5 best car games (not racing only) that you should play in 2025

As car enthusiasts, many of us think the concept of a “car game” is one where you need to compete in some way. This mostly means racing all sorts of vehicles such as supercars, SUVs or anything in between, but what about car games where you do not race cars? Some driving games provide you with the ability to customise, create, repair and drive cars, but racing them is not the main (or sometimes even any) part of the gaming experience. So hop right into the driver’s (or mechanic’s) seat and read about the 5 best car games (not racing) you should play in 2025!

Best car games (not racing) you should try out

5. Car Manufacture

In Car Manufacture, you are in charge of the process, from sourcing parts to paint and QC. Image Source: Stereo Games

As its name suggests, this game is all about manufacturing cars. I’ve personally sunk many hours into its relatively simple, tycoon-inspired gameplay, and it has mostly been a good time. The essence is this: you’ve got a plot of land and are starting your own car brand. From there, you select the logo, the name, and then proceed to research models, assemble them on the assembly lines and sell them in your car dealership, all conveniently located in the same plot.

The main downsides to this game are the abundance of bugs and somewhat poor pathfinding for the AI, but the joy you get from stacking the lot with cars you’ve made in your own little factory really is unlike anything else.

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4. Car Mechanic Simulator

Car Mechanic Simulator has a wide selection of cars, ranging from modern supercars to classics such as the Jaguar XJ. Image Source: Red Dot Games

One of the more well-known games on this list, Car Mechanic Simulator has been around for quite some time. The game puts you in the shoes of a car mechanic in a similar manner to dozens of other simulator games, and allows you to disassemble, repair and test out various real-world and fictional cars. This requires you to change oil, wheels, and tyres, perform deep repairs on engines and drivetrains, and then go to a test track to see whether the repairs fixed the problem. With more than 14,000 reviews on Steam, it’s one of the most popular games in the “simulator” genre, and also one of the best car games (not racing, of course).

Since its release, the game has seen steady updates and now has an impressive five main editions with dozens of DLCs, including real-world brands such as Nissan, Bentley, BMW and Maserati. The game features more than 300 separate possible repairs, and has been a cult hit since its release more than a decade ago. The latest edition in the series, Car Mechanic Simulator 2021, has been around since 2020, but a new edition is in development and should be available before the end of 2025.

3. Automation – The Car Company Tycoon Game

Automation allows you to design your own engine, for better or worse. Image Source: Camshaft Software

A much more in-depth take on the tycoon genre, Automation has also been around for more than a decade, and has been a fan favourite ever since. The game tasks you with building a car brand from scratch, but its approach is much more engineering-first than the other games on this list. Automation takes pride in allowing you almost infinite options regarding engines, drivetrains and bodies, which means that you can effectively create just about any type of car you’d like. 2-litre V12? A diabolically turbocharged inline 4 with 7 litres? Whatever you can imagine, you’ll probably be able to make.

So yeah, you can create engines, change their sizes and customise performance, and probably make them blow up in the process. For many of us, this will be the closest we’ll ever get to actually working in a real-world car brand, so you should make the most out of the experience.

Automation also has an interesting connection to BeamNG, allowing you to race the vehicles you’ve created in Automation inside BeamNG, together with its impressive physics system and handling. Truly a car lover’s dream come true.

2. Apex Point

Apex Point is incredibly detailed inside and out. Image Source: Apex Studio

Apex Point is one of the games that you might just miss if you’re not deep into the genre of weird car games. For me, it’s very similar to another cult hit, Street Legal Racing: Redline, which is a game I’ve spent dozens of hours in during my childhood. The basics of Apex Point are simple: you customise cars to race them, but the majority of the game is actually based around the process of customisation, with the racing part being slightly lacking. This is more a story of taking something, fixing it up and being proud of it than racing itself.

What makes it interesting is that you have an impressive array of customisation to play with. You can change bumpers, wheels, doors, even interior items such as wheels and seats, fix engines, swap them, enhance their performance by changing out just a couple of parts and then take the car to the dyno to see what happens.

It’s the ultimate playground for a car lover, especially one interested in JDM vehicles. Oh, and I didn’t mention that you start with a Kei truck?

1. Motor Town: Behind the Wheel

While cartoony in looks, driving around in Motor Town is incredibly fun. Image Source: P3 Games

In the world of racing and car games, Motor Town is everything and nothing like the others. A game featuring interesting graphics and appearance would have you think that it’s a laid-back casual game with vehicles, but it has layers so deep that it dwarfs some of the more famous games in the genre. Motor Town is at the same time an RPG, a racing game, a drift game, an MMO and sandbox, and a game that allows you to have a job.

The game features a robust realism system, which includes day and night cycles, jobs that you can do, such as driving a bus or a garbage truck, very good vehicle physics, a fuel system and more. It also allows you to get out of the car and walk around, and lets you tailor what you want to do in a way that not many other games have achieved. For example, you can decide to be a taxi driver, and all of your fares will contribute to that career path. You’ll level up and become an experienced taxi driver, which allows for upgrades and unlocks along the way.

Featured Image Source: Apex Studio