Is NASCAR 25 Starting Off Right? 

What are your expectations for NASCAR 25?

The bar has been set so low that we arent even asking for features we just want it to work

I want a competent NASCAR game with replayability and all around fun factor.

One thing I really liked from NASCAR '06 was the two-player season mode. My stepdad and I would just pick a driver each, play through the regular season, get seated for the chase, and go after a championship. More in depth than just a two-player one-off race but not nearly as involved as a career mode. It was a perfect balance for me personally.

Lupin said "if Dumbledore trusts Harry I trust Harry". If Jr trusts iracing I trust iracing.

I like seeing Dale Jr behind the scenes and open communication. iRacing will be the right partner for console gaming.

I'm expecting a 7/10 game. Good physics. Really good AI. Basic Inside Line Style Career Mode. Good Graphics. Cup Series Only. A really great foundation going forward

I remember the sunoco schemes that were promised in heat 5 and that half of the people who pre ordered never got. Honestly was the breaking point.

I would love an eras mode for this game, like what nba2k has done with their eras mode. Be awesome to race in the 90s era and go through up through todays era would be awesome

The bar over the last few has been set so low that honesty, i just want a game that functions. Something i can get in, drive, and enjoy what I'm playing. Not a broken mess that puts you a lap down if a damn caution comes out before you get to the start finish line.

There are a few things that are different with IRacing making this than other companies. iRacing as been around in one form of another since the 90s, with the "NASCAR Racing" series from Papyrus, which I played and thought were awesome at the time. Even with the change in platform and physics engine, they have 20+ years of experience in making this sort of product and with that comes a valued reputation that they want to keep and build on. They also have all sorts of access and data to work with, along with real life drivers (outside of Dale Jr) that will probably be utilized. All of that is going to bring a lot of authenticity to the development and therefore into the game itself. Personally, I'm hoping that they have a Sim, and Simcade option for game play so that those of us that enjoy the more realistic experience can still get it. I want the gameplay to seem as real as possible, even in a simcade mode where they loosen up some of the realism that would make it difficult. I think that combination leaves something for everybody. I also think a lot more people want a semi realistic experience more than in the past due to the sim world being what it is now. Racing games is really the only type of game where that can happen and it would be foolish not to take advantage of that unique and exclusive characteristic.

If it runs like the old papyrus PC games with updated graphics on the first try………take my money

Realistically speaking, all I’m asking from this new game is for it to function at its core properly, have decent online lobbies (not even great lobbies, just decent and functioning, with some form of a rating system to keep troll drivers from ruining all public races) and to have a good career mode to go with it similar to the Thunder career mode. If it’s a 6/10 game overall, I’d say they did a good job, if they can even add other stuff like a good paint booth and the other series, I’d say that’s even better. But all I want personally, is a good functioning game with decent physics with a decent multiplayer. That’s all I ask of Nascar 25

I think it would be cool if the career mode had a time progression factor. You can pick the year you start, and the cars and drivers, schedule, etc… are all accurate to that year and change as appropriate each season, you could start with Gen 4 and work through to Gen 7 cars, and the difficulty changes as your age would each season as well(the older you get, the more skill you need to have to stay competitive).

I don’t want to a fully customized paint booth or challenge mode. I think we can agree that if the game is functional, it will be a good start for iracing.

i’m just hoping that it’s not only the cup series. i liked the modified tour in dirt to daytona and i hope they bring it back

Man, I only played one nascar game in my life, Nascar 09 for PS2. But I've been following this saga of horrors regarding nascar games lately here and on other social media. For the first year, a game that works the basics well is more than enough.

I know we’ve fallen into this trap before but man I got a really good feeling about the future of nascar gaming with the hands it is in now.

I remember that Motorsport Games had BJ McCloud and look how that turned out so the fact that they have Dale Jr helping in some way is good

Better physics a good fun game with replayability

I expect this game to basically be world of outlaws, but NASCAR theme.

All I ask for is realistic physics.

