The results are in: the 2025 Paint of the Year is crowned

Following six rounds of voting throughout December with 45,618 total votes cast, the Trading Paints community has spoken.

The 2025 Trading Paints Paint of the Year is Ford Mustang GT3 - FREEDOM from Pierre S.

What is Paint of the Year?

Paint of the Year is a December-long, six-round head-to-head competition where the 48 Paint of the Week winners face off, seeded by their total number of favorites. Trading Paints members vote in each matchup throughout the month until two finalists remain, with the winner earning the title of Paint of the Year.

A strong runner-up

The runner-up finalist paint came from veteran painter Matt Muir, with his remarkable update of Greg Murphy’s 2011 Pepsi Max livery adapted to the Gen 3 Supercars Camaro.

Behind the scenes of the winning paint

It’s no surprise that the winning Mustang earned the favor of Paint of the Year voters. The paint first arrived in the Showroom March 24 and quickly climbed the ranks of the Trending page, peaking at third most popular on April 11.

What you may not realize about the intricate designs on this paint is that they’re drawn by hand. Pierre shared a time-lapse video of his process.

Pierre shared a few words on his achievement as well.

Thank you to all voters, to iRacing and Trading Paints staff to provide such a nice sim racing environment.

Congrats to all the people that try to make themself their livery this year!
Open those crazy editing softwares is the hardest step! You'll get there!

If you enjoy my work, don’t hesitate to upvote my contributions (CS2) via my Steam profile (coyote37).

That will be very helpful for me as in 2026, I am going to grid on a very different track that I never practice before! Going to be a dad!

Congratulations once again to Pierre, and we wish you the best in fatherhood!

Thanks to everyone in the Trading Paints community for another fun and colorful Paint of the Year celebration, and have a very happy new year!