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Are you looking to develop a racing game? If yes, then you might have wondered, “I want to develop a racing game, but how much will it cost, and what features do I have to add?” so many times, right? These are the most common questions that come straight into the mind when venturing into such the biggest competitive gaming genre.
Racing games are one of the biggest game genres in the gaming industry, with millions of dedicated players emerging in the heart-pounding experience. According to Market Research Future, the market size of racing games was valued at $2.17 billion and is projected to reach $6.9 billion in the forecast period of 2024 to 2032 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2%.
This extensive surge has led many gaming businesses to enter the racing game genre industry. Companies like Electronic Arts Inc., Motorsport Games Inc., and Codemasters, Gameloft are some of the best in the racing game field and have developed amazing racing games for every platform.
So, if you have also been inspired by them and want to develop a racing game that leaves a long-lasting impression on your audience, you must understand the core of the racing game development process. You will need to consider investment and features to include. Everything is important, from small details like game vision to developing core mechanics of the racing game. Read on to learn more about racing game development, cost, and features.
𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗼 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲? 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗮 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲!
Racing games are a type of video game that involves the players controlling a vehicle and driving on the virtual road map either from a first-person or third-person perspective. Racing games offer a fast-driving experience in virtual settings. While many types of racing games are available, they all share one common goal: reaching the crossline first before anyone else.
The adrenaline rush of racing games is what makes it an exciting and popular gaming segment. There are many types of racing games, including arcade-style racing games, simulation racing, kart racing, and anti-gravity racing. The racing game genre involves 2D racing and 3D racing.
No matter how big and small your racing game is, developing one is always a thrilling undertaking that requires a blend of creativity, technical expertise, and a deep love for racing games. Let's dive into each step of the racing game development process and understand the complete procedure.
Conceptualize Your Game
The first thing you need to do after you get a grasp on your idea is set the groundwork for the type of racing game. Is it going to have a realistic simulation aspect or be a more arcade-style experience? What do you want? Race players on closed tracks, in open-world environments, both? —As a designer, really think about the core experience you want players to have because that will inform many of your decisions to come. Know your target market—are they casual gamers or racing junkies? That'll start to dictate the tone and pace of your game.
Choose the Right Game Engine
A game engine is a framework that game developers use to build the game and do all the work needed to keep the game running. Unreal Engine and Unity are popular for racing games. They also include an advanced graphics engine and built-in physics simulation / multiplayer.
Both are great all-rounders, but Unity has a shallower learning curve than Unreal Engine, and Unreal is better suited for projects featuring high-level graphics and performance. You can learn more about your game requirements, which will assist you in making the right choice of engine.
Track & Environments Design
Any racing game is all about the environment. The realism and feel of their tracks can make or break a player's experience. Be it circuit racing or open-world racing, try to build an attractive and engaging world. Real-world locations or imaginative designs are by no means unnecessary, but players should really feel a sense of speed, danger, and immersion.
Make sure to detail the terrain, light, and weather effects, along with environmental interaction (e.g., destructible objects or dynamic road surface changes).
Create an Engaging User Interface (UI)
The user interface is not simply menus and buttons. It's the entranceway to the experience of your game. Game systems where players select cars and upgrade parts to fit their style of driving or desire to win and choose tracks should all have simple navigation to present which systems are currently in play.
No distractions, just a clean, responsive, full-screen UI, so they can focus on the action instead of getting lost in confusing menus. They are core game design principles that play crucial role in your game development success. Finally, we can help players challenge their friends to beat their best time, add race timers and lap counters, and create leaderboards to encourage players.
Refine the Physics and Handling
In a racing game, the car handling must be realistic. How the car behaves, responds to input, and interacts with the environment can mean the difference between a fun, engaging experience or a frustrating one — what we call the physics of.
Make and improve a physics engine that allows for many different types of driving styles, from drifting to off-road handling. The racing mechanics must also be reasonably intuitive for new players and deep enough for racing gamers to enjoy.
Incorporate Multiplayer Elements
Multiplayer is a big part of a modern racing game experience. Whether you're facilitating local split-screen racing or building a fully online competitive environment, think about how players will interact with other players.
Consider adding low-budget options such as online leaderboards, matchmaking, and multiplayer tournaments for a more engaging experience. Such features not only allow the game to be played more than once but can also increase its continued popularity.
Focus on Sound and Music
Sound is an underappreciated but important part of the racing experience. The engines roar, tires squeal and winds whip past, which all adds to the sense of immersion.
Hire sound designers who can reproduce realistic audio cues and back the frenetic action with a pulsating, heart-racing score.
