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[Nascar Thunder 2004] Nascar Thunder 2004 Demo

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BHMS NEWS

Joined: 31 Jul 2002
Posts: 0

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 14:56

posted by: Jure Zagoricnik EA Sports has released a playable demo for NASCAR Thunder 2004, allowing you to try out the recent left-turning racing simulation sequel by EA Tiburon. This demo offers the Talladega Superspeedway and Texas Motorspeedway to drive both offline and online in single-race mode. link : https://bhms.racesimcentral.net/download/4171

Randy G

Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 170

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 10:50

Played it, and NR2003 is still the better game. NT2004 is better than last year's game, but still not good enough. I'm real glad I didn't waste my money this time around. _________________ Randy G. - a Pontiac Power enthusiast!

John Thomas

Joined: 17 Sep 2003
Posts: 172

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 11:32

And here I am regretting throwing my money away on the last 3 games from Papyrus. Go figure.

jabroni

Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Posts: 46

Posted: Thu Nov 06, 01:18

wow, you'd think you'd have learned after one. and it'd almost be a guarantee after two. yet somehow you bought another.

John Thomas

Joined: 17 Sep 2003
Posts: 172

Posted: Thu Nov 06, 02:34

You'd think so. Wouldn't you? That's what I get for being optimistic and giving second and third chances, $150 worth of coasters or 1 incredibly worthless game and 2 $50 patches that didn't fix a thing. Thank God for EA.

splashman

Joined: 26 Jan 2002
Posts: 4134

Posted: Thu Nov 06, 03:00

I went through the same as you John....except I skipped the 2002 $50 patch because I was so disgusted with N4 which was a computer virus in disguise.Thought things might have gotten better with the 2003 rendition but the same old off-line bugs were there still.....and stilll there after waiting 6 months for another patch. What did I learn from it all? I'll never spend another dime on a product from that developer again. _________________ Due to budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel has now been extinguished...

John Thomas

Joined: 17 Sep 2003
Posts: 172

Posted: Thu Nov 06, 05:57

I was the person telling everyone I knew who was into this stuff how bad all those games were and then I was the only one who bought all 3 of them just in case they got it right "this time". It's too bad, but it's so easy to see that after releasing an unfinished attempt at putting NASCAR bodies on GPL, plus patches, plus the $50 patches, they just couldn't make it work and I don't think they even cared. Now they're paying for it. Their sales were so bad they couldn't justify the expense of continuing to pay NASCAR for the license. The patch for the 2003 made my game unplayable. EA and ISI got ISI's F1 engine to work great reworked for NASCAR when NT03 was released and now they've improved it more than enough with NT04 to make it worth my $40. With EA and ISI I know that the next version is going to be more than just updated paintjobs and a new box not just a failed attempt at correcting some mistakes from the last version. This version is nearly bug free. Even the flag rules work right! Just look at the thread about problems in the game. There are almost no complaints at all about basic functionality. Almost all the comments are about preferential types of things that EA/ISI will read and pay attention to. How do I know that? They did it with NT04! Even if this were the last version, the mod community could make NT04 last for years like they've done with NASCAR Heat. Unlike NR2003 which is liimited to only 4 different physics, (or is it only 3?), that don't really work anyway because they all drive like GPL. And that you can only put four car body styles in. Every mod for NR2003 that comes after the Trans Am mod no matter who makes it will be no more than nice models running WC, Busch, CTS or Trans Am physics because that's all there is and Papyrus isn't going to give anyone their code....ever. With NT04 we can make our own physics and we know for sure that we can have at least 4 different car models. My guess though is that there probably is NO limit to the number of different models you can have in the game based on what I learned from looking at how the game functions while I worked on updating the trucks. Besides that, each model can have it's own physics. EA and ISI obviously have a long term plan for where they want to take the PC version of this game and they've made great strides with the two versions released so far. Now if we could only get the track software out of their hands....

