NASCAR The Game 2011 News Post

NASCAR The Game 2011 Q&A and Impressions

12:47 PM - March 24, 2011 by bluengold34_OS

I received the game this morning at 9 AM. Please keep in mind, I have only raced 4 times so far and practiced at another.

I am going to answer as many questions as I can that have already been asked, then will keep posting impressions and answer as many questions as I can. I have my PS3 in my office hooked up to the same monitor as my PC, so I have to switch over, so If I don't immediately respond to something, it's because I am on the PS3.

On to the questions, from the other topic.

I wanna know how are the Graphics compared to NASCAR 09? I really can't get a good grasp from the videos. Thanks.

IMO the graphics are a bit better than NASCAR 09. NASCAR 09 was a nice looking game, but I think NTG11 does a better job here. There is a very natural, organic look to it, almost like MLB The Show has. The color palate is there, but it's not too crisp, or overdone.

The car models are nicely executed, and tracks look beautiful.

1. I think we are all wondering about the difficulty of the game and if what we saw in the videos was on some easier level. Is the game more realistic than what the videos may have lead us to believe?

2. Is there a true career mode, or is it just a season, and how does that work?

3. Do you get the sense that you are at 30+ different tracks, or does it feel like most of the tracks run about the same?

1. I set the difficulty for the AI on the highest at Tally, Daytona, and Texas. They were very competitive at Tally and Daytona, and Texas were just better than me....flat out! What I really like so far about the AI, is that they are aggressive, but not cheap. They understand that you are also on the track, and try to be cautious of their surroundings. They did bump draft with me at Tally and Daytona, and I could do the same with them...and there was no sign of them being disturbed by it.

2. Have not jumped into career mode as of yet, but will give it a run as the day progresses.

3. There was a nice difference in the feel from Atlanta, Texas, Daytona and Tally. They didn't feel that same at all, and based off early impressions, they did a nice job trying to individualize and realistically replicate each track.

Pre-race presentation-Is there a full pace lap with the driver/grid position rundown like EA did a few years back? Very tv-style touch that was very nice. Also, any featured drivers pre-race?

Wreck/caution-how long is it between the wreck, caution and going into the pace lap? Time enough to 'go thru' the wreck if it happened up in front and you're in the back of the pack, or just 'there's a wreck' and then two seconds later in the caution lap?

Keep in mind, I have not done season or career, but in "race now" option, there was no pre-race or any presentation. It literally took you to the race about 100 yards away from the start finish line.

In regards to wrecking, you get to watch the whole wreck. It doesn't take you away to a cut scene instantly. I was in one at Tally, and it seemed like it lasted 20 seconds, and I was in one at Texas, and it only lasted about 10 seconds. Then it gives you the option to pit under caution...if you choose no, it takes to a few seconds before the green flag drops again.

I am very curious about the realism of the track surface. For example, Are there bumps in on the lowside of turns 1 and 2 at Las Vegas? Do the bumps upset the car and make you create a setup that can handle those bumps?

That leads to my other question. How much does messing with the setup actually change the feel of the car? When the track rubbers up, does the car get tighter?

From what I have seen, the bumps feel like they are barely noticeable. I felt a little bit at Daytona in turns 3 going into 4(keep in mind its still Daytona 10 on my copy) but nothing that really forced me to white knuckle the wheel at all. When an AI car gets into you, you notice that a lot more than any bumps on the track surface. If you're hoping to really feel the surface bumps and have it effect the car....probably not going to be real happy.

I will say the the driving model is really well done though, and you truly feel connected to the track surface.

Ok, going to go test some more, and try to get some photos, but videos may be very difficult. I am trying to find a way to do it right now. I will be back in a few to answer some more questions and give some solid impressions.

Game: NASCAR The Game 2011Reader Score: 4/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 15 - View All

NASCAR The Game 2011 Videos

Member Comments

# 1161 Matty86 @ 03/30/11 09:57 AM

The game definately has some issues... but I play iRacing to get my SIM experience. My girlfriend got home last night and asked me if I picked up the new Nascar game (she's been hearing me talk about it and watching me play iRacing, and I wouldn't let her on my account to screw up my ratings haha) and when I told her I got it we played for almost 2 hours.

I love the game to just pick up and play and mess around, it isn't sim, but I still find the entertainment value there. At this point I have the iracing, and The Show for my real hardcore gaming, if I can find games like Nascar that the gf wants to play with me instead of telling me to get off my video games, I'm all over it!

# 1162 BabaGahNush @ 03/30/11 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AEJustin


	Caution lights seem to be ok now, I didn't get to play a whole lot of it before the patch though, but that part looks to be ok anyways.

