The Future of NASCAR Gaming

[RaychelSnr]

Going into this season, NASCAR announced a series of rule changes to make races more exciting and competitive. These changes included freer-flowing restrictor plates, the return of bump-drafting and the return of the spoiler rather than the detached rear wing. These things appeared to be done in response to lower television ratings and attendance figures.

While NASCAR responded quickly to make changes to try and reaffirm NASCAR’s place in the American sports’ marketplace, the same cannot be said about their handling of their video game licenses. I say that because Electronic Arts’ exclusive deal with NASCAR is over and yet no NASCAR games are being released this year. In other words, the future of NASCAR games basically leads to a mess of questions.

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[Scott76]

Umm, iRacing.com says hello...?

More realistic then any of those games you listed.
Better looking then any of those games you listed.
You actually get to race against real Nascar drivers.

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott76

Umm, iRacing.com says hello...? More realistic then any of those games you listed. Better looking then any of those games you listed. You actually get to race against real Nascar drivers.

IMO iRacing is a bit daunting to those who aren't hardcore racing gamers. I know for me I like a Nascar game I can play sometimes, enjoy, but not have to run a billion laps to learn how to tweak the setups and whatnot.

I'm not knocking iRacing, I just think it's a bit on the advanced end for the more casual racing gamer. I don't have the time or desire to invest the massive amount of time required to be good enough to play...

[pk500]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue

IMO iRacing is a bit daunting to those who aren't hardcore racing gamers. I know for me I like a Nascar game I can play sometimes, enjoy, but not have to run a billion laps to learn how to tweak the setups and whatnot.

Fallacy. Most people will share a setup in a practice server if you ask politely, and you can find a ton of solid setups at the iRacing forum and other setup sharing sites.

[catcatch22]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott76

Umm, iRacing.com says hello...? More realistic then any of those games you listed. Better looking then any of those games you listed. You actually get to race against real Nascar drivers.

I think he meant on a console, not the pc.

I think the main reason niche racers like NASCAR, IRL, the old CART series and F1 failed sale wise on consoles has more to do with way the sport translates to consoles. These types of racing games are much more wheel related than say Project Gotham. The expense of a good wheel does not help matters and further pushes the niche value of these games away from the masses.

If your a PC racer you have no reason not to own a wheel.

[SOBAY310]

95% of my gaming is sports, but I wouldn't mind seeing publishers release their games every couple of years with post release support during the off year.

[pk500]

Quote: Originally Posted by catcatch22

I think he meant on a console, not the pc. I think the main reason niche racers like NASCAR, IRL, the old CART series and F1 failed sale wise on consoles has more to do with way the sport translates to consoles. These types of racing games are much more wheel related than say Project Gotham. The expense of a good wheel does not help matters and further pushes the niche value of these games away from the masses. If your a PC racer you have no reason not to own a wheel.

All excellent points!

[mwjr]

EA's NASCAR 009 finally got the series back on track; it was the first one that I bought since NASCAR 02. I was really disappointed that they stopped making it.