First, I want to thank the team at iRacing for providing me with a copy of the new NASCAR 26 game for Xbox.

I got the game on September 15th, and sadly, I haven’t been able to play as much as I would like, but I have gotten some time in. I work full-time, run a business, run this website and page, and have 2 kids at home… I don’t get a lot of gaming time. My first thought is simple: Sweet Home Alabama as the intro song is great! Making Career Mode the first choice on the game’s main menu is great; the menus’ look and feel are great.

I am NOT an online player, so if those are the opinions you’re looking for, this isn’t the game review for you. I’m a career mode player. 13%, 2x wear, Veteran settings, and a controller. (My pedals slide around too much for my wheel) Those have been my settings since Heat 3, and that likely won’t change.

Obviously, NASCAR 25 was a MUCH better game than NASCAR 21: Ignition, but let’s be honest with ourselves. That should NEVER be the target. Non-NASCAR games such as Draftycar are ten times the game Ignition ever was. NASCAR 25 was the basic minimum of what a NASCAR game should be. Playable, good-looking, and up-to-date. It was a fun game, and the things it was missing didn’t really hurt the experience for me.

What it does Well

The gameplay is, in my opinion, a bit better than 25. The new braking system makes racing hard into sharper corners a bit tough; I like that. Quick Race is the same. If you want to just jump in and race or do a full Chase, go for it. The Career Mode is easy to figure out. Nothing is complex about it; anyone can figure it out.

The paint booth is a huge improvement over NASCAR 25. I’ve seen some absolutely killer custom schemes from all sorts of players over the last two weeks. (Not my thing, so no, you won’t see custom schemes from me) The soundtrack was okay; I liked 25 better, but that’s just me.

For 26, iRacing added Peak Performance to the Career Mode, where you sit with Steve Letarte and Jamie MacMurray, and they teach you to race. Thank God you can choose to skip it (some of you seriously need to pay attention), but it does help.

Dynamic lighting, dirty cars, and dynamic tracks are FANTASTIC! The graphics are great overall, and I play on a crap TV with bad lighting. The racing is great, and each series car feels different. That is exactly how it should be.

This likely isn’t all that the game does well, but I haven’t gotten to the rest yet.

What it’s Missing

Remember when they pushed NASCAR 26 Career Mode and bigger and better? Yeah.. No. NASCAR 26, in my opinion, is just a little bit more than a copy/paste of NASCAR 25. I know fans like the addition of the burnout feature; personally, I can take it or leave it. But the game plays pretty similarly; braking at short tracks and road courses has been updated, and they added facility upgrades in Career Mode. I just finished my first ARCA season, and I’m on my 4th or 5th race in Trucks. Again, basically copy/paste.

Where is the variation? Making decisions should make a difference. Your progression isn’t really stalled or advanced by any of your decisions. If I buy all of the best equipment, I’m unbeatable, and honestly, I don’t, because that’s just boring to me. Where are the part failures that made Dirt to Daytona such a great experience that I play 24 years later? There was nothing worse than a suspension failure from the lead with 3 laps to go. Crew member upgrades? None of those. I miss the different chassis from the Heat games: Road Course, Short Track, Intermediate, etc.

I loved those Heat games when you would get a one-off offer from the series above to run a race if you were performing well. How about opportunities to run just the NASCAR-restricted 10 races in the lower series? Come on now.

One of the things that pisses me off is that if I’m moving from ARCA to the Truck Series, and I have money, why can’t I build a better truck for my first race? Whose idea was this, and why do they still have a job? Why can’t I drop in a level 3 part for Daytona if I can afford it? And this carried over from 25; I thought it was stupid there too.

The AI is very iffy; sometimes they drive right into you- not a bump draft, just run into you. If you try to hook a car intentionally for a caution, the reaction is “Lol”; they just get sideways and slide as you push them. And hope they don’t get you your outside and you slide up into them… Ugh. You’re stuck like glue. No caution, just losing precious time and track position.

Crash Graphics? Don’t even ask.

Summary

Will I keep playing this game until NASCAR 27? Yes. Why? Because I have to. Forza doesn’t have stock cars anymore. Heat 5 is a little too old. I could go back to 25, seeing as I am further in the game and not much has really changed. But it is a fun game that looks and plays a little better. In all honesty, I’ll keep playing 26.

iRacing, please, please, please, for the love of God. You have everything needed to build a fantastic game. A spectacular career mode. Bring me on as an advisor. Let’s build a Career Mode worth playing; you have the base, now build the starship, and let’s go TO THE MOON!

But hey, you can do burnouts now.