NASCAR The Game 2011 Q&A and Impressions

[Aggies7]

Quote: Originally Posted by gamemaster-2005

a question for you guys, are you guys able to get CPU to make pit stops on shorter races. I'm racing like 15% of the laps and I have yet to see CPU drivers make pit stops?

I believe you just change tires/fuel to X3 and that will work. I'm running 10% in season mode and all CPU cars pit at least once.

[nflman2033]

It seems that pit/caution/restart is real buggy. Had over 110 of 125 laps in at California. Went to pit screen for gas tire change didn't come up and I no longer had control of my car not even when I was back on the track low on gas and shot tires. On restarts lapped cars start ahead of the leaders so even though I was in 3rd I had almost a whole field of cars ahead of me. Then what is funny is those cars in front can't be caught, they seem to run faster like if they had been running that well they would be in front. This game is great for short races, but when you want to run even a 50% race it really shows It's flaws.

Anyone else see this on longer races. Makes me want to not try and run 50% maybe do 30%.

[Aggies7]

I agree for some reason lapped cars run faster. I was getting passed by lapped cars left and right at Vegas but still had 2.1 second lead. And the lapped cars were killing me in fastest lap category.

[Flamehead]

Quote: Originally Posted by chapmac24

Just happened to me.. I had a 3 second lead on hard (because very hard is too difficult) I pit a couple laps before everyone else at talledega, and went a lap down.. then after they all pit I was in last place.. I think when they slowed down the pit crew (which I wish we could see them full speed) I think they forgot to slow down the racers probably... Just my take on it, but yeah it definitely blows

I like to play 100% distance races, and this is potentially a game-killer. Pit strategy and effective pitting is as much a part of racing as the actual racing. If this isn't corrected in the patch, I might have to hang it up.

[xxJosh93xx]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senor Nascar

Message to Developers: Here are my concerns and suggestions for issues which should be fixed in future patches: 1. Obviously the caution issue which has been well addressed by numerous people. 2. The AI aggressiveness at bump drafting on Auto Club Speedway. I have been wrecked numerous times by the AI simply slamming into the back of me at a place where bump drafting is minimal. 3. The AI difficulty needs to be ramped up especially in Qualifying. 4. The lack of TIRE TEMPERATURE readings. I would really like to see this added in. If you do not know your tire temperatures it makes it really difficult to set up a car properly. 5. The small tire wear indicator needs reworking. It is very difficult to see how much your tires are wearing and if the insides, middle, or outside of the tire are wearing more than other parts of the tire. This is key info for finding out what is wrong with the setup and how to make it better. I would advise using a system like other games. Where the tires are blue, then green, then yellow and then red. 6. The AI needs help when pitting under yellow. Numerous times I have seen them run into each other on Pit Road causing a huge mess. 7. When Pitting, the DEFAULT should be a full gas tank not the opposite like it is now. You already don't have much time to make adjustments so it would be great if this could be reversed so I am not wasting time filling that meter up. If I want less than a full tank than I could dial it down instead. 8. I would like to be able to save more than 50 setups. I know it sounds like a lot but it really isn't if you calculate that you at least have one saved setup for each track (23) and when the update comes you will need at least another 23 for the 2011 models which will handle differently. I would like to see the number of allowed save setups to go up. 9. The spotter should stop saying all clear at odd times like when I am stopped or on pit road. It is just way overdone. Also for future versions of the game I would look at maybe omitting the comedic lines because although they might be funny the first time...they get real old real quick. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the hot dog line. I would rather the spotter focus on positional info. 10. The bunching up of AI on certain tracks. 11. It was my understanding that there would be an Adaptive AI setting in this game. What happened? It could help solve some difficulty issues for some if it were to be added. 12. I think for future iterations try to make the default setup not so good out of the box. It really takes away from the need to work on your car. I know you are trying to appeal to people who don't want to work on their car but it just kills it for those who do. 13. The draft is way overdone at certain tracks. I think it greatly needs to be toned down overall. I think it will really help with the difficulty as well. 14. The online timer (even in private races) needs to go away. All other racer games have always had a ready up feature which works much better. Hopefully this can be addressed soon. F1 does a good job of this. 15. Better online stability. 16. The wheel support needs revamping. I play with a Porsche Fanatec GT2 wheel for Xbox 360. It is operational but is certainly not tuned for this game and the force feedback seems to come and go. After playing with the g25 on PS3 last night, I can honestly notice a HUGE difference. Hopefully you guys can look at all the wheels people are using and tune them for this game. 17. When your fuel runs out, it should not be an automatic DNF. There needs to be a chance to coast to the pits. 18. The AI needs to be more careful when coming out of pit road and onto the track (Auto Club Speedway is a good example of this) They move all the way over near the wall when not at speed yet and it causes major bunching. They need to stay near the white line till they are up to speed somewhere on the backstretch. That is what I got in terms of immediate fixes to help get this game on the right path. I am sure I left out a couple of things but overall I think there is a good base here in this game (driving model and AI) and with these fixes the game would be much better.

