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Anyone else excited about NASCAR: Sim Racing for the PC?

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I've been following the progress of this game since early December (since they started releasing info about it), and it is looking mightly impressive. Now I'm no racing sim nut, but I do enjoy a great racing simulation with some assists. NASCAR 2003 Season from Papyrus was excellent, and I'm excited to see EA come in with some fresh ideas and a revamped graphics engine.

Gamespot's latest impressions.
Gamespot's screenies.
IGN's impressions.

First off, the graphics looks gorgeous. The car models look exactly on par with the 2 year old 2003 Season, but it's the track details that's making this new game stand out. It's looks like they are getting all the advertisements, track-side details, and infield details down pat. NASCAR is all about the experience I think (I don't watch it or keep up with IRL), and it looks like they are trying to make it look true to life with almost everything you'd see on TV. Also, the skies look gorgeous. One of the above articles mentions about real time lighting and shadowing across the dash as you drive around the track.

I've not read anything yet about being able to paint your own cars, but I am sure this will be in there. Hopefully EA will make importing jobs into the game a snap, so expert painters can do their magic in Photoshop, then easily throw it in the game for a quick race around the track. If EA is smart, they'll include some easy to use PSD templates on the install CD.

I also liked what I read in the Gamespot article about the EA crew having all updated car paints automatically downloaded upon install, so everything is up-to-date for the beginning of the season.

Online is where I'll spend most of my time with this game, and it looks like a full 43-car field will be playable. This is awesome, as early reports hinted at only 16. Had EA limited the field to 16, no one would've given this game a second look. The confirmation of a full field does excite me. An extra bonus? Empty slots can be filled by AI bot cars. NICE.

And the last two things that I really like that I just found out tonight? Both Gamestop and EB have the game slated for release on Feb 1st (my birthday, a Tuesday), and it's only going to be $39.99. Hell yes! Here's hoping it's not delayed!

So who else is excited to see this game released? I've got my MOMO wheel ready and waiting.

UPDATE: Download demo here.
 
I think i'll wait for reviews of this... because i still think Papyrus > * too bad they got out of the PC business. 🙁
 
It looks pretty good, but, the thought of driving around in a circle/oval for a few days doesnt sound very appealing. 🙁
 
Originally posted by: warcrow
It looks pretty good, but, the thought of driving around in a circle/oval for a few days doesnt sound very appealing. 🙁
Click to expand...

Yeah, it sound about as much fun as MS Flight Simulator for dos. hours of endles flying to go from boston to nyc. If you know what i mean.
 
The only people getting excited are, those living in trailer parks with old cars piled up on the front lawn, who are missing teef, and just their ged after dropping out of the 4th grade 30 years ago.
 
All you naysayers go out and grab one of the old Sierra/Papyrus Nascar sims and install it and drive in a race agasint 42 other cars or on line and see if you don't get hooked. (Go against the computer first, way better than most of the crashing buffoons on line) My father was a big racing fan and i usually couldn't care less but I picked up one of the early iterations of the series and was hooked. The later versions were extremely realistic, not at all like the EA games for Playstation etc. You'd be surprised on how hard it is to drive in a pack of cars without crashing, spinning out etc. Everyone has a different driving style and it takes a lot of skill and thinking to get the car just right for the way you want to drive it.

Flame away but give it a try before you do or else you have no right.

(By the way Googer, I live north of Boston in a upper-class town, I have all my teeth (and my teef), I own two Volvos both of which are in the garage, I have a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and have made over 6 figures a year for the last 10 years. Keep your ignorance checked please)
 
I agree with sjgmoney.
You think its GO FAST/TURN LEFT until you try a Nascar Racing SIM like papyrus's.

Car setup, tire wear, fuel load, driving style all come into play.
And it takes an insane amount of practice to run well, especially in traffic as noted above.

Once you try a Papyrus Nascar sim, you'll have a whole new respect for Nascar drivers and the skill it takes to do what they do.



Now, back on topic.
I'm a HUGE Papyrus Nascar sim fan.
Never have and never will be happy about EA grabbing the exclusive Nascar liscense.
(they just grabbed the NFL liscense too i believe, there goes ESPN Football too)

EA has yet to prove it can make a good Nascar SIM on pc.
They have the presentation down, no doubt about that.

If they can get the driving physics anywhere near as good as Papyrus last Nascar title, i'll grab a copy ASAP.



I just have to comment again on EA "exclusive rights".
I cant believe this is allowed, they are monopolizing The Nascar and NFL markets by not allowing others to compete in those markets!
IMO , not having a choice is NEVER good for consumers, no competition = less innovation.


 
If you are going to us the NASCAR?© Name you must add the © Copyright © Symbol after the name.
©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©
Copy and Paste one from above or use keystroke ALT+0169.

?????????
 
