Mike Straw of Insider Gaming teased an exclusive interview with iRacing president Tony Gardner on Thursday. In the teaser article, it was revealed that the next NASCAR video game would be developed on the Unreal Engine by Monster Games. Why does this matter, and is this the silver bullet for the next great NASCAR game?
iRacing using Unreal Engine to make the next NASCAR game makes a lot of sense. This game engine is truly on the cutting edge of modern game design. These are a few reasons why.
Lots of Money and Resources Behind It
The Unreal Engine was created by Epic Games, a major figure in modern gaming. There are a lot of resources that went into developing this game engine, and as we already mentioned, plenty of great games have been made with this engine.
Simply put, this engine is as good as it gets. All of the bells, whistles, and resources necessary to create a good video game exist within this engine.
The Ability for Cross-Platforming
Unreal Engine creates an easy way for games to be enjoyed cross-platform. This means that gamers can join online lobbies with players playing on other consoles. Online games are not limited to what console the player has, and that opens up each online lobby to more people.
This would be huge news to the NASCAR gaming online community. Anyone can play against whoever they want regardless of the hardware. From there, it’s about making sure that matchmaking and getting into a lobby is fair and not a hassle.
Modern and High End: Capable of the Latest Graphical Quality
The video above shows just how realistic Unreal Engine games can look when all of its’ graphical capabilities are used. As far as graphics go, the Unreal Engine is about as good as it gets.
While the next NASCAR game may not look quite like that, it will look good. It will be interesting to see how this engine allows for day-to-night transitions for night races in the game. That’s one graphical improvement many have been asking for.
Based on this, many would think that a good NASCAR game is a slam dunk on the Unreal Engine. Well, unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
Remember NASCAR 21: Ignition? That game was absolutely unfinished upon release, and it had about as ugly of a launch as any NASCAR game ever has. Motorsport Games and 704Games developed that title on the Unreal Engine. At least it looked pretty.
This doesn’t mean that a good NASCAR game cannot be developed on Unreal, but, it highlights that having the engine can only go so far. The engine gives the developers the tools to create a good NASCAR game, but, the important piece to the puzzle is effectively using the tools.
Will that happen? iRacing has never made a console video game before, and that is a much different ballgame than creating a motorsports simulation. Having Monster Games involved does help given their experience creating NASCAR video games, but they have never created a NASCAR game in Unreal before.
Using Unreal Engine is not a guaranteed 10/10 NASCAR game with all the bells and whistles that every single fan asked for. However, it is a great toolbox to help fashion a great NASCAR video game.
Emphasis on “Good Driving”
When talking about the focus for the next NASCAR video game, Gardner told Straw about “Good Driving” first, and he even threw in the career mode. These are good things to emphasize, but they are also basic parts of a good NASCAR game.
Given iRacing’s reputation with its state of the art racing sim, good driving has to be at or near the top of the list. The question is, how do iRacing and Monster Games strike that balance between a realistic driving model that is also easy enough to pick up and play for beginners? The NASCAR Heat series, that Monster Games also developed, was heavily criticized at the time for its unrealistic driving model and physics.
As far as career mode goes, that may take time to develop. This new NASCAR game needs to emphasize getting the basics of the gameplay correct, then they can focus on deeper game modes. There’s a reason why Gardner mentioned it second when asked about what to emphasize in the next NASCAR game.
The Return of Monster Games
We’ve held off on discussing this in-depth until now, but Monster Games returning is a welcome choice by many in the fanbase. When Motorsport Games came in, which essentially phased out Monster Games, fans gained an appreciation for what the NASCAR Heat Series did well. Sure, the driving and physics model was mid with a clunky online mode, but the single player modes featured a lot of depth not seen in a NASCAR game in around a decade.
Since then, Monster Games has developed the SRX video game and a World of Outlaws video game. Both of these were received well by fans, and they developed the World of Outlaws game while working with iRacing.
However, this is Monster Games’ first time developing a NASCAR game on Unreal Engine. Previous games were on the Unity Engine, so, there may be a learning curve for Monster Games in the process.
The hope is that Monster Games’ strengths and weaknesses complement iRacing’s strengths and weaknesses to create a game that features the best of both worlds. A fun game that new fans can pick up and play that also requires enough skill to master it. That second part keeps more experienced players interested.
Another race weekend in the books. While Ryan Blaney battled back from several pit road setbacks to win his second straight race at Phoenix, other drivers were much to be desired. It was a big win for Penske but for several others, they leave the first “real” race of the season scratching their head with a lot that they need to figure out. Here are the biggest losers of NASCAR’s Spring 2026 Phoenix race weekend.
