When NASCAR Ruled Gaming

BY JOSH MULL

For many NASCAR fans, the games available for home video game consoles were their main entry point into the sport. There’s something about being able to drive the car yourself, even without the greatest graphic fidelity, that can turn a casual NASCAR viewer into a lifelong fan.

And for NASCAR fans of a certain age, it wasn’t just any console games, but specifically the series of games from the 2000s. This was a time when the sport itself was at its peak of popularity, but arguably also at the peak of its console gaming quality.

This was, after all, when there were three video game publishers each putting its own unique spin on the series. Those publishers were the legendary trio of Papyrus, Eutechnyx and Electronic Arts.

The fierce competition among these publishers led to the creation of features that are nowadays considered required fare, from paint scheme customizations to team management simulations.

These games also had the boost of coming out at a pivotal moment in video gaming as a whole. The crop of consoles available at the time, from the PlayStation 2 through to the Xbox 360 era, were pushing new limits in hardware, memory and graphics capabilities. This led to huge advancements, particularly in the multiplayer arena, as broadband internet and improved matchmaking technologies became more ubiquitous.

But it wasn’t just multiplayer. The improved hardware for these consoles also allowed them to finally reach parity with computers in offering a full field of more than 40 cars on the track, along with the ability to facilitate mini-games outside of the core racing gameplay, like career modes and team management.

Many of these games are still played by the hard-core fans in the online community. A quick browse through YouTube reveals countless players still working their way through career modes, modding in new content and features and competing in online multiplayer tournaments.

While today’s NASCAR gamers are spoiled with photorealistic graphics and professional online tournaments as the expected norm, it shouldn’t be forgotten where these standards were set, and who helped to set them.

With that, we look back at some of the most influential – and fondly remembered – NASCAR games from what many consider its golden age.

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Windows, MAC

a lot of reasons, but this game is where you started to see many of NASCAR’s lower series. Dirt to Daytona even featured the Dodge Weekly Series, better known to today’s fans as the Advanced Auto Parts Weekly Series, and was the only game in the series to ever do this.

Thunder series of games, 2004 featured one of the most comprehensive series of game modes, from Thunder License (hosted by Richard Petty) to the Lightning Challenges, which allowed players to take on special moments from past seasons. Thunder 2004 also expanded on the rivalry system with its Grudges and Alliances features.

appear on this list, it wouldn’t be a complete story without the inclusion of NR2003. This game is still wildly popular, with a whole range of mods available to add everything from current season drivers and paint schemes all the way to Indy and Formula 1 cars.

• Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Ford, competes against former Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage in NASCAR ‘14 on “Big Hoss TV” during the Brad Keselowski’s “Who’s Got Game?” Video Game Fan Challenge.

PLATFORMS Windows, MAC

time of its release, at least relative to other games of the era, NASCAR 07 has retained its fan base by being one of the most complete experiences available on consoles at the time. Likewise, many of the graphical flourishes that are standard today were first iterated upon here on the early Xbox and PlayStation 2 hardware.

Inside Line. This game was fully in the era of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and not only did its graphical fidelity reflect the times, but its gameplay featured a lot of the flare and style that most modern games have as a standard, like the inclusion of TV personalities and extensive race animations.

along with the real-life introduction of the Chase point system, but also included a number of fantastical elements, like the fact that Ryan Newman recruits you, the player, after a street race in Dodge Vipers. This was the player’s entrance into Chase’s impressive career mode, spanning everything from modified cars to Daytona prototypes.

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PlayStation 3, Wii, XBox 360, Windows GameCube, PlayStation 2, XBox