BeamNG.drive
BeamNG · Simulation, Racing, Driving
Overview
A dynamic soft-body physics vehicle simulator capable of doing just about anything.
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BeamNG.drive is an incredibly realistic driving game with near-limitless possibilities. Our soft-body physics engine simulates every component of a vehicle in real time, resulting in true-to-life behavior. With years of meticulous design, intensive research and experience, the simulation authentically recreates the excitement of real world driving.
Why is BeamNG.drive the game for you?
Soft-body physics: The BeamNG physics engine is at the core of the most detailed and authentic vehicle simulation you've ever seen in a game. Crashes feel visceral, as the game uses an incredibly accurate damage model.
Vehicles: BeamNG.drive offers dozens of refined, totally customizable vehicles for you to experiment with. Whether it's a compact car or massive truck, you can tweak away at all the moving parts to create just about any driving experience you want. Wheels, suspension, engines, and more; everything is under your control.
Environments: There's plenty to discover as you drive. Featuring 12 sprawling, beautiful open-world environments, the terrain feels as vast and diverse as the gameplay options. Test out your new setup through tropical jungle passages, barren deserts, urban boulevards, fast highways, and much more.
More features
Game Modes: This goes far deeper than your standard driving simulator. The range of gameplay options are exceptional, whether that's taking on a simple delivery mission or creating an entire map to test out new car builds.
- Free Roam: Don't want to feel limited? Take any vehicle to your destination of choice and start exploring. Experimentation is also key in this game mode, as objects and environmental conditions can be manipulated. Try revving up wind speeds for a challenge, or altering gravity!
- Scenarios: BeamNG.drive offers loads of scenarios for every type of driving enthusiast out there. You can complete a truck delivery request as fast and efficiently as possible, or outrun police cruisers in a hot pursuit. No matter the situation, the realistic physics engine will engage and immerse you in the experience.
- Time Trials: Choose a vehicle, environment, and route and put yourself to the test! Refine your skills and compete against yourself while improving your best time.
Modding and Community Content: We're proud of our vibrant community of enthusiasts that spark great conversation, while also creating interesting vehicle builds, terrains, and scenarios for others to enjoy. The modding capabilities in BeamNG.drive are vast, allowing you to customize and fine-tune just about anything. With our out-of-the-box World Editor everyone can put a twist on their in-game experience.
Automation: We've partnered with Automation - the car company tycoon game - to allow players to export their creations into BeamNG.drive. If you own Automation, it's a fairly simple process: design your custom car and engine, tailor everything to your specifications, choose the "export" option, start up BeamNG.drive, and you'll be able to find your latest creation in the vehicle list!
Freedom: What sets BeamNG.drive apart from other automotive games is player freedom. It’s about doing nearly anything you can think of with a car or truck and seeing it play out in the most realistic way possible. With our soft-body physics engine and modding capabilities, you can come up with any scenario imaginable. It's not just about the vehicles, it's about taking advantage of the expansive and customizable open world to create the driving experience you envision. Combining industry-leading physics, endless customization, and tight-knit community means that BeamNG.drive is the most comprehensive and flat-out fun vehicle simulator you will ever play.
From the game's Steam store page.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT10,000 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
BeamNG.drive is a driving sandbox built around soft-body physics, and the physics is what players bring up most. Crashes crumple metal, bend frames and snap axles differently every time, and reviewers say the same simulation makes ordinary driving, rally, rock crawling, towing and tuning feel physical. They describe a toy box with no fixed goal, kept fresh by a large mod library and what they count as more than a decade of free updates. Some say they bought it after watching BeamNG videos on YouTube. Owners with a steering wheel describe it as a proper simulator, and some reviewers credit it with teaching them to drive a manual car.
The frustrations cluster around update 0.39, which reviewers say arrived on July 29, 2026 with a lighting and graphics overhaul and redesigned menus. More than half of the negative reviews mention the update or the game's performance: frame rates dropping on mid-range and older PCs, fewer traffic cars allowed, longer load times, broken VR and mods, and menus that take extra clicks for simple actions. Dozens of them ask for an official way back to version 0.38. Other reviewers say 0.39 looks far better, and some say it even runs faster for them. Most of the argument is over whether the newest version runs well enough on the reviewer's own PC.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Soft-body crash and driving physicsHigh
Positive reviews mention the physics more than anything else. Players say no other game they know deforms cars like this: "Every crash feels different, and the soft-body physics make the game incredibly fun to experiment with." One reviewer explains what sets it apart: "Unlike traditional racing games, where a vehicle is essentially a rigid object with a damage texture slapped on after an impact", BeamNG simulates the whole structure. Another points to the variety that comes from it: "Hit the same pole twice and you'll get two different results." The praise goes beyond crashing, with reviewers describing how much they enjoy ordinary driving, off-roading and tuning on the same physics. A few positive reviewers say the tyres feel low on grip, which is covered under the split themes below.