I would love to race in the rain

If people are saying that NASCAR 25 is gonna be a great game when released, they better hope it's a good one, because we all know how Ignition turned out to be after release day, and people got excited too early.

As a console player, I’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time. And if Dale Jr. is helping, I have more excitement.

My ideal game would be a career mode where you start in one of the 3 nascar weekly racing series ( ARCA , Whelen mods , Late models ) and then the 3 major nascar series obviously

The one thing that i want is team management, like how heat had you start in the lower series and work your way up and buy teams. I love that, its something that iracing could never do, would be amazing for them to do that.

The absolute NEEDS: -Start with cup only. Build the games base with a single series to begin with. -Competent physics (i.e. good representation of aero, meaningful damage model, decent tire wear model) -Multiplayer options for those physics, give host ability to boot mid race, (or vote to kick), and obviously private lobbies lol. -NASCAR Thunder 2003 style career mode. Build your team from parts and crew. Get sponsor deals with expectations. Lock the difficulty at the start. Legend difficulty is absolute torture. -Stats. That's all.

I've said before that anything better than the dross MSG have ever put out is an instant upgrade. It doesn't have to be perfect but I want a NASCAR game that actually has potential and gets better in meaningful and positive ways.

I’m hoping for it to be good, all of the best nascar games for console came out way before I got into gaming

I expect the basics to be nailed, track map, customization, and well a rear view mirror lol. Honestly I just want a capable working game with good racing because console players are getting it rough especially on Xbox since forza Motorsports isn’t in great shape itself. Personally I would like the ability to drive down pit road but if it doesn’t happen I won’t be that upset especially for a first game.

I want a great driving experience and a great career mode. Make that great and can always do more down the road after you build a good base game.

I’m expecting a bare bones game(similar to how iracing itself is pretty bare bones) but for everything it has to be excellent. I think they figure that’s a safe way to go about it

Hopefully they bring back the gameplay where when you're playing with friends you can mess around and go backwards and create a big wreck

What I would love to see is like a NASCAR open world game. Give me control of the car on caution and pit road. I would love to drive to the garage during practice, actually drive the car to victory lane. The game I had on the original PlayStation let me control the car all time time. Unrealistic I know.

I just want a good and competent racing game, and given that Iracing has all the models and stuff for almost every generation of cars, allow us to race those said generations so we aren’t just stuck with the next gen constantly

Two features I want for nascar 25 is one doing victory burnouts without the count down if you want to celebrate for two hours you can if you want. Next would be pit selection so if I qualify first i get first pit selection if I don't qualify first I would have to wait for the drivers who qualify ahead of me to pick their pit boxes and then I can pick the pit boxes that left. Basically like what the Monster Energy Supercross game has. Also basically the same AI from nascar heat 4 but day and night better than heat 4 even on the short tracks and super speedways

I’m so happy you mentioned Thunder 2004 by name as the pinnacle🔥

I would like a game like nascar 15 I grew up playing those games but I loved running trucks and xfinity in the heat games but id rather have different generations from the cup series like gen 7,6,cot,4 and even the late 1980s cupcars even if its just 20 to 30 guys running a chevy lumina

Fully functional game. All I ask is that they give us multiple gens of cup rather than the lower series.

Big difference in a sim vs a game. People should temper their expectations since this is for console and PC and console experience is just different

I hope we have something like the NASCAR 13-15 Paint Scheme Importer/Exporter. That was good.

It's gonna be a good game. They gave themselves a realistic deadline of 2 years to get a polished product out, and the creative minds at Monster Games will have a higher budget and better game engine to fully display what they can do in terms of developing a videogame.

Considering how well the Outlaws game was with Iracing being apart of that im expecting a 7-8/10 game. Just make a game that works with decent physics and graphics and that'll be a good foundation.

Who else Is Excited for NASCAR 25?

