I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

uggggh, I should of waited a few weeks, but initial impressions were either BS or not enough testing done. These are some serious issues popping up.

1. Pit strategy by AI - entering and exiting as well
2. Brake checking by AI when not necessary
3. No DNF's


I hope they fix these 3. I will go back to F1 till next patch comes out I guess.

I don't think people were BS'ing anyone. You just can't see all the patterns and test everything out in 1 or 2 days. Like with any game, it takes time to see all the issues.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

uggggh, I should of waited a few weeks, but initial impressions were either BS or not enough testing done. These are some serious issues popping up.

1. Pit strategy by AI - entering and exiting as well
2. Brake checking by AI when not necessary
3. No DNF's


I hope they fix these 3. I will go back to F1 till next patch comes out I guess.

'Initial' impressions being the operative word, jaa. And, initially, I didn't see any gamebreakers, but that's not to say I won't as time goes on.

I did mention some pitting oddities by the AI.

I see some slight checkups here and there, but nothing like I saw in NTG11. Overall I find the racing very good, IMO. However, I do need to drive on some 1.5's because that's where it was worst in NTG11, I'll grant you that.

I thought DNF's were only in career mode. I haven't been in a wreck sufficient enough to warrant one in that mode yet (only have run the Duels and Daytona so far in that mode). I'll see if I can manage one next time I play.

[Senor Nascar]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

I played it last night for the first time after reading and seeing countless negative and positive things in regards to the game. I truly went in with a neutral feeling and honestly after last year's game, not expecting too much at all. I can say that I mainly stuck to offline stuff-career and quick race but I had one online race as well.

What I clearly see is why so many people are divided in terms of this game. The offline is certainly a stronger part of the game. If comparing it to last year's game and other CONSOLE ONLY Nascar games, it fairs pretty well.

Visually, the game is the best of any NASCAR game I have seen on a console and even PC for that matter.

In regards to the lingering issues from NTG 11, I think the AI is better than last year as a whole with certain re-occuring problems from last year still rearing their ugly heads. I feel like the restarts have been smoothed out quite a bit but the brake checking does occur with certain tracks more than others. Texas and Atlanta in turn 1 for example is in need of a patch to get it right.

The one constant problem I noticed was the AI pulling out onto the track after a green flag pit stop and not merging over. They literally just push all the way over to the wall and are not up to full speed yet. This led to numerous cautions.

The handling I feel is a better model than last year's game but still not up to the level of simulation experienced in Iracing or Formula 1. IMO the best Simulation console game for proper racing is F1 by Codemasters.

NTG:IL is certainly not on that level of sim but there are some interesting simulation aspects to this game that make it about 60/40 sim/arcade.

OFFLINE

Here is what i do like:

-Changing weather(temp)
-the brakes fading during a race
-the level of difficulty on hard and champion
-the handling being better than last year
-More camera angles to choose from
-The rearview mirror on all cameras
-the Full Race weekend with the option to set practice time
-The analysis of your runs when working on a set up
-The tire read outs for each tire on screen with Inside,Middle,Outside
-Even with some re-existing problems, the AI is better
-The tracks are much more accurate than last years
-The spotter is better
-More pit stop options than last year (Spring rubbers)

Here is what I think needs work (things to patch):
-AI issues across the board
-Online lag problems

Overall this game is better than last year's but not as good as F1 in terms of a full sim. After all this game is made only for consoles, while F1 2012 was also made for the PC.

ONLINE:

I played one online race at Talladega with 8 people including one person from England in the room. The start was very strange as I started 4th but the first three cars had an enormous head start for some reason. Once the race did get started it wasn't bad, not nearly what I was expecting after seeing that crazy WTF video at Charlotte. It was an average experience which I think could maybe work better in a private room with some friends.

The Online needs work to get to the level of multiplayer we are all used to nowadays. In F1, it works very well even playing people from other countries. I can't really recommend NTG:IL to someone who is looking to race this game online only. I think a couple of patches might get it better, but IMO the offline is a much better experience with a possibility of improvement with a patch.

