By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
CONCORD, N.C.–NASCAR Cup Series drivers Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek approached their first turns on the new NASCAR 25 simulation-style console game with unbroken focus.
Settling on Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of next year’s season finale, Briscoe and Nemechek put their cars through their paces, quickly advancing to expert level.
Developed by iRacing, known throughout the industry for the quality of its simulations, NASCAR 25 doesn’t require an elaborate rig. As such, according to Briscoe, it should be accessible to a much broader audience.
“The average person would probably have trouble getting around the track in iRacing,” Briscoe said, after dueling side-by-side with virtual Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell. “This is a game I can play with (wife) Marissa.”
Set for general release on Oct. 14, NASCAR 25 is played with the sort of hand-held controller familiar to anyone who grew up with Xbox or PlayStation. In fact, the new game is compatible with PlayStation 5, Xbox X|S and on PC through streaming (due Nov. 11) without sacrificing the quality of the graphics.
NASCAR 25 is iRacing’s first venture into the console racing area, and it’s the first to feature four NASCAR Racing Series: NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, CRAFTSMAN Truck and ARCA Menards.
“The is the first time that iRacing is coming to console at all,” said iRacing developer Matt Lewis. “We have, obviously, a 30-year relationship with NASCAR going back to their early days on sim and PC, but this is the first time on console.
“So, a lot of the driving aspects and things like that you would expect from iRacing’s super-authentic race physics are in the game, and we’re really excited to bring it to console for the first time.”
The release of NASCAR 25 fills a void for fans with a yearn for racing who may not want to spend the money required for a full-blown competitive rig.
“It’s been about six years since there’s been a NASCAR console game at all,” Lewis added. “In that same span that we’ve been doing sim for about 30 years, there have been five or six different publishers.
“This is iRacing’s first effort on the console, and we expect to build another 30 years doing console games now as well.”
Even before they played the game first-hand, both Briscoe and Nemechek were aware of its imminent release.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Nemechek said. “It’s a new year. Growing up, one of my favorite things to do was to play NASCAR 2002, NASCAR 2003, and I’m looking forward to NASCAR 25.”