Originally posted by: MTDEW
I agree with sjgmoney.
EA has yet to prove it can make a good Nascar SIM on pc.
They have the presentation down, no doubt about that.
Click to expand...
This is a complaint I've heard on many boards while looking for more info about this game, but the fact is this: EA hasn't really tried to make a sim NASCAR game yet for the PC. Any NASCAR game they've put out has always been geared towards the arcadey side, whether they want to admit it or not. But hell, they're calling it Sim Racing. Gotta have a little faith that they know what they're doing, right?

Didn't I also hear a rumor that they brought on a few old Papyrus guys to help with the game? That can only be good.

I think EA will do a fine job with this one, regardless of their track record. They seemed smart enough to realize the PC crowd wants a sim racing title, they've taken more time with it than the yearly Thunder outputs on the consoles, and with the little information we've gotten so far with it so close to release, you'd think they're hard at it. But with all games, we'll see.

Will be interesting how many people will not even give this game a chance because it's made by EA. Lots will continue to feed of 2003 Season for the next few years.
 
I've played quite a few Nascar iterations for PC over the years... it's fun for about a week at most, unless you're a hardcore NASCAR fan. I personally don't find sims all that "fun".
 
I :heart: left turns. I wish I could drive exclusively with the club on my steering wheel in real life, but the DUI's and the missed payments on my trailer/gun rack/child support don't leave me with enough money.

Yeah, I'm not excited.
 
Yup, don't care much of the ovals.......on the other hand, TOCA 2 (PC).

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
EA failed miserable concerning trackside advertising detail in the NASCAR Thunder 2005 gaming console versions. The some reason - they think blimps and planes towing advertisements fly at low levels directly around the tracks. They also think that Busch races generate sell out crowds.
 
Originally posted by: Carnage4
I :heart: left turns. I wish I could drive exclusively with the club on my steering wheel in real life, but the DUI's and the missed payments on my trailer/gun rack/child support don't leave me with enough money.

Yeah, I'm not excited.
Click to expand...

Seriously, stop thread crapping.
-- My $0.02
 
I'm looking forward to reading reviews to see how well the AI performs. I doubt anything will erver replace the Papayrus games, partly because there are many excellent tracks that NASCAR used to run at but doesn't anymore, and I assume EA won't include those tracks.

 
mm the way you were describing it made me think it would look nice...but its okay~ i mean hell the car is just the box with textures on it~ judging for how you were touting it i was expecting the headights and whatnot to be fleshed out, etc (much how like in hl2 and doom3 walls of bricks look just like that~ not a slab with a brick texture...regardless of how nice the texture was)
 
mm the way you were describing it made me think it would look nice...but its okay~ i mean hell the car is just the box with textures on it~ judging for how you were touting it i was expecting the headights and whatnot to be fleshed out, etc (much how like in hl2 and doom3 walls of bricks look just like that~ not a slab with a brick texture...regardless of how nice the texture was)
Click to expand...

Actually that is an accurate representation of the cars/trucks raced in Nascar series.

The bodies are smooth and the headlights/taillights etc.. are decals.
No door handles or trim either.

Now i'm sure this post is gonna generate some more knocks against the Nascar series, but thats just how the cars are in real life.

I guess ya just have to enjoy going 180mph into a corner with another card beside you 4inches away, while you fight to keep your car in the bottom groove and not slide up and take both drivers out of the race while still trying to out accelerate the other car off the corner to gain the position. (its called "holding your line")

Its a shame these types of threads always end up with two camps arguing.
One camp says "its just racing in a circle!" about Nascar.
And the other camp says "i cant stand being the only car on the track, i wanna race other opponents" about rally racing.

Personally i enjoy all kinds of racing from the sims to arcade racing like burnout 3.
And i'll give a 2nd nod to the Toca series mentioned above, they are great racers.

Bottom line for me is, if the physics "feel" right, the game is enjoyabe and i feel its MY skills determining the outcome of the race rather than luck, then i'll grab a copy and plug in my MOMO. 😉

 
Release is coming up this week, shipping on the 15th. What did you guys think about the demo?

EDIT: Being a casual fan of the games, and not the actual sport, I liked the demo pretty well. The car models are just as good, if not as sharp though, as NR2003. There are lots more track-side objects and pit-lane enhancements to give the overall feel of actually being at a track, which is nice. The crowd looks somewhat better as well. Overall, the graphics are outstanding, and run pretty decent. Only problem is the demo lets you run only 10 racers, so tax your system it will not. Full game required. Other problems include no real damage modeling in the demo, no sample of telemetry data, no racing in any other series besides Nextel, and no pit crew radio chatter or announcers in the demo. Also, no demo of multiplayer play, so hopefully the netcode is up to snuff for 40+ racers.

From a fan who knows nothing about how a car should feel, racing with cars in SimRacing feels nice and not really arcadey. The cars seem to slide around a bit more than with NR2003, so I forsee this as a problem getting all the EA-haters and NR2003 diehards to come over.

Overall, I like it, and can't wait to see what improvements they make with the final release and subsequent patches.
 
Well, I picked the game up today, but I'm currently reinstalling Windows after fvcking it up last night. Should hopefully have everything reinstalled and the game up and going in a couple of hours. I will give my racing noob impressions, so they won't mean much 🙂.
 
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