The caution lights are still not patched. They're not all for all of the tracks but for a lot of them, they are. Not the biggest concern of mine bc it doesnt affect the racing. They REALLY need to fix the cautions themselves. It's like 50/50 on whether you'll get a caution if you spin offline. Online you have to drive backwards 90% of the time to get one if you spin out.

# 1163 realtmd @ 03/30/11 10:05 AM

Initial Impressions for 360

I got the game yesterday afternoon and played it for a couple of hours

Positives
*The game looks absolutely amazing from the tracks to the cars the realism is on point
*The game is deffinitely a challenge even on the lower levels
*They hit the roster pretty well, there are some exclusions but when they go as far as to put Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland in they put in the effort.
*Eliminator mode is cool and new for a Nascar Game

Negatives
*Even with the patch the cautions are pretty rediculous, I have been completely spun out with another car and the caution did not come out
*The career mode is very thin, it deffinitely feels like season rather than career, one thing EA did well was make a big distinction between the two
*My biggest gripe is the lack of a driver ratings system, It should be harder to win a race at Bristol with Danica Patrick than it is with Kyle Busch. Those ratings really made 09 for me. I know it sucked if your favorite driver had bad ratings, but if they have the AI perform like the drivers they could make the user controlled cars do the same, possibly with an option to turn the ratings on and off. It is like you are driving paint schemes, rather than the actual drivers.

Overall I think the game is fun and I will keep it, I just had some pretty high expectations and hopefully acitvision will add these things in future versions

# 1164 Rules @ 03/30/11 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunN1st


	BTW: Bob also enjoys long walks on the beach and has a thing for butterflies! LOL

I was afraid of that. I will need to toughen him up a bit on the track. A few times into the wall should do it.

# 1165 Rules @ 03/30/11 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petty43


	the worst are 1 ai slowing in turns and bunching = Agree 2 no caution when they need to be = Agree 3 ai rubber banding even in long race whole field staying within 10-15 sec. = Agree 4 ai crash while pitting under yellow = Agree 5 ai no dammage while my car is killed in crashes = Agree 6 loose 20 spots with green flag stop even after all has stoped = Haven't seen this one yet. 7 to easy to get pole on any level and all levels still to easy = Agree but I am not hanging with the big dogs on the very hard level just yet. 8 caution lights stay on all the time = Agree 9 floating spoilers on frount of car hood

= Doesn't matter for me as they need to fix the bigger issues you listed above.

# 1166 izzywhite @ 03/30/11 10:25 AM

The game is great in my eyes other than what has been spoken about and I think they will patch these issues. Im new here but just wanted to post my thoughts about the situation.

Do you think any other game company would come out before the end of day ONE and release a statement saying we know of the issues and are working on a patch right now for it. EA would never come out and say this, they would tuck their heads in their legs and bail out on us. I think this statement by them and keep in mind before day one was even up, was a big eye opener to me and i say " if feels like this is a community company that wants to get this game right".

I love everything I see about the game in what direction they are going and have high hopes they will do the right thing and make this game the greatest nascar console ever to date.

Thanks and add me if you like on 360 tag x izzy white x

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

# 1167 Aggies7 @ 03/30/11 10:35 AM

Ok so I loaded up the game and said update 1.01 I believe, I said download and it seemed to just go straight to game. Is this a small update the loads quick or should it have taken some time?

Oh and I am doing a career with Jeff Burton, why in the world is Kevin Harvick a rival to start the season? He is my teammate.

# 1168 nflman2033 @ 03/30/11 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UGA14


	Does anyone know how to change your chosen driver from the beginning? That's the only car I can use online

You have to quit career mode and select new driver.

# 1169 Aggies7 @ 03/30/11 10:45 AM

I saw someone above say about losing multiple spots on green flag stops...At Daytona this happened to me because I shouldve just done a gas'n'go but for some reason the default set to give me 4 tires and I didn't change it. But when I played again and just took gas did not lose any spots after the cycle of stops.

# 1170 Rules @ 03/30/11 10:57 AM

There are definitely a bunch of bugs that need to be worked out. If anything, I really hope they allow us the need to use different setups as the stock version even on the very hard setting is too competitive. I think if many had to work on their cars more than the difficulty settings would become a moot point for a majority who like the challenge.

The A.I. cars need to sustain more damage as it just looks like bumper cars when something happens. They preached about their damage model but I am not seeing it! Shift 2 wipes the floor with them when it comes to the level of damage sustained during a race.

I had one odd bug that was pretty funny. I got turned around at Daytona on lap 39 and continued at over 161 mph BACKWARDS without touching the accelerator. Once I hit the accelerator after watching for nearly a minute, the car began to slow down.

Plus side, I drove thru the grass to avoid an accident at Daytona and messed up my suspension. That was a nice touch!

