ICYMI: This week in racing games – 03 February 2023

Welcome to Rear View Mirror, your weekly racing game news roundup. As we shift into reverse, these were the biggest racing game news stories that hit the headlines this week.

The Crew Motorfest revealed

After months of rumours and speculation, Ubisoft announced The Crew Motorfest, the latest instalment in The Crew franchise.

The Crew Motorfest
expand image

Set around a festival celebrating car culture (sound familiar?), players will explore the tropical island of O'ahu in Hawaii in hundreds of cars as well as boats and planes.

Best of all, The Crew Motorfest is coming in 2023. Ubisoft's Insider Program is also inviting fans to test it early ahead of release, so we won't have to wait too long to play it.

With Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown still targeting a 2023 release, it's safe to say open-world racing fans are going to be spoiled for choice.

Forza Horizon 5 Japanese Automotive series begins

This week saw the new Forza Horizon 5 Japanese Automotive series begin, bringing with it new iconic Japanese cars, race events, and EventLab props.

Forza Horizon 5 Japanese Automotive series
expand image

One of the star cars is the new-to-Forza 2023 Nissan Z, which can be won in the Summer Festival Playlist right now. 

New Gran Turismo 7 PSVR 2 gameplay stuns

With just a few weeks until the launch of PlayStation VR2, new gameplay footage of Gran Turismo 7 in VR has emerged from hands-on preview sessions - and it looks mouth-wateringly good.

Gran Turismo PSVR 2 gameplay
expand image

Hands-on reports confirm GT7 will run at 120 fps in VR even in the rain, offering a new level of driving immersion.

Unlike GT Sport, the full game is playable in VR, so you can view every car and race on every track in GT7 on PSVR 2.

Launching later this month as a free update, GT7 looks like it will set a new benchmark for VR console racing games.

In other racing game news…

While we wait for F1 23 to break cover, F1 teams Haas and Oracle Red Bull Racing have revealed their new cars for the 2023 season we’ll be racing in F1 23.

And just as we all predicted, Red Bull's RB19 livery looks exactly the same as last year's car.

Red Bull RB19 F1 23
expand image

PlayStation Productions has found tremendous success with The Last of Us TV adaptation and the Gran Turismo movie is around the corner. And now it looks like the next PlayStation Productions has teased the upcoming Twisted Metal TV show as its next project airing next year.

Mobile racer Real Racing 3 celebrated its tenth anniversary this week with a huge update adding four new cars and a new track.

In case you missed it…

After The Crew Motorfest announcement trailer showcased a sprawling festival and exotic cars, we question if it’s a massive Forza Horizon ripoff.

With Sony's new VR headset just a few weeks away, we look at five racing games we want to see on PSVR 2 outside of GT7.