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

# 1361 Candymandagreat @ 04/03/11 09:50 PM

I can't get my number on my created car. Pit entry during green flag racing needs to be fixed. And I don't like how u can't change drivers in your garage. Please fix devs.

# 1362 JayRock @ 04/03/11 09:52 PM

This might be a stupid question but...

how do you get the numbers to show up on the car?

# 1363 canes21 @ 04/03/11 10:28 PM

I'm trying to like this game, but its hard to. Using a wheel is not even a choice for me right now. When I try to use mine I barely even have to move it at all to turn. I literally maybe have to rotate it an inch to take turns if that. That makes turning precisely very very difficult and makes running in traffic even harder. If I could just tune the sensitivity on my wheel it would be a lot better of a game, but I can't.

Also, I just did 25 laps on Daytona, was involved in 4 cautions. Maybe one was m fault, but the other three were blatant spin outs like they were police officers trying to stop my car.

# 1364 JasonSGN @ 04/03/11 10:53 PM

Is there a way to remove the driver names from above their cars in career mode? They don't show up in a single-player race.

I'd also like to see them add Tire Wear & Fuel factor to the single-player game too.

# 1365 lVlAtlZiX @ 04/04/11 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Segagendude


	That "review" s*cked. The dude's an idiot. Likes to crash.....talks like an 8 yr old........etc. Boooo!

CGR has been around for a long time and his reviews are always pretty good. He learns how to have fun with video games and always shows that. Also he doesnt sound like an 8 year old, and just because heh as fun wrecking the CPU off the road means he sucks? Its how he likes to play his game. So why do you care?

You guys need to remember that this is called NASCAR 2011: THE GAME not NASCAR 2011: THE REAL LIFE DRIVING SIMULATOR

# 1366 nascarthegame @ 04/04/11 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonSGN


	Is there a way to remove the driver names from above their cars in career mode? They don't show up in a single-player race. I'd also like to see them add Tire Wear & Fuel factor to the single-player game too.

Yes, there is an option in race to turn these off. Also, if you are using PS3, you can just click in the right stick and it will turn them off.

# 1367 nascarthegame @ 04/04/11 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayRock


	This might be a stupid question but... how do you get the numbers to show up on the car?

The number editor is just the one that will show up on the mini map while racing. You actually need to add text, like when you are designing the rest of the car, and then stamp it onto your car.

# 1368 nascarthegame @ 04/04/11 01:57 AM

I'm having fun playing online, laughing my *** off. Some guy had a car design that just had Eutechnix sucks all over his car. LMAO!

# 1369 Candymandagreat @ 04/04/11 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nascarthegame


	The number editor is just the one that will show up on the mini map while racing. You actually need to add text, like when you are designing the rest of the car, and then stamp it onto your car.

Thx for the info. Sometimes people make something so easy hard.

# 1370 JayRock @ 04/04/11 04:25 AM

I hated this game at first but I'm loving it now. Been playing online races all night. Sometimes I've had bad bad lag but the game still has a huge fun factor. I can't wait till the patches fix it all up...it's going to be an amazing game franchise. Eutechnyx did a fabulous job.

# 1371 JMD @ 04/04/11 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catcatch22

According to this guy you can turn all the crap on screen off. Is that correct? I can't play a game with all those names on screen and would never buy one that does not allow them to be turned off.

# 1372 nflman2033 @ 04/04/11 09:36 AM

After 5 great days of fun buggy play, I finally had a bad experience making me put the game down until next patch. game froze 3 times yesterday 3rd time was at the end of 100 laps in Texas.

love this game but not happy right now. should have pushed release back.

# 1373 seasprite @ 04/04/11 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olefivetime48


	i can't even complete a race offline because it freezes before the final lap is over EVERY single time.

FTR, I havent had this happen to me a single time.

# 1374 Brew @ 04/04/11 10:44 AM

Ive had the game freeze on me multiple times as well. Only when Im leaving the paint booth without saving my work though. There are so many glitches with the paint booth that if I dont see all my decals I dont save my work and start over. Ive now made a habit of doing only a couple decals then saving and coming back to it. Ive noticed it happening more now that I have more layers on my car. I just finished my first car with 617 layers! Ill be posting it once I get a USB drive.

# 1375 Prometheus @ 04/04/11 11:41 AM

Sounds like this game used the same QA/QC process as MLB2K11...

# 1376 Pezell04x @ 04/04/11 12:12 PM

I don't get it. Last night I raced with 2 of my friends from 8-12:30 and we only hit the 16 person opening race crash once and a bad driver 2 or 3 times in that timespan. Maybe I'm not critical enough of the game but I'm really enjoying it. I think once the second patch comes out, it'll be a whole lot better than what we're seeing right now.