# 1171 Aggies7 @ 03/30/11 11:05 AM

I am liking how on long green flag runs the handle of the car goes away.

However, on ever crash I have seen the AI doesnt even seem to try and avoid the wreck they just keep running into it. That is a major disappointment.

# 1172 nyisles16 @ 03/30/11 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dynamitekid42


	Such a cheerleader. Oh wait, you write for this site. Oh, this site gets paid from these developers. Oh, I see.

Enough with this.

# 1173 nyisles16 @ 03/30/11 11:17 AM

Picked up the ps3 version.... I can say cars can roll over- did it with Dale Jr at Daytona. I say Almighty love ease of control with the controller, where I can stay in a grove and not all over. However I really dislike the damage detection- sorry, head on wrecks don't do bumper car collisions, and the yellow flag issue. I take it for what it is though... a video game

# 1174 Rules @ 03/30/11 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggies7


	Ok so I loaded up the game and said update 1.01 I believe, I said download and it seemed to just go straight to game. Is this a small update the loads quick or should it have taken some time? Oh and I am doing a career with Jeff Burton, why in the world is Kevin Harvick a rival to start the season? He is my teammate.

It seems to select the car in front of you whenever the race starts. Not really a rival so this is poorly done. Nothing like having teammates as rivals lol. Can you say Kyle versus Denny?

# 1175 Aggies7 @ 03/30/11 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rules


	It seems to select the car in front of you whenever the race starts. Not really a rival so this is poorly done. Nothing like having teammates as rivals lol. Can you say Kyle versus Denny?

Yea ran 5 races now...every time I got the pole the outside front row driver was my rival...very poor in my opinion...still enjoying game though.

# 1176 nflman2033 @ 03/30/11 11:47 AM

I am enjoying the game, granted I play offline, ps3, and just now getting back into NASCAR in years, so I have not had the history most have had with NASCAR games. IMO I think a couple more patches this game will be fantastic. It's a shame I bought three games this month and they all needed work. These devs seem to rely too much on patches these days. The only agrivating part of game play is ai being bunched up even after 10-15 laps on some tracks as well as group slow downs in corners. Most every other complaint I can live with or is already going to be fixed.

# 1177 TCrouch @ 03/30/11 12:03 PM

I tried not posting anything else last night, as it seemed that each race I ran ended with me wanting to scream at the TV due to something going wrong during a yellow flag. Whether it was me entering too fast onto pit road, where the AI took over driving my car, and promptly slid it right into the barrier wall and bent it up pretty good, or going in for Green Flag cautions and the AI pinballing off of each other and causing a yellow as they head for pit road, etc...I was pretty bent. I took a good 2 hour break from it.

When I came back, I tried something I don't usually do--I turned on "Pro" assists and grabbed a controller. After that, I ran a few races in a career and discovered I was having fun. The yellow flag stuff still seems to be a huge gamble every time you go to pit, which made me realize what they intended this game to be: a quick fix NASCAR session.

The online races being so short, the default quick races having the inability to set 4x tire wear, etc., leaves me thinking that they really poured all of their efforts into making this a "sit down, race a 10% race with no pit stops and call it a day". It's the only explanation I had, because the actual RACING is quite good. For kicks I took a spin around Bristol with no 4x wear and started from the rear of the field and it was a hell of a good time. They really let you beat and bang on each other (especially when hitting another car in the rear) without wrecking, and it just made me realize that they really spent a lot of time trying to get the experience to be all about racing...but much like EA and Madden's 4 min online quarters, they are targeting the ADD crowd that just wants to sit down and run a race in 5 minutes, then move on to the next.

That's not me.

I wanted to have multiple stops and 50 laps or more--and for the most part, it fails that. But once I got past what I expected it to be, and looked at it for what it is, I was at least able to have some fun with it. It's still a bit frustrating to have a race ruined by some bizarre yellow flag behavior, but once I put my big boy glasses on and calmed down a bit, it was easier to deal with.

One thing that DID impress me last night was my career race at Fontana. I just ran with the default setup, and man that thing was a dog. It turned like a yacht. I still qualified in the top 5, but as soon as the race started and I had other cars around me, it completely fell apart. I overdrove it and destroyed the tires trying to avoid getting ***-pounded by the AI, and on the first stop, added a ton of wedge to it (I want to say something like 2%...it was pretty drastic). That stop cycled through without any incidents, so that was good. The car actually DID get a bit better there, and on the second round of stops, I added another huge chunk of wedge. I was turning some of my fastest laps of the day on that last run, and actually passing cars.

