The Game Awards just released their extensive list of nominees for 2025, and the gaming sphere is buzzing with talks of well-deserved nods, some head-scratching choices, and some blatant snubs. Once such category I did a quick double take at myself was the list of Best Sports/Racing Game nominees.
In truth, I completely understand that not everything I like in a given year will always get nominated, and that’s okay. Typically, the games that get recognized are more than deserving in their own rights. Still, I’m a firm believer that if you’re arguing about something as a snub, then you need to be brave and mention which option you think should be taken off the list, too.
For me personally this year, that Sports/Racing game would be REMATCH. While I can applaud Sloclap for trying something different with their Rocket League-meets-football hybrid, I can’t say the game ultimately impressed me much (and our original review agreed).
I can understand the cases for the rest of the four nominated games in this category, but the following titles are all examples that I think deserved a nomination as the fifth represented Sports/Racing game.
10 Wheel World
I Want To Ride My Bicycle
Wheel World might seem like a bit of an odd-ball inclusion, but that’s really just because we’re so used to seeing the Sports/Racing category filled with hyper-realistic graphics, simulations, and ridiculous budgets. As an avid indie game fan, however, I’d be the first to tell you that the merits of the small, simpler titles can go a long way.
These days in the indie space, if you see that Annapurna Interactive is tied to a game as a publisher, then you’re typically in for a polished, artsy, high-quality treat in its own way. Wheel World is no different.
With beautiful cel-shaded graphics, this is a cycling game full of exciting racing, bike customization, and cycling spirits. No, it’s not as full-throttle as nominated racing games like F1 25 or even Mario Kart World, but it’s a delightful title that’s skirted under the radar in 2025.
9 WWE 2K25
You Can Smell The Spandex
No shade at wrestling fans at all, but I grew out of the sport after about second grade. Still, I actually, genuinely understand why people well beyond my years continue to be invested in the drama and high-flying action of professional wrestling in 2025.
By many metrics (including our own review), WWE 2K25 is arguably the best wresting game the world has gotten since the glory days around the Y2K era. That’s no small feat, and it was a little shocking this game didn’t get any sort of buzz in this category based on how well regarded it was.
Of course, it could be due to the fact the 2K sports games seem to be getting pretty infected with “optional” ways to continue spending extra money within them, led by the also noticeably absent NBA 2K26 is this year’s nominees. Still, WWE 2K25 isn’t as egregious an offender, and still put forth a high-quality wrestling product in 2025 that resonated with many.
8 Fast Fusion
Zero Fs
Take a poll with Nintendo Switch 2 early adopters around the world about their most obnoxiously missing franchise on the new system, and many would bow their heads in pain and mutter through their teeth, “F-Zero.” It’s been a long-time dormant franchise (aside from F-Zero 99), and fans are giving up hope that it’ll ever come back in any sort of meaningful way.
But it hopefully eased things a bit that Fast Fusion did come out as a Switch 2 exclusive this year, and it’s pretty dang cool. It might look and feel more Wipeout than F-Zero, but it’s still a more than solid sci-fi racer that turned out to be a decent showcase piece for the new console.
No, it doesn’t seem to have set the world on fire upon release, but it’s not like REMATCH really did either, since the game continues to plummet down the Steam charts.
7 PGA Tour 2K25
Chipping It Pin High
Unlike so many other big name sports franchises, PGA Tour 2K has never been an annualized, low-effort cash grab. Since the first 2K golf title came out in 2014 (then titled The Golf Club), only five other golf games have been released by 2K. The most recent of which, of course, is PGA Tour 2K25.
This extra time to cook allows 2K to release titles that feel more drastically different and improved compared to most other sports games simply feeling like $70 roster updates. In the opinion of most, the best golf sims on the market are now these 2K titles, so if any game in the sport would’ve gotten a TGA nod, it would’ve been this one.
As a golf fan myself, it was a bummer to see no representation on the nominee list this year. And sadly for 2K, they won’t get another crack at it for at least a couple of years if their release trend continues.
6 MotoGP 25
I Want To Ride My (Motorized) Bicycle
One of my personal new sporting obsessions in recent years has been Formula One, so I was more than pleased to see that F1 25 got a nod in this category. However, if we’re including F1, then we should probably take a look at MotoGP 25 as well.