# 1377 Brew @ 04/04/11 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pezell04x


	I don't get it. Last night I raced with 2 of my friends from 8-12:30 and we only hit the 16 person opening race crash once and a bad driver 2 or 3 times in that timespan. Maybe I'm not critical enough of the game but I'm really enjoying it. I think once the second patch comes out, it'll be a whole lot better than what we're seeing right now.

I totally agree! Even with the freezing and glitches; this game is blast! The racing itself is fun and the paint booth is like a game within a game.
Though the glitches are frustrating... every issue with this game appears fixable and as long as they do... I think any Nascar fan or race fan could play this for the long haul.. I know I will. I didnt even try to play Nascar 09 for more than a week. The driving model on there was horrible. NTG11 is way better IMO!

# 1378 Senor Nascar @ 04/04/11 01:43 PM

Have the people experiencing these freezes (on XBOX 360 at least) tried installing the game to the hard drive?

I have not had one single freeze on XBOX 360 but installed the game to the hard drive on day 1. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

The only time I froze up on PS3 was during a test session, I paused the game clicked game settings and it froze. This actually happened twice. No issues since then.

# 1379 Stormyhog @ 04/04/11 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brew


	Ive had the game freeze on me multiple times as well. Only when Im leaving the paint booth without saving my work though. There are so many glitches with the paint booth that if I dont see all my decals I dont save my work and start over. Ive now made a habit of doing only a couple decals then saving and coming back to it. Ive noticed it happening more now that I have more layers on my car. I just finished my first car with 617 layers! Ill be posting it once I get a USB drive.

I have had a few freezes as well during a race and when pausing going into the settings menu. I have the PS3 version.

# 1380 Senor Nascar @ 04/04/11 03:19 PM

I know this is a long post but I have been gathering this info and pondering these ideas for the last couple of days. Hopefully they are welcome. They are in no particular order in terms of importance.

Here is my second list of NASCAR the game Issues and Suggestions.

ISSUES

1.Tear offs should get ripped off when the driver returns to the pits in test track and practice mode. It really would help those who like to have a test session lasting more than 30 laps. The windshield gets pretty dirty and there is no way to have a clean one other than exiting out and coming back in. This really kills the great addition of the final menu that pops up after the test session or practice which tells you your fastest laps with the setup you ran.

2. The XBOX 360 Microsoft wheel issue seems to also happen when you run into something. When the player hits a wall or another car, it triggers the noise as well.

3. On PS3, it has frozen twice with my G25 wheel when I pause the game while in a test session/race and hit game settings.

4. Leaderboard needs to be cleaned up to remove times that are glitched and hopefully moving forward can be prevented.

5. The bunching up of AI on certain tracks. It seems to happen between turn 4 and the finish line at a lot of the 1.5-2.5 mile speedways. For example, the AI tends to bunch up at Atlanta between turn 4 and the start finish line when there are a group of AI together after a restart.

6. At Daytona, the AI just dive into pit road at full speed (without getting a black flag). This happens on the tri-oval right in front of pit road. The AI cars should duck off of turn 4 and gradually slow down. They are actually making up a lot of time on pit road this way compared to the user. To add to this problem, if another AI car is underneath the car AI car that wants to pit, the outside car just turns in towards the pits causing a big wreck and bringing out the yellow flag.

7. The majority of cautions are only happening when AI needs to pit.

8. I had a very strange problem at Richmond. I ran in practice mode for more than 80 laps. The fastest lap was 22.7. When I went to test session it was 22.6. Then I went to career mode qualify and race. In qualifying, without much effort at all I ran a 21.6. During the race my average lap was in the high 21's. I cannot put my finger on this issue, but it seems as if there was a lot more grip in career race mode than in the other modes. This happened on XBOX 360.

9. There is currently no penalty for going under the yellow line and passing at a restrictor plate track.

10. I ran a 15 percent race on XBOX 360 at Auto Club Speedway in career mode with standard tire wear and cautions on. The AI pitted on the last lap with about 9 laps of fuel left. I was 34th and after everyone pitted on last lap, I finished 6th.

11. At Las Vegas, the AI would not try to pass me on the high side if I held the low line.

12. Certain tracks on VERY HARD setting are easier to qualify at than other tracks. Easy to qualify at is Daytona, Auto Club Speedway, Phoenix just to name a few. This is on XBOX 360.

13. There seems to be an issue in Private races. I saw this multiple times at multiple tracks. Two people in a private race. One user ( in this case was the original host of the room) leaves before the race is over. The other person runs a much faster than normal lap time ( Roughly one second faster).

14. It would be great if hardcore mode were to be added back into XBOX 360 online options.

15. In Private race mode, even with all of the driver assists off and full damage on, there is only cosmetic damage and all of the assists remain on no matter the user's personal settings.

16. In Race Now mode, races with Full Damage on are visual only. The handling of the car is not affected at all.

17. Online racers who drive backwards should immediately be ghosted and if they continue in the wrong direction for more than 5 seconds, they should automatically be DQ'd.

