The garage (or setup menu) has always been comprehensive in Papyrus NASCAR sims, and N2003 continues this tradition. Unsurprisingly, there are no new car settings to change, but there are a few settings, which work in a different way compared to the previous versions. Camber was previously changed in increments of 0.25, but in N2003 you can change it in increments of 0.10. The limit of maximum five degrees of camber has been increased to seven, like it was already in NASCAR Racing 4. In N4 this was abused, but thanks to the new and improved tyre model in N2003 camber values that high will usually result in high tyre wear. You can now also fit a bigger sway bar at the front, the biggest now being 2.0 inches. The 'Jasper' setup (which is supposed to be similar what the real Winston Cup team used) has a 1.750 in. front sway bar so this is really diffent to most setups used in N2002. Let's go to the track then to see the changes in the physics!

I've been using the Jasper setup (with reduced tape, as it's a qualifying setup, and a few other changes) most of the time while evaluating the changes. I did try my N2002 Michigan setup, but it was really loose and pretty much impossible to drive. So it looks very likely that you can kiss your old setups goodbye and need to create new setups for optimum car handling. The first thing I noticed when rolling out of the pitlane and on to the track, is that things seem much faster. And that feeling was right. After only a few laps I was lapping over one second quicker than I did in N2002. You've got more power, but there's also definitely more grip in the turns. This is probably a result of both the new physics engine, and increase in track grip. The car feels much more settled to drive than in N2002. In N2002 you had to use quite loose setups to get good tyre wear on long runs, and this made the car slide a lot on cold tyres. There was also a certain “gliding over the track” feel. N2003 feels a lot different. You get a feeling that there's actually four tyres under the car gripping the track surface. The car is much more settled into the turns, and the rear end of the car stays in control. In N2002 having a stable car entering the turns usually meant quite a bad push for the rest of the turn, certainly as the tyres wore down.

The tyre temperatures also seem more realistic all around; you don't need to have a big temperature difference between the right front and right rear tyre to have good tyre wear and handling. I've done a few long runs, and so far I have the feeling that the car handling stays more balanced than in N2002. For example, in the beginning you can have quite a neutral car, which develops just a little push as the tyres wear down and the fuel level decreases. Nothing like the bad push you had previously in N2002 if you didn't have a crazy loose car in the beginning. In my opinion, you also need to keep a closer look at the tyre temps. If you drive like a mad man and abuse the tyres in the beginning causing them overheat you'll be in trouble later on with accelerated wear, much more so than in N2002. All in all, I'm really impressed with the physics changes. Of course all this is only after a few days of testing so things can still change as we get to develop our own setups, and this is “only” an 80%-complete version so things can change in that respect, too, for the final version. That said, the improved physics is the most exciting thing in N2003 for me. Aero-loose and aero-push seem to also have a bigger effect on your car. I've felt the car get loose quick when another car comes up right behind you. Oh, a quick note about damage. From my observations it seems you get damage much easier than before, and the damage also has a bigger effect on your laptimes. This change gets another big thumbs up from me.