Competitive superbike racing is a truly dastardly, thrilling, and terrifying sport, and MotoGP 25 does an awesome job at translating all of these feelings onto your home console of choice.
With nice career modes, gorgeous visuals, and iterated upon handling controls, we gave MotoGP 25 an 8 earlier this year, which would’ve put it in our own internal conversations for this TGA category.
The New (Old) Mascot Video Game
I love American football in real life, but I agree with our reviewer when it comes to the fact that the Madden franchise is in desperate need of a hard reset. Luckily for football gamers, NCAA finally returned last year after being absent from our lives for far too long.
While EA Sports College Football 26 didn’t feel as exciting in the moment compared to the bombastic return of the series with 25, it’s still the best American football game that was released this year regardless.
This game didn’t reinvent itself much from the previous title, but football is fun, and the game follows suit beautifully in this regard. Once again, this is one I enjoyed much more than some other nominees I’ve mentioned before.
4 NASCAR 25
Round And Round We Go
Like some other titles we’ve already mentioned, the NASCAR series of video games has gone through some weird seasons throughout its history. Before 2025, there hadn’t been an officially licensed NASCAR game since 2022. And even then, releases in recent years had begun to stray too far from what racing fans actually wanted, which was… well, racing.
The first branded title in the sport under the iRacing name, NASCAR 25 came back with a surprisingly awesome offering this year, and I think it should be commended for doing so. Our reviewer liked the experience a lot, and while it may still have some things to continue growing into and improving, the series finally seems to be in excellent hands.
In real life, I’m way more of an F1 enjoyer than NASCAR, but I still have got to say that it’s encouraging to see that the stock car fans finally have something to cheer about again in the gaming space.
3 MLB The Show 25
A Walk In The Park
Year after year, MLB The Show continues to prove itself as the highest quality annualized sports title on the market. Being of this opinion, I’m surprised to see that it wasn’t up for this TGA category in 2025.
No, it’s not doing much different from previous games in the franchise, but it’s still such a high-quality, polished, detailed, and fun sports title to be able to jump into on a yearly basis. While it might be boring for The Show to be up for an award in this category every year, it pretty much always deserves consideration.
My one far-too-specific complaint is that we still can’t set a custom fantasy draft order in an offline season in The Show 25, which is honestly a crime against humanity. As good as the game is, I can understand it not being nominated if this omission continues to irk the panel as much as it does me.
2 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4
No Canada
I don’t really know if this is supposed to be allowed, but I’m a die-hard THPS fan, as well as being someone that’s put more hours into Skate 2 and 3 than possibly any other games in existence. Still, as much as I have played and (mostly) enjoyed the new skate. this year, it wasn’t the Skate experience I was looking for.
Tony Hawk, however, is timeless. At least, these two remake collections of 1 + 2 and 3 + 4 have been. Growing up, THPS3 was always my all-time favorite, so getting to revisit places like Foundry, Canada, Airport, and Tokyo felt like a little bit of nostalgic magic for me in 2025. Though the dev teams switched hands between these two remakes, 3 + 4 still feels just as sharp and polished.
I understand and recognize the complaints about how THPS4 was handled here, particularly in regards to shoe-horning in a time limit to each stage when that didn’t exist in the OG. Still, we’re kidding ourselves if 3 + 4 isn’t better than some of the nominees in this category.
1 Cast n Chill
Idle Hands Are The Fisherman’s Playground
Rounding out the list of TGA Sports/Racing game snubs is Cast n Chill, a game that very obviously looks massively different from a typical nominee in this category, which is precisely why it should’ve been considered. And frankly, many other critics this year agreed.
Of all five games nominated in this category, Mario Kart World sits at the highest aggregate review score on OpenCritic with an impressive 87. Well, what if I told you that Cast n Chill scored the exact same 87 as well? Sure, it obviously had fewer outlets covering it upon release, but the fact remains that it’s clearly a title that wins players over if they’re willing to sit down and give it a chance.
With beautiful pixel-style graphics, you and your trusty labrador will spend hours upon hours of quiet moments fishing in serene lakes backdropped by gorgeous scenery. It’s a bit of an idle game, but one that gives you more to do than most. Sure, I can admit this title might not be for everyone, but it’s still a wonderful, charming sports title in a style/genre that consistently gets overlooked for this award. I say, no more.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
