The 2022 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Awards were announced on Thursday and one of our favorite racing video games was able to take home a top award for their achievements in 2021. In the Racing Game of the Year category, Forza Horizon 5 took home top honors up against F1 2021 and Hot Wheels Unleashed.
Per the award category, the stipulations included the following – “Racing games are those titles that allow the user to participate in a contest in which the objective is to convey an object through a course of virtual physical progress as quickly as possible. Racing games may involve competition against other user-controlled competitors or against system controlled competitors. Racing games must simulate vehicular motion.”
There were a ton of racing games that launched in 2021, but only three were deemed worthy enough for nomination. We really do love Forza Horizon 5 over here at Traxion, as we do F1 2021 and Hot Wheels Unleashed. Honestly, all three would have been great winners in that category, but Forza Horizon 5 definitely stands out as one of the best of 2021 regardless.
Forza Horizon 5 was nominated for a total of three awards, including Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design and Outstanding Technical Achievement. Those awards went to Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, respectively. None of the Racing Game-only nominated games were up for the Sports Game of the Year category, but Ubisoft’s Riders Republic was nominated there. Mario Golf: Super Rush took home that award.
These D.I.C.E. Awards have been going out for 25 years now, since 1996. They are nominated and distributed through the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, and voted upon by the 33,000-plus members of the Academy. Very much a prestigious honor, other winners in other genres included Microsoft’s Halo Infinite, Nintendo’s Pokémon Unite, and a few more well known games.
2022 is already shaping up to be a big year for the racing game genre, with GRID Legends already on shelves and Gran Turismo 7 coming right around the corner. Which game do you think will take this honor in the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in 2023? Let us know in the comments!
