The only way to get better at anything in life is to practice, but it helps if you’ve got some good coaching in your corner. In NASCAR 26, that coaching comes courtesy of Steve Letarte and Jamie McMurray in our Peak Performance mode. McMurray, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series winner including both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in 2010, and Letarte, who served as crew chief for NASCAR legends Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and won the Daytona 500 with Earnhardt Jr. in 2014, will guide you through the NASCAR schedule with focused coaching, ride-alongs, and all the data you need to get the most out of your time behind the wheel.
Peak Performance is a six-part series that breaks up the NASCAR Cup Series schedule into groups of alike tracks, and they’ll progress in difficulty as they go. Episode 1 features the fast, intermediate ovals that make up the bulk of the calendar; later episodes put together concrete tracks, super speedways, and road courses. You’re welcome to take these on in whichever order you’d like.
Once you’ve selected a track, you can either take a ride with McMurray, or jump right into your first (intro) session. You’ll get multiple guided laps on course, with a color-coded racing line, flags that highlight throttle, lift, and brake points, and cones to help you line up where to put the car. Your job is to click off enough consistent laps under the goal time to progress to the next session.
The second session takes the training wheels off. Gone are all the on-screen aides—it’s up to you to hit your marks based on what you learned. McMurray’s audio feedback is your only clue on how to make adjustments from lap to lap.
At the end of each session, you’ll see a set of graphs showing your speed relative to the goal time, as well as your inputs (in yellow) and optimal inputs (in white) on your speed, accuracy to the racing line, and brake and throttle inputs. You’ll also get an estimate for the optimal rating of your AI opponent cars for that track, which you can adjust in game settings.
Looking for more help from the pros? Peak Performance will show up intermittently throughout your Career Mode experience as well, teaching you the ins and outs of the cars and tracks you’ll face on your way up the NASCAR ladder.