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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to my Review of NASCAR Legends from Sierra Sports. NASCAR Legends is based off NASCAR Racing 3. Therefore, Id like to add that some of this review will be identical or very similar to parts of my N3 review. Legends is an interesting title because in a way it is similar to GPL in terms of the nostalgia value, but does not approach GPL in terms of high end sim racing. You will have no questions as to Legends being built upon N3 as even the documentation included with Legends has N3 remnants on it. For example, the Quick Reference card for Legends has items such as Spoiler Adjustments and Grille Tape listed under the Cockpit Displays/Views. These items are not applicable to NASCAR Legends but were obviously overlooked by the Papyrus/Sierra editors. That aside, NASCAR Legends is a blast!
FEATURES
- The cars, drivers and tracks from the 1970 NASCAR season - Papyrus has replicated these historic cars and tracks with painstaking detail.
- Highly detailed and accurate car physics model lets you experience the incredible power of these cars on bias ply tires.
- Gorgeous high-resolution 3D graphics: supports D3D and Glide @ 800x600 & 1024x768.
- Free Internet multiplayer support.
- 3D surround sound with DirectSound3D and A3D 2.0 allows you to hear the competition closing in on you.
- Supports force feedback controllers.
MY SETUP
- Open AX6BC motherboard
- Intel Slot 1 Celeron 400 running at 450mhz (75 X 6)
- 96 MB of Non-PC100 SDRAM
- Windows98 SE with DirectX 7.0
- 3dfx Voodoo3 2000 PCI (Very slightly overclocked to 150mhz)
- SoundBlaster PCI128 soundcard with 2 Altec Lansing speakers
- 6 GB WD hard drive
- Creative Modem BLASTER Flash 56K external modem with speakerphone and answering machine
- LS-120 SuperDisk
- HP CD-Writer Plus Generic
- floppy drive
- Mitsumi 12X/16X IDE CDROM drive
- ProView PRO-900 19inch monitor .26mm
- ACT-LABS Force RS wheel (Primary Wheel)
- Thrustmaster NASCAR Pro steering wheel (Backup Wheel)
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
- Minimum - Pentium 166, 32 MB RAM, 2x CD-ROM, SVGA 800x600 w/64k colors, Windows compatible soundcard.
- Preferred - Pentium II, 64 MB RAM, Glide or Direct3D supported 3D hardware, Joystick or Steering Wheel and Pedals, A3D 2.0 compatible soundcard.
After playing around with many of the graphic and sound settings, I have developed what I believe is the minimum system required to run NASCAR Legends at an acceptable level. Please be advised that this is MY OPINION on what I feel is necessary. This is highly subjective and what I consider "acceptable" may not agree with your or someone else's definition of such.
I believe you would want at least a P2-350 or above processor with 64mb of ram and a 12mb Voodoo2 video card. This will deliver decent performance at 640X480 resolution and perhaps even at 800X600 with some adjustments to the graphic settings.
This is based on my perception of performance on my PC and an 'educated guess' to what would be needed to run NL with satisfactory frames per second. Again, my definition of 'acceptable performance' may very well differ from yours. I prefer a high level of "eye candy" and as close to 30 frames per second as possible to be satisfied with performance. However, I know many sim racers who sacrifice all the pretty textures and graphics for pure framerate. NL is frame rate locked in respects to maximum framerate, much like Grand Prix Legends.
GRAPHICS
NASCAR Legends has very good graphics quality. Like N3, nothing earth shattering or fantastic, but very good. The graphics are very appealing at 800X600 resolutions and above. Like N3, I personally run NL at 800X600 with all eye candy turned up to the max. I do hit 32 fps occasionally, but most of the time I'm at 28 - 30fps on my system. I personally feel you do not lose a lot of graphics quality by using the 800X600 resolution instead of the 1024X768 resolution.
This helps in maximizing your framerates. Those of you who are die-hard graphic junkies will notice the difference, but most of us will be happy to give up a tick of quality for framerate. The 'draw ahead' setting has a dramatic effect on framerates. Setting it to 6 will make the sim draw ahead so you do not have any "pop up" of the scenery ahead. However, this places a hit on framerate on lower end machines. I prefer at least a 4 setting or above.
Of course, the new makes of cars are different and quite well done. I just love driving the Plymouth SuperBird at tracks like Talladega. When you run the short tracks, the aero kit comes off the SuperBird to reveal its real heritage. The same applies to the Dodge Daytona. The 4 makes of cars you can choose from are:
- Ford Torino Talladega
- Mercury Cyclone
- Dodge Daytona
- Plymouth Superbird
NASCAR Legends comes with the same paintshop as N3, and quite similar to the one found in N2/N99. There are 148 available colors in the paintshop to customize your paintjob with. There is also the decal sheet to add various decals to your car. If you export .pcx files to paint using a 3rd party graphics program, expect to see some differences.
