It’s been a tough year for some in the sim racing industry. It’s no secret that Project Motor Racing, Rennsport and AC EVO, three behemoths of the racing genre have struggled to get off the line.

But there is still hope for all three.

For me, the sim racing industry has been an incredibly intoxicating place to work thanks to the fierce passion exercised by the vast majority of brands, creators and stakeholders who make it what it is. It’s a broader passion, a passion that surpasses brand boundaries, a passion that allows one brand to admire another, one game developer to watch another in awe.

One of my favourite events of the year is the SimRacing Expo. There, on the Saturday night, in a bar overshadowed by the might and light of the Barussia Dortmund football stadium, a symbol of an industry far larger than we will ever be, you’ll find Fanatec having a pint with Simucube, BeamNG having shots with AC Rally, DaveCam chatting to Jimmy Broadbent, Traxion chatting with everyone and Gamer Muscle rapping to whoever will watch… It’s a testament to an industry that’s maturing together, facing threats from non-endemic brands together, navigating their way through Trump’s tarriffs together.

It’s for this reason that I believe that those who may have struggled this year will look to the stories of Motorsport Games and Fanatec, to see that there is always a way through.

Necessary reminder: Motorsport Games has not owned Traxion.gg for nearly 2 years, despite what you read in our comments section!

The Motorsport Games story is truly inspirational. I can’t guess at how many times those at the top of that company thought of just giving up, throwing in the towel and doing something different. They were at the heart of a dark media storm when they launched NASCAR 21: Ignition in October 2021, their stock price crashed, stories of unpaid developers emerged, the board of directors resigned and they lost both the NASCAR and INDYCAR licences… to most, the company was dead.

But in 2025, under the leadership of Stephen Hood, Motorsport Games put NASCAR 21: Ignition in the rear view mirror (sorry…) and launched out of Early Access, Le Mans Ultimate, putting their one remaining licence (WEC) to work in a very real way. Our own Ross McGregor claimed the title offers “Genre-leading physics” citing the team’s “astonishing redemption arc”, and I couldn’t agree more.

The point is this: in 2021-2023, Motorsport Games was the unenviable pariah of sim racing. I can’t recall a single creator or commentator having their backs after Ignition flopped. Now however, it’s held up as a home run for the hardcore. It is possible to rebuild reputation with hard work and passion.

Fanatec have had a similar but more compressed arc.

One can only imagine how Black Friday of 2023 is a topic of conversation best whispered on the Fanatec Death Star. The company reportedly oversold thousands of units they didn’t have, destroying customer trust in the process. Thousands of ghosted sim racers took to social media to denounce the once mighty Emperor of Direct Drive.

As well as seriously damaging the brand reputation they had built since 1997, it could be argued that this particular Black Friday was the catalyst for the very public dispute between Thomas Jackermeier (Fanatec CEO at the time) and the rest of the board. The Rebel Alliance counter-coup might have been mildly amusing to those watching from a distance, but it put in danger a beloved brand that had been a stalwart of the sim racing industry, propping up the huge surge in popularity we experienced as an industry during Covid.

Fanatec, now part of the Corsair Empire, enjoys use of the American company’s logistics system, offering sim racers 48 hour shipping throughout the US and Europe with most of their items back in stock.

At the SimRacing Expo in October, Fanatec sent the industry a simple message: “We’re back.” Not only did they host the Thursday night, super-secret Kunos reveal party where the sublime AC Rally was shown to Traxion and a small group of influencers, they also came out swinging with the announcement of the eagerly awaited Podium Pedals and Podium DD (releasing Q1 2026).

From being dissolved, to launching range-topping wheel base and pedals - another testament to the resolve of those working in our industry.

At the time of writing, our Editor-In-Chief, Tom Harrison-Lord is catching up on sleep after a whirlwind few days in the land of the rising sun to visit Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo World Series event in Fukuoka.

Whilst the event centred around the Gran Turismo World Series race, members of the press were treated to a very exclusive round table event with revered series producer, Kazunori Yamuachi, Tom came back with some great insights into the current state of Gran Turismo 7:

When Tom finally woke from his post-sushi slumber, he furnished me with these thoughts about his time in Nippon:

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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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.