rec.autos.simulators

Has anyone purchased or played Nascar Thunder 04 yet?  Just curious, I
am not going to waste money on a game before I know how it stacks up
to Papy.  I know it wont be better than Papy, just wondering if the
physics have improved at all, and if the game play is any more
realistic.  Also, have the cars been redone?  In Thunder 03 it always
looked like I was behind an old boxy Ford Escort or something, the car
models seemed to stink.   For now I am going to stick with Papy, just
wondering if it was worth the spending money to by another EA game,
and come home, install it, and find out I wasted 50 bucks or so.  

You're right. It's not as good as papy's but it is worth a buy. I've only
played for an hour but it looks like it will be fun. For serious sim racing,
I'd stick with Papy.

What makes it worth buying if its not as good as NR2003?
--

Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevent text.
Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

It has as much and more things to tweak in the sim mode than Papy's.
Graphics are good and the AI racing is better. Have'nt tried online yet but
this is where it probably will differ alot from Papy. I think the max
connections is 16? Not sure. Replay has a max record of 180 seconds. I'd
sure like to have an option for the full race. The game has improved alot
from last year but is not up to the standard we are all used to from Papy.
This version is worth a buy IMHO, even with it's shortfalls.

My main gripe with NR2003 is the computer drivers who seem to have no
clue where I am around them and seem determined to knock me off the
track when they do see me. If NT4 is better in that respect I would be
interested.
--

Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevent text.
Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

I found that it does do the entire race. What do you expect from someone
that has only tried it for an hour? :-) The instant replay has a max of 180
sec. My bad. :-)

In n2003 at least the AI will attempt to avoid an accident.  Everytime
I've spun in NT04 so far I've been t-boned by at least 5 cars.

The AI in general seems suspect, in career mode with the shittiest car
I was able to pass 4 cars a lap at 100% AI default race setup and no
aids.  Then again I was keeping the gas down until the apex of the
corner, slamming the brakes, and hammering the throttle since driving
normally seems to cause the car to push straight into the wall.

Jason

I got thunder for free from a friend thank the race gods. IT SUCKS ! Cars still look boxy, when the yellow is called the ai slow down right away which seems to cause an accident everytime
on the short tracks. the AI seem to drive right through ya despite the flags if you have to check up . When the cars try to get in order at a yellow they will simply run into you and damage
you or they wont try to pass and then you get black flagged. It's obvious they released this in time with the
papy patch even though it was not ready. IMO if ya want to race thunder 04 get it for the playstation 2 it far better than the pc version.