The feeling of actually being able to tweak a car during a stop and having it respond was good. So there's that, I guess

I also agree with something Blue posted earlier--NR2003 had some hilariously bad yellow flag AI as well, and the AI itself wasn't nearly as fun to race against. But NTG2011 has some work to do to even get the pit stops anywhere near NR2003's level. Taking control away from us as soon as we hit pit road is one thing--but if you do that, you better make damn sure you don't have an AI driver that's going to spin in circles or drive into other cars (or walls). That's the kind of stuff that really gets me. Give me control all the way down pit road and out...don't take it away as soon as I hit the cones and not give it back until I'm exiting turn 2 on a half-speed exit that a blind neanderthal with half a foot could drive faster.

# 1178 Perfect Zero @ 03/30/11 12:04 PM

Wow, things went sour on here overnight!

I just woke up and I have the day off so I'm going to enjoy the game today. I completed 20 laps at Kentucky (I'm really looking forward to seeing this in real life) and had a good race there. I ended up losing to Carl Edwards when he pulled up below me and I felt that if I blocked him, he would spin me. Second is better than Tenth or worse.

The only glairing problems I see are that the short tracks like Martinsville and Bristol are VERY HARD to deal with becuase there is bunching. I haven't tried Michigan yet, but the two short tracks I just mentioned were very difficult to pass on.

Somebody asked me what level I play on. I play on Hard, but I play it very conservatively. I admit that the qualifying is a bit easy, but when the race comes along I have a good time trying to stay on top.

# 1179 Rules @ 03/30/11 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TCrouch


	I tried not posting anything else last night, as it seemed that each race I ran ended with me wanting to scream at the TV due to something going wrong during a yellow flag. Whether it was me entering too fast onto pit road, where the AI took over driving my car, and promptly slid it right into the barrier wall and bent it up pretty good, or going in for Green Flag cautions and the AI pinballing off of each other and causing a yellow as they head for pit road, etc...I was pretty bent. I took a good 2 hour break from it. When I came back, I tried something I don't usually do--I turned on "Pro" assists and grabbed a controller. After that, I ran a few races in a career and discovered I was having fun. The yellow flag stuff still seems to be a huge gamble every time you go to pit, which made me realize what they intended this game to be: a quick fix NASCAR session. The online races being so short, the default quick races having the inability to set 4x tire wear, etc., leaves me thinking that they really poured all of their efforts into making this a "sit down, race a 10% race with no pit stops and call it a day". It's the only explanation I had, because the actual RACING is quite good. For kicks I took a spin around Bristol with no 4x wear and started from the rear of the field and it was a hell of a good time. They really let you beat and bang on each other (especially when hitting another car in the rear) without wrecking, and it just made me realize that they really spent a lot of time trying to get the experience to be all about racing...but much like EA and Madden's 4 min online quarters, they are targeting the ADD crowd that just wants to sit down and run a race in 5 minutes, then move on to the next. That's not me. I wanted to have multiple stops and 50 laps or more--and for the most part, it fails that. But once I got past what I expected it to be, and looked at it for what it is, I was at least able to have some fun with it. It's still a bit frustrating to have a race ruined by some bizarre yellow flag behavior, but once I put my big boy glasses on and calmed down a bit, it was easier to deal with. One thing that DID impress me last night was my career race at Fontana. I just ran with the default setup, and man that thing was a dog. It turned like a yacht. I still qualified in the top 5, but as soon as the race started and I had other cars around me, it completely fell apart. I overdrove it and destroyed the tires trying to avoid getting ***-pounded by the AI, and on the first stop, added a ton of wedge to it (I want to say something like 2%...it was pretty drastic). That stop cycled through without any incidents, so that was good. The car actually DID get a bit better there, and on the second round of stops, I added another huge chunk of wedge. I was turning some of my fastest laps of the day on that last run, and actually passing cars. The feeling of actually being able to tweak a car during a stop and having it respond was good. So there's that, I guess I also agree with something Blue posted earlier--NR2003 had some hilariously bad yellow flag AI as well, and the AI itself wasn't nearly as fun to race against. But NTG2011 has some work to do to even get the pit stops anywhere near NR2003's level. Taking control away from us as soon as we hit pit road is one thing--but if you do that, you better make damn sure you don't have an AI driver that's going to spin in circles or drive into other cars (or walls). That's the kind of stuff that really gets me. Give me control all the way down pit road and out...don't take it away as soon as I hit the cones and not give it back until I'm exiting turn 2 on a half-speed exit that a blind neanderthal with half a foot could drive faster.

Ok, I will need to start working on setups to see if I notice a difference. I played around with it alittle last night but it didn't seem to change much. This is good to know so thanks for posting this.

# 1180 rebelron22 @ 03/30/11 12:29 PM

Sorry!, got to pass on this game, maybe I'll purchase down the road, until then, back to N2003. Thanks to all who have been giving impressions!

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