Most Played Racing Games On Steam In April 2025: BeamNG.drive Reaches New Heights

Most Played Racing Games Steam March April 2025.jpg
Image: BeamNG
With news aplenty in April, the sim racing and racing game space certainly was rather exciting. How did this reflect on player numbers? Here are the most played racing games on Steam in April of 2025.

Note: This is not a definitive list of the games' players. Most are available outside of Steam on platforms such as EA Play, Epic Games, and others, and many are also available on consoles, for which the data is not readily available. As a result, this list is based exclusively on the numbers relevant to Steam.

While iRacing is available on Steam as well, its numbers are not representative as most players acces the sim through its own UI. As a result, its statistics are not included in this article.


Big announcements, updates and new releases - April was anything but calm in regards to sim racing and racing games. One of the more prominent updates was rolled out to BeamNG.drive, adding rally pace notes, deepening its career mode, and improving drivability.

Players seemed to appreciate that: Once again, BeamNG.drive tops the list by quite a margin, and it also recorded a new all-time concurrent player peak on April 5 at almost 30,600. Its previous best of 29,827 from December 2024 was not too far behind, however.

Meanwhile, both Assetto Corsa EVO and Wreckfest 2, which are available in Early Access, slipped below our cutoff of 250 average players, which is why they are not on the list. As both titles are due big updates, with AC EVO's second Early Access release rolling out on May 7 already, this is certainly going to change.


Steam: Most Played Racing Games in April 2025​

TitleAvg. Players
Peak Concurrent​
Gain/Loss %
BeamNG.drive16,386.9
30,595
4.19
Forza Horizon 510,599.6
26,636​
-7.76
Assetto Corsa9,269.4
16,925​
-2.29
F1 24
4,611.5​
9,665​
1.00
Forza Horizon 4
4,551.2​
10,948​
-16.23
MX Bikes2,881.4
4,523​
-3.67
Need for Speed Heat2,190.7
4,380​
-27.39
Assetto Corsa Competizione
1,980.8​
4,310​
0.26
F1 Manager 2024
1,831.8​
3,974​
4.07
Trackmania
1,821.7​
4,518​
44.76
CarX Drift Racing Online1,495.3
2,351​
-4.96
Motor Town: Behind The Wheel
1,339.5​
2,658​
-3.97
Asphalt Legends Unite
1,208.7​
1,982​
6.26
My Summer Car
1,160.3​
2,410​
-8.15
Le Mans Ultimate
1,134.3​
3,031​
-6,74
Need for Speed Unbound
1,016.4​
2,014​
-27.05
The Crew 21,007.8
2,089​
-7.59
DiRT Rally 2.0874.1
1,534​
-12.07
Trailmakers
869.5​
1,670​
-42.59
F1 23714.0
1,485​
26.09
Automobilista 2
675.8​
1,544​
-9.14
The Crew Motorfest610.8
1,142​
-44.53
RaceRoom591.4
1,253​
28.57
Forza Motorsport
535.5​
1,004​
-1.49
CarX Street510.6
981​
-6.51
Liftoff
461.0​
730​
-3.39
EA Sports WRC
447.8​
978​
-17.52
Uncrashed: FPV Drone Simulator
446.2​
897​
-2.69
Tokyo Xtreme Racer
435.9​
786​
-45.67
Wreckfest
423.1​
1,123​
-9.48
Motorsport Manager
372.6​
745​
11.56
Mon Bazou
339.8​
766​
-38.99
rFactor 2303.4
721​
-4.16
F1 22274.9
609​
36.62
Need For Speed Payback
262.5​
563​
-21.75
Descenders
257.0​
526​
-1.05​
Most Played Racing Games on Steam in April 2025 (cap at 250 avg. players). Source: steamcharts.com

Among other established sims, Assetto Corsa continues to do well despite a slight drop in average players, while F1 24 follows close behind. ACC remained largely unchanged, while both Automobilista 2 and EA Sports WRC saw decreases in players as well. RaceRoom, on the other hand, gained almost 30% in the average concurrent player department, possibly aided by the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) and the Nürburgring-Nordschleife being free to play for everyone over Easter.

Despite WEC coming back from its long break between the first two races, Le Mans Ultimate saw a slight loss in players, similar to its quasi-predecessor rFactor 2.

