NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

[TCrouch]

I received the XBox version of Nascar 2005: Chase for the Cup a couple of days ago. I've logged considerable time on it since then, so ask any questions you feel like asking. I'll answer them in batches here.

[spin1993]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

Any slowdown or choppy graphics?

[spin1993]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

Any slowdown or choppy graphics?

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

On some tracks, TONS. I'm not sure what is up with EA. It's borderline unplayable on some tracks in some views. From the hood cam view (the closest to a cockpit cam, and the view that I've chosen to use), it's pretty decent but you still have some loss of framerate far too often.

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

On some tracks, TONS. I'm not sure what is up with EA. It's borderline unplayable on some tracks in some views. From the hood cam view (the closest to a cockpit cam, and the view that I've chosen to use), it's pretty decent but you still have some loss of framerate far too often.

[spin1993]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

On some tracks, TONS. I'm not sure what is up with EA. It's borderline unplayable on some tracks in some views. From the hood cam view (the closest to a cockpit cam, and the view that I've chosen to use), it's pretty decent but you still have some loss of framerate far too often.

Thanks

[spin1993]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

On some tracks, TONS. I'm not sure what is up with EA. It's borderline unplayable on some tracks in some views. From the hood cam view (the closest to a cockpit cam, and the view that I've chosen to use), it's pretty decent but you still have some loss of framerate far too often.

Thanks

[mgoblue]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

how's the career mode? is the driving model good enough where the game's still fun and not really frustrating?

[mgoblue]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

how's the career mode? is the driving model good enough where the game's still fun and not really frustrating?

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

The driving model is much improved imo. It's not hyper-realistic, but it's predictable. If you stay on the hammer too long with a loose car, you'll spin out. If you set your car up a bit free, you can ride it just at the edge of traction, unlike in any previous Thunder I've played. Previous years had this arbitrary speed that you'd hit and go into a full slide, not so here anymore. At least not with Featherlites, Craftsman Trucks, and Busch cars. Haven't hit Cup yet.

The career is a blast. They took the formula used in Dirt to Daytona and tweaked it with things I didn't even know I disliked about it. Same with previous versions of Thunder. This year's career mode is pretty well thought-out, which is unusual. The very first thing you do is race Ryan Newman in Vipers in New York. That's cheesy as hell, but whatever. He'll send you a call and say he'll have his agent talk to you, etc. Your cell phone is like your PDA in other sports games. You'll hook up with the Dodge #192 Featherlite car and start racing. The cool thing about this, is it doesn't throw you in a pure crap car and force you to watch the back of the pack if you put it on Veteran or Legend. You're just a driver. After you win some races, you will get a call from somebody wanting you to test their Craftsman Truck (or Busch car, called the "NNS" here, since they can't license beers...but oddly enough during the race intros they still say "We're in for some great Busch series racing" heh). By the time you get to week 20 or so of your first season you could be running in all 3 series. Dirt to Daytona forced you to play a full season (starting with a crap car) and winning the championship...on harder difficulties taking as many as 2 full seasons to do...just to move up. Not so here, you can race all 4 series in your first season, from what I can tell. It's very well done and keeps the racing fresh.

Those "street racing" challenges that we're all skeptical about are just fluff. They're not forced...you get skill points or prestige points for beating them, but nothing else. You can just bypass the day and continue on with your racing if you want. However, I've done them all and the 4 or so I've done since that opening segment with Newman has been on an infield road course...although in one you're racing through the RV area in the middle of Daytona, which was weird. They also have autograph signing sessions that are like one of those button-pressing minigames for fans and prestige points. From what I can tell, the driver role is a hell of a lot of fun. I am running a fight to the top on Veteran, and in the starter cars winning pole after pole and hammering the competition. The AI settings are rookie, veteran, legend, and custom. After I blast a few more races on Vet I'll bump it to Legend and see what happens. What I hated about previous versions was that on Rookie you'd still qualify like crap (or at least I would without any driving model to tell me what I'm doing wrong), yet blast right through the field. On Vet or higher you'd qual like crap and stay there, never upgrading your car. Now you have a competitive car from the start, so it's more driver (like it should be).