18. The in car visual tach is ahead of the virtual tach in it's reading of the RPM.

SUGGESTIONS (for the future)

1. Tires should start off cold, warm up to optimal temps than slowly begin to wear.

2. Under yellow, it would be great if you could start adjusting all of your fixes prior to entering the pit road. I think there are a couple of more seconds that could be used when the cars are still on the track and begin their journey towards pit road. Every extra bit of time would be a huge help.

3. Lap times for all cars or fastest cars would be nice during practice mode to see how you rank. Maybe even a position HUD like in race and qualify or a scrolling bar that is present during the race could show the order, the car , and their lap time.

4. Test track and practice mode need an option to turn on the amount of tire/fuel wear the user wants (x2,x3 and x4)

5. When saving a setup, it would be nice if the track you are testing or practicing at shows up at the bottom so it saves it to that track automatically instead of having to scroll through all the tracks.

6. The addition of a hefty set of wheel settings would be much appreciated. It really lets you custom tailor the experience you want to have with the game via a wheel. Forza 3 did a very good job of this.

7. Brake Pressure setting in the advanced tuning would be a welcome addition.

8. The rubbering up of the tracks is strange. It seems like it rubbers up to fast in certain modes (Test Session and Practice). The high line does not seem to be rubbering up at all. It would be nice if it were more dynamic and rubber could only be laid where a car actually lays it down. Outside groove needs to rubber up as race goes on so it can be more effective.
9. Night tracks should be all night (like Darlington and Bristol) instead of dusk. It would be great if the DLC could have Texas night like this.

10. Full tank every time you go to test session/practice pits should be the default.

11. The rearview mirror in custom cars and certain Nascar driver's car (Bobby LaBonte for example) needs to be reworked in my opinion. From the cockpit view with the hands, it would be much better if at least our custom car had the rearview mirror in a much more prominent place to look back. It currently seems as if the rearview mirror is in the passenger seat.

12. It would be great to see a timer while your crew works on your car on pit road. That way you can see how fast of a pit time you had. Under yellow, it would be a great to see an overlay with the race off of pit road, informing the player of the order, pit stop times, who took 2 tires and who took 4.

13. It would be great to be able to work on damage in the pits.

14. Why is the grill tape only allowed to be at 70 percent? It would be nice if this could be raised and have the player use higher amounts, especially on Qualifying setups. I understand the engines do not blow, but they could at least be damaged and run at lesser power if too much tape was applied.

15, I wish the intros to the races were longer and could show all rows of cars for the race. If the user doesn't want to see this they can always just skip it.

16. It would be great if under the driver stats, you could add number of championships won.

17. The AI at Bristol seems to run the low line a little too high especially through the middle of the corner.

18. The trophy at Martinsville should be a grandfather clock.

19. It would be a great addition to have season standings/stats in the career menu.

20. It would be nice to see brake wear/failure if brakes are over used at tracks like Martinsville in NTG 12.

21. I would love for the spotter to tell me what cars are around me either by name or car number. It would be nice if they could say at your quarter, at your door, etc. When 3 wide- 3 wide your in the middle, 3 wide your on the bottom, 3 wide your on the outside.

22. Marbles being visible on very high groove at certain tracks would be great. Especially if they affected the handling of the car.

23. The paint shop...you need to be able to scale things just horizontally instead of the entire thing getting smaller. An example of this is trying to make a thin line. In Forza, you take a square and make it a thin line by simply scaling it horizontally. In NTG, you try to scale down a square and it makes a small square.

24. The stock setups are just too good out of the box. They need to be drivable but slower so if you work on your car you can be rewarded.

25. Fixed camera for race replays at different parts of the track (like turns1 and 4 for example) would be a very cool addition.

26. Need an engine temperature gauge to allow for engine to get damaged (even if they do not blow up).Also engine temp could make drafting interesting if engine gets too hot when you are the pusher, you may have to duck slightly out of the draft to cool the engine.

27. Last lap timer should be added to HUD because even though it tells you when you cross the start/ finish line, it seems to go away too quickly. It would also be nice if spotter could tell you your lap time (this would have to be an on/off feature though).

28. During driver celebrations of your CUSTOM driver, it would be nice to see options pop up (maybe tied to the d-pad) to do different types of celebrations. Maybe more can be unlocked as you rank up in career mode. Examples could be climbing the wall, celebration lap with the checkered flag, polish victory lap, bow, back flip, etc.

29. Some Post-Race commentary by the announcers at the end of the race would be a welcomed addition. It would certainly help with the quiet ambiance that currently happens when the user wins a race.

30. The AI needs to make core mistakes. They are too much on rails. I would love to see lesser skilled drivers make more mistakes than skilled ones.

31. It would be nice to see teammates work together more at restrictor plate tracks.

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