How many of Goodwood 2024’s fastest cars can you drive in games?

That’s another glorious Festival of Speed in the books, and with it a new roster of ‘wouldn’t mind having a go in that’ machinery to add to our automotive bucket lists. 

We’re still waiting to hear back from Enterprise about upgrading that Ford Transit we hired to a SuperVan 4.2 and Travis Pastrana’s left us on read, but at least the gaming world can provide some wish fulfilment. Here, then, are the 10 fastest vehicles at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed Hill Climb, and their best videogame depictions.

The Chapman-designed 77 was originally intended as a bit of a stop-gap after the Lotus 75. 48 years later, all three chassis' are still accounted for, and one of them went tenth quickest up the Goodwood Hill Climb. Not a bad stop-gap in the end, then. 

Forza Motorsport’s deliciously detailed depiction gets the nod here. Turn 10’s interpretation of the vehicle is pure untamed, agricultural violence. More speed than you’ll know what to do with, and a quarter of the stopping power you wish you had.

The original Puma was Ford’s ‘New Edge’ expression of a sporty coupe made of affordable hatchback bits. Its 2022 hybrid-engined WRC iteration has so little in common with its forebear that it’s probably tempted to do a DNA test. 

It’s a different beast to the outgoing Fiesta too, bigger and heavier on account of the battery which delivers an additional 134bhp to the 400 produced by its petrol engine. What does that feel like? According to EA WRC’s interpretation, surprisingly well-mannered and lithe.

We had to hunt for in-game depictions of some of the vehicles on this list. The Skyline GTR R32 wasn’t one of them. Since its appearance in the first Gran Turismo it’s been as ubiquitous in the genre as being rammed in online races, cropping up in the Need For Speed, Grid and Forza series to name but a few.

If you want fastidiously recreated Japanese cars though, nobody’s beating Polyphony Digital. Gran Turismo 7 hosts the definitive version of the AWD icon. Its interior is recreated so lovingly that we could - and do - spend extended spells in the garage screen, watching slow panning shots move over its functional ‘90s lines. It’s a real gem to drive in-game too, so perfectly balanced in corners thanks to the power distribution.

The fastest production car ever to go up Goodwood’s Hill Climb, making good use of that ​​1,332bhp to complete the course in 48.82 seconds. And to do it while looking like a visiting alien life form is all the more impressive. 

Forza Horizon 5 possesses the only virtual version of this 3D-printed hypercar, adding it to the roster as part of its American Automotive Car Pack in season 27. The acceleration’s the notable thing here - you seem to be doing 100mph before you’ve pressed the right trigger. The game’s easy livery creation tools mean you can recreate the sexy Goodwood version easily enough, too.

Welcome to the first bodge job of the list. Alpine A110s are all over the place in racing games, popping up in several Gran Turismo and Forza versions. The 500bhp Pikes Peak variant, though? No dice.

All’s not lost though. Since the ‘standard’ A110 appears in Gran Turismo 7, you can tune one up to in excess of 500bhp yourself, apply a widebody kit and effectively make your own Pikes Peak version. There’s even a livery editor to recreate that Goodwood race trim.

Assetto Corsa Competizione’s ears started burning as soon as we typed the letters ‘GT3’. Anything in that category is Kunos Simulazioni’s domain, including the 992-era racer that just screamed up Goodwood in 48.05.

ACC focuses more on recreating the physical properties of the car than on the tiny details in its interiors, which are all race-spec anyway and thus absolutely stripped-down. The best thing about the GT3 Cup being added to the game as a DLC pack is that now we get to enjoy the definitive LIDAR-scanned versions of many legendary tracks in it.

The latest Hoonigan creation uses a 1983 family estate as the basis for an 862bhp Goodwood monster, so ludicrously powerful that even Travis Pastrana crashed it. It’s exactly the sort of madcap creation you’d build in a Sunday afternoon in Gran Turismo, so we’re surprised to see that the ‘Huckster’ isn’t currently represented in any racing game.

In fact, neither’s the factory 1983 Subaru GL wagon. The closest we can get to recreating it in a game is by securing the 1993 model in PS1 classics Gran Turismo 1 and 2. Sadly they don’t feature the same visual customisation options as modern GT, but at least you can tune the engine well beyond the realms of sensible.

Another blisteringly quick open-wheeler to keep the Lotus 77 company at Goodwood - and then smash its hillclimb time by recording a 47.34. Sadly there’s no digital recreation of this 5.0-litre V8 Formula 5000 car either.

Legendary driver and manufacturer Dan Gurney’s hardware does pop up though, if you cast the net wide enough: you can drive his 1967 Eagle-Weslake T1G in 1998’s Grand Prix Legends, and although it probably couldn’t match that Goodwood time, it’s definitely just as terrifying to shepherd through a turn.

The last of the virtual no-shows on this list. Sadly no games have captured the details of this ridiculous Scooby, but once again Gran Turismo 7 comes to the rescue and allows us to get pretty close – our own Project Quarter Past Eleven, if you will.

The variant in GT7 is the WRX Gr.B Road Car, a road-going version of its loose surface specialist which can’t match the specs of Project Midnight but could be tuned pretty close. At 1,425kg it needs to shed close to half a tonne, but we reckon a stage 3 lightweight kit might do the job. Then it’s just a matter of getting the output up from 473bhp to 679. Pass us a wrench and leave it with us.

The quickest time of all at Goodwood 2024 came, improbably enough, from a van. Triggering PTSD from anyone who’s had a frenzied courier behind them on a single-track lane, Ford’s SuperVan 4.2 scrambled its way through the bales and across the line in 43.99 seconds.

And the good news is there’s a SuperVan in Forza Horizon 5! It’s good news with a slightly annoying caveat though, like England’s wins at Euro 2024. Forza’s SuperVan is the 2022 version, which features a measly 1,878bhp compared to the 4.2’s 2,000+bhp. A bit of tuning’s required, then. Or you could just hand the keys over to the courier who followed us 0.7mm from our rear bumper down that single track lane. They obviously know how to extract the most out of that vehicle.