Best Sports & Racing Games of 2021

It’s award season here at Twinfinite. Throughout the month of January, we’ll be taking a look at the very best games from 2021, and in this post, we’ll be revealing the big winner of the best sports & racing game 2021 category.

Voted on by our staff, these were the games that did things a little differently from the usual annualized affairs we’ve seen from some big publishers. These are the games that stuck in our mind long after playing them and had us coming back for more throughout the year.

Best Sports & Racing Games of 2021

Second Runner-Up: Knockout City

Guides Editor Chris Jecks: Knockout City deserves more praise and attention than it ever really got. Its initial positive reception feels like a flash in the pan in the grand scheme of things, and while it’s available for free on Xbox Game Pass, it never got the mainstream traction of other free-to-play multiplayer titles like Epic Games’ juggernaut Fortnite, or Activision’s Call of Duty: Warzone.

Still, Knockout City is an absolute blast, throwing you into a zany world of professional dodgeball. It’s easy to pick up with basic controls, but difficult to master with plenty of fakes, skill shots, and other moves that can be paired together to make you an unpredictable dealer of dodgeball deaths.

In a genre jam-packed with safe, annualized entries, developer Velan Studios took a leap of faith and ended up bringing one of the more unique sports games in recent years. If you’ve yet to give it a try, you owe it to yourself to get a group of friends together and hope into a few games. You won’t regret it.

Related: Top 5 Wii Racing Games on GamerJournalist

Best Sports & Racing Games of 2021

First Runner-Up: Riders Republic

Features Editor Andrew McMahon: Riders Republic sounds like a complete fever dream on paper. The game allows extreme sports fans to live out their wildest dreams from the comfort and safety of their homes, letting them pull off insane tricks and compete in crazy races throughout a myriad of sports. 

Whether it’s carving out the mountain on a pair of trick skis, getting insane air on a downhill bike, or dipping through narrow passageways on your glider, there is an insane amount of fun to be had with Riders Republic.

Just do yourself a favor and mute anything that has to do with the game’s commentary, unless you want to listen to dialogue like “holy shiz wizzle.”

Best Sports & Racing Games of 2021

Winner: Forza Horizon 5

Guides Editor Chris Jecks: Forza Horizon 5 isn’t just the best racing/ sports game of 2021, it’s one of the best games of the year period. Developer Playground Games has unleashed the Horizon festival in a new location once again, this time in the incredibly varied and vast land of Mexico.

It’s the open-world itself that feels like a real standout here. The towering, active volcano, sprawling stretches of dense jungle, and long, winding stretches of road make for an idyllic racer’s playground and one that’s teeming with different activities to complete as and when you fancy shifting into top gear and smelling the burning rubber of your tires on the asphalt.

Of course, a racing game wouldn’t be any good if it didn’t have strong handling, and Forza Horizon 5 doesn’t slouch here, either. With a roster of over 500 cars, there’s plenty of variety to ensure even the same event provides ample replayability. Each vehicle sounds and handles distinctly different, which when paired with the general arcadey feel of the gameplay, makes for some of the most enjoyable high-octane racing you can get your hands on right now.

With a thriving multiplayer community, and a new ‘season’ every fortnight bringing a fresh batch of challenges and events to complete, Forza Horizon 5 is the gorgeous gift that keeps on giving, and I can’t wait to see what Playground Games has in-store for the upcoming expansions.