As for the newly-released Monster Energy Supercross 25, the Milestone-developed game did not make our cutoff either, averaging 100.3 concurrent players with a peak of 228. MotoGP 25 was released at the very end of April, so there is no proper data available for the month. As of May 6, 2025, the game's average is at 541.7 concurrent players, withg a peak of 1,051 players having been set on May 1.

What do you make of the Steam player numbers for racing sims and games in April 2025? Let us know in the comments below!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

This list is of interest to me and more and more of a mystery to me as time pass, at the same time.
The most played game, BeamNG, I do not play ( tried it) and do not even understand the appeal.
My most played game for April, ACE EVO, which I immersed myself in, delighted by what it has to offer in its 0.1.6 state ( which will be gone to never come back as we are getting 0.2.0 tomorrow).
80% of the title in that list have zero appeal to me, I do not even understand how they can be seen as simulators, simulating what exactly?
So today, I will be driving that Ferrari 296 GTB around, Imola, Laguna Seca or Bathurst, in its 0.1.6 iteration (before it is gone), in ever changing weather, from night to dusk, in different performance mode, in VR, wondering how it would be IRL, smiling and happy, Kunos and I are sharing a similar passion for automotive perfection, for me to enjoy, in the comfort of my VR/DD/load cell/Tactile rig. Like I have done countless hours ( well not really: 6,854) in AC.
May all of you find your piece of SIM heaven, what ever that piece looks and feel like. I do not understand most of you, many of you sound really angry, that cannot be good for you.
All I know is that we have a lot to choose from and that is good. Enjoy your passion.
 
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I don't question BeamNG quality at all, but I still find it's numbers surprising. I don't doubt the new rally content is as great as some people say (I am yet to find the time to try it), but it seems to be quite hardcore, so it would not explain the figures. I wonder if they are inflated by kids that enjoy to watch everything going apart at every wreck...

Maybe other sim devs should invest in damage models and heavly market it,so we can enjoy this aspect of simracing improved and the companies can enjoy the extra income generated in the process, lol.
 
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This list is at the same time of interest to me and a more and more of a mystery to me as time pass, at the same time.
The most played game, BeamNG, I do not play ( tried it) and do not even understand the appeal.
My most played game for April, ACE EVO, which I immersed myself in, delighted by what it has to offer in its 0.1.6 state ( which will be gone to never come back as we are getting 0.2.0 tomorrow).
80% of the title in that list have zero appeal to me, I do not even understand how they can be seen as simulators, simulating what exactly?
So today, I will be driving that Ferrari 296 GTB around, Imola, Laguna Seca or Bathurst, in its 0.1.6 iteration (before it is gone), in ever changing weather, from night to dusk, in different performance mode, in VR, wondering how it would be IRL, smiling and happy, Kunos and I are sharing a similar passion for automotive perfection, for me to enjoy, in the comfort of my VR/DD/load cell/Tactile rig. Like I have done countless hours ( well not really: 6,854) in AC.
May all of you find your piece of SIM heaven, what ever that piece looks and feel like. I do not understand most of you, many of you sound really angry, that cannot be good for you.
All I know is that we have a lot to choose from and that is good. Enjoy your passion.
I understand it's a racing games list, not racing sim only list. And yeah, the taste of most people won't match the sim racing enthusiasts preferences. I gave my theory on BeamNg success ...
 
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Premium
My Forza Motorsport portfolio isn't doing so well. Down by 1.49 points and only a paltry 535.5. It's over half its highest, but the investment doesn't seem to be going so well. Tough market!

:roflmao:
 
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This list is at the same time of interest to me and a more and more of a mystery to me as time pass, at the same time.
The most played game, BeamNG, I do not play ( tried it) and do not even understand the appeal.
My most played game for April, ACE EVO, which I immersed myself in, delighted by what it has to offer in its 0.1.6 state ( which will be gone to never come back as we are getting 0.2.0 tomorrow).
80% of the title in that list have zero appeal to me, I do not even understand how they can be seen as simulators, simulating what exactly?
So today, I will be driving that Ferrari 296 GTB around, Imola, Laguna Seca or Bathurst, in its 0.1.6 iteration (before it is gone), in ever changing weather, from night to dusk, in different performance mode, in VR, wondering how it would be IRL, smiling and happy, Kunos and I are sharing a similar passion for automotive perfection, for me to enjoy, in the comfort of my VR/DD/load cell/Tactile rig. Like I have done countless hours ( well not really: 6,854) in AC.
May all of you find your piece of SIM heaven, what ever that piece looks and feel like. I do not understand most of you, many of you sound really angry, that cannot be good for you.
All I know is that we have a lot to choose from and that is good. Enjoy your passion.
I can feel you. Ok beside the fact this is a racing games list, not simulators only.
But i am also wondering how the hack everybody is playing such "garbage" and only few hundred people such great sims we can choose from. :confused:
It seems besides AC i am only playing unpopular titles *lol* Or my beloved hobby is still more niche than i like to believe.


