Pretend Cars Racing 2
In the codexRacing

Pretend Cars Racing 2

Experience fast-paced top-down retro racing: build your own tracks, climb global leaderboards, challenge friends in split-screen, and race through dynamic day-to-night transitions in multi-category events.

DEV: Patricio MarinPUB: Patricio MarinAppID 2942330

Is Pretend Cars Racing 2 still being updated? — the short answer, with the evidence.

Catch up before you play

From the developer

Announcements from this page’s recent record. A post may announce plans or an event; it does not always mean a playable update shipped.

Coverage may be out of date. This is our collection date, not the date of the latest patch.
  1. Update notes for v1.0.20260920

    New: added sparks when scraping the asphalt as a new visual effect (different for each type of car) New: you can set the AI aggression level Fixed: game was crashing when creating more than 10 custom championships Builder: test option was displaying the right custom grass and trees (on first load) Builder: added…

    Read original announcement ↗
  2. Update notes for v1.0.20260913

    This update brings more variety, atmosphere, and creative freedom to Pretend Cars Racing 2! Random races now favor car and track combinations you haven’t tried, while cheering crowds add to the race-day atmosphere. The Track Builder now supports three times as many decorations and more objects, giving you extra room…

    Read original announcement ↗
  3. Update notes for 1.0.20260906 - New AI

    I've completely revamped the AI, it's now faster at higher strength and takes a more realistic racing line, which should make racing a lot more fun and challenging. All categories should benefit from this update, specially on tricky tracks (I'm looking at you COTA). Fixed: CTD bug in the workshop menu.

    Read original announcement ↗
Explore news & source history ↓
95.5
Excellent

Elixir Rating

94.5% of 55 Steam reviews are positive, which after adjusting for sample size gives a reception score of 85.1. The developers have shipped 4 substantial updates in the past six months, adding 10.4.

reception 85.1·support +10.4·Excellent

Computed from Steam’s own review tally and observable developer activity — never from anyone’s opinion of the game. How this is calculated

Should you look into this?

From Steam's own record

Current price

$6.39$7.99−20%

Development

Insufficient evidence

Last heard from developers

17 days ago

Historical posting rhythm

every ~6.5 days

Substantial updates (6 mo)

4

Current silence

cannot be judged

Our news coverage needs a fresh check; missing posts are not evidence that development has stopped. 4 substantial updates recorded in the past six months, 1 classified as major. It is currently 20% below its usual price.

Last successful news check: Sep 26, 2026, 2:01 PM UTC. This is when we checked Steam, separate from when the developer last posted. A fresh check is needed before judging current activity.

Distilled by the oracle

Our coverage

1 dispatch written from this game’s announcements

releaseSep 5, 2026

Pretend Cars Racing 2 Leaves Early Access with 1.0, Eyes Continued Expansion

Pretend Cars Racing 2 (AppID 2942330) has exited Early Access with its 1.0 update, released 31 August 2026. Developer MisterAkuma notes the milestone arrived slightly earlier than originally planned, and describes the release as containing all originally promised features plus additional ones accumulated during development.

The launch announcement is explicit that 1.0 is not a stopping point.

What's coming next

MisterAkuma has outlined the following areas of active development:

  • Improved AI — refined cornering speeds and racing lines, with particular attention to chicanes; a test version is described as arriving soon via a test channel
  • New car classes
  • Additional story mode content
  • AI personalities
  • Qualifying sessions
  • New decoration objects for the Track Builder
  • Improved random races, with a stated focus on novel race combinations

The AI improvements are the most advanced in development, with MisterAkuma directing interested players toward a Discord server to test and discuss the changes.

For players who followed the game through Early Access, the 1.0 release closes one chapter while the roadmap makes clear that the game's feature set is still growing — the shape of which will be determined, at least in part, by ongoing community input.

Two years of development

■ substantial ■ routine

Nov2025FebMayAugNov2026FebMayAug

19 announcements · 5 substantial · 15 months with nothing

News & source history

20 recorded posts · includes developer announcements and press coverage

Community AnnouncementsOct 3, 2026
Update notes for 1.0.20261003

This new update brings new content to the game and some small fixes and improvements. * New: Supercars join the game as a new car class! * New: added a GT car, 2 LMDh cars and 4 cup cars * Random races now use random quantity of opponents a…

Community AnnouncementsSep 20, 2026
Update notes for v1.0.20260920

New: added sparks when scraping the asphalt as a new visual effect (different for each type of car) New: you can set the AI aggression level Fixed: game was crashing when creating more than 10 custom championships Builder: test option was d…

