| Nascar Racing 2003 Season Facts : | ||
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| Papyrus' and Sierra's NASCAR series is coming to an end with their latest release, NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. I'm going to take a look at some of the new features, and tell you what's been changed since the last release, 2002 season. The documentation included in this demo mentions that this version is about 80% complete, so some things can still be added or changed for the final release. After playing the demo for only a few days, it's still hard to get a good view on some aspects of it, but I'll try to explain what I like or don't like about it so far. When launching the demo the first time, you get the familiar configuration options. You can choose between the DirectX and OpenGL renderers and choose the graphics resolution and colour depth. All this is familiar for all those who have played N2002. I have to mention one difference I found out compared to N2002, though. In N2002 I used to get a better frame rate using OpenGL. However, in N2003 I get about 5 fps more with Direct3D. I'm sure this depends on lot of different things, as I've heard reports that other people are getting better results with OpenGL. The image quality also seems slightly better in D3D for me. Another advantage of D3D is that you can switch between Windows desktop and the game. Right, let's move on to the game itself! The first thing you'll notice is that the menu layout is the same as in earlier versions. This is a good thing, because I've always liked the menus in Papyrus games. They're clear, easy to use, and quick. Just what they need to be, without any extra gimmicks. The colour scheme is changed from N2002, and I like it. Maybe it's just that it looks different, but I like as it's more colourful, but not too much so. All the menu pages also have animated images on the background. After a while you get used to it and don't really pay any attention to it, but this is how it should be. It's another nice touch. Like I mentioned before, the menus are the same as in N2002, with a couple of new options. In controls there's an advanced menu, where you have a couple of new options for keyboard and gamepad drivers. The graphics menu has probably the most new options. There are new settings for the track lighting and shadows, but the most important one for me personally, and finally we have a chance to adjust it, is the field of view (FOV) setting. You can change the FOV between 65 and 78 degrees. I believe 78 was the default in previous Papyrus sims. This gives more visibility to both sides of the car, but makes things look smaller and gives that back seat feel. Changing the FOV to 65 degrees (default in N2003) takes away visibility to the sides, but increases the front view and makes everything look a bit bigger, and in my opinion, more realistic. In this demo you have the choice of two tracks, Michigan and Talladega. I would've liked to see either one (preferably Talladega as I'm no SS fan) replaced with a shorter track to get a better feel for the new physics. You can choose between a training session or a single race against maximum of 11 AI cars and a race length of 5 or 10%. There are a few new options here, too. First of all you can choose “pit stop frequency” from 1x to 4x. This basically multiplies the fuel and tyre wear by the chosen value and it's available both in training and single race. When racing the AI you can set their strenght to “auto” mode. This was also used in Papy's 'Grand Prix Legends' and means that the AI speed changes depending on your speed and results in races; they get faster when you get faster. You can of course also change the AI strength manually from 70% to 110%. There's also a new option for “adaptive speed control” - if this is checked the AI adapt to your speed during the race. It seems to work as planned, as in a race I did at Michigan I had set the AI to 70% strength. I built a 3 second lead on one lap, but then the AI cars sped up and closed down my lead in just a couple of laps. This is a good feature if you want to have close racing all the time, but it's a bit unrealistic for my liking. But it's nice to have as an option. Let's head to Michigan for a training session to see what kind of changes there are in the garage and if the new physics really are as good as the hype would suggest.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.The engine sound is also changed for N2003. I haven't obviously sat in a Winston Cup stock car and heard the sound, but to me the engine sound is more similar to what you hear in TV than before. Other than that, I haven't noticed much change in the sounds, there are a few different “gentlemen, start your engines!” sounds. One thing I don't like is how the cars sound in the external cameras (TV1, TV2 and so on) in replays; the sound is far too weak for my liking. The best I can describe is that it sounds like a couple of sewing-machines going around the track. Again, I haven't been in a real WC race so I don't know how it sounds. I would be surprised if it sounds like this, though. I hope this will be changed for the final version. Another thing that is a bit distracting is the garage / pitlane sounds while you're in the garage tweaking your setup. I'm sure someone will find a way to turn off this sound, though. Then, the graphics. They have received quite a face lift since N2002. The biggest change is the really impressive lighting effect, which changes around the track depending on conditions. The shadows are also implemented much better than before, for example you get shadows inside the car from the trackside fence and other objects. There's also solar glare and lens flare. While racing you see different moving objects in the sky, like blimps and helicopters. The track lighting and shadows are the most impressive changes for me, but all the small things like blimps (not literally small) add more to the feeling of “being there” than you would first imagine. Probably one of the biggest things you'll notice when driving is the dirt on the windscreen. Your windscreen will get dirtier and dirtier the longer you drive, and if you're in a pack of cars behind someone the dirt will build up quicker. And if you blow an engine you will get oil and all kinds of stuff on the windscreen very quickly! By pitting you can get the windscreen cleaned. I wasn't expecting much from this effect, but it seems really cool, especially for longer races. I also noticed that the driver is animated in replays like it is