NASCAR 25

NASCAR 25 has proven to be a very welcome surprise, giving you a rendition of the sport that absolutely shines on track. Some of the supporting elements could do with a tune-up, but if you’re looking for heart-pounding racing action, NASCAR 25 delivers.

NASCAR 25 is a much-needed shot in the arm for NASCAR video games, bringing an authentic and fun experience to a new generation. Players will learn to appreciate the skill it takes to be the best on track, and it should draw eyes to the real-life sport as well, thanks to the incredible presentation.

NASCAR ‘25 is a game that fans of the sport will honestly enjoy. It fills a void that has been left open for years and allows them to be able to finally ‘scratch that itch’. It’s not something that will blow other racing games out of the water, but if iRacing Studios is going to try and possibly turn this into a yearly franchise, then this is the perfect foundation to start building upon.

NASCAR 25 is a very solid NASCAR game. I don’t think it’s going to sell anyone on the spectacle, as I said previously, you’ve got to be into turning left a lot, but this iRacing backed entry does a lot right and is the best NASCAR game in years outside of the events that iRacing put on themselves. There’s a thrill to pack racing at near 200mph on a banked oval that isn’t really replicated anywhere else, and NASCAR 25 does a great job of bringing that to life.

NASCAR 25 is a good simulation, including multiple modes that, while similar in some aspects, let players experience the breadth of the racing experience. It’s not the most beginner-friendly product in the world, and I doubt that it will catch on with those outside the sport’s sphere of influence, but longtime fans should be satisfied with the offer on display.

NASCAR 25 will curb the appetite of those looking for a console experience. The game does the driving and racing perfectly, albeit with some slips outside of the excellent physics engine. This game needs to be experienced with a force feedback or direct drive wheel to truly appreciate the physics engine. Using a controller works well enough and will suit casual players just fine; it's just hard to come back to it from using a wheel. Outside of the racing, there isn't much going on. The Career Mode has interesting design decisions, but there's no point in racing long races if you have to start over due to the Sponsorship Goal. There are four series' here with a ton of drivers to choose from, but the customization aspect is limited. The game looks and runs well, but the sound experience is lacking. The point is you play racing games to drive the cars, which is where NASCAR 25 shines.

With very few options for variety, NASCAR 25 Just doesn’t offer enough in terms of depth.

Overall a really fun game especially the gameplay. Once you play with the sliders it can make for a challenging and competitive experience. Game is a bit barebones, lots of features from old games that are missing.

The fact that it was produced by Iracing raised a lot of expectations, but overall the game is just OK in terms of exploring what NASCAR is really like. It's oversimplified, and you quickly lose the excitement of playing. The online mode is fun, but it feels more like a crash fest since there are no penalties, which favors dirty players who just want to disrupt the races. I hope IRacing fixes the game with patches soon. But it's worth buying if it's on sale.

For iRacing Studios first game like this it’s not a bad outing. It’s a little thin in features, the career mode is more of a my team mode rather than a career mode as you don’t get the opportunity to drive for any of the real life NASCAR teams, rather a new independent team. There are a few things within the game that are hurting it however. Firstly, and most frustratingly, there is an issue with the AI being OP on starts and restarts, losing two to three seconds on a start is annoying. Yellow flags have a big issue in that if a single car spins to bring out the caution and doesn’t pit they keep their position from immediately before the spin rather than going to the back. There is also no retirements from the race, either player or AI. The FFB on PS5 is terrible. It’s great when you are going through a long, or tight corner, but on the straights and in low input corners like the esses at Watkins Glen there is almost zero FFB. I have changed the settings all over the place with no improvement in this. Very disappointing from iRacing when this hasn’t been an issue in any other PS5 racing game I have played. The corner cutting penalty is absolutely stupid and I sincerely hope it at least ghosts the cars in online racing. When you cut a corner the game brings your car to a complete stop even if you are back on the racing line. Stopping on the racing line is an absolute no-no in any racing series. Again iRacing should be doing far better than this. As for accessibility, this game is extremely unfriendly to people who are picking this up as their first ever sim racing experience. There is absolutely zero option for visual driver aids. No racing line options at all, no options for clear braking markers like in GT7, nothing. You better be able figure out your road courses without any sort of assistance with where the racing line or braking zones are. Again, an area where iRacing has tons of other content to look at as far as features sim racing games require but they have chosen to ignore. There are some decent features, the career mode isn’t perfect, far from it, but it does have some interesting aspects. Overall it’s a fun game and for their first real attempt at this type of game they’ve done a decent, albeit flawed, job. A few improvements to this game with updates, and learning some lessons from its shortcomings and I think their upcoming Indycar title could improve on what they have given us here.

Ive been playing nonstop since release, trying to convince myself that this game is worth every penny I paid. It’s not. The AI behavior is extremely odd, the cars act like magnets and stay stuck to each other if contact is made, and Toni Breidinger won the truck championship in my first season… Career mode is very empty and not immersive one bit, you’ll have more fun with good imagination and NR2003. Multiplayer and even offline is filled with bugs and glitches. Overall, not a terrible experience but most definitely not a $70 experience at all. It’s an unfinished game, with less depth than the previous games.

AI are complete dog ****. Multiplayer is broken with AI cars constantly ghosting. Damage model is not good. Graphics are ok.