What’s Happening?
NASCAR 26 is making major changes to its Paint Booth, giving players significantly more freedom to create custom paint schemes than in NASCAR 25.
We now have a better look at the UI, especially with features like mirroring
Multiplayer now allows for multiple paint scheme slots
Some quality-of-life features are still missing, but are slated for future development
Layers
The biggest addition is a new layer system that allows players to use up to 50 layers on each side of the car. Numbers, driver names, decals, and shapes all count toward the same 50-layer limit, rather than having separate restrictions for each category.
With seven customizable areas on the car, that theoretically allows for up to 350 layers on a single car.
Players will also be able to copy an entire design from the left side of the car to the right, or vice versa. However, copied designs are mirrored, meaning text and decals may need to be adjusted.
The new layer system also gives players more control over numbers and driver names. Elements can be placed over numbers, allowing players to change their appearance and create designs that you can’t make with defaults (e.g., numbers only go to 99, but in the video, she creates a 100). Player names can also be used in our paint schemes now.
Decals
The decal library has also been expanded. NASCAR 25 featured 309 decals, while NASCAR 26 will have 480. Custom decal saving, however, is not included. The ability to save custom decals is planned for a future update, but it’s unclear if that means NASCAR 27+ or something patched into 26 later.
Single & Multiplayer
There are also changes to how custom cars work online. Players will still have four custom-car slots per series, but unlike NASCAR 25, all four slots can now be used in online multiplayer. NASCAR 25 restricted online racing to the fourth slot, which was also confusing for new players.
The Career Paint Booth uses the same general customization system, but players can only select decals associated with their current sponsor. The expanded layer system gives players freedom despite that restriction.
Players can still build their own designs around the sponsor decal, or even create a scheme where the sponsor is not on the paint scheme at all while still receiving the benefits of that sponsorship in Career Mode.
The basic car wrap options themselves remain largely unchanged from NASCAR 25, with the same general colors, textures, and base designs.
The biggest missing feature remains the ability to save and reuse completely custom decals, which is reportedly planned for a future update. But again, we don’t know if that means a future game release or a patched-in feature.
TLDR
The most meaningful improvements are:
350 theoretical layers per car
50 layers on every customizable side.
Numbers, names, shapes, and decals all draw from the same layer pool, so you’re free to decide how to spend your layers.
Left/right design copying makes symmetrical paint schemes easier.
Numbers can be used and incorporated into artwork.
Driver names can be used as part of the paint scheme
480 decals vs. 309 in NASCAR 25.
All four custom-car slots work online, instead of only Slot 4.
Custom decal creation/saving remains the big missing feature.
NASCAR 26 releases on XBOX, PlayStation, and Steam on September 18.