iRacing Reveals NASCAR 25 Career Mode Details - Coming to PC and Consoles This Fall

[Steve_OS]

iRacing just announced that NASCAR 25 will be releasing this fall for PC and consoles. Fans...

Written By: Steve Noah

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[hbr_rocket]

Wouldn't it be great to have a community like we did for the Papyrus/Sierra Nascar series. It's 2025 and nothing has came along to be better than Nascar 2003. I got a feeling this one will.

[bukktown]

I am pretty excited for this game

[LoadStar81]

Looks like a few ideas that have been touched on in recent iRacing and NASCAR titles (thinking of Heat 5 and Outlaws 24) are getting more fleshed out here.

I'm intrigued by, of all things, the facilities aspect of it. If you've played My Team in any of Codemasters' more recent F1 games, you probably know that feeling you get, when you look through all of your fully kitted out facilities, and remember what they looked like back when you started. Giving users a connection with the world, makes for better emotional buy-in, and that's good use of the medium.

Not quite at "shut up and take my money" just yet, but this is definitely making my Wishlist.

[fnz21]

I REALLY hope there's some sort of career-ish mode (That's just racing without the off-track stuff) where we can be any of the real drivers.

Something I've always wanted in a NASCAR game (I even wrote an article here about it) is for the game to feel like a sports game.

I want a roster, with driver ratings that I can see (not behind the scenes) and ideally edit. If I want to make Michael McDowell the best driver ever for no reason I don't why I can't.

I would love driver movement over the course of a career mode (even in a mode when I can be any of the drivers). In previous NASCAR games if I replaced Ryan Blaney in the #12 car, Blaney then disappears. If I leave for another team Ryan Blaney is back in the 12.

I want drivers that aren't me to also have contracts and leave for appropriate teams as their careers progress and drivers retire. EA's F1 game has this feature, so I feel like the one excuse for it not being in there (sponsors would never allow it) would exist in the F1 game as well, and they clearly got over it.

A total dream world would allow me to shuffle drivers and teams as I see fit.

I've never received an explanation why this stuff was never in any game.

[ggsimmonds]

Most I've been hyped and looked forward to any game in quite a while. I'm a huge nascar and simracing nerd so this is a dream.

Only mildly disappointing thing is the line "...this game being all about the driver's perspective"
I suspect from this that we will not have the ability to own a team.

Its understandable for an initial release, but that would give me my wishlist for Nascar 26. The ability to be a driver-owner (Hamlin as the obvious cover athlete).

But for now, the ability to move up the ranks via an Iracing-esq driving experience is amazing

[bacon96]

Quote: Originally Posted by fnz21

I REALLY hope there's some sort of career-ish mode (That's just racing without the off-track stuff) where we can be any of the real drivers. Something I've always wanted in a NASCAR game (I even wrote an article here about it) is for the game to feel like a sports game. I want a roster, with driver ratings that I can see (not behind the scenes) and ideally edit. If I want to make Michael McDowell the best driver ever for no reason I don't why I can't. I wouldn't love driver movement over the course of a career mode (even in a mode when I can be any of the drivers). In previous NASCAR games if I replaced Ryan Blaney in the #12 car, Blaney then disappears. If I leave for another team Ryan Blaney is back in the 12. I want drivers that aren't me to also have contracts and leave for appropriate teams as their careers progress and drivers retire. EA's F1 game has this feature, so I feel like the one excuse for it not being in there (sponsors would never allow it) would exist in the F1 game as well, and they clearly got over it. A total dream world would allow me to shuffle drivers and teams as I see fit. I've never received an explanation why this stuff was never in any game.

Man, I love your idea for a "roster editor." I don't think we've ever seen that one in a NASCAR game - I'd like to see something like team ratings and driver ratings then of course have it all be editable.

As for your example of drivers exiting the ride you take over just to regain the seat once you depart, I wanna say that is a licensing issue that was mentioned by some previous developers or at least speculated upon by some community members smarter than myself. If someone like Busch Beer has a contract with Ross Chastain and you take over the #1, the company, Busch in this example, wouldn't want someone who they wouldn't sponsor irl to take over that #1 seat/sponsor combo once you yourself leaves. This puts the developers in a weird predicament which I would predict either results in a lengthy list of fictional drivers or (a much better scenario imo) a bunch of fictional sponsorship opportunities down the line in a career mode.

That being said, the dream scenario for me and you is the same...give me total control for my offline career mode so I can progress the series however I see fit.

Obviously, I've thought about this a lot. We've had a ton of time to craft ideas for a new game and I'm hoping iRacing can be a consistent contributor to the NASCAR console gaming scene so hopefully a fully fleshed out multi-year branching silly season is in the works but I am truly just hoping the game is playable for the first installment.

[fnz21]

Quote: Originally Posted by bacon96

Man, I love your idea for a "roster editor." I don't think we've ever seen that one in a NASCAR game - I'd like to see something like team ratings and driver ratings then of course have it all be editable. As for your example of drivers exiting the ride you take over just to regain the seat once you depart, I wanna say that is a licensing issue that was mentioned by some previous developers or at least speculated upon by some community members smarter than myself. If someone like Busch Beer has a contract with Ross Chastain and you take over the #1, the company, Busch in this example, wouldn't want someone who they wouldn't sponsor irl to take over that #1 seat/sponsor combo once you yourself leaves. This puts the developers in a weird predicament which I would predict either results in a lengthy list of fictional drivers or (a much better scenario imo) a bunch of fictional sponsorship opportunities down the line in a career mode. That being said, the dream scenario for me and you is the same...give me total control for my offline career mode so I can progress the series however I see fit. Obviously, I've thought about this a lot. We've had a ton of time to craft ideas for a new game and I'm hoping iRacing can be a consistent contributor to the NASCAR console gaming scene so hopefully a fully fleshed out multi-year branching silly season is in the works but I am truly just hoping the game is playable for the first installment.

I imagined that's the reason but it's so corny. (This next part is not directed at you but more the situation)

My whole argument against this whole idea is that it's a VIDEO GAME. Sponsors should not be concerned with what I'm doing in my own home. I get that there are streamers, but EVERYONE knows the game is NOT REAL.

If Busch beer is sponsoring Ross Chastain, there's an expectation that Ross is competitive. In exchange for providing their licensing they expect video game Ross to be competitive. They want realism. If Ross Chastain finishes last in every race in my career mode, will Busch beer reach out to me? Will they cease to be in the game? If Ross wins every race is that any different? Maybe we just need every driver to be sponsored by Monster or Bass Pro Shops (we're headed that way!) then everyone can move from team to team.

In Madden, if Joe Burrow is on the cover of the game and I trade him the Miami Dolphins, is the NFL going to contact me?

In the NBA 2K series, there are ~10 different shoe brands in the game. Some players are locked in to the exact shoe deals they've signed (there are workarounds). Others have no shoe deal whatsoever. If I assign Lonzo Ball to wear Adidas and he doesn't actually wear Adidas in real life, would Adidas be mad?

We went through a similar situation with the college football game. Real players were added for the first time. But we were not allowed to edit them, including their ratings. Players were vastly underrated, and they couldn't even edit themselves in real life! Literally NOBODY gets harmed if I make Jalen Milroe the greatest LB of all time just because I wanted too. We're a goofy people at the moment and I don't when we became so serious.