastel visual style. From the previews, it appears to be a visually stunning game with a much larger scope than their previous games, like art of rally. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
Road Truckers: New Beginning
A truck simulator set in a rural area, with elements of RPG and survival. From the public preview, it seemed promising, as the driving itself was OK, and the gameplay systems seemed to be quite in-depth. Steam, X/Twitter
Szrot
A CarPG set in the 80s Yugoslavia, stylized after Racing Lagoon and kept in a PS1-like style. Currently in active development. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky

Other games

Anything else.

Released

Skate Story
An “artsy” skateboarding game about a demon skating his way to eat the Moon. One of the more visually unique games I played recently. Steam, X/Twitter

Demo & Early Access

10hit
A first-person shooter game emulating the style of old Flash games; purposefully very “broken” and janky, but with extremely satisfying gunplay. Steam, X/Twitter
Agent 64: Spies Never Die
A “clone” of GoldenEye 007 with an original story and setting. Steam, X/Twitter
Cleared Hot
A helicopter shooter game inspired by Desert Strike with physics-based elements and a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I haven’t tried the game in Early Access, but I liked the demo from Steam Next Fest 2025. Steam, X/Twitter
Holstin
An isometric horror game set in a 90s Polish town. Steam, X/Twitter
Metropolis 1998
A modern, detailed city builder with retro aesthetics. It’s notable for being very “granular”: you build the individual buildings, down to peeking inside the houses and optionally furnishing them, instead of simply zoning different areas. Steam, X/Twitter
PIGFACE
A gritty immersive sim where you complete assassination contracts on big, sandbox-style maps, and fight against masked gangs; somewhat reminiscent of Manhunt. Currently in Early Access, regularly updated with new content. Steam
Wanted 3D: Dead or Alive
A boomer shooter using the UZDoom source port, set in the Wild West. I don’t play boomer shooters often, but I thought the demo was enjoyable and accessible. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky

Upcoming

ALATURKA
A PS1-styled open world action game set in the 70s Turkey; an indie take on a GTA-style game. Steam, X/Twitter
Car Park Capital
An isometric, satirical tycoon game with a Rollercoaster Tycoon-like style. In this game, you’re tasked with building parking lots and transforming the city to make the citizens dependent on their cars. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky
I Saw a Flying Saucer
A short C64-styled interactive fiction game. Admittedly, almost nothing is known about the game right now, but I find the art style captivating. Steam, X/Twitter
SeverLink
A PS2-style stealth action game inspired by Splinter Cell, MGS Peace Walker, and Hitman: Contracts. Steam, X/Twitter, Bluesky