I still have physical.copies of the first Papyrus NASCAR Racing from back in the mid to late 90s, all the way up to NASCAR 2003. That was when I packed my Thrustmaster T1 and Logitech Wingman Formula Force wheels and pedals and went on an almost 20 year hiatus. I currentlynhave NASCAR Heat 4 and 5, but they don't have that same feeling as those first Papyrus made games.

A working game with expandability that has good driving physics. Allow custom settings (fuel load, lap counts, etc)

As long as the AI is as good as iracing’s offline AI racing, then the game should be fine.

One thing they need to do is have a fully customizable paint booth where you can upload your own image on the car as well as a place to share and download other people's paint schemes

Realistic crashes, Realistic damage, spin outs, real driving physics,. Also give us a legends mode with drivers and cars from 00's, 90's, 80's, 70's ect. Give us unlimited creativity on vehicle paint and the ability to create racetracks.

the one thing I want is like being able to drive your truck to races ya know? or like entiring the garage stuff like that. I also hope this game is an actual game and not just a new game setting in iracing, also maybe a build a track system.

Hopefully, it’s as good as nascar thunder 2004.

First and for most, I just want a fun and competent Nascar game. It'll be nice to drive some legacy cars like the Torino, Lumina, Monte Carlo, etc, bit that might be asking for too much. Until then I'm happy with my WRC rally game.

Please have all 3 series that was the best part of the heat games

You keep bringing up that this will be iracing’s first NASCAR game, though I would expect them to simply update this game for the foreseeable future. Top gaming titles are all at least three years old.

All I want are the top 3 series, all tracks from all 3, and the ability to run all 3 series on all the various tracks, plus ability to run Cup length races with Xfinity cars and paint scheme mods, a career mode can wait till NASCAR '26, just get the basics right!

I just really hope they have some kinda throwback mode with the older 2000 stock car bodies and hopefully even some 80s-90s ones. I know that’s wishful thinking, but mannnn I wish😂

I'd like to see a good quality realism raving game. And maybe the bells and whistles of other modes and abilities in later games

2025 dont sound like a real year sometimes yk lol still remember nascar 14 and nascar 15 drama of it being the exact same game with different car models

I would like NASCAR to add asphalt feeder series. Like Heat 5 had the semi pro dirt track racing to graduate from, but I would prefer to start a career in like NASCAR Modifieds or Super Latemodels on pavement.

The bar is in literal hell for nascar games right now, if iracing makes a replayable game (I believe they will) the fanbase should be happy

I just want the option for realistic simulation style racing. I'm seriously hoping the cars handle as close as possible as they do in real life, like Nascar Thunder 2004. Just give me a truly realistic racing experience and everything else should come next.

Me personally I wouldn't mind seeing something like total team control to make a comeback, the cockpit view be more realistic, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing the duel races along with the shootout and all star race, I wish they would add a feature like rain delay and add the starting line up again.

If I’m being honest I’m not rlly looking for dynamic whether and all this other outlandish stuff that ppl want in the first game. I could easily see dynamic weather being possibly implemented in the 3rd or 4th game. Wat I’m looking for is a paint booth, customizable helmets, etc etc. I’m not even looking for a nascar heat mobile where u had to build ur own theme park and so on. I rlly wanna hear the spotter when it comes to u being out front and he checks up on u etc etc kinda like wat they did with the nascar 14 and 15 games. (Ik there’s more than that but those r the only 2 titles I can remember) I also want great pack racing and just great A.I. in general. I don’t think these r rlly hard things to implement into the game. Obviously we want great graphics, physics, gameplay mechanics etc etc. I just rlly want more customization. I rlly don’t expect them to have any of the more fun and serious stuff until the 3rd or 4th game honestly. As far as having the weather, hauler, realistic crashes, even caution replays. While this stuff would be cool to have in the game there’s no rush to put everything in the very first game. This is a learning experience from them and as long as it’s not nascar 21 ignition, I’m here for it

Focus on the cup series, get all the core elements in place at a functional level and then build on from that over the next few years. Best option for a sustainable franchise and long term platform base.