Overall the game is better than last year's game but still needs work to reach the level we were all expecting. I did have fun playing last night, but like I stated earlier, I went in with low expectations and just wanted to have some fun racing a Nascar game. I rented the game and for the offline experience alone I probably will buy it. I am also anticipating a couple of patches to get the game better.

That is my 2 cents after 6 hours with the game.

[franko3219]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

I am glad the internet is around. I almost grabbed a couple of games to trade in today for this game, I am glad after reading the updated impressions that I am waiting. The game sounds like it has some promise, but I will stick to NR2003 on PC until they fix some of the issues listed.

[cusefan74]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

Here is a new one guys. I passed below the yellow line at Daytona and it gave me like 5 seconds to give the spot back, which I thought I made it but they gave me the black flag. Here is were it gets messed up. It says I have to do a drive through penalty, ok so I do. Next lap it says I owe them a lap, so I drive through again and go a lap down. Next they wanted me to drive through again and I refused to do it. Then after 3 laps they stopped counting my laps. To sum it up though it looks like the black flags are messed up. I finding new things that don't work right every time I turn it on.

On a good note though, on a caution everyone pitted at the same time and I went in the leader and came out 4th. Which is fine, I was expecting to come out like 35th. So there is some hope there I guess.

[nc0ffey]

I got black flagged for an illegal pass in a race (can't recall which track) and after one drive through I had no further penalties. Is it possible you were coming into the pits too quickly? I've also been flagged for that.

[jhamlin1971]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

I had really high hopes for this sophomore edition. I am sorry for the individuals who purchased it and have had negative results but I thank you for your impressions. Like many, I was going to pay the 60 bucks for another buggy game that has the same issues as last year but this forum saved me the dough. Hopefully, you all can trade it in and get at least some of your money back.

I wish a company could make a NASCAR game that is actually worth a crap. NR2003 is still the king for me. I can only wonder if Papyrus was still around, what their yearly editions would look like today. I know some of the programmers worked on iracing but I prefer a single player experience.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

I can only wonder if Papyrus was still around, what their yearly editions would look like today. I know some of the programmers worked on iracing but I prefer a single player experience.

Actually Ed Martin, the EVP of Eutechnyx was a member of Papy also...........

[jhamlin1971]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

Actually Ed Martin, the EVP of Eutechnyx was a member of Papy also...........

True, I forgot about that.

[cusefan74]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

Is it possible you were coming into the pits too quickly? I've also been flagged for that

.

The first time I came in I was going less then 40. The second time I was like 50, but no way I was speeding I made sure of that.

[Romain El 82]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

So why does the wedge keep moving on it's own?

My Texas set-up has it set at 47.5, and I saved it there for my race set-up. Go into the race, spin on the first lap because the car's so loose (and am thinking WTF, this isn't how it felt in practice), pit and see that now it's at 45.58?! What the hell!?

Change it back to where it should be during the stop, go back out there, spin again, come back in, and it's back to 45.58...what the hell is going on, seriously.

[Romain El 82]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

So a other random things...

Glad to see they fixed Darlington after royally screwing it up last year. I don't know how they managed that, but oh well.

While waiting for a loading screen, one of the trivia questions was "Who has the most Sprint Cup wins at Pocono?". The choices were Cale Y, Bill E and Mark Martin...I guess Elliott and was wrong, they said the correct answer was Mark Martin! This is incorrect, Mark has never won there.

[RustedWalleye]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

First of all good to see so many people so far interested in this. I was following the game, and intrigued but skeptical for a while. I enjoyed the last version, but just couldn't stick with it.

Terry, good to see you writing as well. Lost you on my Xbox Friends list, need to hook up with fellow racers. Was an interesting experience online last night.

Anyways, I really enjoyed the couple hours I put into this after I picked it up last night, based on Terry's excellent synopsis that he did. Was the main reason that I picked it up. If Terry is interested it definitely is worth while.

I too am from the NR2003 PC days and really miss those days of racing. I dont have the set up anymore to do race on the PC, too many life changes there, so the option of another console NASCAR game to me was intriguing.

