Semi-realistic racing games with beautiful fictional courses?

[CaptainToad]

Really like idealized race courses in games like Gran Turismo, Ridge Racer series, Forza, etc.

Gran Turismo 4 - Deep Forest

Forza Motorsport (2023) - Maple Valley

Ridge Racer 7, Mist Falls

Project Gotham Racing 4 - Quebec

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Racing Lagoon my beloved

 

[Clippy]

Need for Speed is an obvious one.

 

[Stookymalarkey]

There's the Burnout games, if you're doing the racing mode.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Mute City and Port Town looks so beautiful, especially in F-Zero GX

 

[Bragr]

I get the sense that you want simulation-focused racers. If you go a little more to the arcade side, you have many, like Motorstorm, Wreckfest, Blur, Split Second, or the Burnout series. I highly recommend Burnout 3 and Wreckfest.

But if you still want that "simulation feel" to it, you can try Project Cars, which features a mix of real and created tracks like the Gran Turismo series does (stay away from the newest one, go for Project Cars 2).

There are also the GRID games.