The Steam Deck launches next week. Thanks to its analogue triggers allowing for precise throttle and braking control, it’s shaping up to be a great handheld for playing racing games on the go. With access to your entire Steam Library, you can play racing games like art of rally, Circuit Superstars, F1 2021, Need for Speed Heat, and Rocket League wherever you go.
At launch, the Steam Deck will have a large library of supported racing games. It’s not confirmed if popular racing games like Forza Horizon 5 and Assetto Corsa Competizione fully support the Steam Deck, but we’ll hopefully find out soon.
But there’s one high-profile racing game that doesn’t support Steam Deck: The Crew 2.
The Crew 2 won't support Steam Deck
Valve is currently assessing the compatibility of every Steam game to see how well they run on the handheld system. Valve rates tested games as Verified, Playable, Unsupported, and Unknown.
The SteamDB lists The Crew 2 as Unsupported for Steam Deck. Likewise, the post-apocalyptic MMO driving game Crossout is not compatible with the Steam Deck.
Why doesn’t The Crew 2 work on Steam Deck?
It’s not clear why The Crew 2 doesn’t support Steam Deck. Ubisoft’s open-world racing game lets you roam around a massive map set in the US, so it could be a demanding game for the hardware. Curiously, however, The Crew is Playable on Steam Deck, but the sequel is Unsupported.
Another possible reason why The Crew 2 won’t run on the Steam Deck is that it has BattlEye anti-cheat software. However, in January 2022 Valve confirmed that Steam Deck officially supports anti-cheat software such as Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye. In theory, this means The Crew 2 could get Steam Deck support if Ubisoft configures the anti-cheat software to work on Valve's portable gaming PC.
Steam Deck price and release date
In the UK, the Steam Deck will go on sale on 25 February. Valve’s portable gaming PC starts at £349 with 64GB of storage. A 256GB model is also available for £459 while the top-of the range Steam Deck costs £569 and comes with a 512GB SSD.