NASCAR 25 | PC Review

Racing games call my name. I know for a fact that I have reviewed no less than five racing games, not counting titles that do not even involve cars. Nascar 25 is clearly the highest level of them all. As far as racing games go, this one is AAA. Imagine my glee when we received a review copy. I was excited to dive in and enjoy the resurgence of an annual title that had taken a downturn until now.

Some Background

I have been playing racing games since Pole Position at the arcade. I have been watching Nascar, IndyCar, and Formula One since the early eighties. My dream as a child was to be a race car driver. Finances and opportunity prevented that from becoming a reality, but I could still live vicariously through video games. Regardless of console, I always ended up buying and obsessively playing racing games.

Fast forward to the PlayStation 4 era when Nascar Heat 2 released. At the time, it was the best Nascar game I had ever played. It did not have the deep career mode of Nascar Thunder 2003, but it nailed racing quality and realism. I went on Twitter looking for an online league and quickly found a startup called Sofa Racing League. This was early 2018, and the league is still active today. We eventually transitioned away from console racing because Nascar Heat 5 was tremendously underwhelming. We now race on iRacing, which is a true racing simulator and the standard for comparison across the genre.

Nascar Heat 5 was a disappointment, and the follow-up releases were equally poor. The visuals looked fine, but the racing felt off and the physics lacked any sense of weight or authenticity. Online racing was a mess. The Nintendo Switch version of Nascar Rivals was even worse. Poor sales followed, the license was dropped, and the series went quiet for three years.

Then iRacing entered the picture. They acquired the license, promised a return to form, and pledged frequent updates for racing fans. Those of us already invested in the iRacing platform expected something special from their first full entry in the franchise.

Graphics and Sound

Booting up Nascar 25, the care and quality are immediately apparent. And then System of a Down’s classic Hypnotize plays on the title screen. An awesome song that sounds fantastic but thematically is a horrible mismatch. I wonder if anybody else noticed or cared.

The visuals have taken a huge leap forward for the franchise. The cars look sharp and vibrant, and the tracks are positively beautiful. Once you are in motion, everything flows with flawless smoothness. The lighting, track detail, and sense of speed work together to create some of the most realistic Nascar visuals I have seen outside of a full simulator. Even packed restarts never caused a single hitch. The frame rate never dipped, and I did not encounter a single graphical bug. It felt polished from the moment I hit the throttle.

The sound design deserves special praise. During my first practice session, the car started with a deep bass growl that sounded exactly like the real thing. The engine note has weight and texture, and you can hear the strain and rumble as the revs climb. Tire noise, track grip, and small audio cues make it easier to feel what the car is doing even without a wheel. It is rare for a racing game to nail sound this well, but Nascar 25 absolutely delivered.

Dents and scrapes show up clearly during contact, though the overall damage model feels simplified. Even so, the combination of clean visuals and powerful engine audio makes every lap feel energetic and authentic.

But What About The Gameplay?

Full disclosure, I was unable to get my steering wheel to work with the game. It’s strange because it’s the same wheel that I use for my iRacing adventures. Perhaps it is enforcing a Windows restriction? I will keep looking and update this review should something change.

Racing is satisfying. Not nearly as many handling adjustments as there are available in iRacing, but the sliders of the Nascar Heat days have returned: Neutral in the middle, looser to the right, tighter to the left. If you leave the driver assists (braking, wheel spin, etc) turned on, I highly recommend going at least one step looser. The car is dreadfully tight which means even though the tires are turned, the car wants to go straight. (Opposite, a loose car will feel like the back tires aren’t connected to the racing surface as well, the back end of the car will want to swing out in the turns.)

I am very satisfied with how the car handles and the racing itself. My very common complaint about racing against computer players remains: If I am faster than you, don’t block the racing line! For a game that rewards clean racing, they certainly allow the computer racers to make dumb mistakes that cause wrecks. 

Career and Online Modes

Career Mode brings a surprising amount of structure. Reputation matters because clean driving earns respect, while aggressive driving turns other racers against you. Sponsors cycle in and out based on performance. Between races, you spend time in the garage managing repairs and upgrades, and this weekly activity feels natural instead of tacked on. In the ARCA series, it took me about seven races to upgrade the car enough to challenge for wins consistently, which made clean racing, car preservation, and consistency pay off.

Progression through the racing ladder works well. Each series introduces its own handling style and strategy. ARCA cars drive differently from Trucks, which drive differently from Xfinity and Cup. That variety keeps the season fresh and rewards improvement.

Online racing is a different story. iRacing is still the gold standard because most people there treat every race like a real session. Nascar 25 is far more chaotic. You may find a respectful group, but you are just as likely to end up with players who dive into corners with no awareness, block for no reason, or swerve down the straightaway. It feels like racing a four-year-old who keeps taking their hands off the controller to eat a Cheerio. It can be silly fun, but it never matches the discipline of a true simulator.

Originally, I said that racers who were considering iRacing but only planned to race Nascar cars might be wise to buy Nascar 25 and save some money. Based on the quality of the online racing, I must walk that back. There is no comparison. iRacing is the superior online experience without question. To the game’s credit, I did not encounter lag, connection issues, or matchmaking problems. Everything ran smoothly. 

Final Verdict: Nascar 25

Nascar 25 is a strong return for a franchise that had lost its direction. The game looks great, the sound design adds weight to the action, and the racing feels more polished than anything the series has delivered in years. The performance is smooth, the handling is enjoyable, and the presentation finally matches the quality fans expect.

It will not replace iRacing for serious sim racers, but it does not need to. Nascar 25 fills an important middle space. It delivers licensed cars, tracks, drivers, and full seasons for a single price, which makes it valuable for anyone who wants authentic Nascar racing without subscription fees or purchased tracks. The career mode is engaging, the week-to-week garage management is satisfying, and the climb through the racing ladder feels rewarding.

Offline, Nascar 25 is perfect. It is a confident step forward and a welcome return for console and PC fans who have been waiting far too long for a quality game. If online racing is where you plan to spend most of your time, I still recommend iRacing.

To hear me talk more about NASCAR ’25, be sure to listen to the November 27th, 2025 episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:12:10 time stamp.

This review is based on a PC copy of NASCAR 25 provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. It is also available on Xbox Series consoles and PlayStation 5.