10 Best Racing Games on Xbox Game Pass (November 2026)

Looking for the best racing games on Xbox Game Pass? Game Pass is packed with exciting racing games. Some focus on fast cars and smooth tracks, while others take you through wild landscapes and stunt-filled courses. Each game brings something special. With so many great options, choosing can take time, so here is the updated list of the top Game Pass racing games available right now.

What Defines the Best Racing Game?

When I look for a racing game that really hits, it needs more than just fast cars. I want something that keeps me coming back after hours of play. Fun gameplay comes first, then a mix of different race types, good car variety, and something that feels fresh every time. Some games should let you drive across open areas, others should give tight tracks with high tension. I also look at how the game feels during long sessions, how the cars react, and how much there is to do. The games on this list bring different styles of racing, but all of them deliver pure fun.

Now that the key ingredients of a great racing game are clear, it’s time to look at the titles that truly deliver on those expectations. Here are ten racing games available on Xbox Game Pass that stand out for their gameplay, variety, and replay value.

10. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

Kart racing with power-ups, drifts, and iconic characters

Crash Bandicoot, the orange marsupial who spent the late ’90s spinning through crates and dodging boulders, also had a wildly popular kart racer on the original PlayStation. Crash Team Racing was Naughty Dog’s final Crash Bandicoot game before they moved on to Jak and Daxter, and over time the game became widely regarded as the closest anything had come to challenging Mario Kart. So when a ground-up remake arrived with modernized visuals and additional content from two later spin-offs, Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Tag Team Racing, it had a lot of expectations riding on its wheels. And to its credit, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled delivered on nearly all of them by bringing the original experience back with gorgeous new graphics while preserving its core mechanics.

The boosting works differently here compared to Mario Kart or similar games. In most kart racers, you hold the drift button and let go for a speed boost. CTR asks for more effort than that. You initiate a power slide, then watch for the exhaust smoke to turn black, and press the power-slide button at the right moment to trigger a boost. You can chain this up to three times per slide, and nailing each one with perfect timing gives you a “Perfect” boost. It’s a risk-reward loop, because mistiming it means you miss the boost opportunity. Out of all the best Game Pass racing games, this one has a skill ceiling most people wouldn’t expect from a kart racer.

9. Trials Rising

Motorcycle obstacle courses with physics-based precision riding

Trials Rising belongs to the Trials franchise, a series of motorcycle games where the goal is to ride a dirt bike from point A to point B across increasingly ridiculous obstacle courses. This isn’t an open-world racer or a street racing game. It’s a 2D side-scrolling game, so your bike moves left to right across the screen, and your job is to manage your speed, balance, and body lean to get over ramps, gaps, and platforms without crashing. You can think of it like a physics puzzle with a motorcycle, because that’s exactly how it plays.

Well, the early tracks are forgiving enough for you to cruise through them with a few retries. However, as you move further into the career, the courses become absolutely punishing. We’re talking explosive barrels mid-air, near-vertical ramps followed by tiny landing platforms, and sections where a single wrong tilt sends your rider ragdolling into the scenery. The retry button becomes your best friend, and I’ll be honest, finally nailing a run you’ve been failing at for 20 minutes is one of the most rewarding payoffs in any racer on this list. There’s also a tandem bike mode where two players share one motorcycle, controlling the front and back independently.

8. SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed

Side-scrolling competitive racer with grappling hooks and shrinking screens

SpeedRunners as a franchise carved out its own little niche back in the early 2010s, earning the unofficial label of “the Mario Kart of 2D platformers.” The original became a hit at game nights and online lobbies, and the concept was straightforward but wickedly competitive. You and up to three other players race through a looping 2D map, and the person in the lead determines where the camera scrolls. If you fall behind the screen, you’re eliminated. On top of that, the screen gradually shrinks as the race goes on, which leaves the margin for error tighter and tighter. SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed carries that same DNA forward with upgraded visuals and support for up to 8 players online.

