NASCAR SimRacing

Posted 06/21/2005 at 1:28pm | by

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EA makes a right turn into the realism pit, but doesn’t leave out the fun!

If you think about it, it’s absolutely astounding that a motor sport in which drivers pretty much only turn left can be as popular as NASCAR is today. It’s even more impressive that a game that simulates the sport on the PC can be as engrossing as NASCAR SimRacing is.

SimRacing is big and brash, and it brings a new level of realism to the track that gear heads will relish. The game boasts 25 official NASCAR circuit tracks (plus three fictional tracks) and some five dozen rides and drivers spanning the three prominent NASCAR series: Craftsman Truck, Nextel, and National. The tracks look resplendent, with real-time weather effects and grandstands brimming with enthusiastic fans. Add stellar sound—particularly if you have a decent 5.1 speaker system—and it’s like you’ve got a driver’s eye view of the Daytona 500.

The cars look and behave realistically as well, with believable handling characteristics and even some damage modeling, although we would have preferred the latter to be more developed, and we would have liked more realistic driver AI. As it is, the AI drivers are eerily precise, and crashes among the computer-controlled cars are infrequent. Maybe next year….

The strong career mode starts you off in the Truck series and lets you work your way up, one race at a time, to the big show—the Nextel series. Good performance will conjure sponsorship opportunities, and more sponsorship money equals faster cars to play with. Grease monkeys will savor the garage mode, which lets you tinker with every conceivable facet of your car.

While the AI is good, live opponents are much more challenging. You can race against up to 42 human drivers online via EA.com or LAN. In test races with more than 20 other drivers, plus a few AI-controlled cars, the game played well, with minimal warping. Of course, you’ll need a broadband connection.

Overall, SimRacing might not be as deep as Papyrus’ NASCAR games, but it bridges the gap between arcade and hardcore simulation better than any game we’ve played before.
—Steve Klett

+ CORVETTE:
Stellar visuals and sound, solid physics, good use of NASCAR license.
- PINTO:
AI quirks, minor graphic bugs, and a cumbersome interface.

Month Reviewed: June 2005
Verdict: 8
URL: www.easports.com