Test, Iterate, and Polish
Once your game works, it's time to test it. Bug spotting, user experience assessment, and game balancing. Feedback on your game from various player demographics (novices vs. veterans or casual racers vs. hardcore racers) differs, and in turn, it's okay if the path to making the game better changes as well.
This step helps you figure out whether you need to adjust gameplay mechanics, improve or tweak the graphics, or otherwise fine-tune the user interface. It aims to deliver a slick, refined experience that's enjoyable and challenging right through, in both directions, for pretty much every kind of player.
So, racing games aren't just high-speed excitement — they represent a wonderful possibility for business, especially for those who want to get in on the lucrative gaming industry. If you are thinking of creating a racing game but are not sure about its advantages or how this game can contribute to the success of your business, so here is why it will be a good choice for you.
Establishing a Brand Identity
Developing racing games can be a strong segment for brand recognition. They offer an effective way to include your brand, products, or services in an organic and interactive way.
A racing game can provide subtle and effective brand exposure, whether it be via sponsored in-game content, branded cars, or custom-designed tracks. This can lead to increased customer loyalty, particularly when players are regularly interacting with your brand in a fun, immersive environment.
Highly Engaged Community
Gamers are among the most dedicated consumers in any entertainment business. Taming racing games, in general, however, make players keep coming back for another round due to their excitement and challenge. This loyalty is key to incentivizing long-term revenue streams, whether that is in-game purchases or premium content.
A well-structured racing game not only serves just to fulfill players' gaming desires but also entices players to keep coming back for more, for good quality time, social interaction, online competition, and tournaments. These all feed into a dynamic, engaged community — a boon for any gaming business serving them.
Expanding Market Reach
There is an undeniable global appeal to racing games. From more casual mobile players to accessible console gamers, racing games have broad appeal. By providing the right features, you can open the door to new markets and expand your player base far beyond your intended audience.
By the way, racing games are adaptable for different platforms — mobile, PC, console — so your game can penetrate several markets without being limited by hardware. This wide range of availability opens up your game to more revenue streams and gives your game greater success.
Leveraging Data for Continuous Improvement
Perhaps one of the most important functions a racing game can serve is collecting data on how players use it. Utilizing Data, from metagame analytics to monetization, player data is your best ally in improving the player experience and, ultimately, the game itself.
If you observe that players frequently quit a race after a certain point in the race, you can change the difficulty or alter the game's flow to prevent them from bailing.
The recipe for repeat play in the subsequent development of games-as-a-product is gradual change and improvement, an important part of keeping players interested and ensuring high-revenue periods over extended periods.
Current Trends and Integration
With gaming constantly evolving, racing games are finding their way into trends such as Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and cloud gaming.
If you have a good vision for contemporary gaming technologies, they provide new ways of engaging, more immersive player experiences, ultimately future-proofing your game.
This allows for unique user experiences that you can take advantage of with your racing game with this race-based innovation — as racing games, with their iconic fast-paced action and realistic simulations, are designed perfectly for this.
Developing a racing game that stands out requires meticulous attention to several key features. Features are the utmost component of the game creation process, which has a direct impact on the user experience and overall success of the game. Below are some essential features of a common racing game.
Realistic Physics and Handling
The top-tier racing game offers realistic physics that ensures that vehicle mechanics behave and respond naturally to player inputs, creating a more immersive and enjoyable experience.
Realistic Graphics
Graphics play a vital role in the appeal of racing games. From stunning realistic cars to tracks and environments, it draws an immersive gaming experience. With realistic graphics, players feel like they are actually driving the cars.
Wide Variety of Cars
This is an essential feature that makes a racing game more engaging. Racing games feature a wide array of licensed or unlicensed real-life cars like Lamborghini, Porsche, Corvette, etc., and cater to diverse players' preferences.
Variations in Maps
From street cities to desert landscapes, top racing games feature various maps or tracks to race on, adding extra layers of fun, engagement, and challenge to the game.
Customization Options
Many racing games offer customization options that are essential for an engaging gameplay experience. This allows players to modify their vehicles, improve performance, and enhance visuals with paints, body kits, and alloys to create a unique look for their cars.
Multiplayer Mode
The multiplayer mode takes players to a whole new racing experience where they can race against other online players from all around the world, adds a competitive edge to the game, and makes it more exciting.
Social Features
Social features such as leaderboards, online tournaments, and sharing options enable players to showcase their hard-core achievements and connect with other racing game enthusiasts.
Daily Missions
A common yet captivating feature, daily missions keep players intact with the game on a regular basis and coming back for more. Daily missions can be like completing the lap time within a time limit, drifting for (xx) meters/distance, etc., adding a sense of constant connectivity and rewarding elements.
