With the fourth month of the year in the books, it is time to look back at what was important in sim racing again - here's Sim Racers Monthly, April 2025 edition!
The world of sim racing news has certainly not slowed down in April. We had April Fools jokes, a developer apology, an investor and a big reveal – a lot to keep track of, so let’s dive right in!
Image: BMW M
April Fools Jokes
Of course, the first day of the month was one to approach with a bit of extra caution, as the traditional April Fools jokes were everywhere. That included the racing and sim racing scenes, with plenty of funny articles, mock-ups or social media posts being published. Some of our favorites were BMW’s M4 GT3 Touring render and MOZA Racing’s Direct Drive toaster, but there were plenty more that we got a kick out of.Of course, we had to join in on the fun. No, the FIA is not actually going to regulate swearing in sim racing – we hope, anyway.
BeamNG.drive Launches Update Including Rally Pace Notes
Our favorite car crash/sandbox driving simulator, BeamNG.drive, released a big update to start April. Version 0.35 added new career mode elements, a new parts customization menu, a drift UI overhaul, and pace notes for rallies.The latter is a particularly welcome addition, as BeamNG.drive is arguably the most unforgiving sim for rally racing. Having actual co-driver pace notes is another step toward realising this potential, much better. We are looking forward to more racing-related improvements in the game in the future!
Image: Milestone
Milestone Releases Monster Energy Supercross 25 & MotoGP 25
After taking a break in 2024, Milestone returns with another entry into the Monster Energy Supercross series. The latest game features all riders and locations of the 2025 season, improved visuals thanks to the move to Unreal Engine 5, and a career mode that reminded us of that in the MotoGP games.Similarly, when MotoGP 25 was released on April 30, @Emily Jones found the game to have many good, more minor improvements, but it did not bring anything groundbreaking to the table either. Check out her review here!
Image: REG Simulations
PISTA Motorsport Adds New Content, Improves Physics
Argentine developer REG Simulations is still chipping away at PISTA Motorsport. The sim that aims to celebrate the domestic racing scene in Argentina is continuously growing, and the version 0.6.6.0 update deployed on April 8 added not only two new cars in the Chevy Serie 2 and Ford Falcon Sprint, but also the Autódromo Provincia de La Pampa as a new track, plus improved physics and car customization.More exciting things are on the way for PISTA, however. According to the developers, the next update will be "the biggest one yet and it will bring a whole new mode of play". Both drag racing and freeroaming have been teased before, and a multiplayer mode is also still missing from the sim. An interesting one to keep an eye on.
Image: Fanatec
Fanatec Launches New Website & New Wheel
The ups and downs of Endor AG and its Fanatec brand were one of THE stories in sim racing in 2024. Ultimately, US hardware giant Corsair bought and liquidated Endor, continuing the Fanatec brand for sim racing equipment.On April 8, a brand-new Fanatec website launched to be more in line with other Corsair websites. A fresh look and a more organized experience are certainly nice, but many sim racers were not very happy to see that prices had gone up as well – despite many products being marked as discounted, they were still more expensive than before.
Two weeks after the website launch, an explanation for this was published. The reason behind the increase in the US and Canada are the tariffs on goods from China, and since the North American market is supplied by a Fanatec warehouse in the US, both countries are affected by this.
For Europe and the rest of the world, the price increase was explained by switching to the QR2 as standard and including shipping costs in the product's overall price.
Speaking of Fanatec products, the long-awaited CSL Elite Porsche Vision GT Wheel was also finally launched in April. Touted to be the most premium CSL product to date by Fanatec themselves, the concept car's steering wheel left a good overall impression with @Michel Wolk when he reviewed it. Design, finish and performance are pros, while the lack of clutch paddles and limited cross-platform support are drawbacks.
Image: EA Sports / Codemasters
First F1 25 Details Emerge
With its release scheduled for the end of May, it was high time for more information on F1 25. And more info we got: Following the first trailer released in late March that confirmed the return of Braking Point, an F1 movie crossover, and reverse circuits, EA Sports and Codemasters revealed more about the upcoming Formula One game in three deep dives.The MyTeam career mode will see an overhaul, five tracks get the LIDAR-scan treatment, and Braking Point 3 gives players a bit more freedom in how they approach certain events – and it will also be possible to continue with the Konnersport team in Career Mode once they finish the story.
With the May 30 release day rapidly approaching, we are hoping to get our hands on a preview version soon as well to share our impressions of arguably the most important elements of any racing game or sim—the physics and handling models.
Image: Kunos Simulazioni
Assetto Corsa EVO To Release Modding Tools During Early Access
It isn’t often that a developer publicly apologizes – but that is exactly what Marco Massarutto of Kunos Simulazioni did. The Managing Director and Co-Founder of the studio admitted that “we got it wrong”, meaning the Early Access launch of Assetto Corsa EVO in January. The upcoming sim had quite a few issues when it first became playable, some of which persist but are being worked on.The video that Massarutto gave an update on the AC EVO situation included the announcement that modding tools would be released during the Early Access program, which was originally planned to happen only after the sim was fully released.
