The racing games on Linux that work on any distro with nothing to package run in a browser tab: Mars Rally Championship, a free browser rally game listed first because it is ours, PolyTrack and Slow Roads. The best free native games are SuperTuxKart, Trigger Rally and Speed Dreams. art of rally has a native Linux build on Steam, BeamNG.drive's native build is now Steam's default, and Windows-only racers such as TrackMania Nations Forever run through Proton.
Diagram: the three routes onto Linux. A browser tab needs nothing packaged; native games come as packages; Steam has native builds and runs Windows ones through Proton.
How do you play racing games on Linux?
There are three routes, and most of the list below falls into one of them.
The first is a browser tab. Chrome or Firefox on any distro will run a racing game with nothing to install, packaged or updated. The catch is graphics: a 3D browser game needs WebGL 2 (Chrome 56 and Firefox 51 or newer), and WebGL only helps if the browser can use your GPU's hardware acceleration. Our low-end PC guide covers the Linux hardware side of that.
The second is a native build. Free games usually come as a distro package, a Flatpak from Flathub, an AppImage, a Snap or a plain tarball. You pick whichever your distro handles best, and the game runs like any other local program.
The third is Steam. Some games ship a native Linux build there. Others are Windows-only and run through Proton, which is covered further down.
One honest note on churn: lists of Linux racing games age badly. DiRT Rally had a Linux version made by Feral Interactive, and its Steam page now says it is no longer available on the Steam store. Stunt Rally 3 still downloads, but its developer says he has not worked on it since release 3.3 at the end of 2024. Check a game's page before you plan around it.
The best racing games on Linux, in order
Mars Rally Championship is first because it is ours; the rest are ordered by how good a racing game each is on Linux today. Last checked: November 2026. Prices are US Steam prices on 7 November 2026.
Mars Rally Championship: a stage rally in a browser tab
Our game, listed first for that reason. This is Mars Rally Championship's own site; everything below it is ranked on its merits.
Mars Rally Championship is a free 3D rally game that runs in the browser: no download, no install, no account and no ads. You drive one rover across Martian terrain on four timed stages, with forward, reversed, storm and reversed storm boards for each. There is a daily challenge, ghosts to race, leaderboards that re-simulate every submitted run on the server, and online races for up to 8 pilots.
It needs WebGL 2. With only WebGL 1 it asks for a current Chrome, Firefox or Safari 15 or newer, and it asks the browser for the high-performance GPU. It also installs as a web app if you want a window of its own.
What it does badly, plainly: there is no native Linux build, so it lives or dies by your browser's GPU acceleration. No minimum spec is published, and we have not tested it on any particular distro or driver. It ships on the HIGH preset, so on weak graphics step QUALITY down from the pause menu; physics is the same on every preset. The first visit pulls about 9 MB of terrain. And it is four stages and one rover, not a car collection.
In-game screenshot: Stage 3, The Opener, from the hood camera at sunset, eight seconds in, heading down the steep descent toward the next gate.
Stage 3, The Opener, is 1,164 m with a steep descent and its two tightest corners within 75 m of the start. Try it with /play?start=stage-3 on a keyboard or a pad.
SuperTuxKart: the open-source racer every distro packages
SuperTuxKart is a free, open-source kart racer with 21 original tracks, a Story Mode and local and online multiplayer, now at version 1.5. Linux support is the best here: official tarballs for x86 32 and 64-bit, ARM 32 and 64-bit and RISC-V 64, plus AppImage, Flatpak, Snap and itch.io builds. The stated minimum is a GTX 470, HD 6870 or Intel HD Graphics 4000 with 512 MB of VRAM, and a fallback renderer needs only OpenGL 2.1 or GLES 2. It wants a gamepad with at least 6 buttons, and keyboards and wheels work too. It is a kart racer, not a rally sim, and the SuperTuxKart FAQ has the details.
art of rally: native Linux stage rally on Steam
art of rally is a stylised stage rally game from Funselektor Labs, released on 23 September 2020 and $24.99 on Steam. Steam lists Windows, macOS and SteamOS plus Linux, with a Linux minimum of Ubuntu 16 64-bit, an Intel Core i3, 4 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 650 or AMD equivalent and 8 GB of disk. It has Full Controller Support. If you want one paid rally game with a real Linux build, this is the entry.
Trigger Rally: free rally against the clock, with a co-driver
Trigger Rally is described as a fast-paced free software rally game. Its page lists over 200 maps, with dirt, asphalt, sand and ice, and varied weather, light and fog. You beat tight time limits and recorded high scores, events unlock more events and cars, and damage makes cars harder to handle. Most maps have spoken co-driver notes. Download it from SourceForge: the current file is 0.6.7 at 343.4 MB, and the project page was last updated on 10 September 2026. Its page does not say anything about gamepad support.
Speed Dreams: the open-source circuit simulator
Speed Dreams calls itself a 3D cross-platform, open-source motorsport simulation and racing game, and it is a fork of TORCS. It has modes from practice to a full career, adjustable daytime and weather, AI bots and up to 4-player local split-screen. It is playable with a variety of input devices, and force feedback is in development. The latest release is 2.4.2. The downloads page offers an AppImage for amd64, aarch64 and armhf, plus Debian 12 and Ubuntu 22.04 builds. The Flathub package is community-provided and not verified by the Speed Dreams team.
BeamNG.drive: the native build is now the default
BeamNG.drive is a soft-body driving sim, in Early Access on Steam since 29 May 2015, at $24.99. BeamNG's own forum says the native Linux version is now the default on Steam, and also that it is still a work in progress without full official support. NVIDIA users need the proprietary driver, not Nouveau or NVK; AMD and Intel users need current Mesa and Vulkan drivers. The Windows listing asks for 6 GB of VRAM, so it is the heaviest game here. Our BeamNG in a browser post covers lighter alternatives.