Before you get an idea of how much racing game development costs, it's primarily important to understand the factors that play a huge role in affecting the development budget. Let's discuss those factors.
Complexity and Scope of Game
The more complex the design of your game, the more cost it will require to develop it. Think of it like building a small house with a simple structure costs less than a highly complex and big house. It's the same math with racing game development cost estimation.
When a racing game has a larger map and various tracks and is more complex, it takes longer to develop. Instead of just a few developers, you might need different game developers and designers with different sets of skills for game design, visual appeal enhancement, UI/UX design, sound design, animation, etc.
It's important to note that while more complexity and scope of the game can lead to higher costs, this factor isn't always linear.
In some cases, a small increment in complexity can also lead to disproportionate jumps in cost. For instance, adding multiplayer functionality, which was originally conceived as a single-player, can have far-reaching implications for networking infrastructure, server cost, and further support.
Game Type
There are various types of racing games, including 2D, 3D, mobile, pc, and console. Each type of game significantly requires different resources. For instance, 2D racing games are generally less costly as compared to 3D racing games. Furthermore, the cost of mobile racing game development will be less compared to both PC and Console games as mobile platforms require smaller development teams and fewer resources.
Mobile games, particularly, are less expensive to produce due to their simpler graphics and gameplay mechanics. In contrast, PC and Console demand higher development costs and resources to meet expectations of superior-level graphics, realistic physics, and more intricate systems.
In essence, your racing game type sets the stage for many other budget-related decisions. It gradually affects the size of the development team needed, the timeline of the development process, the technology required, and even the marketing strategies.
Team Size & Geographical Location
The racing game development team size directly correlates with labor cost, which is often considered the largest portion of a game's development budget. Working with larger teams while capable of handling more complex tasks and reducing development timelines inevitably leads to higher payroll expenses.
Working with an in-house development team not only includes salaries but also benefits, equipment, and workspace costs. Oppositely, smaller development teams may reduce the costs but could extend the timeline or limit the project scope.
Additionally, hiring an outsourced game development studio varies dramatically across various regions and countries. Game developers in regions like Western Europe, North America, and some parts of East Asia (Japan and South Korea) demand higher payouts due to quality experience. You'd have to pay less if you hire developers from India, China, Brazil, and other Asian countries, making them a cost-effective partner.
Below is a table showcasing the pricing structure of different regions and countries racing game developers:
Game Development Engine
Nowadays, game developers mostly prefer game engines to develop games rather than investing their time in coding each part. Unreal, Unity, Godot, Robolx, and HTML each have different capabilities that allow developers to maximize their creativity without limitations. Each game development engine varies in licensing models. For example, Unity is an open-source tool that takes a percentage of revenue for successful projects.
Conversely, Unreal Engine is also free but requires a 5% royalty on gross revenue above a certain threshold. Game engines that support cross-platform game development, like Unity and Unreal Engine, can significantly reduce the overall development cost. Game creation engines with a wide array of built-in tools (e.g., animation systems, physics engines, and asset management) can significantly speed up the process of development and reduce third-party tools.
Apart from these factors, there are others as well that you have to take into account. Many other factors like development efficiency, asset creation, and management, tools and features, and platform optimization play a vital role in influencing the development cost.
Estimating the cost of racing game development is not possible unless the core requirements are discussed with the game development company. Developing a simple racing game using the most common technologies like HTML, C#, etc., can cost you around $5,000 to $8,000, or maybe not even that if you develop them all by yourself.
Moreover, the cost of developing a mid-level racing game can range from $30,000 to $80,000 for a single platform. The more complex racing game with high-end graphics and realistic physics can raise the cost from $80,000 to billions.
The cost figure is not solely dependent on complexity or level; there are several factors that we explored in the above section that play a significant role in influencing the overall cost of racing game development.
Racing games are played across all types of devices, including mobile, PC, and console. Mobile racing games are much more handy than PC and console games, but the experience is limited. For instance, you can only control on-screen controls (tapping the right button to turn right and tapping the left to turn left, and the same for other buttons). Moreover, the customization in controls is also limited, and graphics and real-life car driving physics are also not realistic. Here is a cost breakdown of racing game development according to platforms:
Mobile Racing Game Development Cost
A mobile game development cost is less compared to PC and Console as the development process requires fewer resources and shorter timelines. Here’s a brief of the breakdown:
If you need a native game that runs on only one platform (Android or iOS), the cost will differ in amount. There are several factors, like device fragmentation, development tools and environment, programming languages, testing app stores, etc., that may influence the cost.