So how does a race actually play out here? You pick from a cast of eccentric superhero characters, both returning favorites and new additions, and then sprint through expertly designed maps with platforming elements baked into every corner. You jump, slide, grapple with a grappling hook to swing around corners, and use pick-up items to mess with your opponents. The grappling hook is the signature tool, because learning when to swing versus when to sprint separates average players from dominant ones. Since the screen shrinks progressively, with a ring of fire consuming anyone who falls off the edge, races become incredibly chaotic in their final moments. Plus, you can sink hundreds of hours into mastering the movement mechanics, learning map layouts, and perfecting your item usage.

7. The Crew 2

Open-world racing across land, sea, and air with vehicle switching

The Crew 2 is a racing game with a massive open world modeled after a scaled-down version of the entire continental United States. And when I say massive, I mean driving from coast to coast in-game can take around 45 minutes of continuous driving. The real selling point of The Crew 2 isn’t just the size of the map, though. It’s the fact that you can race cars, motorcycles, speedboats, and planes, and switch between them mid-race without a loading screen. So you might be drifting through a street race in a sports car, and in a freestyle event, you’ll literally transform from car to boat to airplane while the terrain changes beneath you.

Now, I’ll be upfront. The driving physics here won’t blow you away if you’re coming from simulation racers like Forza Motorsport. However, the sheer variety of vehicle types and race disciplines more than makes up for it. You’ve got street racing, off-road rallies, professional circuit races, jet sprint boat competitions, and air racing events inspired by aerobatic stunt series. It’s the breadth of experiences packed into a single game that makes The Crew 2 worth your time on Game Pass. If you’ve ever wanted a racing game where you can go from drag racing a muscle car to barrel-rolling a stunt plane within 30 seconds, The Crew 2 is your pick.

6. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered

High-speed cops-versus-racers action with weaponized supercars

Need for Speed has had a long and bumpy road as a franchise, with highs like Underground 2 and Most Wanted and lows that are better left unmentioned. Hot Pursuit, the 2010 reboot, sits comfortably at the top of that list for a lot of long-time fans, and the remastered version brings it back with cleaner visuals and cross-platform multiplayer. Here, you’re either a street racer trying to outrun the cops, or you’re a cop trying to wreck the racers before they reach the finish line. Two separate career tracks, same winding roads, completely distinct gameplay on both sides.

This is an arcade racer with actual vehicular combat tools mixed into the racing. As a racer, you can lay down spike strips behind your car to pop the tires of pursuing cops, activate an EMP burst to short-circuit nearby police vehicles, or use a jammer to disable incoming attacks. Cops, on the other hand, can call in helicopter support that flies ahead and drops spike strips from the sky, request full road blockades to cut off racers, and fire their own EMPs. So every single race becomes this cat-and-mouse battle layered on top of the high-speed driving, and the back-and-forth between offensive and defensive tool usage adds a dimension that plain racing just can’t offer. Plus, the remastered version includes a social feature called Autolog that constantly compares your times with friends across platforms and nudges you to beat their records.

5. Riders Republic

Extreme sports racing across massive multiplayer open-world terrain

Riders Republic is Ubisoft’s take on an extreme sports playground, and the key thing you should know is that this is multi-sport, which means you’ll be switching between bikes, skis, snowboards, and wingsuits within a single open world. So it’s a racing game, yes, but also a trick competition game, an exploration game, and a social hangout all rolled into one. The map itself stitches together areas inspired by iconic U.S. national parks like Yosemite, Bryce Canyon, and Zion, which gives you a ridiculous amount of ground to cover. The real showstopper, however, is the mass races. We’re talking 50+ players launching off the same start line at once on supported platforms, colliding with each other, grinding through checkpoints, and fighting their way toward the finish.

The screen becomes this beautiful pandemonium of bikes, snowboards, and bodies tumbling over each other. Plus, the cosmetic customization goes completely off the rails here, with costumes ranging from dinosaur suits to astronaut gear. The 6v6 Tricks Battle mode, which plays like a weird hybrid between extreme sports and a competitive arena game, is surprisingly addictive once you understand the scoring. I’d call Riders Republic a great racing game to look for on Game Pass in 2026 if you want something that goes way beyond traditional cars-on-asphalt racing.