Note: I have choosen the word - garbage, but i know what´s garbage for me, must not mean garbage to others. Btw. beamNG is not meant to be garbage, i just can´t see nothing for me within this title
 
Premium
It looks to me like a general trend away from the driving game/sims,(this mo... well last month!) with time being spent on something else... perhaps a bit of gardening or spring cleaning, or a new 'not' racing game, it's not much but the top figures indicate that.

Beam NG sees a few hundred more players-on steam... good for them.
But the studios don't get money for players playing only for buying... unless it's tied to a server.

Now about that Gardening...
 
Where's iRacing?

This month they forgot to add:

While iRacing is available on Steam as well, its numbers are not representative as most players acces the sim through its own UI. As a result, its statistics are not included in this article. Because if they add also the Steam IRacing numbers you could be disappointed and start a war againt them.

April 2025 286.8+18.5+6.90%1,229

anyway the only noteworthy game is only LMU that from almost disappearing from this list a few months ago continues to grow. When a job is done well it is always rewarded while others after the bombastic releases are left behind as always.
 
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People are doing weird things with BeamNG. It seems to be a vehicle crash simulator, not a driving simulator — and it was never meant to be a racing simulator.
 
Where's iRacing?
So as others have said the steam numbers are not reprenstative
And honestly the data I'm about to give isn't, but is an intersting point of comparison
I happened to look at a 1h slice of iRacing on 1st feb 2025. During that hour 5089 people started an offical race, that does not include - leagues - open online testing - people racing AI - people doing solo testing.

additionally, from the last yest 2354 did the Road America 500 special event, which was the least popular. By quite some margin too if you look at the data I have for 2024 endurance events. The peak is always the Daytona 24 which for 2025 had 23397 unique drivers. And reportedly there were 300000 active connections to iRacing during the event.

Now that data isn't April 2025 but it gives a general idea of how many people are activly using iRacing.
 
Premium
This month they forgot to add:

While iRacing is available on Steam as well, its numbers are not representative as most players acces the sim through its own UI. As a result, its statistics are not included in this article. Because if they add also the Steam IRacing numbers you could be disappointed and start a war againt them.

April 2025 286.8+18.5+6.90%1,229

anyway the only noteworthy game is only LMU that from almost disappearing from this list a few months ago continues to grow. When a job is done well it is always rewarded while others after the bombastic releases are left behind as always.
LMU if mathematics is not an opinion - 6.74% is not to continue to grow
 
Assetto corsa EVO peak players all time has still the record at +50 000, I predict +150 000 for the nordschleife ultimate track release and freeroam...
 
I know there was excitement over the F1 25 pre release information, which likely drove F1 24 play. A terrible game though, so that many people choosing to play an awful game is baffling.
 
My Forza Motorsport portfolio isn't doing so well. Down by 1.49 points and only a paltry 535.5. It's over half its highest, but the investment doesn't seem to be going so well. Tough market!

:roflmao:
I don't think Steam is the main platform for FM though... so real numbers are unknown.
 
With BeamNG at the top of the list, Forza 2nd and AC third, its clear that many gamers out there want the freedom of a open world driving, drifting, etc. BeamNG has some great police chase mods and rally mods. It's not as good as Dirt Rally 2 although its getting better and immensely enjoyable.

No disrespect for Kunos although if they'd released some sort of public road early that might have generated and maintained higher players numbers for ACE out the gate. Many have no interest in circuits. Even something like a mini version of LA Canyons might have gone a long way to allow ACE to grab and hold attention spans longer at initial release.

BeamNG doesn't do night time environments well nor weather FXs, unlike ACE. So when Eifel is released it will be vedddy interesting to see how the player numbers shift.
 
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