PolyTrack: a time trial in a tab, or a Linux download
PolyTrack, by Kodub, is low-poly racing heavily inspired by TrackMania, with a level editor and multiplayer since version 0.6.0 in March 2026. It is built on Three.js and plays in the browser, and the itch.io page also offers Linux downloads for x64 (118 MB) and arm64 (119 MB) at a name-your-own price. The inputs it lists are keyboard and touchscreen. For a quick lap on any distro, it is the best other browser pick.
TrackMania Nations Forever: free, through Proton
TrackMania Nations Forever, from Nadeo, came out on 16 April 2008, is free on Steam, and lists only Windows as supported. On Linux it runs through Proton. ProtonDB rates it Platinum from 197 user reports on 7 November 2026, which is user-reported, not a promise from the developer. It is an arcade time trial.
Slow Roads: a drive with no clock, in the browser or on Steam
Slow Roads is an endless drive with no goals. The web version at slowroads.io is free and ad-free, and its maker says it will keep getting small updates. A Steam version from Topograph Interactive came out on 23 September 2026 for $7.99 and lists SteamOS plus Linux, with a minimum of Intel UHD 630 or Vega 7. An offline Web Edition for Windows, Linux and macOS is on itch.io for a small price. The changelog lists gamepad and wheel settings. It is a relaxing drive, not a race.
Stunt Rally 3: still playable, no longer developed
Stunt Rally 3 is 3D racing with sci-fi elements and its own track editor: 232 tracks in 40 sceneries, 33 vehicles, rally-style driving on mostly gravel roads, championships, challenges, multiplayer, split screen for up to 6, replays and ghost drive. It supports gamepads and wheels, runs on GNU/Linux and Windows, and is GPLv3. The developer states he has not developed it since release 3.3 at the end of 2024, so expect no fixes. Our rally sim comparison covers it further.
Racing games on Linux, side by side
| Game | Kind of racing | How it runs on Linux | Price | Where to get it | Controller |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mars Rally Championship Play | Stage rally time trial | Browser tab, Chrome or Firefox (WebGL 2) | Free | Nothing to install; optional web-app install | Yes, standard gamepad |
| SuperTuxKart | Kart racing | Native | Free, open source | Tarball, Flathub, Snap, AppImage, itch.io | Gamepad (6 buttons or more) or wheel |
| art of rally | Stylised stage rally | Native Linux build | $24.99 | Steam | Full controller support |
| Trigger Rally | Rally against the clock | Native | Free software | SourceForge (0.6.7) | — |
| Speed Dreams | Circuit simulator | Native | Free, open source | AppImage, Flathub (community package), Debian 12 and Ubuntu 22.04 builds | Variety of input devices |
| BeamNG.drive | Soft-body driving sim, Early Access | Native Linux build, the Steam default, not fully supported | $24.99 | Steam | — |
| PolyTrack | Arcade time trial | Browser tab, or Linux x64 and arm64 downloads | Free in the browser; download name your own price | itch.io | Keyboard |
| TrackMania Nations Forever | Arcade time trial | Windows game through Proton | Free | Steam | — |
| Slow Roads | Endless drive, no clock | Browser tab; Steam version lists SteamOS + Linux | Free in the browser; $7.99 on Steam | slowroads.io, Steam, itch.io | Gamepad and wheel settings |
| Stunt Rally 3 | Stunt tracks, rally handling | Native | Free, GPLv3 | SourceForge (3.3) | Gamepad or wheel |
Prices are US Steam prices on 7 November 2026, and a dash means the source does not say. If you want rally specifically, the short list is art of rally, Trigger Rally, Stunt Rally 3 and the browser game at the top.
Does Proton run Windows racing games?
Proton is, in Valve's words, a tool for use with the Steam client that lets games exclusive to Windows run on Linux, using Wine. Valve says most users should use the Proton that the Steam client itself provides. You turn it on per game in Steam's Steam Play settings, and the Proton project page explains the rest.
Whether a given game works is a separate question. ProtonDB collects reports from players, which is how we know TrackMania Nations Forever is rated Platinum from 197 reports. Treat a ProtonDB rating as user-reported evidence and read recent reports before you buy anything.
Diagram: a Windows-only game reaches Linux through Proton inside the Steam client; a native Linux build needs no Proton at all.
The Steam Deck runs SteamOS 3, which is Arch-based, so the same Steam routes apply there. If your hardware is too weak for a game you own, NVIDIA's GeForce NOW has a native Linux app for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. It needs about 15 Mbps for 720p at 60 fps, has a free tier with ad-supported one-hour sessions, and requires you to own the games.
Controllers on Linux
A browser exposes a gamepad to a page only after you press a button on it, and Firefox waits until you interact with the pad while the page is visible. So connect the pad, then press a button before judging whether it works.
Mars Rally Championship's settings has a GAMEPAD tab that reads "No controller yet: press any button on it to connect." until it sees one. On a standard pad the left stick steers, RT is throttle, LT is brake, A is handbrake, B changes camera, Y returns you to the last gate and LB and RB change gear. There is no reverse key: holding the brake at a standstill reverses.
In-game screenshot: the CONTROLS card before a race, on its GAMEPAD tab once a pad is connected; the countdown waits until you close it.
Elsewhere: SuperTuxKart wants a pad with at least 6 buttons and is fine with a wheel, Stunt Rally 3 supports gamepads and wheels, art of rally has Full Controller Support on Steam, and Speed Dreams works with a variety of input devices. Our controller guide for browser racing goes further.
Where to start on Linux
- Play Mars Rally Championship in a browser tab, or start on Stage 3
- Today's daily challenge
- Racing games for low-end PCs
- Best 3D browser games
- Racing games for Mac