The car templates are different as NL gives you more areas of the car to paint than the old N2/N99 and you can also paint the rear deck lid. Of course, with the wonderful Dodge and Plymouth cars, you have the aero package that is used on Super Speedways to paint as well. NL templates are larger than the older N2/N99 templates so its almost impossible to simply 'cut and paste' your paintjobs from N2/N99 into a NL .pcx file. As with N3, individuals have already begun painting car kits for NL and there are some very fine car painters in the sim racing community.
The cockpit has been given a retro-makeover. Although it is the same as N3 in terms of it being a static 2D overlay and not a 3D cockpit, it still puts you back into the interior of a 1970 NASCAR racer. The mirrors in NL have the familiar 3 sections, which allow you to see around you. The mirror settings are still adjustable with some setting changes in the track.txt file but there is still no real level of detail in the mirrors.
NASCAR Legends shares the two major additions to the graphics area of N3, which are dynamic skid marks and smoke effects. The dynamic skid marks will leave remnants of accidents and spins in the form of skid marks on the pavement. These skid marks remain on the track (This too is adjustable to help save system memory) to add to the realism of the sim.
The smoke effect is a major component of N3 and NL as it adds to the realism of the unpleasant situation of wrecking. The smoke will disperse with the direction and speed of the wind. It is really quite a site to drive through a plume of smoke and have no idea whether there is a disabled car sitting in the middle of the track waiting for you to hit it. There are times where you are literally staring at a total white out condition where you can see nothing. There are also brown dust clouds if you venture into the grass area.
SOUND
NL supports the Aureal 2.0 engine and DirectSound 3D. Having a compatible card with 4 speakers or a high quality set of headphones is really going to be a benefit for those looking for immersion. NL has the same sounds as N3. It has the two different sound quality settings: High (16-bit) and Low (8-bit). If you have the system to handle it, definitely use the 16-bit setting as the 8-bit sounds leave a lot to be desired. One interesting feature is that the developers at Papyrus have created a way for the user to customize the sounds to their preferences! The instructions on how to do so is included in the sndtweak.txt file located in the sound folder and a little time and experimentation will allow you to come up with the settings you like. Even with the default settings, the engine sound is definitely more 'throaty'. The spotter's voice has changed but has the same general functionality as in N2/N99. Even though many of you might argue that there were no spotters or two-way radios in 1970, the reason for having them in NASCAR Legends is logical. With online racing, it can be quite a disaster and a mess when you or your fellow racers are not aware of a caution situation or other condition on the track. If are an extreme purist, you can always turn the spotter off. The crashing and tire squeal sounds are the same as N3, and could be improved. The tire squeal sound is definitely one of the sounds that can be tweaked for better effectiveness. The environmental sound quality of being in the drivers seat is very well modeled in NL as it is in N3.
ARTIFICIAL INTELIGENCE
The AI in NL is very similar to that found in NASCAR Racing 3. The AI provide enough of a challenge that it is at least enjoyable to race solo offline. The AI cars do not automatically back out of a corner because you stuck your nose underneath them. You can frequently see 3 wide at Talladega and even see AI wreck one another.
The AI seem to manage themselves fairly well, even on the very short tracks you will find in NL. There are times where you have to plan out a strategic move to complete a pass because the AI in front of you are going it in a dog fight for position. It does not compare to racing online against others, but it's at least acceptable. You do still occasionally see the 'confusion' of the AI when there is a major incident involving several AI and they are blocking the track though. You may also see some 'car within a car' while racing, however it is far less frequent than in N2/N99.
INTERFACE
The overall interface of NL will be quite familiar to those who own N3. It's pretty much the same layout. All input needs to be performed using the mouse as usual. The garage has a bit different layout than N3 because the setup options are different (These will be addressed later). The replay section is a basic carry over from Grand Prix Legends. If you are not familiar with GPL, it allows you to view your replays from many camera angles, different cars, etc along with the normal cut and save features found in the previous version.
The controls setup is basically the same as N3 and it accepts digital and force feedback devices. NL is limited to two axis which will prevent users from using a Digital wheel with their favorite analog pedal set due to not having enough axis to configure the inputs.
This will definitely annoying for those of you out there who want to use the FF effects in NL but don't like the pedal unit that came with your wheel and would prefer to use your old trusty Thrustmaster pedal bases.
