SEASON, MULTIPLAYER AND FINAL THOUGHTS

Running a season is essentially the same as running a quick race, except that you accumulate points over the duration of races in a single season, and the driver with the most points at the end is crowned season champ. You have the ability to edit the schedule when setting up a new season, removing tracks from the schedule to create a shorter season, or simply because you don't like to race at a particular venue. You can also setup different rules for your season such as the size of the field as well as the opponent strength, flag rules and race distance. A tabulation is kept over the course of the season with laps completed, laps led, poles won and so forth, which is nice to look back on after a long season. All in all, the season mode is not much out of the ordinary, and it's definitely nothing like the career mode offered in the console version, which includes special events such as the Shootout prior to the Daytona 500, and the All-Star race the weekend before the Coca-Cola 600. Again, a chance to do something different fell through the cracks.

The multiplayer portion of NT2003 is very strong, albeit limited to only 16 cars through either a Local-Area Network (LAN) or via the Internet. GameSpy is offered as a method for finding online races, but you can also join online leagues and connect IP to IP with your friends. Of course, you can always find someone looking for a race on the EA Sports message boards or by joining several of the online racing community forums.

I spent a lot of time turning laps at each of the included 23 Authentic Winston Cup tracks (and with the Daytona Beach circa 1955 fantasy track, which is quite interesting) and I have found highs and lows at each ranging from difficult driving surfaces (especially at Martinsville, very slick) to odd textures in the pavement (at Darlington in particular). Even after competing in several competitive, fun races, I still felt the same way about NT2003…the graphics are great, the physics model has incredible potential, but as a whole the entire package feels unfinished. Suffice it to say I felt let down, but based upon the posts found on EA's website, as well as numerous other websites, I know I'm not alone. I certainly understand that any new series is bound to have problems at first, and if this is just the beginning, it should get better.

One disappointment was the lack of an option for creating your own car paint scheme within the game. If you want a custom paint scheme, or would like to have an updated or additional scheme for a Winston Cup driver, then you must do this outside of the game. There are several websites with add-on cars and templates for creating your own rides, but shouldn't that be a part of the program in the first place? The console version has car creation built-in, why can't the more powerful PC's version have the same?

Personally, the biggest single disappointed was not finding the Career mode that was so raved about in NT2003 for the consoles. It would have been so much more fun to have had a 20-year career and have ride offers, sponsor options, crew changes, research and development costs and money being a big part of your success. That sounds great to me, but maybe that's too much like an arcade game to some. Now don't take this wrong, arcade-racing games have their place. It's important not only from a business standpoint, but from a practical stance, to develop and sell a product that doesn't take hours upon hours to learn and still more hours to master. Even the most hardcore fanatic has a favorite game they can just crank up and go. It is seemingly difficult to make a game easy for newcomers and authentic for hardcore junkies within the same platform. There's much to be said for having a fun game…as long as you know what you're buying.

I'm a simulation racer at heart. It has to be real or I won't enjoy it. That may be why my views on this game were somewhat negative. While Nascar Thunder 2003 was a noble attempt to produce a true-simulation racer in the typical arcade line of EA Sports, the final product felt incomplete. If EA would take some of the finer modules from the console version, and implement them along with the physics model and graphics, they could have a winner on their hands. Only time will tell how long this series will last on the PC.