4. Wheel World

Cycling adventure with story missions and bike customization

Wheel World is one of those picks that’ll probably surprise you on this list. I mean, a cycling game with fantasy storytelling? Hear me out. You play as Kat, a young cyclist whose mission revolves around saving an entire universe from collapse. And your main tool for doing this is your bike. The semi-open world is packed with hidden secrets, rival cycling teams, and high-stakes races against quirky opponents, so the racing itself is very much the core gameplay loop. The thing that sets Wheel World apart from your typical racer, though, is the narrative layer wrapped around it, complete with legendary bike parts to recover, a ritual to perform, and a soundtrack pumping energy into every pedal stroke.

Speaking of the bike itself, there’s a thorough customization element here. You’ll scour the map for rare parts, tweaking your ride to match your racing preferences, whether you want more speed, power, handling, or grip. And the races themselves reward precision because every second counts against rival cycling teams. When I first heard about Wheel World, I assumed it would be a lightweight indie curiosity. It’s way more than that. The world offers plenty to explore, the races provide competitive challenges, and the story gives you a reason to keep exploring beyond the finish line. Altogether, Wheel World represents something different, and that variety is welcome when your library is already loaded with car-centric titles.

3. DiRT Rally 2.0

Off-road racing that punishes every mistake and rewards total focus

DiRT Rally 2.0 is an off-road rally simulation. And by simulation, I mean the physics here are demanding. The DiRT franchise has covered everything from arcade-style racing to hardcore rally, and this entry leans hard into the serious end. You’re driving rally cars across six different countries, from the gravel roads of New Zealand to the tarmac of Spain, with a co-driver calling out pace notes in your ear. The surfaces degrade as cars pass over them, so the road conditions can change throughout an event.

The handling model expects you to manage tire choice, surface conditions, and vehicle weight transfer all at once. You can’t just floor the throttle and hope for the best. Gravel corners require a different approach than tarmac ones, and misjudging your braking point can send you flying off the road. There are also over 50 cars, ranging from historic machines to high-powered rally legends. Plus, daily, weekly, and monthly challenges let you compete against the broader community on leaderboards. For the serious racing enthusiast browsing Xbox Game Pass racing games in 2026, this is a strong simulation pick.

2. Wreckfest

Demolition derby racing with heavy damage and wild vehicles

Wreckfest is basically the spiritual successor to the Destruction Derby games from the late ’90s and the FlatOut series, if you remember those. And for anyone who doesn’t, here’s the context: these were racing games where smashing into opponents was the point, and your car would crumple, lose doors, shed bumpers, and eventually disintegrate into twisted metal if you got hit enough. Wreckfest carries that torch forward with a damage model that is absurdly detailed. Body panels deform on impact, wheels fly off, engines catch fire, and the physics behind every collision carry a satisfying heft to them.

You can race on traditional circuits, compete in demolition derbies where the last car running wins, or hop into events with ridiculous vehicles like lawnmowers and school buses. The career mode has dozens of events across different championship tiers, and you’ll be upgrading your vehicles with roll cages, reinforced bumpers, and engine performance parts along the way. The deathmatch demolition derbies are my favorite part because they’re absolute mayhem. Cars flying into each other from every direction, metal crunching, and somehow your three-wheeled hatchback limps across the line to survive. Wreckfest drives a hard bargain if you’re looking for polish and pretty graphics. However, the sheer fun-factor when everything collides, literally, is hard to beat.

1. Forza Horizon 6

Open-world racing across Japan with 550+ cars at launch

Forza Horizon 6 has been one of the most anticipated racing games of the year, and now that it’s available on Game Pass from day one, it makes a strong case for the top spot here. The Forza Horizon series has explored locations like Australia, the UK, and Mexico in past entries, with each game expanding the formula of open-world racing through festivals, seasonal events, and a massive car roster. This time around, the map is built around Japan, and Tokyo City alone is five times larger than Guanajuato in Forza Horizon 5. You’ll be racing through dense city streets, mountain passes, and countryside roads, with over 550 cars available at launch.