FORCE FEEDBACK
I currently use the ACT LABS Force RS wheel, as it is my personal favorite steering device. The first thing you will need to do is go to the Nl.ini file and enable the FF settings. The instructions on how to do this are located in the Readme file in your NL directory. However, here are the two variables you need to set in your Nl.ini file and the directions quoted from the Readme file:
FORCE_SCALE_PERCENT "N"
FORCE_DAMPING_PERCENT "N"
Both can be set to the range of 0-200 and will scale the existing parameters accordingly. Force Scale is used to determine how strong a force is, and can be used to try to adjust the amount of force the game provides. Force Damping is a factor in determining how much resistance the wheel provides to turning. It would primarily be used to decrease the tendency of a wheel to oscillate under certain conditions.
Each person will have to decide for him or herself how strong they want the effects to be. This will also be dependent on which wheel a person is using as each wheel has its own strength of effects. I personally like both set to 100.
I was a Force Feedback skeptic until I actually started using my ACT LABS Force RS. At first, my times were slower. However, within a few weeks I started to feel the setup of a car more by how the wheel input interacted with the FF effects. This has allowed me to lower my times quite a bit in NL and N3.
Force Feedback as progressed and is no longer just a vibrating wheel when you run into something. It is now a tool you can utilize to add more immersion into your sim racing experience. It takes some time, but experiment with the settings until which you find a point where the input and the forces work together to provide you with enough feedback to improve you driving without being disruptive to your racing line.
RACING FEEL
The physics in NASCAR Legends are different from N3 in a few ways. It is not a new physics engine, but it has been changed and tuned to represent driving a 1970s NASCAR racer. The first thing you will notice is the tire characteristics.
Today's Winston Cup cars use radial tire technology. The cars in 1970 used bias ply tires. This results in NASCAR Legends being more difficult in terms of tire management. The bias ply tires do not last nearly as long as the radials in N3. I find in NASCAR Legends its much more important to drive the car instead of the line. If the car wants to push, either adjust your line the best you can or chase it up the turns. Otherwise, you will wear those tires out FAST! Do not force the car to drive where you want it. In N3, you have a bit more forgiveness if you want to push your tires. In Legends, pushing your tires to the limit will cause you to wear them out way before your pit window calls for.
Another item will notice is that in 1970, there was no such thing as a restrictor plate. Thus, these beasts burn up the fuel at a much faster rate than today's cars on the super speedways.
There are also different adjustments available. You won't find spoiler, grille tape, or spring/shock adjustments. Instead, you will find jack screw adjustments which are basically the same as the spring/shock adjustments in N3. The screw jacks adjust the pressure on the springs at each individual wheel. You also have a sway bar between the front wheels and a torsion bar between the rear wheels. These adjustments adjust the amount of body roll you will experience.
MULTIPLAYER
The multiplayer capability built into NASCAR Legends is much, much more sound than that originally found in NASCAR Racing 3. The closing of TEN (Total Entertainment Network) to the NASCARTM Racing 2 sim, marked an end to online racing as we knew it. I am sure the folks at Papyrus anticipated this change as they implemented Internet connectivity with N3 and now NASCAR Legends. This is by no means a solid replacement for TEN, however with a bit of tweaking and common sense your online racing can be enjoyable. The one nice addition is that even if you only have a 56K line to support yourself and a friend, you can add a full field of AI cars to race along with you.
The implementation of the WON Network into NL and N3 gives you the option to race up to 32 of your friends in a single race. The speed and available bandwidth of your connection will be the deciding factor as to how many racers you can host in a race and maintain a "raceable" environment. If your connecting with a 56K connection or lower, you will be hard pressed to get 5 racers into a race and still be able to run side by side as the warp will be very noticeable. If you have a cable connection you will be in much better shape and can get 20 drivers (give or take a few) into a race while maintaining a raceable environment.
If you are just a client (IE - someone else hosts and you just join their race), you will be fine with 33.6 or above in terms of bandwidth needs).
As with N3, perhaps the biggest disappointment in NL is the lack of a dedicated server front-end that allows you to setup races from a remote server. Well our prayers have been answered as Papyrus is now beta testing a front-end and a few people from the racing community have also developed their own version. You can download the latest version created by Karen White here.
CONCLUSION
PROS
- good graphics
- good sound quality
- decent AI racing
- good Force Feedback implementation
- great retro appeal
- Daytona and SuperBirds
- decent multiplayer capabilities
- fun
CONS
- multiplayer interface could be improved
- different engine sounds would have added a nice retro touch
- some minor graphic anomalies
- carelessness with mistakes in documentation
- NASCAR Legends is a blast and if you like vintage or modern stock car racing, you will love NASCAR Legends!
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