Reviewed: August 18, 2007
Reviewed by: Justin Nixon
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Developer
Tiburon
Released: July 23, 2007
Genre: Racing
Players: 1-12
6
6
8
7
6.8
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
I’m one of those people that have never really considered NASCAR a sport. I don’t think that driving a car around a track for hundreds of miles should qualify as a sport. I can’t say that I have ever watched an entire race. Now I know for every doubter out there like me there is a die-hard race fan that can name a thousand reasons why NASCAR is a sport, so I’m not even going to go into the details of my reasoning. It’s on ESPN so for now I’ll call it a sport, and like every other sport, EA has to make a video game loosely based on it.
This is the first year that the NASCAR series hits the next-gen with NASCAR 08 for PlayStation 3. Many were surprised with EA’s decision last year to not release NASCAR 07 for the Xbox 360. Now, a year later, EA has decided that it’s time for its stock car racing franchise to make the leap to next-gen consoles with an all-new graphics engine and some added features. Is the next-gen NASCAR game that fans have been waiting for or is this series, like many of EA’s sports series, stuck in neutral?
After starting the game up and watching the intro video you are given a list of game options to choose from. It's your typical list which includes RACE NOW, RACE MODES, ONLINE, ESPN, MY NASCAR, and EA SPORTS EXTRAS. Each choice has a subset of options giving you a wide variety of things to do even before you climb behind the wheel.
Race Now is just your typical exhibition race. You start by selecting a racetrack and event. Then you can set the number of laps, choose the difficulty level, pick if you want damage and collisions on or off, and select the flag rules. Lastly, you choose a car/driver and hit the racetrack.
NASCAR 08 has three different race modes beyond your standard exhibition. The first of which is The Chase. This is basically the dynasty mode of the game. You start out as a nobody with a generic-looking car and try to earn different licenses and contracts. The tricky part is that you can’t enter a race until you unlock earn these licenses and contracts. You have to complete challenges to gain licenses, which in turn, unlocks the challenges to earn new contracts. Then you have to complete the contract challenges to unlock cars that you can use to race in actual events.
If it sounds like a long process to you that’s because it can be. Most of the challenges aren’t too hard but some can be very tedious. You could literally play for hours just trying to earn licenses and contracts and not even race in a single event during that time. Once you complete all the necessary challenges then you can start your career as a pro stock car driver.
Season is the second race mode available, and for me this was the way to go. You simply pick a driver, choose the type of season such as light, medium, or the entire 36-race season, set the options just like you would in an exhibition race, and start the season. If you choose the Chase for The Cup season type then you simply choose the other 11 racers involved and go for it.
The last of the race modes is the Toyota Racing mode. You can pick from a number of challenges to complete like keeping your speed above a certain point for an entire lap or you can just test and tune a car to get the settings just right for your races.
The Online mode is pretty basic and is complete with leader boards. You can race up to 11 other players in a single race. The ESPN option allows you sign up for ESPN on Demand, which includes a real time ticker at the bottom of the screen and the option to watch updates when you want.
My NASCAR is where you can check your stats such as best laps and badge levels. You can also check your saved replays here as well. The last option, EA SPORTS EXTRA, should be your first stop if you’re new to the NASCAR series because it contains the tutorials. This isn’t an arcade racer; you’ll need those tutorials.
All of these options and modes are great and they give you a lot to choose from, it’s just sad the actual races aren’t as great. The first thing that’s off is the default controls. They’re just too sensitive. A slight nudge of the left analog stick could send you into the wall or into another car. This is until you get knocked around a bit and your car takes some damage, then it’s like trying to steer a cruise-liner. This makes it extremely hard to maintain a lead if you get into that position. You can obviously tune your car and change the control sensitivity to your liking, although its hard to tune it just right, or you can just get used to the extremely sensitive controls.
Using the SIXAXIS motion control you can loosely replicate the motion of steering your car by tipping the controller sideways. This is certainly more realistic than using the stick but it introduces a whole new set of calibration and sensitivity issues that will have you oversteering and weaving around the track, unable to hold a line. There is even support for USB driving wheels like the Logitech Driving Force Pro, and even though this wheel is more than three years old you'll find this the best way to play NASCAR 08 assuming you are ready to drop $100 or more for this accessory. And while the game and wheel combo allows for some forcefeedback, the effects are generally weak, plus the wheel becomes extremely rigid to turn. Ultimately, you end up unplugging the power to the wheel and using it's sloppier, powerless counterpart.
Like many of EA’s next-gen titles, a few things have been cut out from last year’s entry. Total Team Control, Intimidation, and stat tracking have been taken out of this year’s game. Don’t be too disappointed though because at the same time, they did add in a new drafting element, which adds even more realism to the racing. The closer you get behind another car the less wind resistance you have against you. This makes it possible to slingshot around other racers. After you master this technique it becomes an essential part of races. It doesn’t completely make up for leaving out Total Team Control but it helps.
This year, EA used a new graphics engine with their transition to the next-gen and in some ways you can tell. Unfortunately, NASCAR 08 may not be the sharpest-looking game in the PS3’s library but it does have its high points. The cars, for example, look great with a lot of detail and show damage very nicely. You can see where you’ve bumped up against other cars whether it is dents and scratches on different parts of the car or just flat tires from extended use. The game also uses a lot of different bright colors that really pop off the screen especially running it in hi-def.
On the other hand, NASCAR 08 has its visual low points as well. The tracks, although colorful, don’t have a lot of detail. Also, this year, for some reason, they did away with the blur effect during races, which really added a level of realism to the game last year. Even the crashes, which are few and far between unless you cause one yourself, are visually sub-par.
Through all of this my biggest gripe with the visuals is that live races are supposed to be big events full of crowd involvement, but the game doesn’t really portray this very well. The only thing happening on screen is the race. Even if you take a pit, you don’t see pit crews waiting for the racers. Actually pit lane is completely empty. You don’t see rowdy fans getting into it either. As a matter of fact the crowd looks like it’s made out of hundreds of cardboard cutouts with absolutely zero animation. The only movement beyond cars is the person waiving the flag. This may not be a big deal for everyone but it really kept me from getting into the atmosphere of the races.
The engines sound like real engines, which has never really been a problem for the NASCAR series. You can also hear the crowd cheering although there’re not even moving. During the races your crew chief gives you advice and tips which can be easily ignored.
The soundtrack is mostly southern rock and country. Depending on your taste in music, like most games, you can turn the music volume up, down, or off.
The number of race types, tracks, drivers, challenges, and online play adds a lot of depth to the game. Unfortunately, you may never play it long enough to appreciate it due to the bad controls. Not only is the year 2008 but this is the PlayStation 3. The fact that EA is still using a 2-dimensional crowd with no animations in any of its games is ridiculous.
In the end, if you have $60 and can overlook some control issues and the absence of a few key features from last year’s game then NASCAR 08 will not disappoint. For the rest of us Gran Turismo 5 can’t come soon enough.
At times I felt like I was driving a real stock car. Other times I slammed the controller down due to the frustrating controls because I didn’t adjust them right away. It’s frustrating to be on lap 47 out of 50 and make one false move that costs you the race. I tried to make the controls work and my controller had to pay the price.
On an ending note, NASCAR still isn’t a sport and NASCAR 08 is merely an average game that never makes it out of the pits.