NASCAR 09 X360
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Get Your Engines Started!
Get ready for heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat action as you go behind the wheel for an all-new, thrillingly authentic NASCAR experience. The racetrack is yours to command as you train with the one and only Jeff Gordon and prepare to take on some of the biggest names in racing. Savor the power harnessed under your hood when you put the pedal to the metal and fight your way to the finish line. Do you have what it takes to be a champion?
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Customer Reviews
A much improved iteration
NASCAR games are typically underperformers and far from the kind of simulated experience I've wanted for so long. Here the game developers have sought to fix some of those issues.
There is more realism to how the cars handle. Tire wear and fuel issues are also more realistic (you actually get a fuel gauge this time) and pit stops offer more opportunities for adjustments (i.e. you can adjust air in only one tire). Also, this time each individual corner affects the car differently. In previous games, each corner was treated as a clone of the others with only a few exections (the "egg" shaped tracks, Pocono, etc.)It is also nice that the AI can no longer plow into you with seeming overwhelming force with little you can do to resist their aggressions. This means you can now drive in a pack much more easily - and isn't that what NASCAR racing is all about?
Off the track there is a lot more going on this year. One of the big let downs in previous games was the lack of anything to do when not racing. Here there is a lot going on in the garage. I happen to like Jeff Gordon, about as much as any driver (not my fave, but he's OK) so it didn't bother me to have him around as a guide through the game. I can imagine some die-hard Gordon-haters moaning and groaning about it. Don't worry, Jeff is not the only driver you encounter in the game. Also, when Gordon speaks it's in very brief snippets. He acts as more of a menu for getting around the garage. In NASCAR 09 you can do more with the car in the garage. Actually, the biggest change is that there is a garage. You can spend tedious hours (which I enjoy) working on your paint scheme. It's not quite the paint shop in Forza 2, but it does offer more than past editions.
The coolest part of this game? Spending XP points to level up your ride! This gives the game a RPG flavor. I've never seen anything like that in a racing game.
One major complaint is that you still cannot get anywhere "rim riding" - that is, taking the high line around a track. To go fast, you need to stick to the bottom during turns as much as possible. Go high, get passed. So, if you are planning on driving in a Kasey Kahne style, or like Dale Jr. has been recently, you are basically setting yourself up to lose. This is a little annoying, because even though there may be two or three racing grooves for traction, the bottom one is the only one that gives consistent speed. If you're not in the bottom groove, the speed goes to the other cars on the track. By default, that makes every track a one-groove track. You can always duck down to the bottom to pass and return to the top later. But be careful, as with previous versions of the game if you hit the apron you are almost certainly going to spin. It's ridiculously slippery down there, so don't plan on making Kyle Busch manoeuvers down on the apron.
Pros:
- Better car "feel" creates a way more interesting experience
- Better graphics
- More adjustments to the cars
- More to do off track
- Cockpit view looks much better
- Anytime you get to spend points to level up, you got yourself and addicting game
Cons:
- Same old terrible generic rock music (I just turn it off completely)
- Must traverse the bottom of the track to gain spots, no "rim riding"
- Some key info is hard to see, such as the telemetry screen that you can pop up during a race. You can't read it while driving, but it's there. You will also crash while trying to look at the deep-bottom-right side of the screen, where your track position and lap number are shown.
Things to make you pull your hair out:
- When a caution flag is throw, you lose control of you car. So, even though you could drive off to a safe spot, the game locks you in harms way. This way, on-coming cars will pile up into you and set you down pit road for what should have only been a solo spin on the front stretch
- You will get in a crash. It will often times not be your fault. The game doesn't care, you get penalized. A.) You will get shuffled to 43rd position (I thought NASCAR froze the field when the yellow came out?!) B. You will then get black flagged for rough driving if you so much as ding another car after a crash. Suddenly, the game programmers get fastidious about rules.
- When the caution comes out, you have to wait as the field does a complete lap before you can enter the pits. During this time, a driver normally talks to his crew chief about adjustments, etc. In the game, you just watch the car go around, then hit pit road, then get a 3-5 second window to make pit decisions. Hey, programmers, why not use that time the player spends watching the car drive around to allow for decision about what's going to happen on pit road? Duh!
Finally EA comes close to racing perfection
It's been quite a while since I've played a NASCAR game that I've liked, dating back to the old PC game that was much more simulation that simple game. Electronic Arts (EA) has the license for NASCAR games on console systems, so if they don't deliver or if you aren't happy with what they have delivered you're left doing what I've had to do over the last several years -- skip it. Not so this season! Finally NASCAR racing that is challenging, yet not overly so, and still F-U-N.
In previous incarnations, at least over the last few years, the game was challenging, but not in a good way. For example, in NASCAR08 beginners (like I normally am) were easily frustrated as the computer controlled (artificial intelligence or a.i.) drivers were very aggressive and would spin out human drivers in an instant. Instead of avoiding wrecks, the a.i. drivers would simply barrel on through the human driver and end your race. NASCAR07 had problems and frustrations of it's own and failed to deliver a product that could be recommended for purchase.
NASCAR09 has taken much of the best of previous versions and put the fun back in the game for novice level players. It is much easier to set fair and realistic competitive levels for the computer controlled drivers and thanks to that even a novice can grab the game and run a fun race.
NASCAR09 brings a Madden like reputation system to the game that lets players build up their reputation and gain rewards for doing so. In the career mode gamers sign team and sponsor contracts and again get rewards for completing the obligations that those contracts bring. Basically, if you complete your contracts you'll get performance points that are used to improve how well your vehicle performs on the various track types. In addition to gaining points from completing contracts you'll earn points from completing tasks in the Sprint Driver Challenges mode -- a series of 'mini-games' that help you get familiar with the game's controls and performance of the various vehicles.
There are a few areas where the game could be improved, and eventually make it 'the perfect racing game'. For example, bringing back some variation of the team control mode of a few years back would be such a place. In addition, the game really needs to include another variation of the drivers reputation system, in this case a reputation system for driver agressiveness and grudges -- if a driver is too agressive and is too dangerous on the track, at least to other drivers, the a.i. drivers should take take note and vary their style to try to take revenge and offer some payback.
Thanks EA for finally offering a fun and highly playable NASCAR game, it's a honor to be able to recommend this one for purchase for racing fans. Once you do get the game go along with the intro modes and jump into the Sprint Driver Challenges. You'll be amazed at how quickly time passes as you enjoy playing the game.
The Create a Car feature ALMOST saves this one
It seems that EA can never get it right with their games, and probably never will as long as they hold the exclusive license to America's top motorsport (thankfully, they no longer have their greedy mitts on the F1 license, now posessed by Codemasters). This year, they seemed to be too lazy...or too tight wadded to acquire car licenses...so they added the create a car feature, making the players make the cars the way they should've been made in the first place.
Now...this feature is good and all...but its about the only good thing in the entire game. Car handling is still far from perfected, even with the inclusion of two different racing styles. The AI are still dumb as rocks, and will give you little to no room, and are almost impossible to work with at tracks where working together is a necessity (i.e. drafting at Daytona...which is a joke in this years game).
Most of the bugs online have been fixed, but EA decided rather than hosting all the custom paintschemes so that all playes could see each others cars, you must be a friend of a player to see his/her customized ride. Major bummer.
My suggestion: if you LOVE NASCAR, and absolutely positively need the most up to date edition, go for it. However, if you are just looking for a fun racing game, I suggest you look elsewhere (Grid and Burnout, while they are arcade racers, are a heck of a lot of fun online).
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