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.
After a quiet week last week, it’s been a monumental week for racing game news with the long-awaited reveal of Forza Horizon 5 Expansion 2, the biggest and best Gran Turismo 7 update yet, and a surprise F1 22 update before the 2023 season gets underway.
Forza Horizon 5 Rally Adventure Expansion revealed
After months of silence and speculation, Playground Games finally revealed Forza Horizon 5’s long-awaited second expansion.
Evoking memories of the original Forza Horizon Rally Expansion, Forza Horizon 5 Rally Adventure takes us to Sierra Nueva, a new location with challenging rally stages featuring dusty trails and undulating asphalt to tackle.
The Rally Adventure expansion also adds ten new off-road vehicles including the racing game debut of the electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck and the iconic 1999 Ford Focus WRC driven by Colin McRae.
Grand Valley returns in Gran Turismo 7 update 1.29
Gran Turismo 7 update 1.29 is easily the biggest and best update yet since GT7’s launch last March. Update 1.29 adds five new cars, but the biggest surprise was the return of Grand Valley, reimagined for GT7 with a new Highway layout.
That's not all though. Update 1.29 also adds free PSVR 2 support (you can read our hands-on impressions of GT7 in VR soon) as well as limited-time events that let you race with Sophy, Sony's new GT AI racing agent that behaves like a human.
Check out the Gran Turismo 7 update 1.29 patch notes for full details.
Drive the 2023 Alfa Romeo C43 in F1 22
With the 2023 Formula 1 season just over one week away, Codemasters released a surprise F1 22 update this week. Ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season, you can test drive the 2023 Alfa Romeo C43 car in time trial modes.
While it sports Alfa Romeo’s new bold red and black livery before the team bows out at the end of the 2023 season, the changes are cosmetic - we’ll have to wait until F1 23 for a more accurate representation of how it drives.
In other racing game news…
As well as revealing the Rally Adventure Expansion, Playground Games also previewed next month’s off-road-themed Forza Horizon 5 Horizon Wilds Takeover update, which sees the return of a fan-favourite location along with two new-to-Forza cars.
rFactor 2’s first update of 2023 is here - and it’s a big one. The substantial rFactor 2 Q1 2023 Update brings new cars, a new track, gameplay improvements and much more.
If you still haven’t tried last year’s F1 game yet, F1 22 is racing onto Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play next month. If you have an Xbox Game Pass or EA Play subscription, it’s the perfect opportunity to practice your skills before F1 23 arrives in a few months.
Rounding up this week’s racing game news is the announcement of SnowRunner Season 9 Renew & Rebuild, which sees you driving firetrucks and restoring two large maps in Ontario after a devastating wildfire.
In case you missed it…
With Codemasters taking over the WRC game license from KT Racing, we’ve outlined five features WRC 23 must have from classic cars to PSVR 2 support.
With cutting-edge graphics and physics, racing games are more realistic than ever – but is the genre’s golden era in the rearview mirror? We look at recent trends to find out why racing games are declining.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
News