What’s Happening?

We now know a little more about NASCAR’s next console video game. On Wednesday evening, NASCAR released another preview clip featuring those working on the game. While much of it highlighted the past accomplishments of those working on it, John Schneider, iRacing’s Director of Development Production, dropped that iRacing is specifically working on track scans and racing physics.

• IRacing officially purchased the NASCAR console video game license from Motorsport Games in 2023. Since then, it has been revealed that Monster Games would help develop the game on the Unreal Engine.
• IRacing is best known for its work on racing simulators. Many players have praised iRacing’s realism with the driving model and track scans.
• Monster Games has often struggled in the physics department, but they have excelled at adding depth to games. They developed the first NASCAR console video game, which included multiple NASCAR series.

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What Schnieder had to Say and What it Means

Here is the full comment from Schneider, who praises the team working on the game. He mentions that iRacing brings in experts in car physics and track scans.

We’ve got this amazing team. We’ve got iRacing lazer scan assets. We’ve got the iRacing physics experts. You put all that together, and you have the perfect recipe of success

John Schneider

This isn’t a major surprise, but it seems that iRacing will bring to the table the things it specializes in. Coincidentally, what iRacing does really well is what Monster Games tends to struggle with.

The original iRacing is not a game but a racing simulator. Given the hardware it’s working with, it uses track scans and realistic physics to create a realistic experience. While not all of that can be brought to a console, the knowledge and assets from that can be used in a console game. However, as a result, iRacing doesn’t have near the depth of console games in terms of actual modes outside of just racing.

Coincidentally, Monster Games has struggled with racing physics. The NASCAR Heat games from the 2010s were panned for their physics and driving model. Bringing in iRacing should help balance that out to some extent.

Both parties must maintain a good balance between realism and accessibility for a console game. Making an ultra-realistic iRacing-like console game is impractical and inaccessible to casual players. However, there are NASCAR games that have put together good physics and driving models, such as NASCAR The Game Inside Line and NASCAR 21: Ignition (minus the glitches).

Monster Games brings incredible depth to many of its games. One of their oldest NASCAR games, NASCAR Dirt to Daytona, was a revolutionary title. It was the first NASCAR console game to feature multiple NASCAR series, and it allowed players to work their way up to the Cup Series in a career mode for the first time.

Combining the depth of Monster Games titles with iRacing’s ability to bring more realistic physics and track models could create a great video game. However, we are still far away from more details about this game becoming public.

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