Community AnnouncementsSep 13, 2026
Update notes for v1.0.20260913

This update brings more variety, atmosphere, and creative freedom to Pretend Cars Racing 2! Random races now favor car and track combinations you haven’t tried, while cheering crowds add to the race-day atmosphere. The Track Builder now sup…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsSep 6, 2026
Update notes for 1.0.20260906 - New AI

I've completely revamped the AI, it's now faster at higher strength and takes a more realistic racing line, which should make racing a lot more fun and challenging. All categories should benefit from this update, specially on tricky tracks …

Community AnnouncementsSep 3, 2026
Update notes for 1.0.20260903

Hi! This is the first update after 1.0, with added features and bug fixes from your reports. Thanks for all the feedback and fantastic reviews that you are sharing.I wanted to let you know that I'm focusing on improving the AI, as I tweaked…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsAug 31, 2026
Pretend Cars Racing 2 — 1.0 and Beyond

With today’s update, Pretend Cars Racing 2 is officially out of Early Access!The game is now packed with all the features I originally promised — and quite a few more along the way. ;) We’re also reaching 1.0 a little earlier than originall…

Read our dispatch on this

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsAug 25, 2026
Update notes for 0.9.20260825

Improved the dynamic racing line and tweaked AI speeds while cornering, which makes racing more challenging at higher difficulties Fixed: when duplicating tracks in the track builder, some objects and custom colors were not being copied

Community AnnouncementsAug 23, 2026
Update notes for 0.9.20260823

This new update has two bug fixes and some AI improvements. Fixes - during night races, the rewind screen was showing as daylight - new real time position method (the old one was a little bit wonky, specially when crossing the start/finish …

Community AnnouncementsAug 19, 2026
Update notes for 0.9.20260819

There is now a minigame on race starts, were you get a boost/penalty if you keep your revs in the right range. I'd love if you could tell me what you think about it. There is also a way in the options menu to turn it off/on. This version al…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsAug 5, 2026
Update 0.9 preview

This update brings the first chapters in the Career mode, as a preview for the full 1.0 release of the game that will be available on August 31st!

Community AnnouncementsJul 27, 2026
Pretend Cars Racing 2 Launch Date Announced!

After months of development and your valuable feedback throughout Early Access, I'm excited to finally share what's next for Pretend Cars Racing 2.Full Release – August 31Pretend Cars Racing 2 will officially leave Early Access and launch a…

Community AnnouncementsJun 12, 2026
Custom Championships, Improved AI and 20-Car Grids

The June update has grown well beyond its original scope. Alongside the addition of Custom Championships—including support for user-created content—Version 0.7 introduces major improvements to AI behavior and race grids.The biggest change i…

Community AnnouncementsMay 5, 2026
Build, Share and Race Custom Tracks

The most awaited feature is here! The Track Creator and Steam Workshop support are now live and ready for you to dive into. You can now build the tracks you’ve always imagined with an editor designed to make creation fast and straightforwar…

Community AnnouncementsApr 2, 2026
Update notes for April 2nd

Camera zoom out for split-screen multiplayer races is configurable in options and pause menu Watkins Glen: removed possible shortcut Watkins Glen: graphical pass Kerbs: improved placement and shape (still not perfect, but better) Kerbs: out…

Community AnnouncementsMar 31, 2026
Version 0.3 is live: rewind time!

The first planned big update is live and ahead of schedule! With this new version, you can now rewind time during single-player races. To keep things square, this feature is blocked during multi-player and leaderboard runs.For the time bein…

Community AnnouncementsMar 27, 2026
Update notes for March 27th

Under certain conditions rain could appear while doing timetrials Corrected accelerator, it was working as analogue when using a controller, 0% or 100% Made grass more forgiving Fix AI not reversing when getting stuck into a wall Camera zoo…

Community AnnouncementsMar 24, 2026
Update notes for March 24th

This update addresses the following issues:Corrected crash to desktop bugs in car selection screens and two other instances UI adjustments for SpanishFixed portraits not showing up in multiplayer racesIn random split-screen races, Player 2'…

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsMar 21, 2026
Push the Limits: AI Difficulty Now Reaches 120%

If you felt that you needed a tougher challenge while racing, we’ve got great news for you. With this new update, the range of the AI can go up to 120%. At this higher setting, you will see them taking curves more aggressively, attacking th…

Community AnnouncementsFeb 23, 2026
Pretend Cars Racing 2 launches in Early Access on March 17

The race toward version 1.0 starts today! Pretend Cars Racing 2 already has an updated demo available to try, but the most exciting news is that we can now announce its Early Access launch on March 17, with the goal of seeing the checkered …

Community AnnouncementsJan 27, 2026
Pretend Cars Racing 2 is ready to go on track!

The development of the game is advancing at a good pace, and we have reached the point where all the big pieces are in place and finished.Today we have done the final (as in “final-final-final-v30 (1).docx”) pass on all tracks, adding more …