We’re stocked full of sim racing updates and news in this one. With a big break since the last edition of Hectic News (sorry personal circumstances got in the way) there’s lots to catch up on. So let’s get straight to it.

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NZ Sim Racing

• NZ finish 2nd in Four Nations Esports Series. If nothing else it’s worth watching “the big one” at T1 race 1. Lots of drivers taken out, including Ewan Baker, that shook up the order and ultimately setup up Antal Sabo to go on and finish as top kiwi, taking home a NLR HF8 Pro Haptic Feedback Pad. Well done also to Marcus A Watson and Stefan McCartain with great race results.
  Watch the recording.

• NZ Sim Racing featured on Sky TV. Exciting to see two community sim racing series have been featured on Face TV, Sky channel 83:

  • Aus/NZ Endurance racing series - For the 4 hours of Kyalami race, round 5 of the PS5 ACC endurance series, a 50 minute highlights package was broadcast on Sky 83 in September.
    Recording now available on youtube.

  • Supercars NZ - The V8 supercars iRacing season is being broadcast each week 3:30pm on Saturdays.
    Catch up with the round 1 recording on youtube.

• Ewan Baker just misses out on Ferrari Esports World Finals. Ewan once again showed his iRacing prowess qualifying 3rd in the regional finals where the top 2 would go on to compete at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately he would get taken out in the race so was unable to fight for one of those spots.
  Watch the recording on youtube.

• Racetech added to iRacing paint booth. Super cool to see the NZ company featured in iRacing, even if trading paints makes the paint booth a little redundant.

• No NZ Esports Racing Series (NZERS) in 2025. After much speculation and a hunt for sponsors it’s now been confirmed NZs pinnacle Gran Turismo series will not be run in 2025. There is still hope for a 2026 return.

New and Upcoming Games

• Le Mans Ultimate 1.0 released. The game has been in early access for a number of months but on July 22nd officially released in full. Currently only available on PC it’s planned to come to console and continue bringing updates with new features. We will also see the return of Le Mans Virtual later this year.
  1.0 details.

• Rennsport set for 1.0 release in November. Already available on PC the delayed 1.0 release sees the game arrive on console with cross play. Rennsport has seen huge investment in esports comps but has yet to gain much traction. Will the 1.0 release see a boost in driver numbers?
  1.0 details. Official website.

• Nascar 25 released October 14th. Initially coming to PS5 and Xbox series X/S the official Nascar game, produced by iRacing, will also come to PC “soon”.
  Game details.

• Assetto Corsa Rally announced. Coming to steam early access on Nov 13th the game is not directly built by the Assetto Corsa team at Kunos but instead they have a technical partnership with developers Supernova.
  View on Steam.

• Project motor racing releases November 25th. A game that’s promising the world: 70+ cars, 28 track layouts, console/PC cross play, a unique career mode, dynamic weather & day/night cycle, official mod support. Can it live up to the hype?
  Offical website. View on Steam.

• Wreckreation coming October 28th. Described as “burnout paradise meets trackmania” the new game (not to be confused with Wreckfest 2) will be coming to console and PC later this month.
  Official website. View on Steam.
  

News

• Logitech extend partnership with McLaren. The Logitech McLaren G Challenge is set to continue for years to come as Logitech and McLaren announce a new partnership. Naturally off the back of that announcement we’ve got cool new Logitech x McLaren sim racing equipment.
  Partnership Announcement. Sim gear.

• EA (who own codemasters) sold for $55 billion. In a deal largely made up of money from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) EA has been taken private. It’s unclear what this means for all of EAs racing franchises which include F1, Need For Speed, Real Racing, along with cancelled/dormant Dirt Rally, Project Cars, Grid, and Burnout. The PIF also owns the Esports World Cup which take place in Saudi Arabia so I would not be surprised to see more EA games included (it already includes EA FC aka Fifa).
  Read more.

Extras

• iRacing Spa 24 drama. Kiwi Zach Scouler created drama by intentionally wrecking others in iRacing Spa 24 hour. Down in the 22nd split he might have thought no one was watching but boy was that wrong with the fallout so big that iRacing put out a statement to say “yeah that’s not on ay mate” and banned the whole team.

• Who’s the best when switching sims? The multi-platform competition “Esports Racing League” has been revealed with top teams like Redline, Williams, R8G all announced as competing. Racing across ACC, Le Mans Ultimate, GT7, iRacing, and Rennsport it’s a unique challenge of depth and adaptability of the top teams.
  Official info. Team backgrounds.

• New “Thunder Ridge” circuit gets go ahead. The new circuit has got the green light from the Bay of Plenty council with plans to build and open the circuit as early as 2026.
  Announcement.