NASCAR and iRacing have today jointly announced that the simulator racing developer has acquired the licence to develop and publish “simulation-style” racing games under the NASCAR name, starting with a console release in 2025.
The NASCAR brand has been in a little turmoil recently, following the purchase of long-term developer 704 Games — the company behind the NASCAR Heat series of games. A disastrous title released in 2021 hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, and the most recent entry in the series is only available on Nintendo Switch.
For its part, iRacing has been successfully running NASCAR’s official esports series since 2010, within its eponymous iRacing simulator. Currently called the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, the championship has a $300,000 prize fund, with $100,000 of that going to the winner.
The series, which sees official backing from the real NASCAR teams and drivers, stages an annual live final at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte — with Steven Wilson of Stewart-Haas Racing Ford taking the 2023 title only a week ago.
There’s also the eNASCAR College iRacing Series, also run in iRacing, which awards thousands of dollars in scholarships to student sim racers. The sim also hosted the pros during 2020 when the real thing wasn’t possible, which also captured some headlines!
That means the series can hardly be in better hands for its gaming future, and iRacing — which includes NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Earnhardt Jr. as an executive director — is set to develop “simulation-style” titles for PC, console, and mobile devices.
iRacing President Tony Gardner commented: “When we were approached with the option to acquire the license for the simulation-style NASCAR console game, which was the console game and franchise that we were dreaming about doing, it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”
According to the official announcement, it’s that console title which will be the priority, with 2025 planned as the launch year. It’s likely that NASCAR Heat co-developer Monster Games, owned by iRacing, will be tasked with bringing that to fruition.
We’re expecting any future console title to be exclusively available on ninth-gen consoles — PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series — as support for the previous generation is clearly easing back now, although iRacing will also develop its as-yet unnamed NASCAR game for Nintendo Switch too.
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