The AI adaptive difficulty is built into the game. When the race is getting easy on very hard it is pretty easy to tell that the AI has adapted to you because I have done very hard legend settings and race up to the laders then once I get close you start to fall off and then you have to try and find a better line to run smother and try to gain ground that way.

[Pezell04x]

Quote: Originally Posted by TIm

7-10:30 or so Est time is Bruins hockey... Maybe make a thread saying at 11:00PM this evening?? Maybe we can get a few people together.. Just make it a wide track because this is my first racing game since Nascar 08 so I have to get used to it again.. Man I wish I had a wheel simply because my hands aren't used to this

You're a good man.

I've had the game since Tuesday, but I've only been able to play for a few hours. Now, before I go into my impressions, I'm a racing noob. I played NASCAR 09, but not to the extent where I've played NHL or NBA games (forever and ever).

With that said, I bought NTG specifically to race my friend and my brother online (in or out of private matches) and I've really enjoyed the experience. I figured that a first-gen title would have some buggy issues because I remembered what it was like playing Madden 06 (I believe) as a first-gen title.

There are some bugs, but I think the developer will work on them. They owe it to us to work on them, but that's never the case (looking at you Homefront).

My only gripe is the sensitivity with the thumbsticks. I feel like my car is swerving a lot and I know most of it has to do with me and these stupid hands of mine. I bought a wheel online that should be coming in next week. I'm excited to try it out on a wheel.

I'm having fun playing it despite it's faults.

[Aggies7]

Just did a 50 lap race at Bristol. Anyone else notice when you pit under caution there the pace car laps you but you don't go a lap down. Game is getting frustating with all the issues and bugs.

[chrisasst]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senor Nascar

Blue, Here it is with an update. Message to Developers: Here are my concerns and suggestions for issues which should be fixed in future patches: 1. Obviously the caution issue which has been well addressed by numerous people. 2. The AI aggressiveness at bump drafting on Auto Club Speedway. I have been wrecked numerous times by the AI simply slamming into the back of me at a place where bump drafting is minimal. 3. The AI difficulty needs to be ramped up especially in Qualifying. 4. The lack of TIRE TEMPERATURE readings. I would really like to see this added in. If you do not know your tire temperatures it makes it really difficult to set up a car properly. 5. The small tire wear indicator needs reworking. It is very difficult to see how much your tires are wearing and if the insides, middle, or outside of the tire are wearing more than other parts of the tire. This is key info for finding out what is wrong with the setup and how to make it better. I would advise using a system like other games. Where the tires are blue, then green, then yellow and then red. 6. The AI needs help when pitting under yellow. Numerous times I have seen them run into each other on Pit Road causing a huge mess. 7. When Pitting, the DEFAULT should be a full gas tank not the opposite like it is now. You already don't have much time to make adjustments so it would be great if this could be reversed so I am not wasting time filling that meter up. If I want less than a full tank than I could dial it down instead. 8. I would like to be able to save more than 50 setups. I know it sounds like a lot but it really isn't if you calculate that you at least have one saved setup for each track (23) and when the update comes you will need at least another 23 for the 2011 models which will handle differently. I would like to see the number of allowed save setups to go up. 9. The spotter should stop saying all clear at odd times like when I am stopped or on pit road. It is just way overdone. Also for future versions of the game I would look at maybe omitting the comedic lines because although they might be funny the first time...they get real old real quick. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the hot dog line. I would rather the spotter focus on positional info. 10. The bunching up of AI on certain tracks. 11. It was my understanding that there would be an Adaptive AI setting in this game. What happened? It could help solve some difficulty issues for some if it were to be added. 12. I think for future iterations try to make the default setup not so good out of the box. It really takes away from the need to work on your car. I know you are trying to appeal to people who don't want to work on their car but it just kills it for those who do. 13. The draft is way overdone at certain tracks. I think it greatly needs to be toned down overall. I think it will really help with the difficulty as well. 14. The online timer (even in private races) needs to go away. All other racer games have always had a ready up feature which works much better. Hopefully this can be addressed soon. F1 does a good job of this. 15. Better online stability. 16. The wheel support needs revamping. I play with a Porsche Fanatec GT2 wheel for Xbox 360. It is operational but is certainly not tuned for this game and the force feedback seems to come and go. After playing with the g25 on PS3 last night, I can honestly notice a HUGE difference. Hopefully you guys can look at all the wheels people are using and tune them for this game. 17. When your fuel runs out, it should not be an automatic DNF. There needs to be a chance to coast to the pits. 18. The AI needs to be more careful when coming out of pit road and onto the track (Auto Club Speedway is a good example of this) They move all the way over near the wall when not at speed yet and it causes major bunching. They need to stay near the white line till they are up to speed somewhere on the backstretch. That is what I got in terms of immediate fixes to help get this game on the right path. I am sure I left out a couple of things but overall I think there is a good base here in this game (driving model and AI) and with these fixes the game would be much better.

how about being able to patch up damage in the pits, there is no option for damage repair....!!!!