Now before you get the idea that I haven't enjoyed playing this game, let me assure you that is not true. SNS is enjoyable. I must admit that I was a little put off by the game initially but after playing it for a while I had a better respect for what it was all about. Not every title has to be a full-blown simulation. Sometimes it's relaxing to just sit down and drive. I've reviewed some products that I had to literally force myself to continue on with in an effort to provide enough information for a complete review. That's not the case here. Saturday Night Speedway is challenging and fun. The addition of the Midgets and the rally tracks are well worth the experience. Ratbag worked hard on the new tracks included in SNS and it shows. Although a little unconventional, they do add another element to their product. I only wish they had dedicated the same effort into creating more attractive car skins and added some pavement ovals specifically for the Midgets. As it stands right now, there isn't much option to create add-ons such as Mods and tracks. There are third party developers already working on extracting the files. It is not known yet if they will be successful. It would be intriguing to replace the Late Models or possibly the Pro Stock cars in favor of a Legend or Dwarf car chassis. Both would fit well with the physics now present in the Midgets and the game as a whole. Whether the game has the depth to retain interest has yet to be seen. Being required to win races and championships in "Career Mode" in order to unlock new tracks and skins is not my idea of depth.

I admire the way that SNS handles the caution flag routine. If the yellow flag option is enabled and there is a situation that causes a caution, the screen goes blank; the field of cars are realigned before the start/finish line and promptly restarted. Although the first few times this happened I thought my system had crashed! It is certainly an efficient method to handle the cautions without creating a delay in the game. I would still prefer to have control of my car long before the green light comes. When you start on the front row of a race, that "GO" sign covers the screen and can be a major distraction. This is more noticeable on the shorter circuits since the first corner approaches quickly. A green flag waving in the corner of the screen or simply a green light would be sufficient.

Saturday Night Speedway is very similar to the World of Outlaws game, however I think SNS has the edge. While there are things I like, there are still others that frustrate me. I believe that the PS2 porting of this title has degraded its quality somewhat. If SNS had been coded solely for the PC, I think we would see better sound quality, better controller input configuration and more features. Unfortunately this is a trend in the gaming business that we are forced to accept at this point. Cross-platform coding provides a benefit for the producer-not the consumer.

Saturday Night Speedway is a good game. I think it's a stretch to consider it a true simulation.