I picked it up against my better judgment and here are my thoughts after
some time on it.
Let me first say that I know that everybody has different views on what they
want in their sims. I have always leaned toward the AI side along with the
sim just being fun for me. I'm don't get all whacked out on a sim if the
physics are a tad off or the garage options/multiplayer. My overall feeling
on this is mostly negative and tried to give it a chance, but a few glaring
problems have me packing it up today and returning it to the store. A patch
might fix some of the problems, but like other Nascar titles released in the
past by everybody, this has an unfinished feel to it.
This review is basically done from attempting to run a season race at
Daytona. I do say attempting because I never made it past five laps that
the game became an exercise in frustration. Let me also say that I have
NT2003 for the XBox and it is pretty fun and I'm not taking that one back.
Computer Specs:
P4-2ghz Alienware system
GeForce 4 4600ti
512MB ram
The Bad:
They cut a lot of features out of the PC version that are in the consoles.
Just in my short time with the PC version, I was disappointed to see all
that was missing.
No career mode, no sponsors, no make your own car, no pit crew.
In the XBox version, you have the Twin 125 qualifying races for the Daytona
500. That is not in the PC version anywhere from what I can tell.
Qualifying: No green flag, no spotter, no nothing. I ran about five races
without seeing any clue that I had taken the green flag. Looking back, I
guess I could have pulled up one of the F# information boxes, but did not
think about it at the time. There were no visual or audio clues that I had
taken the green flag. Nobody in the flag stand, no green lights, no green
flag in the corner, no spotter telling me that I had taken the green.
Race: Pretty fun racing and that is all good until you get a yellow. Race
back to the line only to have the AI throw on the brakes right after crossin
g the SF line. If you do managed to get slowed down, you stand a good
chance of getting hit from the AI behind. One time, I counted four
different accidents, including my own after taking the yellow flag. Now you
say, just pull down low and pass and let things get sorted out. Can't do
that either because you get the black flag for passing under the yellow as
soon as you pass the first car.
Although the tracks and graphics like pit wagons and such are nice, the
overall graphics are worse than NR2002. I went back and loaded up NR2002
and you could see a huge difference in the crispness of the graphics. That
is not a huge issue to me, but to some it is.
Replay system is total junk compared to a Papyrus product.
Skid marks start vanishing before the car stops spinning.
The Good:
NT2003 has some nice features. The alternate paint schemes for each car is
a nice touch. You can even set them to come up random in the ini file where
you make other changes.
Presentation is very well done with the prerace MRN stuff.
Ability to import your own MP3 for the menu music.
Overall, if you feel like you want to try NT2003, I would wait until a patch
knocks out some of the issues that make NT2003 frustrating to play for any
leant of time....or just wait for NR2003.
--
Brian Tate
Communications Officer
CART Toyota Atlantic Championship
http://www.toyotaatlantic.com http://www.cart.com
It's surprising how bad the PC version is. Just about everyone hates it, it
seems. I see that my decision to cancel my pre-order was spot on. IMO, if
they could've, they should have just ported it over instead of hiring a new
team to make this "simulation". Whatever confidence I had in Ed Martin (and
there wasn't much when I learned of the lack of career mode) is now totally
gone. Primarily, this was to be a simulation...and every review to date says
it's more of a arcade game.
I feel sorry for all the people who went out and bought it. If they (dev
team) would've spent another 6 months, and included the features found in
the console versions, I believe it might have been better. Hell, I'd settle
with the same game just higher resolution graphics and wheel support.
I hate to sound like a anti-EA guy (Anti-EA for PC would be more..ugh...PC
;), but I thank you for your tough review. Perhaps it will cause some to
rethink buying it. And, let us hope, EA/Tiburon will learn from this
mistake. Or, maybe they'll release a monster patch. We can only hope.
Will
"Brian Tate" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> I picked it up against my better judgment and here are my thoughts after
> some time on it.
><SNIP REVIEW>
Quoted text (7 lines)
> -- > Brian Tate > Communications Officer > CART Toyota Atlantic Championship > http://www.toyotaatlantic.com http://www.cart.com > >Was not to be tough. I was pulling for it to be better but it is just not
ready for prime time yet.
--
Brian Tate
Communications Officer
CART Toyota Atlantic Championship
http://www.toyotaatlantic.com http://www.cart.com
"William Bradshaw" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> It's surprising how bad the PC version is. Just about everyone hates it,
it
> seems. I see that my decision to cancel my pre-order was spot on. IMO, if
> they could've, they should have just ported it over instead of hiring a
new
> team to make this "simulation". Whatever confidence I had in Ed Martin
(and
> there wasn't much when I learned of the lack of career mode) is now
totally
> gone. Primarily, this was to be a simulation...and every review to date
says
> it's more of a arcade game.
>
> I feel sorry for all the people who went out and bought it. If they (dev
> team) would've spent another 6 months, and included the features found in
> the console versions, I believe it might have been better. Hell, I'd
settle
> with the same game just higher resolution graphics and wheel support.
>
> I hate to sound like a anti-EA guy (Anti-EA for PC would be more..ugh...PC
> ;), but I thank you for your tough review. Perhaps it will cause some to
> rethink buying it. And, let us hope, EA/Tiburon will learn from this
> mistake. Or, maybe they'll release a monster patch. We can only hope.
>
> Will
>
> "Brian Tate" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
> news:[email hidden]...
> > I picked it up against my better judgment and here are my thoughts after
> > some time on it.
> >
> <SNIP REVIEW>
> > --
> > Brian Tate
> > Communications Officer
> > CART Toyota Atlantic Championship
> > http://www.toyotaatlantic.com http://www.cart.com
> >
> >
>
>
And this will show EA's true colors. Where they go from here.
Does NT2003 get patches every now and then to improve it, or does it just
sit with only maybe a monor bug fix and NO feature updates for it's entire
life, as in when NT2004 comes out.
This will make or break the game amongst this crowd...
There's plenty there to work with. The question is, will they?
-Larry
"Brian Tate" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
if
in
> > the console versions, I believe it might have been better. Hell, I'd
> settle
> > with the same game just higher resolution graphics and wheel support.
> >
> > I hate to sound like a anti-EA guy (Anti-EA for PC would bemore..ugh...PC
after