After firing it up and messing around with using a controller, I found the racing had a much better flow to it, then I have noticed in any racer in quite some time. Everything felt right, though using the controller still left a lot to be desired. So luckily I decided to gamble on a cheap wheel just for the heck of it. I picked up this wireless wheel (and I am out of the gaming loop for the last 9 months, so I have no idea where this thing came from), and i wasn't expecting much. After a couple of quick settings changes to tighten up the steering, I was racing Daytona smooth as can be, and holding lines like I remember with NR2003. Granted I could do this with a more expensive wheel in many other games, but I was so suprised that this $30 wheel actually felt solid.

Started 27th at Daytona on Champion with all assists but ABS (no foot pedal, all trigger controlled gas and brake), and finished 12th, 3 seconds behind the front pack.

Tried Bristol, hopped in with default settings and was amazed and how fluid Bristol was, was the best racing I have had against AI racers in ages. Are they stuck on a line, yes to a degree, but they can be coherced and will work with you. I qualified horribly, started at 43rd, raced around mid 20s the whole race with a couple of cautions, but was pleasantly surprised.

Online racing was a joke. Finding and getting into a race drove me absolutely nuts. How I miss the Papyrus online lobbies. Waiting for people to finish races, not being able to choose where I want to go, just the cheap easy way out. The actual racing everyone groaning about the flickering and stuff because of latency, just race where you are suppose to be and where they should be at, and all can be raced usually fine. Instead after a caution the green flag flies I am running behind a car, and immediately the car up high dives down low. Then groan at me cause I hit the back of your car. Pffffffft let the cars get up to speed before you make those moves.

Finished 2nd and 1st in two races, basically by backing off, drafting close, and driving away from the racers would typically block, then driving through the wrecks. Both finished after 3 GWC.

So far I like, going to spend more time with it tonight. Be interesting to see what my thoughts are after the weekend.

Look me up, definitely up to race those that are fans.

[BIG CAROLINA]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

So I started a Season as the 20 car and decided to do a Daytona 500 at 120 laps. A.I on hard, tire wear X2 and damage set to off.

I noticed that with using my wireless xbox 360, during restarts or at the start of races I had no control of my wheel and it would shake and rumble back and forth on its own. With that making me nervous, I decided maybe I should take a hint that I heard to heart and use my controller.

What a difference. This is the 1st car racing game where I can say that the controller feels 10X better than the wheel (atleast my wheel). I also had to ditch cockpit view (which hurt my heart to do) but with the new smaller hood view I can just see better and I am a better racer for it.

Now back to the race. I purposely started in the back just to be safe and to see what is going on. I am not going to do a whole big boring write up of my race, but I just want to say that I really enoyed the race and the racing and I HATE plate racing. Hate it.

I didn't see anything crazy from the A.I. They raced me clean and hard. There were 7 cautions and nothing crazy happened. No pit stop issues, restarts issues, yellow flag issues.....nothing.

The only thing that I could say that was odd was the way the field was so spreadout after about 10 laps of green flag running. There were alot of 2 car groups, but more single cars alone not hooked up with anyone.

I had two black flags which were both my fault and I didn't have an issue when I served them. Cautions worked in my favor and I ended up winning the race.

I ran with the default setup (which was pretty good in my opinion) and didn't have my wedge get changed like it did online for me when I entered the pits.

Maybe, just maybe the longer the race that you run the less issues pop up with the A.I.

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: I have the NASCAR The Game: Inside the Line

So I started a Season as the 20 car and decided to do a Daytona 500 at 120 laps. A.I on hard, tire wear X2 and damage set to off.

......

Maybe, just maybe the longer the race that you run the less issues pop up with the A.I.

Yeah, this was what I postulated the other day. Even NTG11 ran better with long races according to those that did it.

You have to watch the AI going into turns under green if you are outside, if they are beside you and slightly ahead (if their front tires are in front of your nose). Sort of a blind spot and they might pinch you into the wall or up against it real tight. But once they 'see' you, they give you your lane. As long as the AI 'sees' me, they run snug but clean. I had some good racing last night my career race at Phoenix and finished in the high 20's after starting in the high 30's. No pitting issues, some line racing but they did pass each other. No brake checking.