A sandbox with no limits on what to doHigh
Positive reviews often describe BeamNG as more than a crash simulator and list drag racing, rally stages, off-roading, rock crawling, deliveries, police chases, stunt jumps, engine swaps and tuning, all on the same maps. One reviewer joked they "came for the crashes, stayed for the automotive engineering degree". Another sums up the pitch: "Here are some cars, an absurd physics engine and a giant sandbox. Go do something stupid." Some players say they lose interest without set goals (see the split themes).
Mods and the in-game repositoryHigh
Mods come up in positive reviews almost as often as the physics. Reviewers praise the built-in repository, the large catalogue of cars and maps, and the link with the car-design game Automation, which lets players drive cars they built themselves. One says "the in-game repository basically turns BeamNG into a game that refuses to run out of content." A few warn newcomers to stick to the official repository, saying some outside mod sites are shady or spread viruses. The downside comes up under frustrations: updates often break mods.
Price and years of free updatesMedium
Reviewers often say the game is worth its price, especially on sale, and point to years of updates that never cost extra. "There has never been a DLC or something that cost's extra money." Another describes "Over a decade of constant updates that bring nothing but genuine improvement and meaningful content."
Wheel, sim rig and VR supportMedium
Players with wheels and pedals say the game feels completely different on proper hardware: "The difference between driving this on a keyboard, controller, and a wheel - are astronomical." Several credit it with real-world skills, including "I literally learned how to drive manual from this game" and "this game helped me pass my driving test 10/10 for the price". VR is a sore point since 0.39, with players reporting that it stopped working (see frustrations).
Nostalgia for crash videosLow
Some reviewers say they bought the game after watching BeamNG videos on YouTube, a few of them since childhood, and that playing it themselves was just as much fun.
Where players are split
The 0.39 graphics and lighting overhaulHigh
Reviewers describe 0.39 as bringing new lighting, volumetric clouds, auto exposure and a reworked night sky, and dozens praise the new look. One writes that after 0.39 "the graphics look almost real, including one of the best nights in any video game", and another that "the new lighting makes it look like I am in a different game". Some report better performance too, such as "I went from 75 ish to 90+ fps after the update with 150+ mods" and "Finaly the game is optimized for Amd GPUS Tripled my fps after 0.39". Others, mostly in negative reviews, find the image blurry or harsh. They complain about auto exposure ("The auto exposure works like it would on a real camera, but I don't think that's the way to go for a video game."), nights too dark to see by, flickering in the distance, and weak anti-aliasing ("Anti-aliasing still seems nonexistent"). Some ask for DLSS, FSR or a better anti-aliasing option.
Career modeMedium
Career mode, with jobs, deliveries and car buying, gets warm praise from some: "Career mode is like a whole different game". Others call it early or thin, and a few say 0.39 broke it or wiped their progress. Fans of career play often point to the community RLS Career Overhaul mod, with one reviewer writing "I play RLS Career Overhaul mod and i have a blast with it" and another that "without RLS, the career mode feels boring almost immediately".
Fun on your own without goalsMedium
Some players say they lose hours just experimenting. Others say the sandbox gets boring quickly unless you bring your own goals, mods or friends. One negative reviewer put it this way: "I played this game hoping for a symphony, and instead I was given the instruments." Several reviews describe it as a game for people who make their own fun.
Tyre grip and handling realismMedium
Some players praise the handling as the most realistic they have driven. Others say the tyres feel too slippery and force feedback needs work: "Cars feel like they have at least 30% less grip than they do IRL". A few say they are waiting for a tyre physics rework from the developers.
More than a decade in Early AccessLow
Some reviewers accept the Early Access label because updates keep arriving and the game already feels complete. Others find it hard to excuse: "10 years in early access is crazy work".
