As for DriveClub (which is leading the poll right now) the bummer with that is it's discontinued so I'm leaning more towards the current crop.
Driveclub is no more discontinued than Project CARS, functionally speaking. I mean, Evo Studios was closed, but the game did receive an update after that. PCARS (especially the GOTY version) doesn't look like it'll receive any more updates if you bought it tomorrow.
I'll never really understand all the hype surrounding Driveclub. It's pretty — very much so — but it had such a terrible launch that it made GT6 look complete and well-rounded in terms of Day One status. The Season Pass was very good value — but I can't shake the feeling that was largely because of how crap the base game was.
I'm sure this'll be a controversial stance too, but I don't think the DLC was as mind-blowingly superlative as others seem to, either. Cars worked out to be roughly $1 each in packs: pretty average for the genre until very recently. Yes, the Season Pass made them cheaper — just like it does for any other game, really. The two most impressive things about the DLC was that Evo extended its coverage (though again, that may have been because of how poor the original package was), and that each pack included new events specifically for the new content. Now
that's something more racing games should do.
That said, at its current discount price, Driveclub is sort of in a class of one in terms of less-simmy racers on the PS4. It isn't particularly deep, but it is quite satisfying.
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Assetto Corsa, as much as it may be touted otherwise, is (almost) a wheel-only game (but not as much as PCARS). "Game" is almost generous, too: it's a fantastic sim, but there's very little you can do outside of hot-lapping. Having any number of cars on the track will mangle the frame rate, and the limited number of tracks will possibly bother you more than the (seemingly) truncated car list. Online racing is an utter crap-shoot. The console game support makes it feel like an after-thought compared to the PC.
But, when it works, it's fantastic. It will make you question how you considered GT a realistic simulation. I'm also cautiously optimistic 2017 will be very good to the game, as Kunos could find its feet in the murky console waters and really mature the game. If you were going to get two games, I think this and Driveclub would complement each other nicely, both covering some traditional GT strong points.
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DiRT Rally is easily the most enjoyable one to me. It's very narrow-focus though (duh), so you may find that limiting if you're only planning on picking up one. I don't remember the last time I've been so intensely focused in a driving game. It makes even the low-power cars exciting, which is some feat. If you find yourself playing racing games more as a way to improve yourself against the clock, there's few games I'd recommend more highly. Just wonderful.
It's a shame Codies didn't really support it on consoles with any DLC, but I really do hope all the positive buzz means it'll see a sequel in the near future.
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Project CARS is punishing on a pad. It can be buggy (though I've never had much problem with it). But if you want
racing, it demolishes AC and GT. It also has far and away the best track list out of the pack. I keep meaning to revisit it and give it a solid go... but I've got too many games as is.
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No experience with F1 2016, so can't comment. I imagine if you're worried about the narrow focus of DiRT Rally though, that an F1 game will have even less appeal.
AC with mods is reason enough to justify that.