In addition to that, keen-eyed observers could spot a bunch of new content that had not been seen yet. The Red Bull Ring, Donington and COTA – which had been on the roadmap already – were visible in the sim’s UI and in some video sequences, while nine new cars were also shown. This includes the McMurtry Spéirling and the Ferrari F2004 of Michael Schumacher fame.
Image: Motorsport Games / Montage
Pimax Invests $2.5M in Motorsport Games
The upwards trajectory of Le Mans Ultimate has been quite noticeable since late 2024, and it looks like that literally paid off for Motorsport Games: The company had been looking for a buyer or investor since last year, and has found the latter in Pimax. The VR hardware manufacturer decided to come aboard with a $2.5M check in hand, putting MSG's financial mind at ease for now.Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood was happy that the company found an investor that is also involved in sim racing, but also clarified that Pimax cannot tell MSG and Studio 397 what to do regarding LMU. However, both sides should benefit from this partnership, with Le Mans Ultimate’s VR implementation aided by Pimax’s knowledge, and the hardware’s development regarding sim racing by MSG’s and Studio 397’s knowledge, the other way around.
Image: Straight4 Studios / GIANTS
Project Motor Racing Officially Revealed
After months of screenshots and not much actual information, Project Motor Racing was finally officially revealed on April 29. The spiritual successor to the Project CARS and GTR series of sims held a hands-on event at the Racing Unleashed lounge at Zurich airport, where Michel and @Yannik Haustein were able to get some hands-on impressions and interesting insight from the Straight4 Studios development team.The sim is set to be released on PC but also Xbox and PlayStation 5 in 2025 still, with publisher GIANTS Software backing the project. Crossplay between the platforms will be available, according to the PMR Steam page.
For one, there will be multiple classes for both modern and classic racing cars, such as the previously announced FIA GT racers. In Zurich, the Audi R8 LMP900, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 and Lola T70 Mk3B were drivable, for instance, and we know that the Lamborghini SC63 will also arrive in PMR – as will the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.
Image: Xbox Game Studios
Forza Horizon 5 Launches On PlayStation 5
It seemed surreal when it was first announced, and it still does - but it actually happened: Forza Horizon 5 launched on PlayStation 5, marking the first foray of Microsoft into arch rival Sony's territory with its premier racing franchise.FH5 does not go head to head with Gran Turismo 7, however, as unlike Forza Motorsport, it is focused on a more casual style of racing in an open-world environment.
As expected, the experience on PS5 is smooth, and crossplay reportedly works well, too. Now, when is GT7 coming to PC, then? As unlikely as it is, many racing gamers would love to see it happen.
EA Sports WRC Development Ends, License To Switch Hands?
Talk about ending April with a bang: In the final hours of April 30, the World Rally Championship and the official EA Sports WRC channels put up statements regarding the future of the rally title - and with the existing arrangement, there will be none.No further updates following the Hard Chargers DLC released in March have been announced, and we now have certainty that there is no more to come. While the game will remain purchasable and playable, it will see no further development.
WRC themselves meanwhile mentioned "a bold new direction" for the franchise "with more news coming in the near future."
Hardware News
We already mentioned one piece of hardware that was released in April, but there were a few more that we got to take a look at. Conspit was already the subject of one of our reviews in late March courtesy of its CPP Lite pedal set, and in we also got to check out the MAX 01 steering wheel that surprised us with the amount of features it packs for its relatively low price.The company also teased another GT wheel rim that will be SimHub compatible – keep an eye on our website and YouTube channel as we are working on bringing you a review as soon as we can.
Meanwhile, Simagic has opened preorders for its new lines of wheel bases dubbed Alpha EVO. Available in three versions – the EVO Sport, EVO, and EVO Pro with increasing torque outputs – the bases are designed to work within an open ecosystem – good news for anyone looking to run a third-party wheel.
In less pleasant news, it emerged that Asetek SimSports ceased shipping to the United States as a result of the tariffs imposed by the US Government. That said, the Danish company has increased its manufacturing efforts in Malaysia instead of China in anticipation of such a situation.
Real-World Racing Things
Finally, let’s look at a couple of stories from the real-world circuits. One of them is Estoril, the long-time home of the Portuguese Grand Prix. It was here that Ayrton Senna scored his first Formula 1 victory in 1985, showing his wet-weather driving mastery in a rain-soaked race. To mark the 40th anniversary of his win, his nephew Bruno ran the very car his late uncle won in, a Lotus 97T, at Estoril againIn current-day motorsport meanwhile, Igor Fraga continues to impress in his Super Formula rookie season. The Japanese-born Brazilian managed to reignite his racing career due to his sim racing successes, particularly in Gran Turismo, eventually leading to him landing the Super Formula seat with Nakajima Racing.
Following an 18th and 5th place in the opening races at Suzuka in March, Fraga scored his first podium in the series with a 3rd-place finish at Motegi, followed by a 9th place in the fourth race of the season at the same track. Overall, this means P6 in the standings as the best non-Japanese driver after the first four races. We keep our fingers crossed for a successful season of Igor’s!
And that's it for April's edition of Sim Racers Monthly. There were lots of cool stories that are set to continue in the upcoming months, and we are excited to keep following them!
Which sim racing story did you find most interesting in April 2025? Let us know in the comments below!
