There is rumours and speculation that Nascar 2 is under
development. If so then this is my wish list.
1) More detail in the car.... at the moment I feel I'm only
racing a dashboard. For example .......a steering wheel
with cloved hands and team coloured suit on the arms.
Steering wheel rotating in the direction of the turn.
2) The top of the gear lever visible at the bottom of the
screen and moving in the H pattern as each gear is
selected (possibly a digital display on the dash to indicate
which gear your in. Also the ability to shift down from 1st
gear into neutral and down once more into reverse..... the
accelerator used for engine revs rather than forward
motion.(yes ... just like it,s done in A Need For Speed).Just
imagine as the jack man drops you down onto the pit row, you
gun the engine and burn *** as you leave the pit
stall.(Just like the real thing) The awesome horsepower of
these Nascar V8s is lost to what seems to be a over done
built-in traction control. Naturally the ability to spin the
wheels would be far less (if not at all) in the higher gears.
On road courses the driver would feed the gas to the engine
carefully as he/she exits the tight turns in the lower
gears.... it's all a part of driving a racing car. It can be
done....it has been done in NFS.
3) The sound effects could be worked on. For example.... the
change in tone of the engine from acceleration to
de-acceleration. Under full power the engine should emit more
exhaust noise than when de-accelerating and/or coasting. When
de-accelerating more of the machanical drone or rumble should
be heard from the engine/running gear rather than exhaust
noise. Road noise from the tires on the track and a different
noise again when on grass/dirt areas.
4) If the engine blows how about oil and smoke coming out from
under the hood. At less lets go out with a blaze of glory. As
in the mutli-player version, a tow truck, especially when the
back tires are busted and it is difficult to get to the pits.
If the AI cars engine is beginning to fail then how about
smoke coming from under the rear of the car..... this would
cause vision problems for those behind and add to realism.
What about to much engine over-reving causing the engine to
miss fire.
5) More activity from the pit crew. Have the pit crew dashing
across in front of the car as they tend to tires etc.... or
cleaning the windscreen. More hammering noises as they fix
body damage. (I for one would hear plenty of that)
Also more detail along the pit wall such as other team
members. It would give the feeling of being up against other
teams as well as other drivers.
6) Body roll as the car enter the turns. Already we have the
hood lifting and droping under power and braking so why not
body roll as well.
And talking of body roll..... what about complete roll overs
in severe crashes.
7) In the garage a weight-jack scales to measure the weight on
each wheel as you make addjustments to Cross Weight, Rear Bias
and Left Bias. It would take out the guess work from such an
important aspect of car setup.
Well thats about it. I realize that any extra features takes
a lot more effort and exspence to do but it would only enhance
what is already a "hell of a sim".
I also realize that PC processing power is at a premium but
technology is catching up fast..... especially in the 3D
graphics arena.
And I'm sure that those of you who know and remember Bill
Elliotts Nascar Challenge (BENC) will agree that if Nascar 2
could do to Nascar what Nascar did to BENC then we would be in
for one hot stockcar racing sim.
I would be interested to hear from others on what they would
like to see in the next version of Nascar.
Nigel of Lakewood Racing
Hamilton
New Zealand