It really is a heckuvva SIM, but has it's annoying factors. Working up the skills and cars in "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup" mode seems to be the only way to improve playability, which suffers on a PS-2 because of the funky controllers.

One thing that can be done is to drastically reduce the controller sensitivety in the settings menu, that helps a lot.

It would be nice if there were a way to turn off bogus "E-Mails" from J.G. so that the game isn't interrupted as often too!

Most difficult track so far is Watkins Glen which has a real nasty chicane at one point and is serious trouble to pass on, but then I haven't fully developed the Nationwide ride yet...

Building up TIRES and ENGINE equally is a must. I'm not sure if upgrading STEERING helps smooth out the cars tendency to wander all over the edge of the track on the straightaways or not. It would be typical of Electronic Arts that it did - but they don't really say so anywhere. It seemed that way when working through the Whelan and Craftsman Truck series.

Another gripe is that once you work through a series, you can't get contracts in them and so can't race in the cars you blew a lot of cash to upgrade!!! That right there is a good reason to only get what is desperately needed in order to win.

There is a direct relation to how much you build up the drivers skills and what the cars will perform like: Front runner skill adds to top speed from what I see, precision adds to steering smoothness, and so on

Choosing longer races in the beginning (I don't know if it can be changed once you start the game) is both a curse and a blessing.

It helps because you have more time to increase a lead to lap other cars or to work through a pack (thus building on the various driver skills) but would tend to make the game super-long....

Hey man! Jump in anywhere...

It really IS a lot of fun!

 

Sounds like a cool game, I havent tried 09 yet.

Im really more of a cop/chaser driver type guy myself though.

 

I'm beginning to be increasingly impressed by the realism. The above is from a first run-through using the "Family play" mode. PRO play is a whole 'nuther world, and you can set the race length to 150 laps or more.

For the Watkins Glen track, that would be almost a nightmare!!!

Car Setups in it include suspension biasing in many ways including downforce tweaks and adjusting spring, shock, and swaybar weights front to rear. Tire pressure is an obvious tweak, and there's a lot more - all of which make the performance change in different ways.

The game was not well recieved by the average gamer, but I'm told there is a bigger following on XBOX than PS2 because the graphics are higher grade.

It packs a wallop for a mere $29.oo though. I'll be messing with this years from now! The short tracks remind me of USAC Sprint car races

 

If you can find it (and '07 just might BE that one) "Dirt to Daytona" is supposed to be the best one of the series

 

I keep seeing "GOTTA HAVE" references to it when I look for game advice.

 

My friend has "Nascar '09", and we play it all the time. Just 2-player mode screwing around though...nothing serious. It's a great game, gives us hours of entertainment, and is the best racing game EA has come out with IMO. A lot of the older EA games sucked.

The truck series is the most fun. They handle sooooo much better than the cars. Run Watkins Glenn with the trucks, and then with the cars and compare speeds through the truns. Trucks are usually 20mph faster. Just an interesting fact I noticed...

 

I have been debating on getting it. I'm glad it's not the ridiculous 60 bucks, so I might buy it actually. I haven't had a NASCAR game in forever I think the last one I played was '05 maybe, that one was pretty fun.

 

I havent tried any of the newer Nascar games. Looks like im gonna have too.

 

I have a partner that stays with me here....

We are BOTH die-hard race fans, and this game ROCKS TO THE BONE!!!

It has some bugs, but it has a realistic "You get in the car and race for that many laps" option.

It also takes a lot to work up to do good,

BEWARE OF EASY UPS!!!
(they freeze the game)

It will take you 2 seasons to break into "NATIONWIDE", and you will run at Daytona and Talledega

The nature of the racing changes at that point....

Despite it's bugs I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!


It is the best realistic sim of true racing I know of, my Poppa would have loved to play it with me if he had lived that long - and he took me to dirt track and Gardenia Park racing to show me what racing was all about!

God Bless the "TAMALE WAGON"
(Sponsored by "XLNT FOODS")



I need to say this though -

If you do not understand RACING CARS...............

You won't understand this game

.....

The in depth knowing makes a world of difference. There are few cheats or codes......

I will not tell you them.

When I was ten years old, my mini-bike blew away a yamaha 90 on the trails.



GOOD LUCK!
All you have to do is drive for the fun of it.

 

You talking about the Morales Bros. CRA sprint car there, aren't you Wolfie?

Ascot park is now closed unfortunately. That was one hell of a half mile.

 

I remember the night me and my Poppa saw that on the news on a San Diego channel...

It was a grim moment, we knew racing was in dire trouble when we saw that and thought (both) that the good old days were dead and gone....

One of the fine things about TN was that there were still dirt sprinters running.

Speedway 117 died, and El Centro ran Outlaws for a while.

All that was left was on indian reservations.

The Californicateya legislature killed a legend in my eyes - I knew then that I had to go someplace where my young dreams were still alive and well.

Also a place my poppa would like to have been...

Funny how what we DO share comes to life later on.

"The Father becomes the son - the Son becomes the father..."
(SUPERMAN)


EPA = Extra Problems, Anus-hole!!!

 

YouTube - Ascot Park Remembered

Too bad there's no video, but it's a nice collection of still shots

 

Thank you.

It was a wonderful place to go...

That track had the wildest action of them all - being short and fast. A lot of rivalries were because of it.