Today, iRacing acquired the exclusive simulation-style console racing license for NASCAR, which was previously held by Motorsport Games Inc. The sale will see the license transfer officially from 704Games, a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorsport Games, to iRacing. Currently, iRacing offers the simulation racing experience on PC that exists based on a subscription plan where players also purchase cars with real money as they rank up. The console game, which is expected to launch in 2025, will most likely be a traditional release that is separate from how the program is run on PC. NASCAR Heat 5 and NASCAR Rivals will continue to be available and supported through 2024.
“When we were approached with the option to acquire the license for the simulation-style NASCAR console game, which was the console game and franchise that we were dreaming about doing, it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” said iRacing President Tony Gardner. “Having the ability to build a NASCAR console game is a privilege we promise to execute with the utmost care. We look forward to working diligently with NASCAR industry stakeholders to deliver a product that provides an amazing experience for the gaming community and NASCAR fans worldwide.”
For a few years, there has been a major issue with the NASCAR video game community and Motorsport Games, which inevitably came to culmination with today’s announcement. NASCAR Ignition was launched with very negative feedback and limited review coverage at the time. The company had purchased the engine for rFactor to develop its games on. The company left that game dormant with very little communication for the longest time. The company also has plans for a LeMans game and an Indy Car game, which is unaffected by this purchase as those will be officially licensed.
Motorsport Games also hosted the Virtual 24 Hours of LeMans this year and it was full of issues. F1 World Champion Max Verstappen also threw the entire game and experience under the bus due to his issues. Motorsport Games opted to just release a DLC update for NASCAR Heat 5, which was 704Games last NASCAR title and the roster was already outdated, and this was delayed for a severe amount of time. The latest release was an arcade title, NASCAR: Arcade Rush, as there hadn’t been a console simulation NASCAR game since October 2021. NASCAR has been attempting to iron out this situation for at least six months.
“The sale of the NASCAR license is the result of a thorough, strategic review of where we believe our company should be headed over the longer-term,” said Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood. “In our exploration of the sale, we gave due consideration to those companies we believed could develop a great NASCAR game. Both NASCAR and iRacing have been receptive to our proposed change, working with us to architect a positive transition post-sale and we thank them for their support. We will now concentrate our efforts towards delivering around other IP already in advanced development.”
