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> Results: NASCAR SimRacing
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Electronic Arts have an exclusive license to produce NASCAR racing games for the PC and consoles. That means you and I are at the mercy of their developers to produce the latest simulations of one of America's biggest sports. It wasn't always like this. Papyrus Racing Games used to be the king of the NASCAR mountain. They produced multiple simulations of NASCAR, culminating in one of the greatest racing simulations of any kind, NASCAR Racing Season 2003. EA has never quite made it to the lofty heights set by the Papyrus sims so this year they started from scratch and came up with NASCAR SimRacing for the PC.
The EA presentation you've come to love or hate is on display the moment you turn on the game. Blasting rock music that you can turn off if you'd like accompanies all the menus. Everything is slick and corporate right down to the race cars themselves, just like the real NASCAR. Many top drivers are included in the game but there are notable exclusions as usual. You can select from Nextel Cup, "National Series" which is really the Busch Grand National cars but beer sponsors aren't allowed, and Craftsman Trucks. Nextel Cup is the series that most will be familiar with though in recent years many Cup regulars have migrated to jobs in trucks or Busch or both. The Truck and Busch fields are especially limited when it comes to the real drivers and teams.  When it comes to the racing, expect to have a pretty powerful PC to run with a lot of cars visible onscreen and all the graphics turned on. The game is nicely customizable this way, as all simulations seem to be these days. That's good because framerate is always a key to good performance as is having an analog steering device of some kind as well as analog gas and brake pedals. The physical simulation in NASCAR SimRacing is a good one, but doesn't reach the level of Papyrus' games. The cars feel a little too forgiving even with all the driver aids turned off. The game does impart a nice sense of place though and that really does count for something. There's realism in the graphics and car response that's hard to pinpoint but it really makes driving enjoyable. Just be sure to keep the framerate up by turning off some graphic detail if you have to or alternately upgrading your PC. Computer opponents put on a good show for the most part. They tend to be a little too forgiving of the player at times but that's probably better than having them put a nose into you at 180 mph somewhere like Atlanta. Your ability to control the car definitely has an effect on what happens around you. That's why it's crucial to have analog input. Being able to feather the throttle instead of going from a on to off to back on state is something that cannot be stressed enough for those buying into this as their first simulation game. NASCAR SimRacing is just what the name implies, a simulation of real NASCAR racing and while you can tailor the game nicely to lesser players, the real accomplishment comes from running long distances at near realistic speeds. Online play is included and works fine for the most part. It's definitely a great way to enjoy yourself because human opponents make it all the more challenging and rewarding when you do well. One of the best features in the garage is all the in-car telemetry you can get after each session. You can really get a feel for how to make your racing line better, where to brake and accelerate and just marvel at all the things that go into these cars in general. It's a very big part of the appeal of this iteration of NASCAR over other Electronic Arts offerings for this series in the past.  No, this isn't the NASCAR simulation to end them all. Papyrus still rules the roost when it comes to physics fidelity and pure car handling. They might even still have the upper hand in graphics though that's much closer to call. Still, unless you're out downloading car sets every year for Papyrus now three year old game and an active part of that community, this EA offering will probably be good enough. For those looking to get their feet wet with their first simulation instead of running the more arcade-style console games, NASCAR SimRacing is a great place to start. 
It's somewhat comical that the real NASCAR features beer, liquor, sex drug and just plain anything goes sponsorship yet the Electronic Arts game omits all this in order to get an E rating. What does that say about the ratings system in general? What does it say about NASCAR's sponsorship policies and TV's completely different standards? Parents aren't making their kids skip the race on Sunday because Dale Jr.'s got BUDWEISER big as crap all over his car, so why are we pussy footing around with these sponsors in a video game? Even stranger is this fixation on eliminating sponsors in a simulation game which most kids under eight or ten are unlikely to be too interested in?
All that said, you can just enjoy the fact that your kids will ask you what the "National Series" is when they play this game. They probably tell you the Busch race is on TV and of course you know exactly what they're talking about. But Electronic Arts and the ESRB by appointing these standards don't want your kids to hear that dirty word in their game. Never mind that everyone young and old is pummeled with beer advertising during the television broadcast and now of course all the liquor sponsors are there too. And hey, Mark Martin says you need Viagra! What's that stuff do, Dad? It just makes you shake your head at the double standards in all of it. Kids will have a lot of fun driving these race cars. Yeah, it's a simulation and it's hard. The crashes are really cool though, and with a steering wheel and pedals they'll feel darn good on the track. You can turn on driving aids for your youngsters and as long as they can handle the menu navigation, of which there's a lot, they will have a good time ripping around Daytona. This game definitely works well for younger simracers and does a good job preparing them for the even more realistic Papyrus games or would satiate their interest in a more realistic NASCAR game than those found on consoles. It's not as good as it could be, but NASCAR SimRacing is still easy to recommend for most race fans young and old. Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "Nascar" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: NASCAR SimRacing |
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