CONCORD, N.C. — I entered Turn 7 of the Chicago Street Course with an opportunity to pass Christopher Bell on the inside and gain a crucial position. Yet, as I eased off the throttle and hit the brakes, my No. 19 Toyota slid sideways into the wall.
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What gives? I thought as I moved the right thumbstick back to get a reverse look at my virtual car. As it turns out, I had caved the entire front end in when I slammed into Shane van Gisbergen in Turn 1.
The damage was far more than cosmetic in "NASCAR 25," iRacing's first console NASCAR game. It actually affected the car's handling.
I probably should have noticed the bright red "Aero" warning light earlier in the lap.
"It all goes back to that same thing, right, of like trying to give every sort of level of experience," Matt Lewis, iRacing Director of Production, told me after I completed my first race in Chase Briscoe's car. "And if you want that hardcore, 'I damaged my car and now I can't turn,' we have that.
"We also have visual only. Like, if you just like to see it, but you don't want it to kill you, you can do that (laughs). Or, you can turn it completely off and you're just invincible to the world, right? So there's every level."
Photo credit: iRacing
I saw the different levels of the "NASCAR 25" experience during a preview event at the NASCAR Production Facility. I competed on the Chicago Street Course with the recommended setting for players that have some experience with racing video games.
This mode had some assists turned on. I didn't have to worry about shifting in each corner, and my car had better traction on the street course. Still, I had the ability to ruin my day by running into other cars, which I did multiple times. Sorry, Erik Jones.
John Hunter Nemechek and Briscoe, two of the drivers in attendance for this preview event, took a different approach. They turned the game to Expert mode, which removes all of the assists. They then took on a variety of NASCAR's tracks.
Nemechek started with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. He quickly learned that this track did not favor a driver testing out different modes for the first time, so he exited the crown jewel race and tried out a smaller venue.
Meanwhile, Briscoe headed to Homestead-Miami Speedway. He wanted to try the different lines in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Briscoe performed well in one race; he finished sixth after a last lap pass of Bubba Wallace. He delivered this finish on the standard settings, which he said would help a more casual player like his wife, Marissa.
Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek turned off all the assists on @Nascar25Game and put it on expert mode. They quickly learned how easy it is to spin your tires and hit the wall.
Chase handed me the controller for a Chicago street race. I wrecked in turn 1. Sorry, SVG… pic.twitter.com/9AHXbqSQRd— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) October 1, 2025
His second race served as a learning experience. He slid into the grass trying to exit pit road, and he struggled with handling at the Florida track. Briscoe then moved to the Chicago Street Course, where he spun out in every turn.
As Briscoe handed me the controller, he said that he didn't recommend taking on the street course on expert mode. At least, maybe not for my first time ever experiencing the console game.
"The things we notice even when we do track activations as iRacing, having a sim rig in the infield, a kid walks up, they get in, they jump in," Lewis explained. "First thing they do is they spin out trying to get off pit road. It's super frustrating. So this is the answer to that, right?
"I was just saying earlier, a funnel or a pyramid — either one works — but we're the base of the pyramid. (This is that) wider audience. Then you step up, maybe they get really addicted to it. They love it. They love the experience.
"Now they're gonna go buy a wheel and pedals, maybe buy a sim rig, step up to the simulator. And then the tip of the pyramid is the William Byron's, the Rajah Caruth's. Guys, they want to come up from gaming and now they're doing it for real."
One of my biggest questions after seeing "NASCAR 25" for the first time in person involved the drivers. How much of a role did they play as iRacing tried to replace the negative feelings associated with recent console NASCAR games.
Lewis told me that these drivers remained heavily involved in the process. He said they went overboard and actually got more feedback from drivers across all of the series than they normally would on other development projects.
He said that the drivers wanted to get involved considering how much is at stake. These drivers are putting their names on the line while endorsing this project, just like iRacing is putting its reputation on the line by tackling this console project after becoming the gold standard in PC simulation.
Yes, iRacing had the laser-scanned track assets that they could use to build a foundation for this project, but putting a game on console instead of PC is so much more complicated with the hardware differences. What works on a top-of-the line computer will not necessarily work on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.
"A lot of people kind of assume we're just taking the sim and putting it on console," Lewis told me. "Definitely not doing that, so it's been this like kind of hybrid approach, right? Because you're trying to hit that wider market.
"You're trying to have different levels of — you just saw from Chase (Briscoe) to you — different levels of skill sets playing the game and having a good time. So that is a challenging and time-consuming process. Just kind of having all the the levers and knobs that you can tweak and tune to give all those different experiences."
"NASCAR 25" heads to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on Oct. 14. Early access for Gold Edition preorders will begin 72 hours prior. The PC release via Steam will happen on Nov. 11.
