Racing sims always shine when the cars you’re driving around feel authentic to handle. But when the tracks look so immersive they could be real, and the entire experience focused on getting you out of the game’s menus and onto the tarmac as quickly as possible, you get Rennsport. What’s more, its vehicles handle brilliantly once you get a grip on handling them right.
Diving into the game, I was met with a no-nonsense opening bunch of menus that allowed me to choose between driving profiles that reflected my proficiency at racing titles. I tried them all out, and if you’re a casual racing player, I’d recommend picking all of the assists and an easier difficulty setting. You’re still going to be hard-pressed at keeping your wheels on the road even then.
“Even a single error could cost you positions, with the game being as unforgiving to its drivers just like the real thing.”
That’s because Rennsport has made its selection of cars feel as close as they can be to the real thing. Getting behind the wheel of an Audi R8 and putting the pedal to the floor gave me a satisfying burst of speed as I thundered down Hockenheimring. But at the first corner, I soon found that the game is about coaxing as much performance as you can out of your vehicle with precise turns and well-timed braking.
Turning on the racing line assist is a great option for casual players, allowing them to gauge distance better and hit those challenging turns and corners at a speed that let them retain control of their vehicle as they work hard to get an edge. Even a single error could cost you positions, with the game being as unforgiving to its drivers just like the real thing.
I found myself constantly being warned about cancelled laps when I attempted to get away with a badly judged turn, and incident points get slapped on to you in the event of a collision with another driver. The AI drivers are quite good at staying ahead and keeping you on your toes, but they can be unrealistically aggressive at times.
Each season is structured like the real thing, with separate sessions for Practice, Qualifying, and the main race. The game doesn’t hesitate to throw the rule book at you either, with flags, penalties, and track limits enforced quite strictly, as they should be in a racing sim that’s aiming for accuracy and immersion.
“Every car on offer behaves differently on the track, and learning how to get the best out of each one is part of Rennsport’s fun.”
Online, you could jump into a race quite quickly with the matchmaking working well to find me and a couple of fellow racers. I’d expect it to be much better once the game gets a bit of traction. There are also scheduled events that you can join provided you have the right car unlocked. Overall, the selection of modes to play is among Rennsport’s strengths. You’re never far from your next race, with clean and crystal clear menus making navigating the game’s UI a breeze.
Once you’re in a race, the next few minutes are going to have you absolutely tuned in, with very immersive visuals and audio. Every car looks detailed and stands out with striking decals, which you can change once you start unlocking them.
Every car on offer behaves differently on the track, and learning how to get the best out of each one is part of Rennsport’s fun. With the option to do solo time trials on tracks of your choice, you could master each one in the car of your liking before testing your mettle against your fellow racers either online or through the time trial leaderboards. And with the game being as punishing as it is towards mistakes on the track, you’d do well to take the time to practice before you get to racing.
Standard across cars is a physics system that lends each one its own weight, momentum, and grip limits. That means that each one reacts differently to braking too late or attempting turns outside of a reasonable speed, and your cars either oversteer or understeer wildly and send you crashing into the fence while you’re penalized (and rightfully so) for driving off the track.
“Perhaps I’m nitpicking but I do think that there could have been more variety in the haptic feedback I was getting from different surfaces.”
Damage simulation adds a welcome layer of realism to the experience, but it’s not as consistent as it should be. I had moments where a particularly hard crash ripped the spoiler clean off my car and left the boot open for the rest of the race, yet similar impacts on other cars resulted in little to no visible damage.
That inconsistency aside, damaging your car on easier settings generally doesn’t affect its racing performance all that much, though I did have one incident in a BMW hybrid that left me stranded on the track and forced to restart the event. While the lower difficulties tend to shield you from these variables, the damage model ramps up noticeably at higher settings.
That essentially translates to hours spent running laps around tracks in the car you’re about to race, becoming one with the machine while committing every turn and corner to muscle memory so you have a chance at getting ahead in an actual race. This makes Rennsport a racing sim geared towards pro players, its esports ambitions being well-known at this point.
However, given that this is a simulator, it could have used a bit more life at every track, and the lack of crowds and race-day atmosphere feels like a distinct omission. Another area where I believe the game was lacking is in the way different track surfaces felt in terms of the response I was getting from my controller. Perhaps I’m nitpicking but I do think that there could have been more variety in the haptic feedback I was getting from different surfaces.
“Among the cars, I found that the Mercedes AMG GT3 2020 and the Praga R1 were perfect for my tastes.”
For casual racers, there’s still a lot to like if you’re looking to get a racing sim that does its job and does it well. Of course, it’s best enjoyed with friends as you veer off the tracks in glorious displays of reckless driving, the game’s physics engine wondering what to do with a driver that attempts to take corners at their car’s top speed.
With compatibility for a variety of controller setups and easily accessible options for driving-focused peripherals, Rennsport could be a decent addition to your library if you like your racing games to feel as close as possible to real-world cars. That said, the single-player career mode is a bit of a letdown, it’s more of a simple ladder where you start as a rookie and work your way up to Pro, and it never quite feels as fleshed-out as it should.
Rennsport definitely benefits from its performance, which was excellent on the PS5 as I tore down a straight, the road immediately picking up marks from my tires as I frantically braked to ensure I was, quite literally, staying on track. It’s very immersive and I did find myself staring at the scenery instead of keeping my eyes on the road. On the base PS5, the Dualsense’s haptics rumbled along as I pushed my tires to their limits, or anytime I shifted gears.
Among the cars, I found that the Mercedes AMG GT3 2020 and the Praga R1 were perfect for my tastes. The Pragda, in particular, was the one that appealed the most to me, accelerating out of corners like a missile while its braking and handling at sharper turns allowed me to take risks I wouldn’t have even thought about with another car.
“The standard version only includes 17 cars and 13 tracks, and it’s unclear how additional content will be delivered in the future.”
You’re likely to find a different pair of favorites if you decide to pick up Rennsport considering how each car felt distinctly different on the track. Speaking of tracks, there’s 13 tracks and 15 layouts with some very big names to be found among them.
Coupled with the game’s solid performance, this made the entire racing experience very good and this one’s easy to recommend to racing fans who take a professional approach to their time behind the wheel. With a plethora of options to customize your experience and the manner in which your car responds to your commands, Rennsport takes its racing as seriously as it can for a title from a brand new studio.
But if your interest in racing is to just floor it and hope for the best, this isn’t the game for you. Its learning curve is quite steep, requiring hours of focus and practice before you get some momentum. Like with learning music, you don’t just practice till you get it right in Rennsport. You practice till you can’t get it wrong. If that sounds tedious to you, give this one a pass.
“Rennsport has no illusions about what kind of game it is. It’s aimed squarely at pro racers and does everything it can to earn their respect.”
All of it sounds really good, until the game makes two big blunders. There’s an in-game store where you can buy cosmetic liveries, which some players might be fine with, but then you discover that certain content is locked behind the Deluxe Edition, like Nordschleife x Porsche 911 GT3 R. That’s pretty disappointing, because paywalling playable content behind special editions always leaves a bad taste. The second blunder is the lack of content: the standard version only includes 17 cars and 13 tracks, and it’s unclear how additional content will be delivered in the future.
Rennsport has no illusions about what kind of game it is. It’s aimed squarely at pro racers and does everything it can to earn their respect. However, it stumbles in enough areas that it can’t quite stand alongside the likes of Gran Turismo just yet. Whether those issues will be addressed remains to be seen, but for now, Rennsport is a decent racer with some notable caveats.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
