Welcome to Rear View Mirror, your weekly racing game news roundup.
From a new F1 22 update to the first look at Need for Speed Unbound gameplay, here's what's been hitting the headlines this week in racing games to help you get up to speed.
2022 Formula 2 season arrives in F1 22 update 1.12
F1 22 received a hefty update this week. Update 1.12 adds the 2022 Formula 2 season with all 14 rounds including F2 Sprint Races along with the cyberpunk-inspired McLaren Future Point special livery seen at the Singapore and Japanese Grand Prix. Mika Hakkinen also joins F1 22 as an in-game My Team icon.
In addition, the update also contains a host of bug fixes – check out the F1 22 update 1.12 patch notes to find out more. This is one of several F1 22 updates planned this month, so F1 22 players have lots to look forward to in October.
Need for Speed Unbound gameplay video shows wild customisation
After the official reveal trailer introduced us to Need for Speed Unbound, EA and Criterion Games treated us to the first gameplay footage. Sadly, the gameplay clip is short but gives us a first look at Unbound’s insane levels of customisation.
Known as tags, players can modify their cars with striking driving effects from colourful smoke to cartoon wings. Don’t worry though – you can turn them off if you don't like them.
Forza Horizon 5 10-year Anniversary Update
Playground Games is taking us on a drive down memory lane in the Forza Horizon 5 10-Year Anniversary update.
Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the first Forza Horizon game that redefined open-world driving games, Series 13 includes a Horizon Story reliving memorable moments from the past four games.
Each Series Festival Playlist also focuses on a classic Forza Horizon game, with this week’s Summer Festival Playlist featuring themed challenges and reward cars inspired by the first game.
In other news…
With less than a month until release, Kylotonn Racing has revealed the WRC Generations rally list. Featuring 165 special stages and 21 locations, WRC Generations boasts the largest selection of stages and rallies ever in a WRC game yet.
Codemasters has teased four new cars coming in the next GRID Legends DLC expansion. One of them appears to be the Mazda AZ1, a Japanese Kei car Codemasters recording engine audio for back in 2020 before GRID Legends was announced.
After update 1.8 introduced a new tyre model bringing new levels of realism, a new Assetto Corsa Competizione hotfix addresses issues with the console games reported by the community.
Rocket League also received a new update adding two new arenas and an El Chapulin Colorado Bundle.
Collectors rejoiced when the F-Zero-inspired FAST RMX finally got a physical release after it was released five years ago as a Nintendo Switch launch title.
SnowRunner Season 8: Grand Harvest is also out now, adding three farming vehicles, new missions, and a new environment with four massive maps. Not only that, but the extreme Rezvani Hercules also joined SnowRunner’s vehicle roster as standalone DLC.
In case you missed it…
We’ve conquered the desert to bring you our Dakar Desert Rally review – find out our verdict on the ambitious off-road racer here.
Criterion is taking Need for Speed in a bold new direction with Unbounded. Not everyone is enamoured with its unusual art style, but we think Need for Speed Unbound is exactly what the racing genre needs right now.
We also enjoyed another week of F1 Esports, with two exciting rounds seeing Red Bull's Frede Rasmussen claim his first win in F1 Esports at Austria and Bari Boroumand taking the crown at Spa.