Also I think Motorsport Games might be gone like no longer a thing I know after when Indycar pulled away from them they have been silent since. I know there is the La Mans Ultimate game but I watched that trailer and Motorsport Games name isn't on it it's just Studio 307 so I guess they are really gone

i trust iracing. hopefully it’s similar to the inside line game or really anything before the heat games. one thing i’d love to see is a classics mode. i know sponsors would be tough to work with but they do have the old gen 3,4,5, and 6 cars it would be cool to have a classics mode even if the ai’s ran blank schemes with just numbers and names

Nascar needs more exposure. those days when NASCAR was in the massively popular racing games like Gran Turismo was great for the sport i think.

I just want realistic damage 🙏🏻

Realistic hopes for NASCAR 25: 1. Have a good Career Mode - I'm talking, Start as a rookie, have base contracts or what not, similar to how Heat does, but make a better progression system, where it feels like you are being scouted and such. 2. Good Scheme Editor - Now for this, I want it similar to how NASCAR: The Game 2011 was, where you could go super in depth and create your own custom Logos and other stickers for the cars. 3. Allow your custom schemes in Online Lobbies - This might be something that has already been done in a previous title, as I have not played a bunch of NASCAR titles since NASCAR: The Game 2011. But I thin k the idea of what iRacing does on PC with Trading Paints, Is just amazing, and I'm sure there is a way to make it happen for consoles (If not for NASCAR 25, maybe for 26 and so on). 4. Fan Attraction - Just give us a game that brings us into a good story for NASCAR. Something we can all look upon as a great Single Player/Multiplayer Experience. a place to enjoy NASCAR for what it is, away from the stress that iRacing can bring at times racing against real people. Thank you for joining my TED Talks. xD

At this point, it feels like it’s been more than a decade since we got a good nascar game, NASCAR the Game Inside line. I just want a game I can sit down, plug my Fanatec wheel in, and actually just have a sim/even arcade style single race fun at any track I want and actually have a good time doing it because it works.

I want to start the game, paint my car, put sponsors on it, watch it come off the hauler and see an animated crew work on it and practice, i want to hear the announcers roast me for my consistent crashes and i want the race start like from thunder with a whole presentation announcers and all then the race starts, i want to be at 196 mph and i want to pit manoeuvre whoever is in front of me with cautions off because thats real racing as i total everything and everyone. Do that and ill pay 70 every damn year.

They should add a flashvack mode

For the first game, I just want to see if basic game. Something with good physics, great handling and not something that drives like a dump truck like the heat games were. If we can get something that starts off with good basics like NASCAR 15, but with better AI, and better physics, that would be a better start than any game has had over the past few years.

I would say so. From the early pictures I’ve seen, it looks pretty good. I’m cautiously optimistic about it.

I have been sim racing since nascar 2k3 and before. Biggest issue with all the recent games was straight up handing (or the feeling of) that just wasnt there. you can have the best graphics and baddest music but if its suks on track, its dead. That being said, iracing already has ai racing at some tracks , already have the latest designs along with laser scanned tracks , all 3 series are up and running in iracing. All that needs is a solid paint shop and full season (maybe with ability to make own). Cross your fingers. lol

Brimg back the Legends and classic tracks as unlockable playable elements

Looking at what iracing and monster games have done with the world of outlaws game i have high hopes for this game

Tbh I play Iginition with friends and I must say as long as the new game has decent online lobbies, a good career mode and the graphics and physics of ingition that would be good enough for me

You can go outside and play football, basketball,soccer,billiards,ski,skate,snowboard, tennis etc. the one sport with massive barriers to entry and expenses many can’t afford to incur can’t get a game to at least KINDA help people who can’t get into this IRL? What is the difference & challenges that the nascar game creators can’t overcome? How many great sim racers are out there right now even on a console level? I’m not talking iracing because there are obviously limitations.

