NASCAR The Game 2011 Q&A and Impressions

[bluengold34_OS]

I just wanted to let everyone know that Dave personally emailed me this morning to let me know he did the recieve the letter I sent him from Senor Nascar. I am going to put together a small little group of guys for further information, and breakdown of issues.

I will send out pm's to guys who will be invited to provide feedback directly to the Dave and the rest of the developers, through me.

[y2j469]

As best I can tell there doesn't seem to be any way to use a custom car in split-screen multi-player. Also there seems to be a random issue with player controlled cars flickering on and off on restarts.

[nflman2033]

Quote: Originally Posted by y2j469

As best I can tell there doesn't seem to be any way to use a custom car in split-screen multi-player. Also there seems to be a random issue with player controlled cars flickering on and off on restarts.

yes this is another thing, also no way to change paint scheme on anyone you just pick a driver and go. would like to be able to select a different car than default car for drivers when I race my son or wife. probably won't be able to fix till next year other issues that a patch may fix are more important.

[mm boost]

http://forums.eutechnyx.com/threads/...damage-crashes

I made this post on their forums so that hopefully I could be heard about the wrecking/crashing fixes. I posted a video of an example of how it is now, and then posted a video of actual Nascar wrecks to show how much difference there is. I believe that since they clearly advertised life-like, never before seen wrecks and damage engines, that we have been severely let down, and that this should be one of the main areas of focus. I mean, this was one of the things the devs preached to us that differentiated this game from past Nascar games. As of the game I received on Tuesday, the damage engine is one of the worse I have ever seen in a racing game that actually has damage.

Please take a few moments to read that post. Blue, I'd like to possibly be considered for the crash and damage fixes if you need someone. Just throwing that out there

[mm boost]

and here is a link to nascar wrecks in a video game done right (keep in mind the damage model is not exactly the best in NR2003), but the car physics and smoke looks awesome. If we could have this with NTG2011's damage model, we would be right where we need to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riFK6ly8rbY

and another example, pay attention to the smoke and debris flying off the cars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Mlo...feature=fvwrel

[Papi34]

This thread has honestly fascinated me. First I was amazed how much interest there was when Blue and Senor got the game, especially given the apparent lack of interest in the preview threads.
Then when more people got the game, I couldn't believe the hating. The thread was really hard to read because the useful/informative posts were getting buried under a lot of............ less useful posts, let's say. Sorry, but some people should think before engaging the post button.

Living in the UK, I have to wait until early next week before I get the game. Thanks very much to the constructive/informative posters for helping me make my mind up about ordering the game. I really think I'm going to have great fun with it, but I try to be a glass half full kind of guy!
Plus, something is telling me the devs will do their best to sort out as many of the issues that they can.

[AceFan84]

Straight from the NTG2011 Forums:

Bugs:

• Fix lack of Caution Flags - To Be Fixed
• Fix issues with the A.I. exiting the pits and then pulling straight up the track - To Be Fixed
• Reconfigure the damage to improve the look and add more debris on impact - To Be Fixed
• Fix Cautions Lights being illuminated all of the time - To Be Fixed
• Improve the PS3 voice comms - To Be Fixed
• Fix the Rolling Starts Online/Offline so the cars begin in the correct formation and together - To Be Fixed
• Fix the instant wrecking during Online Rolling Starts - To Be Fixed
• Fix the Lobby Race Start Counter freezing - To Be Fixed
• Fix Spotter saying “Clear” too often - To Be Fixed
• Improve general stability and freezing issues - To Be Fixed

Improvements:

• Change the Gas indicator so it defaults to full in the pit stop interface - To Be Fixed
• Draft effect both on the car and visual to be tweaked - To Be Fixed
• In Private games, the host will start the timer when they are ready - To Be Fixed
• Add support for the Porsche GT2 wheel - To Be Added
• Add support for the T500 wheel - To Be Added
• Allow the HUD to be completely turned off - To Be Added
• Free up the A.I. cars so that when they are hit by a player they will get loose - To Be Fixed
• Ensure only Carl Edwards performs a back flip - To Be Fixed
• Add the ability to change your Online Car - To Be Added

Investigating:

• A.I. being overly aggressive when bump drafting the player
• A.I. difficulty being too easy when qualifying
• A.I. pitting problems causing them to collide in to each other
• A.I. bunching on certain tracks
• A.I. slamming their brakes on for no reason
• Hitting the wall often turns the car ending up with the player facing the wrong way

I posted this in another topic on the board as well. Sorry I can't post the link I haven't posted on these boards enough to do so.

[TCrouch]

That's the thing...I've alternated between having a great deal of love and a great amount of hatred for the game, in almost even amounts.

I think you can have a lot of fun in short sprint races where you don't have to worry about pit strategy and cautions, but that's a huge portion of NASCAR racing to take out of the equation.

I'm glad I'm not reviewing this one. I'd really be in a tough spot

I would sum it up like this:

In its current state, it's not worth a purchase for anybody wanting anything other than a quick, short race against AI cars that can be fun to race, but sometimes a little overaggressive.

HOWEVER...

I haven't seen a development team so actively involved with communicating to their audience their intentions and desire for ALL feedback (not just the good stuff). I, possibly naively, think that they can actually sort some of the horrendous stuff out--like yellow flags and pit AI. That's the stuff that usually takes the most tweaking to fix, and it's actually fixable. It's not like it would take a complete re-write of the AI to make the game driveable. It's actually very good at RACING, but not good at the ancillary stuff around the racing environment.

So I would say if you're looking for a complete NASCAR experience, hold off for probably a few months and save yourself some aggravation. Check back around June and see what it's become. I'm pretty confident it will become at least a close representation of the sport--but as it stands, it's like a Cliff's Notes version of a NASCAR event.

...but if you are the type that wants a full career mode and stat tracking, avoid it entirely, as that's not something that just suddenly gets patched in.