It’s been a few years since we’ve had a NASCAR game, let alone a good one. NASCAR 21: Ignition, released in October 2021, was the last entry for a NASCAR game outside of the Nintendo Switch releases of NASCAR Heat Ultimate and NASCAR Rivals. If you go back and read my review of NASCAR Ignition, it wasn’t exactly favorable. The driving physics were solid, but the lack of a meaningful career mode left it feeling hollow. Four years later, the series has a new publisher and developer: iRacing. Yes, the hardcore sim veterans have taken the wheel with the official NASCAR license. But does iRacing’s pedigree translate into a better console experience?
When iRacing was announced as the developer behind NASCAR 25, fans were understandably optimistic, myself included. iRacing’s roots run deep with NASCAR: the company’s co-founder and several members of the original Papyrus team (responsible for the classic NASCAR Racing PC games) built iRacing. On top of that, Monster Games, the team that developed the highly regarded NASCAR Heat titles and the most beloved NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona, recently also joined iRacing. With so much racing expertise under one roof, expectations were sky-high.
Once you take the green flag for your first race, it’s immediately clear why fans were excited. iRacing has done an excellent job of translating its simulation DNA to consoles. The default settings offer a comfortable driving experience with assists like predictive braking and steering help, great for newcomers learning the ropes. However, as a long-time veteran of NASCAR console titles, I quickly switched over to the Pro settings to gain more control. The handling felt responsive and authentic, though I would have preferred slightly less steering sensitivity. Thankfully there is the custom option where you can tweak those types of settings to dial the feel. Overall, it’s a great balance of realism and accessibility.
Loading up a car and taking it to my favorite track, Dover International Speedway, the “Monster Mile”, for a spin, I instantly fell back into the rhythm. On PS5, the adaptive trigger support adds a nice layer of immersion too. There’s not much more to say about the physics beyond this: they’re excellent. Different areas on turns feel different, the car responds to your input accordingly, you become attuned to your car while in the draft, it all just feels connected. On a controller, the game feels fantastic, and I can only imagine how much better it would be with a full wheel-and-pedal setup. Even NASCAR 21: Ignition had respectable driving physics, but where NASCAR 25 really stands out is its Career Mode. While Ignition completely lacked one, iRacing brought back a “Dirt to Daytona” style progression system. I literally cheered when I saw this!
Now, you’re not actually racing on dirt under the light on Saturday nights, but you do start in the lower rungs in the ARCA Menards Series. As you progress, you’ll climb through the Craftsmen Trucks, Xfinity, and finally the Cup Series. In ARCA, you begin with a single car and hire a small crew of mechanics, leadership, and more. It’s a solid foundation, though the hiring pool could use some variety. Once a high-level crew member appears, there’s little reason not to hire them immediately, which limits strategy and depth. In your garage, you’ll also manage repairs, upgrades, and parts. There are two main currencies: one representing your crew’s work point, and another for your earnings. After each race, your car’s parts of Body, Chassis, Engine, and Suspension, degrade slightly, and you can spend work points to repair them. Eventually, you’ll need to purchase new parts with your funds and can upgrade them for better performance. It’s a straightforward yet satisfying system, though I wish you could remove a broken part, install a replacement, and repair the damaged one later. Currently, you can only choose to repair or buy, which limits flexibility. As I mentioned earlier, you start out with one car in the ARCA series, but once you work your way to the higher series, like the trucks, you’re able to have multiple cars in your garage. That way you can race a clean car while the others will be repaired.
Sponsorships play a key role as well. The higher your reputation, the better offers you’ll receive, though only one sponsor can be active at a time. Unfortunately, there’s no negotiation or counter-offer mechanic, so keeping a favorite sponsor means missing out on higher payouts. Customization is a highlight in NASCAR 25. The game includes several pre-made templates and lets you tweak primary, secondary, and accent colors freely through the RGB scale. There’s even a shape editor similar to other racing titles. The big downside? There’s no “copy to opposite side” feature, which means painstakingly recreating your design manually, layer by layer, to ensure symmetry. This should absolutely have been a launch feature and hopefully this will come in a later patch. Otherwise, recreating some timeless NASCAR paint schemes will become very tedious. One thing I was crossing my fingers for were some deep cut fan service to older NASCAR games. Like maybe a filler driver by the name of Fred Jones, or sponsors like Clip’ Em or the Brown Hornet!
As you advance through the ranks, you can own multiple cars, allowing you to alternate between fresh and damaged vehicles. Looking forward, I’d love to see the career mode expand further, perhaps adding more team ownership options, multi-car team operations, or the option to manage teams without even driving. I just hope to see more expansion of the career mode in the future and honestly, I’m just excited to see what else iRacing can bring to the series; with iRacing’s guidance, the future of NASCAR games looks bright.
The soundtrack is a surprisingly mix of country, rap, rock, and hip-hop, it’s well curated and even features “Flirtin’ with Disaster”, the title track from NASCAR 98 which had me feeling quite nostalgic. Outside of Career and Quick Race, there aren’t many extra modes, but that’s not a bad thing. Previous games had scenario challenges that I rarely revisited. I’d rather see iRacing focus on refining the core experience, which they’ve done well here. As of writing, I haven’t tested online multiplayer yet, but given iRacing’s track record, expectations are high.
NASCAR 25 is a strong comeback for the series. It captures the thrill of stock car racing while introducing a long-overdue, structured career experience. There’s still room for improvement, particularly in management depth and customization tools, but it’s a promising foundation. NASCAR games have been slippin’ in the marbles for a while now, but iRacing has steered the franchise back in the right direction.
A PlayStation 5 code was provided by the publisher for review purposes
