Audio for sim racing: your best options

Headphones and speaker systems, find out the best of both and which option is best for your specific sim racing requirements.

Forza 5 Horizon and DiRT Rally 2.0 screenshots

by Chris Williams |
Updated on

What sim racing gives us so far in terms of sensation is visual, audio, and to a degree, touch. The visuals are becoming incredibly realistic with Gran Turismo 7 and Forza Horizon 5 leading the charge.

Touch is making progress too, thanks to powerful racing wheels like the Thrustmaster T-GT II, direct-drive units like the Fanatec CSL DD, and the impressive haptic feedback offered in Sony’s PS5 DualSense controller.

Excellent audio is also readily available, but few of us use it to its full potential.

It’s worth understanding how to improve the audio of your sim racing experience if you’re wanting to improve immersion. In terms of hardware, you have headphones and speakers to choose from, and whichever you decide is best for you, also having the correct in-game audio settings is crucial to making the whole exercise worthwhile.

Headphones

Headphones are the option we would recommend for casual and serious sim racing alike. Recommended models provide powerful and clear directional audio for immersive racing. That headphones are more practical and affordable than a speaker system are valuable bonus benefits, too.

Xbox, PS, PC

Editor's pick
SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless Gaming Headset

Rrp: £319.99

Price: £232.29

Description

SteelSeries has mastered the art of wrapping up formidable power in an unassuming shell.

The

Xbox, PS, Switch, PC

Best value headset
Logitech G Pro X

Rrp: £119.99

Price: £80.49
Alternative retailers
Currys£80.49View offer
Argos£87.99View offer
Scan Computers£88.99View offer

Description

The Logitech Pro X is a remarkable headset, thanks to its accomplished design, immaculate spatial

Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC

Best for Xbox
Xbox Wireless Headset

Rrp: £89.99

Price: £74.95
Alternative retailers
Argos£89.99View offer

Description

Official kit can suffer from the law of diminishing returns due to its 'official' badge, but not

PS, PC

Best for PlayStation 5
Pulse 3D Wireless Headset

Rrp: £89.99

Price: £84.68
Alternative retailers
AO.com£85.00View offer
Argos£89.99View offer
Currys£89.99View offer

Description

Like the official Xbox headphones, these official PlayStation 5 headphones aren’t too hard on the

Speaker systems

Speakers are cooler than headphones, just like a club is cooler than a silent disco. If you have the space to wind up the noise, the right setup does offer some quality audio punch.

Best surround sound system

Description

These speakers are tuned to meet THX and Dolby certification, meaning that cinema-quality sound is

Best soundbar
Sonos Beam Gen 2

Rrp: £449.00

Price: £399.00
Alternative retailers
Argos£399.00View offer
Audio Visual Online£499.00View offer
Electrical Discount£499.00View offer
AO.com£499.00View offer

Description

A simple, clean soundbar is an option for sim racing audio. Granted, it wonu2019t provide the same

Best value speaker system
Logitech Z623 THX 2.1 Speaker System
Price: £175.75
Alternative retailers
Currys£159.99View offer

Description

Logitech. That Swiss-American brand appears everywhere like Dwayne 'Logitech' Johnson. Where the

Racing games with great audio

Chances are the racing game you own already have great audio. You’ll realise that with some decent hardware and the in-game settings just so. Below are racing games that earn two thumbs up for audio.

Gran Turismo 7

Gran Turismo 7 screenshot
©Image: Polyphony Digital

Read our Gran Turismo 7 review | Watch our video review

Gran Turismo 7

Rrp: £69.99

Price: £49.98
Alternative retailers
Scan Computers£49.99View offer
OnBuy.com£57.89View offer

Description

Being the flagship racing game for PlayStation 5, Gran Turismo 7 supports Tempest 3D AudioTech and

Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 screenshot
©Image: Playground Games

Forza Horizon 5 (Xbox Series X)

Rrp: £54.99

Price: £40.99

Description

Forza Horizon 5 won The Game Awards 2021 ‘Best Audio Design’, which is a promising attestation to

DiRT Rally 2.0

DiRT Rally 2.0 screenshot
©Image: Codemasters

Read our DiRT Rally 2.0 review | Read our guide to the best rally racing games

Description

It’s been around since 2019 but DiRT Rally 2.0 still ranks high for many things including audio

Other solid efforts: Assetto Corsa Competizione, F1 2021, iRacing.

For verdicts, scoops, news and analysis from the team, delivered direct to your inbox, subscribe to the CAR newsletter.

You can enjoy CAR in its traditional print format, or one of the swelling number of digital editions, optimised for Apple iPhones, Android devices, iPads, tablets and desktop computers.

Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us