Most years, when looking around at the best sports and racing games of the year, the list is dominated by annual releases, partly because they are sometimes the only sports and racing games to hit shelves in the last twelve months. Our list for 2024's best sports and racing games can certainly be defined by that, but 2025 is a different beast.
In fact, 2025 was a standout year for sports games and racing games, the likes of which we're not used to seeing. With that said, let's dig into our top picks for 2025. Oh, and don't forget to vote for your own favorite game in the poll at the end of the article!
Other Best Games of 2025 per Category: Fighting Games, Role-Playing Games, Horror Games, Platformers, Indie Games, Action, DLC/Expansion, Shooter Games, Adventure Games, Multiplayer Games, Strategy & Simulation Games, Best Games
Mario Kart World (8.5/10)
The first brand-new Mario Kart game since Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U, Mario Kart World was an expansive return for the franchise and the major first-party Nintendo launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2. It brought the series out of its tried-and-true racing formula and put players into a vast open world, littered with collectibles for players to find, mini-challenges, and the chance to just drive over to every track included in the game.
Grand Prix race tracks are connected with long-winding roads, rather than the game cutting to a loading screen and lining up all of the cars at the starting track. You could now also control your vehicle like it's a Tony Hawk game, with grindrails and tricks impacting gameplay to such a degree that we've seen shortcut clips that would've previously only been possible by actually glitching through the game.
All of that sounds great, and for the most part, it is, but the big question around it was whether it was worth $80 or not, as Mario Kart World was also the first Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive title to bump up game prices by another $10.
While only you can decided for yourself if a game is worth the price of admission, Wccftech's Nathan Birch summarizes the game quite well in his review, writing, "Mario Kart World is a bold and ambitious new entry in the world’s most popular racing franchise, delivering smartly updated mechanics, a collection of gorgeous courses, and an open world that impresses with its scope and variety. Admittedly, the game doesn’t quite manage to eclipse the giant that is Mario Kart 8 and some classic modes don’t mesh perfectly with the new sandbox approach, but there’s no denying Mario Kart World gets the Switch 2 off to a peppy start."
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 (8.5/10)
Speaking of doing tricks like Tony Hawk, 2025 also saw Activision round out the remasters of the first four Tony Hawk Pro Skater games with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, though this time it was Iron Galaxy at the helm of its development, after Vicarious Visions was swallowed up by Blizzard.
Though it's not exactly the straightforward remaster/remake in the same way that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 was, due to how much about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 was changed, it is still able to capture the fun of those skating games and provide more than a solid escape for anyone wanting to revisit those titles.
As I said in my review, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 is a successful remaster for anyone wanting to shut out the world and grind away your problems for a while, and remember simpler times. The classic Tony Hawk gameplay only seems to have gotten better with age, and the custom parks are sure to keep you skating for hours after you've washed the career mode. Even though it's not a faithful remaster of THPS 4, and your mileage may vary on the soundtrack, any fan of the series would do themselves a disservice to skip out on grabbing this remaster bundle."
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (8/10)
Yet another kart racer on the list, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds arrived later in the year to try and give Mario Kart World a run for its money. Depending on who you ask, it did exactly that, as it is an incredibly fast game stuffed to the brim with character collaborations and the kind of structure kart racing fans are more used to seeing.
While Mario Kart World looked to try something new, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds went for tried-and-true methods and tried to polish them to a near-perfect shine. It may not have perfectly hit its mark, but it at the very least brushed Mario Kart in a way that Nintendo would do well to remember. Because the next time a Sonic game and a Mario Kart game go head-to-head, the plumber's reign may just be toppled by a blue blur.
Nathan Birch's review summarized how close Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds gets perfectly, writing, "Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a solid alternative to other games in the mascot-racer space, offering speedy, stripped-down action, a few clever twists, and perhaps most importantly for some folks, courses that feel more like those in Mario Kart 8 than the less universally-beloved Mario Kart World. A general lack of content and originality keeps CrossWorlds from fully breaking away from the pack, but it’s at least in striking distance of the winner’s circle."
F1 25 (8/10)
The only annualized sports game in our top five list, F1 25 (which won't actually count as an annualized release next year since EA and Codemasters are skipping F1 26), is able to inch into the list on the back of its established formula and known pedigree.
EA and Codemasters would have to actively sabotage the game at this point to turn out a bad one, and while it's a more than fair criticism to point out how little each new installment improves on the last when they are pumped out on a yearly basis, that doesn't diminish the overall quality on display.
As Wccftech's Chris Wray puts it in his review, "F1 25 is a good game, make no mistake about that. With a near flawless presentation, improved my team mode, and additional features, there's a lot to do. There are a few pitfalls here and there, but nothing that takes away from what is another genuinely good release by Codemasters."
Rematch (7.5/10)
The one entry on the list that isn't about what you can do on four wheels, Rematch, was a breath of fresh air in terms of the kinds of football games we're accustomed to. Sifu developer Sloclap took its experience in making extremely detailed, well-animated physical bodies that move with precision, and adapted that to a 3v3, 4v4, and 5v5 arcade football game that plays like someone having the idea of taking the cars out of Rocket League and shrinking the ball down to the size a human would need.
Its launch was unfortunately marred by technical issues, matchmaking problems, and a lack of cross-play that was not announced until hours before the game would actually release. It has improved on all of those fronts, with full cross-play support now included and several bug-fixing updates having been pushed.
But it's unfortunate that these issues, along with a few issues with the UI/UX, caused it to stumble from the start, because outside of those problems, Rematch is arguably one of the best sports games to hit the market in years.
As I wrote in my review, "Rematch is arguably the best sports game I've played in years, and that comes down to the air-tight mechanics at the core of its gameplay, and how good it feels to dribble, make a pass, take a shot, or make a save - all of which wonderfully balances its 3v3, 4v4, and 5v5 game modes. It's tackled at the knees by everything around that core gameplay, from its poor UI/UX menu design, to its uninspired visual style and the fact that it currently lacks any offline game modes, and, at least at launch, the several networking issues and bugs that plague the experience."
Honourable Mentions
The five games above are our top picks for the year overall, but there are still a few games worth mentioning that didn't make the cut. If you're a fan of sports and racing games, you would do well to check out these games, too.
- Kirby Air Riders
- EA Sports FC 26
- WWE 2K25
- NBA 2K26
- MLB The Show 25
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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