NASCAR 25 Review Roundup: How the Game Landed
The NASCAR 25 review verdict is in, and it lands about where a lot of fans expected. This is a genuinely good racing game that still has room to grow. iRacing’s first standalone console effort earned solid marks for what happens on track, while critics and players agreed it leaves a few things on the table.
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Start with the number most people saw first. IGN gave NASCAR 25 a 7 out of 10, a good score, and singled out the on-track racing as the highlight. Their take was blunt in a fair way. If you want deep multiplayer, iRacing itself is still the destination, but if you want quality single-player stock car racing against strong AI, NASCAR 25 delivers. That framing shows up again and again across other reviews.
The praise is consistent. The driving feels great, especially with assists off, and the AI earns real respect. Reviewers pointed out that the computer cars race you rather than ignore you, which makes restarts tense and long runs interesting. For a first entry on console, nailing the core racing was the most important box to check, and NASCAR 25 checks it.
A few design choices drew specific praise. The driver ratings system, revealed at launch, grades every driver by track type, so the field behaves differently at Daytona than it does at Martinsville. Reviewers liked that it keeps a full season from feeling like the same three cars up front every week, even if the community wants those ratings to swing more from race to race.
Career Mode landed as a highlight for many players. Managing sponsors, developing parts, and hiring crew gives the mode a team-building rhythm that older NASCAR games never really had. The complaints there are mostly about depth, since dedicated players burn through the progression and then want more owner-level control, but the bones are strong.
The criticism is just as consistent, and it is fair to be honest about it. SideQuesting summed up the mood with a review built around one question: what is here is good, but is it good enough? The knocks tend to focus on the same areas. There is no real onboarding for new players, so the game leans on you to learn tracks by copying and drafting the AI. Some features fans remember from older games are missing or thin. The paint booth, while improved, still frustrates creators who want more shapes and sponsor freedom.
The community verdict tracks closely with the critics. Players have called it fun to drive and a real step forward for the franchise, while also pointing out how much is still bare-bones compared to games from twenty years ago. That tension, a strong core wrapped in an unfinished shell, is the story of NASCAR 25’s first month.
Here is the encouraging part. iRacing has been patching quickly, and it clearly reads the feedback. A late-October update added copy-and-paste paint schemes in Career Mode after fans asked for it, and more fixes followed. So the game you read reviews about at launch is not frozen in place. It keeps getting better.
So should you buy it? If you love NASCAR and want the best official game on modern hardware, the answer is an easy yes, with eyes open. NASCAR 25 is a strong, fun foundation rather than a finished masterpiece. For a first swing from iRacing, that is a good place to start, and it sets up NASCAR 26 to build on something real.