I’m afraid that this is starting to be habitual. Another race weekend at RCR for Kyle Busch, another terrible result. Well, the finish wasn’t exactly awful. While 17th is hardly up to Kyle’s standards, it’s about as good as it gets anymore for the two-time champion who hasn’t won a race in nearly a hundred starts.
To start things off, there was a reason to be cautiously optimistic about the future of that RCR No. 8 Chevy. New crew chief. Personnel changes. A new Chevy body. He even scored the pole for the 68th running of the Daytona 500 last month. But, since then, it has been a sharp slope downward. He was mostly a non-factor in the first three races. And, today, it seemed like the No. 8 Chevy was out to lunch. They unloaded slow. They qualified in the back of the pack. And, before Stage 1 even ended, Kyle was running 34th with no apparent issues and went a lap down to leader Ryan Blaney. To add insult to injury, Kyle Bush had a tire go down on him three times today. More than any other driver. It appears to be back to the drawing board for team No. 8.
You could say that the Hendrick No. 48 team had a rough weekend in general. But I think it would be more accurate to say that the entire start to 2026 has been catastrophic. Heading into today’s race, even with Bowman starting the first three races of the season, the No. 48 team was 36th in points, last among all full-time drivers. Even Cody Ware was ahead of him. If that’s not bad, I don’t know what is.
To rub salt in the wound, their driver missed today at Phoenix due to showing symptoms of vertigo. So, Anthony Alfredo was into sub and…it went about as well as you’d expect. He went a lap down early and never recovered. He got caught up in the incident involving Joey Logano and DNF’d. Officially, they scored a 33rd finishing position. This is the worst start Bowman could ever imagine, considering that he’s in a contract year.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I’ve lost my marbles. “Come on, dude! Penske just swept the weekend! How can they be losers?” Hear me out. Let’s start first with the two other Penske drivers, shall we? Joey Logano caused not one, but two multi-car pileups, one involving his Penske teammate, Austin Cindric. Cars were utterly destroyed. Before that, both Cindric and Logano were running solidly in the top 10.
So, it’s not for a lack of speed that they make our Biggest Losers list. The reason they’re listed here is that a lot of their problems today, if not all of them, were self-inflicted. Logano was driving sloppily and that took out Cindric. And even race winner Ryan Blaney almost lost this race on pit road numerous times. Rookie mistakes by the pit crew constantly had him charging from behind. Pit road penalties. He was like a yo-yo going back and forth throughout the field. What saved him in the end was that, on that last restart, Blaney took two tires and Christopher Bell took 4. If that had not happened, it is extremely possible that Blaney ultimately would have lost the race and it would have been because of their numerous mistakes in the pits.
They got lucky this week. They probably won’t get that lucky again. They need to clean up those nagging, senseless mistakes.
Ole, Danny boy. If Alex Bowman’s seat is the hottest in the series, Daniel Suarez has to be the second hottest in the garage. That No. 7 car has been a revolving door of drivers for the last several years and it looks like Suarez is shaping up to be Spire’s latest victim. It’s the same old story with the team: they show impressive speed in qualifying and even early on in the race. But rarely do they ever put a full race together. That criticism isn’t just for Suarez, it applies to the team across the board.
But Carson Hocevar is the team’s golden child. He’s not going anywhere. And the team seems pretty high on Michael McDowell at the moment. That leaves Suarez looking like the odd man out, a seat-warmer, if you will. He needs to perform. And, he’s done well to start, admittedly. But he qualified 5th for today’s race. He even earned a few stage points in the opening stage. Then, he faltered and left the race with an unceremonious whimper. Ultimately, after he was no longer a factor, he was caught up in a mid-race wreck. He finished 30th. That’s a tough pill to swallow for the Mexican-born driver. If he wants to keep his ride next year, he needs to show stark improvement in the coming weeks. I have a strong feeling that that ride is about to be a highly sought-after commodity once silly season rolls around.
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
The first checkered flag of the 2026 rendition of the NASCAR West Coast Swing (as abbreviated as it is) has officially flown. It was an exciting race, full of close, tight-cornered racing, a plethora of tire issues littered throughout, and a couple of heartbreaking, hard hits. Surviving it all was Ryan Blaney, who captured the flag in the Straight Talk 500 at Phoenix Raceway. He survived pit road mishaps and passed a total of 49 cars to win the race today. It marks his 18th career victory, sweeping the weekend for Team Penske. So, for Blaney and Team Penske, the race was the highest of highs. Not everyone escaped unscathed, though. Here are the key takeaways from NASCAR’s spring date at Phoenix.
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Following a relatively clean first stage, Stage number 2 and beyond was littered with cautions. Most of these cautions were a result of tires going down after only about 20 laps or so of use. But the caution on Lao 216 was purely driver error. Joey Logano, who was running 7th at the time, made a move down on the apron approaching the finish line. Chaos ensued. Here’s what happened.
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
