Happy New Year!
With the aftermath of last night’s NYE celebrations still ringing loudly in my head, I sit down today, on New Year’s Day, to look forward to the year ahead. Out of respect for your time, I’ll spare you my personal 2026 new years resolutions. You don’t need to know about my ambition to stop making quite so much noise when I stand up, or how I’m keen to go another year without increasing the font size on my phone - no, you want solid gold sim racing insight - and that dear reader is exactly what you’ll get… sort of…
Tom Bunten, Traxion.gg
A List of Lists and My 2026 Bingo Card
You've heard the phrase, "Well that wasn't on my bingo card for 2025!"... nothing ever is, because no one in the history of earth has ever actually created said Bingo Card... until now.
A List of Lists
It’s that time of year. We list the good, the bad, the past, the future. It’s a comforting thing us humans do. It’s good to take stock, draw a line in the sand and save our progress before hurtling head first into a new year.
In this list, Tom and John discuss their Top 5 racing games. Except of course, John lists six and neither of them stick to just racing games.
This is an exciting one to rev you up for next year. And I warn you, it’s thorough. The team cover releases that have been announced, haven’t been announced, DLCs, early access and just some “wouldn’t it be nice if…” items.
Martin ensures that no stone is left unturned, no indie studio left unrecognised, no left-field title left without a little bit of Traxion love…
Who said esports in sim racing was dead? Not us! Not yet! Here are a few highlights from the years relatively contracted esports scene.
Including a device that looks like it’s one ctrl-alt-del away from decapitating you, John and Tom literally run around the expo hall to show you all the new products from the show.
Nostalgia alert - the team dive into their childhoods to imagine a future that contains the racing games of their past. I might need to expense a therapist for these guys…
January sales are around the corner - if you’ve yet to make the leap from controller to desk-mounted or rig-based wheel. There’s some interesting insight into how to choose your first wheel.
Got any lists you think we ought to prioritise in 2026? Let me know at [email protected] !
My Bingo Card
If like me, you’ve heard the phrase “Well that wasn’t on my bingo card for [insert period of time here]”, you may have thought what I have thought countless times:
“Prove it”
So this year, I’m entering into the record, what I have on my bingo card for 2026.
Tom Harrison-Lord, our Editor-In-Chief here at Traxion.gg (often referred to in the office as “The good Tom”) has asked that I make it abundantly clear that these opinions are my own opinions and do not represent the opinions/viewpoints of the actual Traxion.gg team of writers or of the Traxion.gg brand more broadly. Make of that what you will.
Our YouTube Channel will reach 150k subs on YouTube. We’re currently hovering around the 130k mark and I see first hand how hard the YT team work, week in, week out to create their content. I’m confident of this one, so I’m putting it in the centre of the bingo card - because I can.
RaceRoom will continue its current resurgence, fix its UI and consistently grow its player base throughout 2026. This year, the title will earn its spot on the top step of sim racing alongside iRacing, LMU & Assetto Corsa.
EA will announce that from F1 27 onwards, the franchise will be hosted on a “Live Service” platform that receives season and annual updates rather than annual releases. This is more of a request than a prediction…
Le Mans Virtual to be huge success in 2026 and reignite the sim racing esports scene.
Gran Turismo 8 will be announced… with a twist. As sure as night follows day, GT8 will follow GT7… but in the past the franchise wasn’t afraid to stray a little with the likes of Gran Turismo Sport and HD Concept, maybe the next title announcement will involve a little surprise?
Project Motor Racing to experience massive resurgence and announce major esports tournament. Things you’d love to see…
iRacing to announce new, 2026 season F1 car.
Moza to announce new motion rig platform, making motion affordable to more sim racers.
Steam Frame VR to be widely adopted by sim racers and be responsible for increase in number of sim racers more generally.
So there you have it, there’s some curveballs in there and of course, I’ve been deliberately vague in places with my wording… but hey, I don’t think anyone is offering any prizes if I win here.
To complete the process, we’ve created the actual card too. Perhaps throughout the year, as these predictions prove themselves to be correct, I’ll get my little dabbing pen and update the card for you.
Can AI make you a faster sim racer?
Built by Driver61 (Scott Mansell), Trophi.ai is trying to do just that. We’ve all been there, we get a couple of hours to dust of the rig and jump into some ranked sessions, but this week the track is one we’re unfamiliar with. Trophi.ai will help you get up to speed faster, with live, AI-powered voice coaching.
Brake a little later here, get back on the power a little later there… you know the drill
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News Highlights This Week from Traxion.gg
Our AI Pledge
If you’ve ever read a Traxion.gg article, you’ll know that the writers over here all have very distinct voices and opinions. It’s this character and sound that I think makes Traxion special.
Human creation is becoming a rare commodity with which the media seem to trade less and less. But not at Traxion. We don’t use AI to write our articles on the website, and I pledge to you, that I will never use AI to write this newsletter.
Will I win a line or a full house on my bingo card?
Last week’s poll results
Last week I wanted to know which of the good news stories from 2025 warmed the soul to the greatest extent! 66% of voters went with the resurgence of Motorsport Games over Fanatec’s bounceback!
Community Spotlight
I’d like to showcase the best of our community’s projects and success stories each week. So if you have anything you’d like me to showcase here, please let me know by email: [email protected]
Another newsletter this week, all the way from New Zealand! Oceans may divide us, but sim racing joins us together in eternity… right… Matthew from Hectic Motorsport news got in touch to tell me about his newsletter that focuses on sim racing news from New Zealand! Keep up the good work Matthew!
Read the newsletter here →
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