Wave goodbye to NASCAR Heat 5 multiplayer, but something new is just around the corner…
The existing, but now rather old, NASCAR video games published by Motorsport Games will have their online multiplayer services switched off later this week.
Those who race via the network have until Friday, 1st August, before the shut off.
The titles were already removed from sale at the end of 2024, part of a deal with sim racing platform iRacing – it will be publishing the new NASCAR 25, created by the wholly owned studio Monster Games, on 14th October 2025.
“We still pay for the NASCAR [online] service,” said Stephen Hood, Motorsport Games CEO, to Traxion.
“We make nothing from that. We don’t sell copies of the game. We’re not making any money.
“But, the return on investment for us is to try to maintain the community for as long as we can, because we probably owe them. With iRacing coming into the picture at some point [with NASCAR 25], we can’t pay that forever.
“We want to spend that money on our current platform, Le Mans Ultimate, not on NASCAR.”
It follows the following post from the official NASCAR Heat social media channels earlier this month:
“As you know the journey has begun for the new licensors, with their game expected to release this year,” reads a social media post from the NASCAR Heat account earlier this month.
“As part of the licence transfer, the NASCAR Heat servers will be permanently closed on 1st August 2025. The game will remain playable in single-player modes after this time.”
The games affected are NASCAR Heat 4 and 5, NASCAR 21: Ignition, plus the two Nintendo Switch spin-offs: NASCAR Heat Ultimate Edition+ and NASCAR Rivals.
Multiplayer in NASCAR Heat 2 and 3 was already switched off in April 2021.