Mazic

Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 317

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 21:56

MAN, you guys took the words right out of my mouth!! I cant believe I wasted virtually $200 on that Papyrus crap all these years! Imagine the countless hours of racing that Ive done with such an awful sim! Thank goodness for EA!! You saved us! Even before NT2004, the wonderful NT2003 I mean, yeah, it was a NASCAR simulation where you couldnt look left or look right while in cockpit, but who needs those kinds of things, and besides, its not like there will be much racing door-to-door with a 16 driver multiplayer limit. And who the heck needs 40 some other cars on the track in multiplayer anyways, as realistic as that may be, how the heck am I gonna win with all those other cars on the track?!?! Ive played that Papy crap, and you guys are absolutely right! How dare they take that darn GPL driving model, so realistic you can actually feel the car pitch and yaw this way and that, and use it over and over again, its almost like they thought they had a physics model that felt like you were actually driving a real car! THE BASTARDS! Who the heck wants a physics model that real?!?! Heck, I have trouble with my Mini in morning traffic and after all that stress, I dont need to be coming home to some sim that feels like driving a real car. I guess I shouldnt rip on Papy too much, though, because Im noticing that as EA progresses with Thunder, its almost like its getting closer and closer to Papys physics, so close in NT2004, youd almost think they hired some Papy guys to help them out. But EVERYBODY needs a helping hand when youve tried again and again to get it right, and just cant quite figure it out. And Papy with only 4 driving models, sheesh. Do they realize that I paid $50 for that darn NR2003?!?!?! And if it only gives me a 300 or 400 hours of running in single player, 42 car multiplayer, dedicated server support, and patches that make the game just too darn hard for me, well crap, that boils down to me paying them almost 15 cents an hour for something WAY to difficult for me. Heck, I can do almost anything else for less than 15 cents an hour, likewell, maybe not bowling, or drinkin with the boys, or buying a pack of gum..hey I could go for a darn walk OR EVEN get a glass of water for 15 cents an hour! I figure if a guy cant take a 50 dollar game and get at least 10 different games out of it, well shoot, may as well just use the CD as a coaster IMHO. Speaking of dedicated server support, thank the Lord EA didnt include any of THAT mess. Look what transpires when THAT happens. Overnight, we have little businesses springing up that are willing to host races with that darn dedicated server crap, and they charge megabucks, like $100/month sometimes! That might mean that a team with 42 guys (again, thank goodness we only have 16 guys in Thunder multiplayer) might have to pay a dollar a piece for like two races a month! A DOLLAR!!! I could get quite a few glasses of water for THAT kind of money! And that server list!! Holy carp! Who the heck can find your league server in a mess of a hundred or more servers?!?!? Too bad Papy was too stoopid to sort the list some way! And that ratings system that Papy developed, how dare they, how the heck can a guy with little or no experience get in and race with the big boys, what, am I supposed to practice and work my way up the ladder <LOL>. Did you know that those silly Papy folks have points systems now that automatically grab race results from dedicated servers and post them on websites without any human intervention? Fools I tell ya, who can depend on a computer to add and subtract properly?!?! Now Gamespot on the other hand, the beauty invested there is just far beyond me to even speak about. And Papys multiplayer code, what a joke! Take EAs multiplayer code, it makes racing AWFULLY interesting and surprising the way the cars shake around like that, good thing theres only 15 other cars on the track, otherwise the FUN level would go through the roof! And the replay systems, I mean, yeah, Papy has had a really fluent replay system for years and years now but EA, now those guys can write in a replay system second to none. Okay, yeah, up until NT2004, you couldnt actually record a multiplayer race so to speak, but thats just a technicality heck with only 16 cars out there, I can pretty much remember the whole dang race in my head anyways. Stupid Papy patches!! Idiots. Ive been told by guys who spend 15 minutes a day or more running the Papy stuff that the patches do in fact have very subtle changes in them that only veteran drivers can feel in the car, but who has 15 minutes a day? If I cant get in it and drive it right away, whats the point?!?! I mean, yeah, I realize that no one gets paid for making patches so to speak, especially on a genre of game that they may never again produce, but the least they could have done was provide more than just a couple hundred measely fixes. And those cotton pickin Papy graphics, did you other Thunder fans know that the wheels on other cars dont mip-out once they are 30 or more feet away in Papy sims? Imagine that, they stay dish-looking all the time! No, no, if you run Papy, you arent going to get the dish magic (I like to call it) where the wheels mip in and out all the time like you get in NT2004. And if Papy ever decides to make a sim other than NASCAR, I sure hope they leave all kinds of references to NASCAR stuff in their INI files, now THAT is classy stuff! Papy just totally lost it for me as soon as I saw those jets fly over my head in Thunder 2004. I figure any racing game without jets flying over during the start well, its just another coaster. Thank goodness for EA. (EA, ISI, forgive the dripping sarcasm above, you guys really are making headway with your racing sims, but you still have a long ways to go, dont give up now)