The cool thing about this particular installment is that you begin as a tourist, which changes the narrative flow compared to older Forza Horizon games, where you joined the Horizon Festival through a different progression setup. Car Meets are in the game too, which lets you show off your builds and connect with other players. I’ve always considered Forza Horizon the gold standard for accessible yet deep racing games, and this sixth entry brings in enough new elements to feel like a genuine step forward. When you’re looking for the best Game Pass racing games in 2026, Forza Horizon 6 should be near the top of your checklist, especially if you have Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass.

FAQs

Do you need a steering wheel to enjoy any of these Game Pass games?

You can play every game on this list comfortably on a standard Xbox controller. However, simulation-heavy titles like DiRT Rally 2.0 benefit a lot from a wheel and pedal setup because the force feedback makes the car behavior feel way more responsive under your hands. But if you don’t have one, don’t stress about it. Even DiRT Rally 2.0 is perfectly playable on a controller once you get used to the sensitivity settings.

On the flip side, arcade-style titles like Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed, and Riders Republic are built around controller input from the ground up. So a gamepad is all you need there.

Which of these racing games support split-screen or local co-op?

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is your best bet here since it supports up to four players on the same screen. Wreckfest also has split-screen multiplayer, which is great for couch sessions where you just want to smash into each other. Most of the other titles on the list, like Forza Horizon 6 and Riders Republic, focus on online multiplayer instead.

So if local co-op is a priority for you, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is the clear pick.

What’s the best starting point if you’ve never played a racing game before?

Forza Horizon 6 is the easiest recommendation because the difficulty adjusts to your comfort level, and the open-world structure lets you explore at your own pace without any pressure. You can ease into races gradually rather than get thrown into competitive events right away. Plus, the assists are generous enough that even a complete beginner can have a good time from the first race.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered is another solid option too. The cops-versus-racers concept is simple to grasp, and the arcade-style handling doesn’t punish small mistakes as harshly.

Which of these racing games also run on Xbox One or are they all Series X/S only?

Most of them actually run on Xbox One as well. Wreckfest, DiRT Rally 2.0, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Trials Rising, The Crew 2, and SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed are all available on last-gen hardware. However, Forza Horizon 6 and Wheel World are exclusive to Xbox Series X/S and PC, so you’d need current-gen hardware for those two.

If you’re still on Xbox One, you’ve got plenty of options on the list. But the two biggest entries do require an upgrade.

Can these racing games get removed from Game Pass without warning?

Yes, and it happens more often than you’d think. Microsoft rotates titles in and out of Game Pass on a regular basis, usually with about two weeks of notice before a game leaves. However, first-party titles like Forza Horizon 6 tend to stay permanently since they’re published by Xbox themselves.

Third-party games like Wreckfest, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered can rotate out depending on licensing agreements. So if something catches your eye on the list, it’s better to jump in sooner rather than wait.

If you only have time for one game on this Game Pass racing games list, which should it be?

Forza Horizon 6, and it’s an easy call. The variety of content is enormous, the car roster covers over 550 vehicles, and you can sink hundreds of hours into it between the campaign, multiplayer events, and creative tools. It also caters to every skill level, so whether you’re a casual driver or a hardcore racer, there’s something there for you.

Still, if destruction and chaos are more your speed than clean racing, Wreckfest is the one to grab. Completely different vibe, but equally hard to put down.

Which of these lean more toward arcade racing versus simulation?

Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered, and Riders Republic are firmly on the arcade side. They prioritize speed, spectacle, and accessibility over realistic car behavior. Forza Horizon 6 sits somewhere in the middle since it blends arcade freedom with optional simulation assists.

On the simulation end, DiRT Rally 2.0 is the most demanding title on the list. Every surface change affects grip, and a single miscalculated turn can ruin an entire stage run. If you want something between those two extremes, Wreckfest has surprisingly weighty car physics despite all the chaos.