Eight things we learned from a NASCAR 25 game developer interview

• NASCAR 25 road course gameplay footage supplied by the development team to Traxion
• They confirmed a lack of physical retail release, and why it’s coming later for PC
• Also discussed were the extremely long list of AI and control options, how they aim to avoid repetitive audio and the development process so far

NASCAR 25, the first official NASCAR game for PlayStation and Xbox in four years, will release in 20 days.

That’s pretty close, and as the team (under the iRacing Studios umbrella) nears that pivotal date, it is beginning to open up.

In recent weeks, there was pricing confirmation, a snazzy trailer and gameplay footage with Xfinity driver Anthony Alfredo. Other content creators were able to publish captured gameplay and talk about their initial impressions, too.

But, as more information is drip-fed to the community, further questions are raised – the NASCAR gaming fans chomping at the bit, eagerly anticipating and sifting through any scrap of detail they can find, before speculating as to what it could mean.

Not all information is available now – we were informed that further videos will be published about the career mode and the ‘paint kit’ closer to launch. However, ahead of those, Mike DeVault, Creative Director, and producer, Matt Lewis, were able to provide some further insight. Here’s what we learnt.

Watch new NASCAR 25 in our recent YouTube video below – North Wilkesboro, Daytona and Lime Rock.

There’s a long list of options

Being able to tweak and tailor your gameplay experience is the linchpin of a robust racing video game.

So, while NASCAR 25 may lack some commonly requested features (cross-platform multiplayer, online ranking systems and photo modes spring to mind), it seems to have the fundamental options in place.

There’s an overarching difficulty level, but then we spotted nine further options for your AI rivals, such as their stability, skill range, ability to recover, consistency and fuel burn and tyre wear rates and even the frequency of incidents.

For gamepad players (we’re yet to see in action, or know more about, wheel users), a long list of dampening, sensitivity and dead zone options were listed across steering, braking and throttle.

Newcomers will be able to play with a wall avoidance system. More committed players can fine-tune the strength of the draft or remove the cockpit steering wheel.

Plentiful audio recordings

It’s been previously mentioned that there are two spotters – T.J. Majors (Brad Keselowski) and Josh Williams (Shane van Gisbergen). The game developers have taken real-world spotter calls and mixed them with additional recording sessions.

These clips are then merged together, with the help of artificial intelligence, to try and make it less repetitive and more naturalistic – the example given was having at least five versions in-game of “car high”, featuring different intonations.

In a similar vein, pre-race scenes and animations can be turned off – although they feature some of the best flag and firework representations in gaming – once the appeal has waned.

Unreal Engine, for the first time

Unlike iRacing, which uses a proprietary graphics system, or this development team’s previous work (NASCAR Heat 1-4, two Tony Stewart games, SRX The Game and two World Of Outlaws games), which used Unity, NASCAR 25 will be its first foray into Unreal Engine.

From our particular preview session and the footage supplied, the visuals look decent, if not groundbreaking.

Which is fine for a first attempt, frankly. During the showcase, which is on an unfinished work-in-progress build, we spotted the level of detail (LOD) model noticeably changing in a few scenarios, and obvious shadow loading along the Armco at Lime Rock Park. Away from the ovals, trackside items such as trees seem almost retro in their lack of detail.

Still, this is likely noticeable because we weren’t engaged in playing it, pausing the footage as we watched back. There’s no doubt the detail is far in advance of the prior Heat titles, for example, but there’s polish to do on road courses for the inevitable follow-up. Having said that, we’ll take a smooth experience over superfluous extra detail.

It’s not iRacing on console, repeat, not iRacing on console

While in recent times the marketing messages have been very clear that this isn’t trying to be iRacing on consoles, there is still the perception that the vehicle dynamics are cut from the simulation platform.

This is not the case, reiterated during the media roundtable. Rather, its physics are separate, more accessible (yet still challenging without the assists on, based on the gameplay we witnessed), but tuned by some iRacing team members. They aren’t creating the underlying systems, but assisting with dynamic tweaks.

It does, however, share some assets with its older sibling, such as car models and laser-scanned tracks.

This makes the absence of Mexico’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, which was recently created for iRacing, a little odd.

Lewis was keen to stress the amount of work required to take a track from iRacing to NASCAR 25: “It’s not Control C, Control V”, and that “for Mexico specifically, we haven’t figured that out yet, but it’s possible.”

It’s a digital-only release

Contrary to popular belief, and a console release for a popular sport, NASCAR 25 will not be available on a physical disc from the likes of Amazon, Target or Best Buy. Or anywhere else, in fact.

It will only be released digitally. Retail game sales continue to fall; however, we can’t help but think iRacing Studios may miss out on some holiday sales for aspiring racing kids with an Xbox or PS5.

Why is it releasing later on PC?

While PlayStation and Xbox owners can enjoy NASCAR 25 in October, those with a PC will have to wait until November for a Steam version.

According to Lewis, this was due to a late decision to release on the platform at all – the team’s World of Outlaws Dirt Racing title from 2022 didn’t, and the 2024 follow-up did, but six months after consoles.

The parent iRacing simulation platform is on PC, and with official NASCAR content, so it appears there was a debate about whether releasing the game on PC would create an overlap.

Once it was decided, however, there was also some further “peripheral support” to work on that has pushed it a month later.

All footage so far is on PC

The NASACR 25 development team confirmed to Traxion that all the promotional, gameplay and preview footage has been captured on PC. This is a standard industry practice; however, it would be welcome to see at least something on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X ahead of release, as NASCAR fans have been stung by this in the past.

This is also particularly pertinent in this instance, as the PC version won’t be released until just under a month later, which is a marked difference from all other annual official motorsport games.

It was discussed that “consoles will run at 60 frames”, according to Lewis, but any details on whether the lower-power Xbox Series S runs to a lower spec, or the more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro will receive a resolution bump (for example) were not clarified.

Triple screen support confirmed

Staying on the PC topic, those patient enough to wait for this version will be treated to the option of running with triple screens – greatly widening the field of view from the cockpit perspective.

This wasn’t expanded upon further, which historically is a tricky feature to implement when developing for the Unreal Engine graphics technology that NASCAR 25 uses – but it will be a welcome addition for those with a sim racing setup already in place.

Virtual reality was labelled as “unlikely”, however.