What frustrates players
Performance and hardware demands after 0.39High
Performance is the complaint negative reviews raise most often, and it turns up in positive ones too. Reviewers with mid-range PCs and laptops report large frame rate drops after the update: "Went from 90fps on medium settings to 40fps on lowest settings", "going from 60 fps down to 5-10 fps is wild", and "Safe to say tht after the 0.39 update the games become unplayable on weaker devices like mine". One reviewer says the update seems to have "quadrupled" the hardware requirements, and another complains of "Increased load times from ~30 seconds". Traffic took a separate hit for one player: "I used to be able to spawn tons of cars in traffic, and now it only lets me spawn about seven." A few blame the game's video memory use. Several feel misled: "We were promised better performance, but the opposite is true." Dozens of negative reviews want an official rollback: "Just add the old version (0.38) to the betas so we can freely play the game in the state we agreed to pay for." A few say the betas menu only offers much older versions, so some downgraded by hand. Some players on stronger PCs say it runs fine, and several note that the physics has always leaned hard on the CPU, especially with traffic, so how much of this a buyer feels depends on their hardware.
The redesigned menus and controlsHigh
The new menus drew a strong reaction from regular players. "Everything takes more clicks, simple actions are buried in menus", says one. Reviewers report settings that load slowly, reset keybinds and force feedback settings, broken controller bindings and favourite functions moved into submenus. "I'm sick of being forced to completely relearn how to interact with this program every other update." Some believe the layout was designed for a console version they say is coming, and blame that for the extra steps on PC.
Bugs and crashes in the new versionMedium
Alongside the performance complaints, reviewers list missing textures, maps with missing road pieces, cars that turn invisible, Lua errors and crashes when changing graphics settings. One player reports that in career mode "a bridge that you have to cross to progress simply doesn't spawn in". A few mention hotfixes after launch and say they did little for their problems.
Updates break mods and VRMedium
Players who rely on large mod collections say each major update breaks many of them; one reviewer reports 0.39 "Broke over 300+ plus mods", and others advise "be warned that updates often break mods". VR users report a sharper loss: "VR is completely unplayable after the latest update".
No built-in multiplayerMedium
Playing with friends needs the community BeamMP mod, which reviewers enjoy but describe as unstable and liable to break after updates. Some ask the developers to "please integrate the beamMP mod into the game natively", and a few say they are looking forward to official multiplayer from the developers.
Traffic AILow
Some reviewers find AI drivers erratic. Complaints range from "the AI is extremely stupid" to one positive reviewer's joke that "traffic AI occasionally wakes up and chooses violence".
A steep start for newcomersLow
Reviewers warn that the game "does not always hold your hand": default arrow-key controls, dense menus and no clear guidance. A few call it "Too difficult for beginners", while others say it pays off once the controls make sense.
Smaller wishesLow
Scattered reviews ask for licensed real-world car brands, more official maps and cars, a smaller install size, and better Linux support.
3. The player conversation
The tone is affectionate and often nostalgic. Many reviewers write as long-time fans and joke about the hours they have spent crashing cars. Negative reviews are fewer and often longer and more specific. Some come from players who describe owning the game for years and feel the 0.39 update made it worse on their hardware or broke their habits; some say they loved the game before the update, and a few promise to change their review once it is fixed. Car enthusiasts and sim racers focus on tyres, force feedback and wheel setup.
Week by week, the update shows up clearly. The share of positive reviews dropped in the week 0.39 arrived, which was also the busiest week in the slice, stayed lower through August, and climbed back during September, though not quite to where it was before the update.
4. What the developers could do
- Offer 0.38 as an official beta branch. Dozens of negative reviews ask for it, from players whose PCs, mod collections or VR setups stopped working after 0.39.
- Recover performance on mid-range and low-VRAM hardware. Reviewers report frame rates halving or worse, longer loads and a lower cap on traffic after 0.39, which made the game unplayable for some long-time owners.
- Streamline the new menus for mouse and keyboard. Players say common actions now take more clicks, settings load slowly and keybinds or force feedback settings reset, and some blame a layout made for consoles.
- Fix VR and the 0.39 stability bugs. VR users call the game unplayable after the update, and others report missing textures, invisible cars and a career bridge that never spawns.
- Add upscaling and better anti-aliasing options. Some players who like the new look still complain about blur, flicker and harsh auto exposure, and ask for DLSS, FSR or better anti-aliasing.
- Bring multiplayer into the base game. Some reviewers ask for native multiplayer because the BeamMP mod they rely on is unstable and breaks with updates.
- Deepen career mode. Some reviewers find it early and thin, and fans point to the RLS Career Overhaul mod as the kind of depth they want.
- Improve tyre grip and traffic AI. Some sim fans say tyres feel too slippery, others that AI drivers behave erratically, and a few are waiting on the tyre physics rework.