in Grand Prix Legends so you can see the hands and the wheel moving. Small point, but another nice thing to have. Some of these graphics improvements require fast hardware, and the frame rate hit is hard if you turn all the graphics on. If you don't use the new features the frame rate is quite similar to what I had in N2002. The realistic weather is improved so that the weather can change (weather info is shown in the F1 screen) during the sessions, and most of the time it does change, too. I've only seen the wind direction and speed change so far, but according to Papyrus the ambient temperature should change, too, along with cloud cover appearing / disappearing. Maybe this will happen in longer races, or maybe it's just not implemented yet in this demo. According to Papy the AI has received a big update in N2003. I have to be honest and say that I don't care much about the AI, I didn't spend really any time at all racing against it in N2002. I have done some races against the AI in the demo (as there's no multiplayer mode!) and it seems a lot better compared to the AI in N2002. It's hard to explain all the differences, but they seem to move around a lot more on the track, not just sticking to one line. All the races I've done have been great, as you can now race a lot closer with the AI cars. They're really competitive at 100% strength, for example at Talladega they seem to move around a bit trying to get a draft. All in all they seem much more human-like than before, judging from the testing I've done. To get a better view, you'd need to do a longer race, but this isn't possible in the demo. I forgot to mention another great improvement that N2003 implements; bumpy tracks. Michigan doesn't feel really bumpy, except for a bump going into T1. The car shakes a bit driving along on the straights and this improves the driving feel and realism. Talladega is a notch bumpier, especially in the corners you can really feel the car going over the bumps and the movement is visible in the cockpit, too. I can't wait to try the other tracks once the final version hits the stores. There are probably a number of other small improvements that I forgot about, but this should give you an idea on how good N2003 really is. The previous Papy titles have always been solid, with great physics and multiplayer support. I would settle for this, but the Papyrus guys have improved the physics model even further with the help of the Jasper Motorsports team and Goodyear, and like I mentioned before this is the thing I'm most excited about in N2003. And with the improvements to the graphics and other things I can safely say that NASCAR Racing 2003 Season will be the best racing simulation available when it's released. Oh, the pace car is now a “ghost” car so you can now drive through it, or more likely it can drive through you without any ill effects. What a relief! |
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Comments : |
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| Author: Jure Zagoricnik | 21-01-2003 |
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Great read! |
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| Author: kevin savoie | 22-01-2003 |
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Thanks man, I learned alot from the new game since I'm not going to get the demo. |
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| Author: pacho | 22-01-2003 |
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nice reading!!! |
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| Author: Gary | 22-01-2003 |
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anyone know of any Canadian suppliers taking preorders on this yet? |
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| Author: Racer10 | 22-01-2003 |
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Man,, Im still debating to buy this or not. I mean I can run N2002 pretty good, but my video card (Voodoo 5) doesnt go well with the game n2002.... So I debating about weather to buy this or not. |
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| Author: TSUNAMI 29 | 23-01-2003 |
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NOTE: In replay mode the external sounds much louder and more realistic than in N2002 although the "sewing machine sound" is what I was experiencing in N2002. For sound problems I found that lowering my sound acceleration in "dxdiag" helped alot. I also agree that the speeds are faster, not only in time but the "visual essence" of speed seems more realistic to me. I cant wait to have a Daytona night race just so I can see if a bottoming out rear end can throw sparks. The road course should also be a real tough challenge for sure! |
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| Author: Darrell Carter | 28-01-2003 |
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Well done I have noticed most of the same changes. Thanks for some incite on setups, track bars and camber. Cant wait for game to be released. Keep up the good work. Keep It Clean and Green Darrell Carter |
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| Author: nobowtiz | 01-02-2003 |
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NASCAR2003 seem pretty good,I have run some races at Dega after getting my Microsoft sidewinder steering wheel to connect to my computer,it's been acting up for months,keeps disconnecting! Can't wait to see the whole version of this game. |
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| Author: teddyn | 10-02-2003 |
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great critique. Hope to see you on the track Ted |
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| Author: Glen craig | 01-04-2003 |
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you hit the nail on the head.I have the full game and its coooool.only down side all the cars are not the game but it still a must have racing sim. |
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| Author: J.Rutkowski | 10-06-2003 |
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1st great article. but 2nd Glen, I had N3 as my nascar game (I skipped N4, NR2002.) this game has more cars than N3, I cycled through 5 carsets. |
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| Author: Steve | 25-06-2004 |
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Love the game, brilliant racing e.t.c but my computer resets after a few minutes playing, please can anyone help me, computer is well up to running the game, help, help |
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