My expectations are high for this game, but to be honest, I really liked the last Nascar games. I didn't play Nascar Heat 2, but I enjoyed playing Nascar Heat 3, 4, 5 and Ignition 21, which are considered bad or mediocre games for a lot of people. So, it's going to be very difficult to desappoint me in Nascar 25.

I just want something that is more in-depth for a career mode than what we’ve gotten. There no flame and thrill to it, where yeah the F1 game in comparison is heaps and bounds better than any career mode NASCAR games have had within the last decade.

This will be a stepping stone to get gamers into their sim racing. Personal opinion (I run iracing)

as long as they create competent ai this game should be the best in awhile since they already have most if not all the track scans to use as well as car models from their sim racing side

If we can get something that functions, maybe with legacy track DLC, I'd at least be satisfied with the product. Obviously, I'd like more than that, but getting the basics down and seeing the bar slightly higher every year is more realistic.

one thing i love about IRacing doing this is that the company is basicly the remnints of the OG nascar game by Sierra Gaming in the 90s. And IMO it was the best NASCAR game when it came to car setup, and overall racing. The graphics by todays standards sucked but like i said it is the OG and it is still the best when it comes to learning that little changes in the pits can make huge changes on the track.

It should be called NASCAR Heat 6, because that's literally what it's going to be. Monster Games is making it, iRacing is just the publisher.

Just give us an in-depth career mode, along with whelen modifieds and Arca Menards series.

just give us realistic features (in-race, strategies, in-car, etc.), a career mode that feels rewarding working through all of the series, and classic online fun. that’s a NASCAR game

Dale Jr is heavily involved with iRacing, I am sure he has some input on this game. Racers and race fans run iRacing, which should help.

I want a nascar game like the F1 2023. Pit road and entire control of the car in cautions

I'm hoping that it's good. I've been playing, Nascar games since I was9. I'm almost 32. So I've seen the rise and fall of these games.

We can all want it to be so realistic it’s a true sim level nascar exclusive game, but what we all will just be happy and accept witu is a game that actually functions with racing against intelligent AI cars to make each race feel authentic. I’ve played nascar games since 99 and heat 2000 on the old barely function brick computers. I had dirt to Daytona over thunder and heat, don’t think I had nascar games between 03-09 I think I had 08 or 09 and also 11 inside line. Again didn’t buy any for years until heat 3 which showed me just how bad things had gotten. You couldn’t hit a single car without wrecking and they fixed that in heat 4 which I still play. If there are personal “wants” for the next game, In pit/garage control over driving including a HUD of the pit speed down to the tenth of mph for ultimate realism, black/grey/white test cars for testing, a forza horizon/ufc like career mode, simple, yet with parts of the motors, exhaust, aero, chassis/body, etc should have a part by part upgraded by money progression system with the ability to test, upgrade your teams garage with more equipment (ex. Wind tunnels, sims for your team/drivers to improve), ability to own a team and have teammates with a grading system for driver popularity, being its by iracing id love for the first time ever in a nascar game for there to be individual seasons/track configurations/paint schemes/drivers DLC’s from previous years and car eras. Another thing would be like D2D and NH1-5 include xfinity, trucks, dirt maybe but I was thinking more like arca/K&N/late model with a driver rating system. Another thing would be in race commentary as well as a Television broadcast style lap counter and leaderboard. Of course things like a really good vehicle damage ability the more damage Shown the better. So much potential but we’ll see

As long as we have a new game I am fine with average for the first year I liked the career mode in heat 5 but if it had what we expect in ignition I can deal with it for a year

I am expecting that I am finally going to have to bite the bullet and get a wheel and pedal set.

All I ask is NASCAR Inside line with maybe the ability to create an avatar. I don’t even care I will pay for the good schemes if I have to inside line was awesome for online lobbies

I just want damage that actually changes the way the drives and semi realistic difficulty.

Iracing is publishing it I think monster is gonna be actually making it, which if true means we're in good hands. They did a good job with their world of outlaws game

I would love to see the races and career work like the f1 games

I just want a great, realistic visual damage model