Jimmie Johnson Is The eighth Worst Driver In The NASCAR Cup Sequence, In accordance To iRacing Studios

NASCAR 25 was launched on Tuesday by iRacing Studios on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X/S. The broadly anticipated online game was the primary foray into console gaming for the established racing simulation developer. Gamers instantly received to see how the builders assessed the skills of the present Cup Sequence drivers. Whereas a number of different rankings choices caught the eye of NASCAR followers, Jimmie Johnson was given a ranking of 54 out of 100. The seven-time Cup Sequence champion was the eighth-worst lively driver.

Whereas the flagship iRacing service on PC focuses on competitors between actual individuals, NASCAR 25 facilities on a sturdy single-player expertise the place the opponents are AI representations of real-life drivers. Nevertheless, every AI driver is not as quick as some other AI driver. Racing video games primarily based on actual championships scale driver potential to provide lifelike outcomes. Sometimes, that is accomplished underneath the hood, hidden from customers. Lately, racing video games have pushed user-facing driver rankings to parallel different sports activities video video games, reminiscent of EA’s Madden NFL collection.

That is the place issues get difficult. A driver’s on-track outcomes aren’t solely primarily based on their potential. Jimmie Johnson wasn’t the driving force he as soon as was when he retired from full-time competitors after the 2020 season. He completed 18th in factors in his final two full-time seasons, nonetheless a far cry from being the Fortieth-highest-rated driver in NASCAR 25. Ignoring his third-place end on this 12 months’s Daytona 500, Fortieth is roughly the place Johnson is at the moment as a part-timer with Legacy Motor Membership. The crew he co-owns merely is not the identical operation as Hendrick Motorsports, and that needs to be mirrored in his driver ranking.

iRacing Studios seemingly plotted each lively Cup Sequence driver on a curve from 40 to 100. William Byron obtained an ideal 100 ranking because the 2025 common season champion and back-to-back Daytona 500 winner, regardless of not having a Cup Sequence championship on his resume. Byron is just the very best driver on a week-to-week foundation proper now. The developer did the identical within the different collection featured within the recreation, such because the NASCAR Xfinity Sequence and the ARCA Menards Sequence. For instance, this 12 months’s ARCA champion Brenden Queen was given a 99 ranking. I doubt that Queen can be a 99 when graded towards the Cup Sequence area.