NASCAR 26 from iRacing is "well into development" while the IndyCar game is "progressing very nicely"

A photo of a NASCAR Cup Series car wearing a NASCAR '26 livery taken at the Charlotte Convention Center during the Sim Racing Expo. — 26 comes right after 25. (Image credit: Windows Central)

I recently heard the name "NASCAR 26" whispered as, not surprisingly, the next installment of the licensed game, and that it's definitely coming as a full release and not an EA-style seasonal update.

Now, iRacing's Kevin Bobbitt has given an official update on the follow-up appearing on the company's latest Downshift podcast (via The Daily Downforce).

There's not a whole lot given away, as you might expect for an as yet unrevealed product, but Bobbitt does confirm that it's going to be NASCAR 26, that we should be hearing more "soon," and development is progressing well.

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“The next version of NASCAR 25, which, as you could imagine, would be NASCAR 26, is well into development, and I think you will see some news on that in the very near future.”
Kevin Bobbitt, iRacing

The latest NASCAR release is being handled a little differently to the first, which was teased for many months leading up to release. That said, after a barren spell from the last official game (which we don't talk about because it was beyond terrible), it was easy to see why the hype would be led this way.

Things aren't so bad anymore. NASCAR 25 isn't perfect, but it's easily the best NASCAR game on console in a long time. It doesn't try to be as serious as iRacing while still using a lot of the tech from the sim underneath to create a compelling experience.

The fact that the NASCAR license is with a company nowadays that truly cares about it means we're going to continue to keep pushing forward. There's no company on earth that could build this the way iRacing can, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's coming next.

A screenshot from the iRacing sim of a silver Indycar bearing the Verizon logo

This is not from the iRacing IndyCar game, because we've still seen nothing from it. (Image credit: iRacing)

As for the IndyCar game from iRacing, Bobbitt had a little to say on that. Fans are pretty desperate for anything at this point, as having been announced at the beginning of 2025 for a late 2026 release, it's been completely MIA since then.

Bobbitt says the dev team is "working their tails off" on IndyCar and that he's seen cars on track, but there's still a lot of development to go. It's apparently progressing nicely and is still planned for both console and PC via Steam.

But it feels very much like we'll be seeing and playing NASCAR 26 before IndyCar, and it's easy to be skeptical that the original 2026 plan for Indycar may not happen.

But as with NASCAR, the IndyCar franchise was rescued from a previous licensee and is now in safe hands. Nobody knows how to do virtual racing like the folks at iRacing, and it's more important to get it right than to get it out fast.

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Richard Devine is the Managing Editor at Windows Central, where he combines a deep love for the open-source community with expert-level technical coverage. Whether he’s hunting for the next big project on GitHub, fine-tuning a WSL workflow, or breaking down the latest meta in Call of Duty, Forza, and The Division 2, Richard focuses on making complex tech accessible to every kind of user. If it’s happening in the world of Windows or PC gaming, he’s probably already knee-deep in the code (or the lobbies). Follow him on X and Mastodon.