The cost of developing an Android racing game may be slightly lower, with larger user potential, than iOS, which could lead to higher revenue flow. The choice between platforms (or developing for both platforms) often depends on the target audience, your budget, and the long-term vision of the project.
PC and Console Racing Game Development Cost
PC game development is much higher than mobile game development due to proprietary tools usage, licensing, dedicated teams, development environment, higher timeline, etc. However, the cost of developing Console games is also similar to that of PCs. They have higher graphic fidelity, more intricate gameplay mechanics, and larger scope.
In addition to dissimilarities, console systems are way too different from PC systems. Unlike PC, where each part is changeable and upgradable, Consoles are like a one-time build, and then no changes can be made, and no upgrades can be applied. Consoles appeal only to mainstream audiences and feature exclusive titles that drive console sales.
On the other hand, PC versions of games cater to much wider audiences and are primarily distributed through physical copies and digital versions across various game distribution platforms like Steam, Epic Games, and Ubisoft.
Now, let’s look at the basic PC and Console game development cost estimation:
You can also consider cross-platform game development to develop and release the game for both PC and Console platforms simultaneously. It will save too much cost, attract wider audiences, and gradually increase the overall return on investment.
The cost of your racing game development is also influenced by the type of game you’ve planned to develop (2D, 3D, or AAA version). Each variant has its own complexities, which impacts the overall development process. Let’s understand them clearly.
2D Racing Game Development Cost
2D games are simply not so complex. They don't require any major technologies and resources. 2D game development often takes less budget and less time in releasing. They typically take 4 to 7 months to fully develop. You may or may not need to hire 2D game developers and designers, having skills in HTML, C#, etc.
3D Racing Game Development Cost
3D games take space between indie games and AAA game titles in the video game industry. These projects often have moderate complexities, budget, and team size, allowing more balance of creative risks while delivering a polished experience.
3D racing games often focus on chosen niches within the racing genre, catering to dedicated audience bases rather than aiming for broader-market appeal. This approach enables game developers to try out their creativity to create innovative gameplay mechanics, realistic physics engines, or unique game art styles.
The basic 3D racing game development budget estimation comes around:
Mid-tier 3D racing games often find success through digital distribution platforms, which allow them to reach global audiences without the high costs associated with physical retail distribution. This also allows for ongoing updates and expansions post-launch.
AAA Racing Game Development Cost
AAA racing game titles are a massive undertaking and typically take 3 to 6+ years, involving an extensive team of highly skilled experts at various stages.
If you are thinking of working with an outsourced development team, you may need a comprehensive team from project handler to QA. The basic team composition is as follows:
Even for building a basic-level AAA title racing game, you may require at least 20 to 35 resources and a 1 to 1.5-year timeline. If you are thinking about developing the most popular multiplayer and non-multiplayer segments like Forza Horizon 4 or 5, Need for Speed titles, or The Crew Motorsport, they require a dedicated team of about 100+ and usually take around 3 to 8 years to fully develop.
Here is a simple AAA racing game development cost breakdown:
When it comes to racing game development, Orion InfoSolutions stands out as a premier choice. With over 10 years of experience and a portfolio boasting more than 2,600 successfully delivered projects, we have established ourselves as a leading mobile game development company in India, the USA, the UK, and the UAE.
Our team specializes in crafting immersive 2D and 3D racing games across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, and PC. We leverage the latest technologies to ensure high-quality graphics and engaging gameplay that captivate players.
At Orion InfoSolutions, we understand the dynamic nature of the gaming industry and work closely with our clients to bring their unique visions to life. Our commitment to excellence and timely delivery makes us a trusted partner in the game development landscape.
Choose Orion InfoSolutions for your racing game development needs, and let's create an exhilarating gaming experience together.
Building a racing game balances exciting gameplay with a high-stakes game for developers. From understanding the explosive growth of the market to envisaging and designing your title, it’s very clear that success is driven by attention to detail and strategic decision-making.
Choosing the appropriate game engine, tweaking realistic physics, and designing exciting multiplayer experiences can all result in a title that could if done well, attract a worldwide audience with high retention.
Costs vary widely. It has a totally different price point than an AAA console title, like a simple 2D mobile game. A well-planned process will help you align your vision with your budget.
By emphasizing these selling points and adding significant attributes like lifelike graphics, rich customization, and seamless user interfaces, your game will live up to the expectations of the players. Such an approach guarantees that in one of the most competitive and rapidly expanding markets there is, your racing game will stand out.
That’s all in the blog. Thanks for reading 🙂
DC Kumawat is the CEO of Orion InfoSolutions, a leading provider of IT solutions to businesses of all sizes. He has over 14+ years of experience in the IT industry. He is a passionate advocate for the use of technology to improve business performance.