NASCAR 26 Review (PS5): Make Another Left Turn!

When Ken Block released the first Gymkhana video over a decade and a half ago, it captivated millions of people worldwide. We hadn’t seen anything quite like it until then. The series peaked at one point, and then started going downhill from there. You can observe this phenomenon in many aspects of life.

Driving a 200-hp car at the track for the first time will feel exhilarating. Using the same vehicle at the same venue for years in a row can become repetitive and boring as you get used to the acceleration, braking and G-Forces. So either start upgrading or at least go drive on a different track entirely to keep things exciting.

I’ve seen so many racing/automotive clips online over the past 20 years that I will rarely truly enjoy seeing a new one in 2026. It does happen a few times each year, though, and the latest Repco Supercars highlights video from the Gold Coast 500 is a good example of that. Those guys are godlike in the way they’re pushing their cars to the limit, and the excitement is rarely unmatched by other series.

Of course, there plenty of options out there, and different people will have different preferences. Rallying has really gotten under my skin recently, as has endurance racing. Drifting and time attack have been my favorites for many years. But I’ve also long abandoned drag racing as it felt downright boring to me. I’m aware of its complexity, but that does nothing to keep me invested in watching.

And the same goes for oval racing. I wasn’t particularly thrilled at the thought of testing the new NASCAR 26 game, especially since last year’s release wasn’t nearly impressive enough. It was forgettable at best, and I feared the worst for the latest iteration.

We didn’t need another podcast

The game starts of with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Strona główna Alabama playing in the background, which felt like a good choice for this type of racing. As for the actual intro, I couldn’t really tell if it was exactly the same like last year which immediately made me think this could easily be a rinse-and-repeat type of job.

Going into my first race further amplified that sensation, as I struggled to figure out if anything had truly changed from the previous title. Switching to Career mode, there was that same Dale Earnhardt Jr. podcast again that I couldn’t skip. There are many platforms out there where you can listen to a podcast if you want to, but I imagine anyone who purchases a video game like this is more interested in the driving part.

Choosing the Team Color is a simple feature, but I enjoyed how simple it was to select a theme you like and move on. I started in the ARCA Menard series, and Jamie McMurray insisted on taking me out for a Drafting lesson before the first race at Daytona. As I got up to 178 mph (286 kph), I once again realized there’s no true sense of speed in this game which is highly disappointing.

Playing on the easiest mode available, I had no trouble getting P1 in both the practice and the qualifying sessions, while Cleetus McFarland’s virtual replica was down in P6. I’m not sure why I was only allowed to do one lap in qualifying, though. It might be standard practice in NASCAR, but it’s not something I’m used to.

Use a steering wheel

Going into the race, it was only fun for half a lap as that’s all it took for me to get ahead of everyone else and not have to worry about them again. The spotter will keep you updated on the situation around you, but it feels like a highly-artificial experience which might sound redundant given this is a videogame.

Using the PS5 controller to steer the car is by no means ideal, as it was almost impossible for me to stay on the right lines or get high up on the bank close to the walls. I realize you can set it all up for a better experience, but I could only think about how easy it is to be precise in Gran Turismo 7 using the controller’s motion sensor.

I also suddenly found myself getting angry at the idea that there has to be a dedicated game for each type of racing, which only seems to serve one purpose (and it’s not customer satisfaction). Anyway, racing in the afternoon the lighting and the track looked great, but I can’t say the same thing about the replay: in here, the graphics mostly looked ancient in comparison to both GT7 and either one of the two modern Assetto Corsa titles.

Also, there was no chance for me to get some nice shots of the action with no photo mode available. Is something like that really that hard to implement? I decided to move on and see what a quick race at Watkins Glen would be like, using a truck this time. I’ve never been so happy about finally getting to use the brakes!

What year is it?

Going around in circles, constantly on the rev-limiter in top gear lap in and lap out almost reminds me of driving a car equipped with a CVT gearbox if that makes sense. I think I remember reading that the developers improved the tire model for NASCAR 26, and I was surprised to see (and hear) I could lock up the brakes going into Turn One.

There’s a vague, artificial sensation about it, and I soon discovered I would lock the brakes on every single occasion regardless of how careful I was. Even so, it wasn’t like they had a massive impact on the situation, as I could still safely navigate through every corner ahead. I kept thinking I was playing a game from the late ’90s, with slightly better graphics than what we had available at the time.

NASCAR 26 would have been a decent experience then, but it just can’t stack up to the competition today. And no, saying that there are no better NASCAR games out there doesn’t absolve it of its flaws. I even switched to Expert mode in an attempt to improve my experience with the game, and I might have enjoyed driving at 185 mph (297 kph) for a minute or two.

The car’s sound doesn’t bounce off the walls as nicely as it does in AC EVO, and I once again found myself eager to see what else I could do to have some fun. The Peak Performance part of the game might deliver on that, especially if you’re keen on getting educated on the topic. You’ll go through six different episodes that will teach you a thing or two about how you should tackle different situations and corners.

I felt confused hearing the lyrics to “

“, a song by The Hot Skillet Lickers. Isn’t it a bit biased to include it in the soundtrack? Am I nitpicking over tiny details here? I mean, if Keiichi Tsuchiya worked on developing a game focused on drifting, and the soundtrack featured a song praising him as the all-time greatest, I would have had the exact same reaction.

Conclusion

It’s been 12 months since I played NASCAR 25, and it was certainly a forgettable experience. So if I couldn’t really tell if NASCAR 26 was any better or at least different, what does that have to say about the new game? Also, picture this: the NASCAR 26 Gold Edition is available on the Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and

and costs 80,99€ (roughly $90).

If you want a huge selection of cars, and at least 500 hours of gameplay worth of your money, go for Gran Turismo 7 – it’s 70$ but could be even cheaper by Christmas. If you insist on choosing NASCAR, last year’s game now costs less than $50 on STEAM, and I still think it’s severely overpriced.

But hey, maybe I just don’t get it, and I’m too fond of other racing genres to objectively assess the situation. Oh, and I’m giving this game a lower score than last year just because of how annoyed I am with companies pretending it’s OK to charge this much for this small of a change year in and year out. End of rant.