Randy G

Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 170

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 22:12

Realized it was toungue in cheek after hitting enter! _________________ Randy G. - a Pontiac Power enthusiast! Last edited by Randy G on Tue Nov 11, 07:16; edited 1 time in total

Mazic

Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 317

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 22:54

Let me just clarify - I have run both sims extensively. The dripping sarcasm in the above post (including the incorrect spelling of the word "stoopid") should leave everyone with the understanding that NR2003 is miles ahead of where EA is at today. Randy, hehe. Last edited by Mazic on Tue Nov 11, 08:30; edited 1 time in total

splashman

Joined: 26 Jan 2002
Posts: 4134

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 23:10

Very ammusing Mazic Funny that you brought up the famous Papy "ice racing game GPL".Can't say I was very impressed by it either. I must say though,I was VERY impressed by the "utra realist" Papy physics where 3400 pound stock cars can fly hundreds of feet in the air....or be pushed over on their roofs by an ai bumping into your door after you spun on the ice at Martinville...all at under 30 mph. I guess those feature were put for the true "sim" enthusiast I was also VERY impressed how well the ai has worked at Martinsville and Bristol Yep,them Papy gods got those two tracks just perfect And all of those features can be enjoyed fully in the second to none replay system I was also really impressed how I could build a set-up and run flat out around Michigan without lifting in the corners and be a full 4 seconds a lap faster than the ai set at the maximim level.Realism like that is hard to find in any racing game 3d wheels....it's an easy 30 second fix..... if your stuck on that one I'll help you out.....all you gotta do is ask Muliplayer....I could care less and likely the majority of people who buy racing games could care less either.It's a known fact that less than 20% of racing game purchasers ever race on-line. And jets,planes,helicopters and blimps.....well beloved Papy must have thought that was the next best thing to sliced bread because they were sure quick to copy the little extras that were in NT2003..... But I think we both agree that those really are not a very important part of any racing game _________________ Due to budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel has now been extinguished...

Mazic

Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 317

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 23:26

<hmmmm, yeah> Last edited by Mazic on Sun Nov 09, 23:47; edited 2 times in total

Mazic

Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 317

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 23:39

Yeah, I see what you mean about GPL not being that impressive, I mean if it were THAT impressive, people would still be playing it, right? I can honestly say that after 5 years of Papy's NASCAR racing series, I have yet to experience any of the subtle imperfections that you mention, of course, I would rather spend time pitting my abilities against other humans rather than AI. Personal preferrence I suppose, just seems more fun when there are other people involved. I have to be honest with you, after owning NT2003 and NT2004, playing them both for a couple hours a day for a couple weeks, I have no interest in ever pulling them out of the trash can, so I'll pass on the wheel mip fix. I am however extremetly interested in that God-like Michigan setup that you speak of. Please simply post it right here for all of us Papy fans to romp around with. I'm not sure that I follow you on the stuff that Papy copied from EA, I was far more impressed that ISI had enough moxy to contact the Papy folks for Physics help, though.

Mazic

Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 317

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 23:50

I take that wheel-mip thing back, yes, please do post the solution, I still play F1C on occasion, and I'd love to get rid of that nasty mip problem.

kenchy

Joined: 01 Mar 2003
Posts: 88

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 18:49

Yep...Nascar Revolution....Nascar 2000...Nascar Thunder 2003... Thank GOD for EA! _________________ "It's not the size of the weapon, but the soldier who wields it." [Molly Brink]

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