Last updated on March 14th, 2025 at 03:18 pm
Running until 10am Pacific Time (6pm) GMT on Monday March 3rd, here are some of the more interesting racing and driving games in Steam Next Fest 2025.
It’s worth remembering that many of the games are developed by small or indie developers, and the demos will often be early alpha releases without many of the features planned for their full release. So don’t expect to get a full polished game for free, but enjoy the chance to sample titles which could earn a place on your Steam wishlist.
RoadCraft
Most notable is the free demo of RoadCraft, the follow up to SnowRunner and Expeditions: A MudRunner Game from Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment, which adds to the specialist vehicles and methods you can use to restore locations devastated by natural disasters, including rebuilding your own roads and bridges.
As a big fan of the off-road challenges in previous games, I’m looking forward to RoadCraft, and you can keep up with all the latest news on the game, here.
Recharge
I’ve always loved RC cars, even since my dad dediced to buy a Tamiya Hornet, and I still own my classic Kyosho Optima Mid Turbo. So a game based on realism and radio-controlled cars was always going to be interesting. Especially when videos of the first person view have been shared a lot in the past to highlight the graphics and feel of the cars. Along with the Recharge demo, you can keep up with all the news on the game as it approaches a release in Q2 2025.
Motorcycle Night Ride
Sometimes simple ideas are the best, and the idea of Motorcycle Night Ride is a brilliant one, allowing you to experience the No Hesi thrills of filtering through traffic at speed without the real world risk of losing your license or serious injury.
It’s being developed by Suber Game Studio, with the demo offering one bike and one highwap map. And having had plenty of experience of riding through the night, if the handling feels good with the ‘simple, smooth controls’, it could be a great option for unwinding and destressing without the hassle of racing or trying to reach objectives. The big challenge for any motorcycle game is in how the bikes feel to ride, so if they can nail that feeling as you ride through the darkness, I could be spending a lot of time with Motorcycle Night Ride.
Update March 14th: Motorcycle Night Ride has now launched on Steam Early Access with 4 bikes and 10 maps.
Driveloop
It’s not a racing game or sim, but I’ve mentioned a few times in the past how I used to enjoy top-down games like the classic Tranz Am on the Spectrum (yes, I’m that old). So the idea of driving around and taking out hordes of enemies as you try to survive could be a fun change from realistic racing, and there’s vehicle customisation and strategic progression as you hire crew to help keep you going. And while the demo is currently available, the full game will also be released soon, on April 9th, 2025, and you can see more coverage of it, here.
Bounty Off Road
A passion project from KODgames that is inspired by early 2000s offrading games, you’ll need to complete trails to earn money and customise your vehicles for better performance. Along with dynamic weather, the interesting features for the current work in progress are the promise of full customisation, and potentially up to 16 players per map when it arrives soon on Early Access. In the meantime, you can try it out now.
The Evolution 2025 Games
Most small or indie developers tend to focus on releasing one game. But Ph.D researcher Petr Simunek has released Formula Evolution 2025, Supercar Evolutions 2025, Sidecar Evolution 2025, Hypercar Evolution 2025, Kart Evolution 2025, Rally Evolution 2025, and Motocross Evolution 2025 as demos during Steam Next Fest, with the main differences being the choice of vehicles, and the maximum number of other players you can race against.
All the titles follow on from the previous titles Engine Evolution 2023 and Motorbike Evolution 2024, which are both already free-to-play. And they’re multiplayer racing games which use principles similar to those of World of Tanks to offer simple controls, short and dynamic races, MMO features including daily missions, and vehicle customisation, with each game offering up to 50 real and custom tracks, and a big number of cars, motorcycles and even sidecars covering the last 120 years of vehicles.
The other notable titles
There are a number of other racing and driving games in Steam Next Fest 2025 which might also be worth checking out. The cartoon graphics of futuristic arcade racer Neon Apex look pretty interesting, developed by Repixel8, who previously developed Formula Retro Racing, and being published by Numskull Games. You can try the demo which includes the first two levels of the Career game mode.
Other titles which may be worth checking out include Car Mechanic Workshop from Hard Shark Games, Truck Mechanic: Dangerous Paths from Atomic Jelly which challenges you to find your route to various South American destinations, obstacle-based Progress Racer RPG, which has an interesting mechnic earning you upgrades the further you can drive, single player car combate game FUMES, and another car combat roguelike but with a 3rd person behind the car view in the shape of Scaravan 66 from Lithic Entertainment.
With so many games to try in a limited time, let me know in the comments below, or via social media, if I’ve missed anything worth highlighting, the games you’ve tried and enjoyed, and any which you might not think are worth your time.
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