Sports from across the pond are never as big as the likes of football, tennis or snooker over here in England. American football hasn’t took off, neither has basketball, baseball or ice hockey. But, EA always decide to release titles on sports from America over here in Europe, and one sport I’ve never seen any enjoyment in whatsoever is NASCAR. Sure it’s fast and furious, but what’s so fun about watching 40+ cars speeding around an oval racetrack at over 100mph? Is it the thrills of the crash? It’s one question I would love to have answered as although there is skill involved, there’s not as much skill needed as there is in rally driving or Formula 1. But, as stated EA release the American sports title over here in Europe, and here I am reviewing NASCAR 09 for the PlayStation 3.
What surprised me the most about a sport I’ve never really watched was the fact that I enjoyed playing NASCAR 09 … for several hours, before finally getting bored and wondering what the hell I was doing racing so many laps around oval tracks. As I’ve just said, I’ve never really watched NASCAR, so I don’t know the concept of the sport. But, racing around an arena doing over 200 laps is beyond me – thankfully it’s shorter on the game – much more like 16 laps in the beginning.
So as you create your profile you’ll be mentored by Jeff Gordon, four-time NASCAR Winston Cup (now known as the Sprint Cup) series champion, three-time Daytona 500 winner and driver of the #24 Chevrolet Impala; see, I’ve done my research into the mentor of the game (Wikipedia is great).
Before you go on to create your profile, it’s up to you what racing experience you want. Before picking one, you get to use Jeff Gordon’s car and try out both Normal and Pro experiences. The Normal experience is more of an arcade-style race, whereas if you go for the Pro experience the cars handle in more of a simulation style. Now that you’ve picked your style of racing, it’s time to create your profile. Once you’ve created your profile (name, location etc.) it’s time to design your car. You literally design everything here: the colour, style, sponsors and even the number you want. It’s also possible to download a car template from the EA website and import it into an editing program such as Photoshop. The lets you have full control over your vehicle’s design adding your own personal mark to your car. Once this is done it is then possible to upload your design and show it off online to your friends.
Playing NASCAR 09 is exactly as you’d expect. Fast and tight while keeping the analogue stick pushed to the left. You can practice by getting behind the wheel and racing on the licensed tracks in the three series: Craftsman Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup series’. From here you can do a Practice session and qualify for the race and hopefully gain pole-position. The Career mode sees you gaining a reputation to win ‘Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup’. As well as this being your main objective you also get to sign lucrative contracts and gain Performance Points by doing well in the three series. Sadly you can’t compete in the Sprint Cup series unless you play through the other two, Craftsman Truck and Nationwide; although you can with other racers.
As mentioned, gaining reputation points is the main aim in NASCAR 09, and to do this you have to perform well on the track: no crashing, no falling behind the pack. To gain reputation points you have to win races, or at least finish in the top 10. If you build up your reputation with constant wins, the expectations are a lot higher, so make sure you look at the contracts before you sign them. As well as these contracts, it’s better to abide by these contracts and stick with the team/sponsors you’re with – at least until they expire. If you sign with another team or sponsor (which can happen at any time, more specifically if you’re constantly winning) and you’re still contracted to them, you’ll lose reputation points – so it’s better to see out your contract.
As well as this you can race with other drivers in the Season mode. Here you can do a full, medium or short season in the Sprint Cup. The full season sees you race the actual Sprint Cup schedule; the medium season is 22 races and finally the short season is only 12 races long. When you’ve decided on what to do, you can alter the race options. From switching the AI levels to adjusting the length of each race, NASCAR 09 has a lot of options.
Control wise, NASCAR 09 is very easy to pick up and play, even though I wasn’t used to using the L triggers to accelerate and brake. Also, when you press square, the telemetry visor comes up on the screen; this shows all the stats of your car, from the gas and oil pressure to the tire wear and stability control. Those of you who are NASCAR fans will undoubtedly enjoy this feature as it makes it that more life-like.
Visually NASCAR 09 falls way short of its potential on the PlayStation 3. The cars look somewhat shoddy and the tracks and scenery are extremely poor. It’s only an oval track throughout various locations and the only changes are the distance and the width of the track. As well as them looking shoddy, the frame rate is extremely poor. I’ve experienced slowdown on several occasions and it gets very, very annoying. With the cars, as they’ve started shoddy in the first place, the damage that happens to them externally doesn’t do justice. It’s an extremely lazy attempt at this years edition of NASCAR. The soundtrack in NASCAR 09 is fairly catchy and suit’s the game well. I’ve seen the list of artists on there, but I don’t know them, but it’s a very good soundtrack. The audio from the cars is acceptable, but nothing more. The instructions that come across from the team works extremely well, always in contact with you informing you of opponents on in the inside and outside, and it’s not clear, it’s mixed in with the running of the engine.
Overall I enjoyed NASCAR 09 for a fair few hours, but I got bored after around 6-8 hours of play. It’s fun speeding around the tracks at high speeds and it’s fun causing crashes, but it’s too plain. It undoubtedly does what NASCAR does, but I can’t see anyone really enjoying this title unless they’re NASCAR fans. For the price it definitely isn’t worth the purchase if you’re looking for a great or even good racer, there’s Gran Turismo 5: Prologue and Race Driver: GRID for that, but for the NASCAR fans, it’ll be an enjoyable experience. I’m going to see oval tracks in my head for the next few days now; well, not the tracks, just the walls around the tracks.
