Best Simulation Games on PS5 1
Image: Push Square

What are the best simulation games on PS5? It's not an easy question to answer; the simulation genre is incredibly broad nowadays, with many sports, hobbies, chores, and occupations now represented in digital form. No matter what you feel like doing, odds are it's been gamified in some way.

Simulation games date back a long time, as real life activities have been aped in video games since the very start. A lot of examples are based on sports, with the likes of EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, and Madden NFL being widely popular mainstays of the genre. This translates over to motorsports with the F1 series and WRC, but there are plenty of sim games that don't utilise official championship licences, such as Gran Turismo 7 or Assetto Corsa Competizione.

Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube149k
Watch on YouTube

Outside the realm of sports, simulation titles based on jobs are also surprisingly popular. One of the most prominent examples is PowerWash Simulator, but Farming Simulator, Lawn Mowing Simulator, Gas Station Simulator, and lots more are enjoyed by many players. These often veer into the less serious side of things, with games like Goat Simulator 3 perhaps being the most extreme example of a sim playing for laughs.

Then you have management sims, which also come in lots of flavours. Two Point Campus has you managing a school; Arcade Paradise is a tycoon title about building up a video game arcade; and Planet Coaster sees you maintaining your very own amusement park.

With so much variation, we need your help to narrow down the best simulation games on PS5. As with all our lists, this feature is decided purely by the ratings left by users like you. Use the search bar below to browse through sim games, then leave your own ratings — doing so will contribute to the games that appear on this list and in what order.

Games will need at least 20 ratings in order to appear. If your favourites aren't here, they probably need more ratings, so make sure to have your say.

Without further ado, here are the best simulation games on PS5, as chosen by you.

20. FIFA 21 (PS5)

As was the case with NBA 2K21, EA Sports took the next-gen transition from PS4 to PS5 as an opportunity to spruce up FIFA 21 in some significant ways. While the biggest changes, namely HyperMotion Technology, would be reserved for FIFA 22, the publisher delivered one of the more significant graphical passes in the franchise’s history, adding luxurious new hair physics and some truly impressive player models. The package was, as a whole, a bit uneven – and ultimately, it’s still FIFA at the end of the day – but this represented a strong start to the new generation for the ever-popular soccer sim.

19. NBA 2K21 (PS5)

2K Sports took the transition from PS4 to PS5 with NBA 2K21 seriously, effectively building an entirely new basketball sim for Sony’s new-gen system. In addition to the obvious graphical improvements – underlined by a seriously jaw-dropping announcement trailer – the publisher also completely redesigned the popular MyCareer mode, adding a massive open world to explore, and incorporated an entirely new women’s basketball feature, named The W. There were teething troubles with this title, many of which were smoothed out in NBA 2K22, but this was anything but a lazy effort.

18. NBA 2K22 (PS5)

NBA 2K22 is peerless in the sports genre for its sheer scope, and while many may frown at Visual Concepts’ attempt at an online open world RPG in the ever-popular MyCareer mode, there’s no question you could lose hundreds of hours to this title. With one of the most fleshed out Franchise modes on the market in MyNBA and a rewarding Ultimate Team alternative in MyTeam, this is the biggest and best presented sports game on the PS5. Some nice improvements to defence mean that it plays pretty clean on the court as well.

17. MXGP 2020 - The Official Motocross Videogame (PS5)

MXGP 2020 is no scrub, even if it is a little light in the content department. Milestone’s licensed motocross franchise brings with it a hearty helping of meaningful improvements, and it successfully sticks the landing. The most important of these is the gameplay, which feels immaculate thanks to impressive DualSense controller integration. While new additions like the Track Editor and sandbox-style Playground still have a few bumps to even out, this is a worthy ride for dirtbike addicts.

16. Farming Simulator 22 (PS5)

While many may have laughed at Giants Software’s Farming Simulator franchise at first, it’s become bigger and bigger over time. Farming Simulator 22 iterates on the German developer’s ideas from the past decade or so, incorporating over 400 real-life machines and tools and a ton of new crops. This all results in a fresh gameplay experience, with original production lines and opportunities. On top of all that, a surprisingly fun competitive multiplayer mode has added an unexpected wrinkly to the experience.

15. WWE 2K22 (PS5)

WWE 2K18 was such a disaster that 2K Sports took the unprecedented decision to take an entire year off, and then eventually delay WWE 2K20 as its targeted holiday release spot neared. The result, though, is a return to the form for the franchise. While not every feature in this wrestle-‘em-up hits as hard as Andre the Giant, there’s some real muscle on this game’s bones that should keep WWE faithfuls occupied for the foreseeable future. Worth the wait, then!

14. FIFA 22 (PS5)

FIFA 22 feels like real football, and it’s all the better for it. Impressive improvements to player positioning, ball physics, and animations make for a supremely satisfying simulation that underpins each of the franchise’s flagship modes. Career Mode doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the ability to create a club is entertaining, and the changes to Player Careers are overdue. Microtransactions still rule supreme in Ultimate Team, and you’ll already have your own personal opinions on that, but there’s so much to do in the game that you could easily invest hundreds of hours into it without seeing a single loot box.

13. FIFA 23 (PS5)

The last FIFA game to actually have FIFA in the title, FIFA 23 sees the branding go out on a relative high, with some welcome gameplay adjustments further refining the annual formula. And look, we've learned to never expect sweeping changes to EA Sports' yearly football sim, but at this point, the overall package is hard to fault, and FIFA 23 is arguably the most finely tuned instalment in recent times.

12. Planet Coaster: Console Edition (PS5)

Planet Coaster: Console Edition brings Frontier's critically acclaimed management sim to PS5, and it's a joyful, addictive experience. Slowly building up a fully functioning theme park from nothing, constructing your very own rollercoasters as you go, is super satisfying, and there are complex layers to the simulation that keep you on your toes. Some of the menus can get a little fiddly, but the game largely makes the leap to console intact. It's a fairly complicated game, but once you're in, you might find it hard to stop.

11. Job Simulator (PS5)

One of virtual reality's first breakout hits, Job Simulator remains a real treat on PSVR2. It's a lighthearted, comical game about robots attempting to simulate human behaviour in the work place, putting you in the shoes of an office worker, sales clerk, mechanic, and more. Featuring support for the new PSVR2 Sense Controllers, the game's excellent amount of interactive options will feel better than ever.