When you've earned enough cash you can actually start your own race team in any series. What this means is that you can actually sit back and accrue a couple million and then start your own Featherlite team with top-tier equipment from the start, or you can start with limited funds and experience Thunder 2004's career mode instead .

So far, very enjoyable.

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

The driving model is much improved imo. It's not hyper-realistic, but it's predictable. If you stay on the hammer too long with a loose car, you'll spin out. If you set your car up a bit free, you can ride it just at the edge of traction, unlike in any previous Thunder I've played. Previous years had this arbitrary speed that you'd hit and go into a full slide, not so here anymore. At least not with Featherlites, Craftsman Trucks, and Busch cars. Haven't hit Cup yet.

The career is a blast. They took the formula used in Dirt to Daytona and tweaked it with things I didn't even know I disliked about it. Same with previous versions of Thunder. This year's career mode is pretty well thought-out, which is unusual. The very first thing you do is race Ryan Newman in Vipers in New York. That's cheesy as hell, but whatever. He'll send you a call and say he'll have his agent talk to you, etc. Your cell phone is like your PDA in other sports games. You'll hook up with the Dodge #192 Featherlite car and start racing. The cool thing about this, is it doesn't throw you in a pure crap car and force you to watch the back of the pack if you put it on Veteran or Legend. You're just a driver. After you win some races, you will get a call from somebody wanting you to test their Craftsman Truck (or Busch car, called the "NNS" here, since they can't license beers...but oddly enough during the race intros they still say "We're in for some great Busch series racing" heh). By the time you get to week 20 or so of your first season you could be running in all 3 series. Dirt to Daytona forced you to play a full season (starting with a crap car) and winning the championship...on harder difficulties taking as many as 2 full seasons to do...just to move up. Not so here, you can race all 4 series in your first season, from what I can tell. It's very well done and keeps the racing fresh.

Those "street racing" challenges that we're all skeptical about are just fluff. They're not forced...you get skill points or prestige points for beating them, but nothing else. You can just bypass the day and continue on with your racing if you want. However, I've done them all and the 4 or so I've done since that opening segment with Newman has been on an infield road course...although in one you're racing through the RV area in the middle of Daytona, which was weird. They also have autograph signing sessions that are like one of those button-pressing minigames for fans and prestige points. From what I can tell, the driver role is a hell of a lot of fun. I am running a fight to the top on Veteran, and in the starter cars winning pole after pole and hammering the competition. The AI settings are rookie, veteran, legend, and custom. After I blast a few more races on Vet I'll bump it to Legend and see what happens. What I hated about previous versions was that on Rookie you'd still qualify like crap (or at least I would without any driving model to tell me what I'm doing wrong), yet blast right through the field. On Vet or higher you'd qual like crap and stay there, never upgrading your car. Now you have a competitive car from the start, so it's more driver (like it should be).

When you've earned enough cash you can actually start your own race team in any series. What this means is that you can actually sit back and accrue a couple million and then start your own Featherlite team with top-tier equipment from the start, or you can start with limited funds and experience Thunder 2004's career mode instead .

So far, very enjoyable.

[PSU]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

what new tracks r there and what series to u is the most fun to drive?

[PSU]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

what new tracks r there and what series to u is the most fun to drive?

[Darkbandit]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

How is the racing at the plate tracks? In last year's version of the game, the cars would pretty much get single file and stay that way pretty much all through the race. Also, have there been any improvements in caution flags coming out?

[Darkbandit]

Re: NASCAR Chase for the Cup 2005 (XBox) Q & A

How is the racing at the plate tracks? In last year's version of the game, the cars would pretty much get single file and stay that way pretty much all through the race. Also, have there been any improvements in caution flags coming out?