Scott McLaughlin: The iRacing Fan Who Helped Build the IndyCar Game
When iRacing Studios announced it was building the first standalone IndyCar game in over 20 years, one name stood out in the press release alongside Tony Gardner and INDYCAR president J. Douglas Boles: Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske.
That might sound like a typical celebrity endorsement deal. A famous face, a quote, a photo op. But McLaughlin’s involvement runs deeper than that, and it’s worth understanding why he was the right person for this role.
More Than a Marketing Guy
McLaughlin isn’t just a name iRacing Studios slapped on a press release. He’s a genuine iRacing sim enthusiast who has used the platform for years, long before there was any IndyCar game partnership to benefit from. When the announcement dropped in August 2025, his reaction on social media was immediate and personal: “Very excited to be working alongside iRacing in this awesome project for you all!”
His words at the time said everything: “I’m thrilled to be a part of the development process for iRacing Studios’ new INDYCAR title. It’s an honor to work with a team that has developed such amazing products to help deliver INDYCAR’s first dedicated title in quite some time. It’s already an exciting time to be an INDYCAR fan for so many reasons, and this game will take the fans’ at-home driving experience to the next level.”
Notice the phrase: development process. Not launch event. Not marketing campaign. He’s working with the team on the game itself.
Who Is Scott McLaughlin?
For fans who may be newer to IndyCar, McLaughlin is a New Zealand-born driver who dominated Australian Supercars racing before making the jump to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES full-time in 2021. He won three consecutive Supercars championships (2018, 2019, 2020) before Team Penske brought him to the US.
His IndyCar career hit the ground running. He won 2021 Rookie of the Year and has since added 7 wins to his name, consistently finishing in the top 10 in the standings. In 2026, he’s driving the No. 3 car for Team Penske with sponsorship from DEX, XPEL, PPG, and Pennzoil.
He’s also, crucially, a guy who genuinely loves sim racing. That matters here.
What Does a Driver Actually Do in Game Development?
It’s a fair question. What does Scott McLaughlin contribute that a development team of engineers and designers can’t figure out on their own?
The answer is feel. Physics engines can be technically correct and still feel wrong to someone who has actually driven at 230mph on the oval at Indianapolis. A real driver can sit down with a controller or a sim rig, lap a virtual version of a track they’ve raced in real life, and immediately tell the team: the oversteer on entry is too late, the car doesn’t push like this at Turn 1 at Iowa, the braking zone into the hairpin at St. Pete is off by half a car length.
That feedback loop between driver and developer is how sim games go from technically impressive to genuinely accurate. iRacing has always prided itself on authenticity. McLaughlin’s job is to make sure the IndyCar game earns that reputation on consoles too.
His Reaction to the 2027 Delay
When the game’s name and a new 2027 launch window were revealed on July 10, 2026, McLaughlin’s response was four words on social media: “Good things take time.”
Short, confident, and exactly what you’d want to hear from someone who actually knows what’s being built. It’s not the hedged language of a brand ambassador trying to manage expectations. It’s someone who’s seen the work and believes in it.
The Bridge Between Two Worlds
What makes McLaughlin uniquely valuable to this project is the bridge he represents. On one side: iRacing’s hardcore sim community, the PC subscribers who’ve been racing virtual IndyCars for years. On the other: the console gaming audience that INDYCAR Racing The Game needs to reach, fans who may have never touched iRacing but would absolutely pick up a game at a GameStop.
McLaughlin is already fluent in both languages. He’s a real-world racing champion and a sim guy. That combination is exactly what iRacing Studios needs as they bring IndyCar to a new generation of gamers.
The game can’t come soon enough. And apparently, neither can he.
