First, which game. This page is about the original Automobilista, the one Reiza Studios released in 2016. If you are on Automobilista 2, the mods here will not work: it runs on a different engine. Go to my best Automobilista 2 mods and the guide to modding Automobilista 2 instead.
Still here? Good. The first Automobilista is old, cheap and still one of the best feeling sims you can buy. It is also very easy to mod, because under the skin it is a development of the rFactor engine. That engine has had car and track mods since 2005, and a lot of that knowledge carried over.
I checked every mod name on this page on 5 October 2026. I have not listed download links, because files move. Search the mod name on Overtake.gg, the site that used to be RaceDepartment. That is where almost all of them live.
What the base game is missing
Automobilista ships with Brazilian Stock Cars, Formula 3, touring cars, karts, trucks, rallycross and several generations of Formula 1 style cars. All of it is good. What it does not have:
- GT3 cars. None in the base game.
- Licensed series. Most of the F1 style cars are lookalikes with invented names.
- Many of the famous European and Australian tracks. The track list leans on Brazil.
So the mods worth your time are the ones that fill those three holes. That is how I picked the list.
The best car mods
| Mod | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| CART Extreme | The 1998 CART season: road courses, street tracks and ovals | The most complete car mod for the game |
| F1 1994 | The full 1994 Formula 1 grid | Fast cars with no driver aids |
| F1 1991 | The 1991 Formula 1 field | Manual gearbox era, lots of power, little grip |
| GP2 2005 | The first GP2 car, with skin packs for later seasons | Close single seater racing with equal cars |
| WTCC BMW E90 | The BMW 320si touring car | Rear wheel drive touring car racing |
| World RX Supercars | Rallycross supercars | The rallycross tracks already in the game |
| EEC GT3 | A GT3 field from the European Endurance Center league | Filling the one big hole in the base game |
CART Extreme
If you install one mod, make it this one. CART Extreme is by Patrick Giranthon and it recreates the 1998 CART season. In the community it is described as the most feature complete car mod for the game, and I agree with the choice of era: well over 800 horsepower, a manual gearbox, and a calendar that mixes road courses, street tracks and ovals.
Those cars are hard to drive well. The turbo comes in late, so be patient with the throttle on corner exit. Squeeze it, do not stamp on it.
F1 1994 and F1 1991
Two historic Formula 1 mods. The 1994 one covers the full grid of that season. 1994 is the year the driver aids were banned in real life: no traction control, no active suspension. In the sim that means a very fast car that you have to drive with your right foot.
The 1991 mod was still being worked on when it first appeared in 2016, so look at the date of the last update before you download it. If you want one of the two, I would start with 1994.
GP2 2005
The first GP2 car. Everybody has the same chassis and engine, so it is a good mod for league racing: the fastest driver wins, not the best car. There are skin packs for the 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons, so you can race the grid you remember.
WTCC BMW E90
The BMW 320si from the World Touring Car Championship. Rear wheel drive, not much power, and a field that runs door to door. If you find the front wheel drive touring cars in the base game a bit dull, try this.
World RX Supercars
Automobilista already has rallycross tracks and cars. This pack adds supercars in World RX style. Around 600 horsepower, four wheel drive, short races. It is a good break from circuit racing, and it teaches you a lot about car control on a loose surface.
EEC GT3
The base game has no GT3 class, and GT3 is what most people want to race online. The EEC GT3 mod comes from the European Endurance Center league and it is the best known GT3 option for the game. The league has shared it through its own channels, so search for the league name.
A warning from somebody who has raced GT3 cars: do not expect a mod from this era to match a modern GT3 sim on tyres and electronics. If GT3 is all you want, Assetto Corsa or Automobilista 2 will serve you better. In Automobilista, GT3 is a nice extra, not the reason to be here.
The best track mods
The Patrick Giranthon track megapack
The same person behind CART Extreme also converted and updated a big pack of tracks to the standard of the base game. It started with 18 tracks, and Autopolis, Jerez and Snetterton came later. This is the first track download I would make, because the quality is even across the pack. With random single track conversions you never know what you will get.
Spa Francorchamps
Spa is not in the base game, which is hard to believe for a sim. The Spa mod has DRS zones and comes with the layout of two different seasons. With the F1 1994 mod, Eau Rouge is a real corner again: you have to decide if you lift.
Bathurst, Eastern Creek and Winton
Three Australian tracks. Bathurst is the one everybody knows: a slow climb, a narrow run across the top of the mountain between walls, then a very long straight down. Eastern Creek and Winton are less famous, but they work well with the touring cars and the Formula Ford style cars in the game.
Skins and extras
Skins do not change how the car drives. They change who you race against, and for offline racing that matters more than you think.
- 1999 British F3 livery pack. Real liveries for the Formula 3 car in the game.
- 2014 FIA F3 European Championship skins. The same idea for the newer F3 car.
- Australian Formula Ford Series 2017. A full season of liveries for the Formula Ford style car, which goes well with the three Australian tracks above.
- GP2 skin packs. 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 grids for the GP2 2005 mod.
- Quality of Life Project. A community project from the Vintage Motorsport group. It is not a car or a track: it works on things like dynamic weather and better AI. If you race offline, look at this before anything else in this section.
How to install Automobilista mods
There is no Steam Workshop for this game. Everything is manual, the same way it was in rFactor.
- Find the game folder. In Steam, right click Automobilista, then Manage, then Browse local files.
- Back up the folder. Copy the whole thing somewhere else. If a mod breaks the game, you paste it back.
- Unpack the download. Most mods come as a zip or 7z archive with a readme inside. Read it.
- Copy the files across. Cars go into the vehicles folder inside the game data folder, tracks go into the locations folder. Many archives already have that folder structure, so you just drop them on top of the game folder and let Windows merge.
- Start the game and pick the new series. A car mod normally shows up as its own series in the list.
Two things go wrong most often. One: a mod needs another mod or a sound pack to work, and the readme says so. Two: you race online and your files do not match the server. For league racing, install exactly the version the league tells you to and nothing else on top.
Is Automobilista still worth it?
Yes, if you care about how a car feels more than how it looks. The physics run at a very high rate for a sim of that age, the force feedback is clear, and the base content is unusual in a good way.
The last major update came in September 2019, when Donington Park and Snetterton were added. Since then Reiza has put its work into Automobilista 2. That is not all bad for mods: a game that no longer changes does not break your mods with every patch.
If you are choosing today and you do not own either, read my Automobilista 2 review first. The second game looks far better and has rain and day to night racing. The first one is for people who want the old school feel and a mod folder they control.
FAQ
Do Automobilista mods work in Automobilista 2?
No. The two games use different engines. A mod made for one does not load in the other.
Where can I download Automobilista mods?
Mostly on Overtake.gg, the site that used to be called RaceDepartment. Search for the name of the mod there. Some league mods, like EEC GT3, are shared by the league itself.
Does Automobilista have Steam Workshop support?
No. You download each mod and copy it into the game folder by hand.
What is the best Automobilista mod?
CART Extreme by Patrick Giranthon. It covers the 1998 CART season and it is the most complete car mod for the game.
Are there GT3 cars in Automobilista?
Not in the base game. The EEC GT3 mod adds them.
Can mods break my game?
They can, mostly when two mods overwrite the same files. That is why you copy the game folder before you install anything. Steam can also repair the base files with the verify function.
Is Automobilista still updated?
No. The last major update was in September 2019. The game is still sold on Steam and it still works.