Nascar Heat 2 Impressions.....

[brandon27]

Quote: Originally Posted by croc500

On quick race, my game freezes up for a second or two when the spotter speaks and I am around another car on the track. I am on xbox one. Anyone else having this issue? Also, is this a problem on the ps4 as well? Any way to fix it? I tried turning off controller vibration, that did not work.

I've seen it myself as well on XB1. I think I noted that in my impressions post earlier. It doesn't seem to do it everytime, seems to happen to me most when I cross the start/finish line and he makes a comment about a new fastest lap. Happened to me last night drafting at Daytona in a trucks race. wiped out the whole field as a result. Pretty damn annoying. Really made me wish flashbacks/rewind was an option in this game. I was a handful of laps into the third stage of a 25% length race, wrecked because of the game, and no way to bail myself out. Even if we could have mid-race saves, or save points at the stage breaks. Something... Anything... lol Or, if they could just patch the glitch

[kneebon5]

Finally got my password reset so I can use my real account.

Doing a full career since I paid for this game, not sure if anyone can handle my talking for 40 to 50 minutes, but the racing is finally getting "fun" at my last gateway race.

Link to full series Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT90...RFD5qveCRQDNbP

[JohnDoe8865]

This is my first NASCAR game on current-gen. Last one I played was NASCAR 15 for XBOX 360, but I didn't play that title for very long. I've played almost all of the current-gen racers from every Forza and Forza Horizon to Project Cars to Driveclub. So I realize that no game on console is "full-sim" like you can find on PC, although Project Cars and Assetto Corsa tried to lean towards it.

I'll say that this game is fun. Not having experienced NASCAR HEAT Evolution has probably been a good thing for me, because I'm not directly comparing HEAT 2 against the original. And I'm certainly not comparing it to games like NASCAR Racing 2003 or iRacing, because that's not fair.

HEAT 2 is, dare I say, a more casual game than the sim racing titles above, and probably more fairly compare against the Euchtenyx games and even the EA Sports NASCAR games before it during the 360/PS3 gen.

So it's early I know but there are a lot of things I like in this game. Not enough for me to buy it annually, but enough to feel good about my purchase.

I like the sense of speed from the hood cam, but I REALLY wish we had a couple of more camera options. One that's between in-car and hood cam would be perfect for me.

The menus and general UI are well done I think.

The racing feels fair and nerve-wrecking in tight corners and 3-wide situations. That and turning laps to get better at every track are the two most fun things about the game right now.

I really do wish the caution would come out when someone spins out in front of me, or someone spins me out though. I realize that the AI cars are pretty well programmed to avoid the spin-outs and leave them as single car accidents, but the caution flag should be getting thrown more often.

Some of the other noteworthy things I'm really missing are simple QoL improvements that have been in so many past games. Things like a manually scroll-able order when looking at the post race field. Just let me go up or down 10 spots with a trigger or bumper? I'd really like to see who finished where and their race time, on my own time. Not trying wait for them to scroll back around.

I know a lot of people miss the track mini-map and I see that point. Especially at the road courses. It would also really be nice to see how close you are to being lapped on a visual map for example or seeing how far ahead or behind you are from the field at tracks like Talladega. I know you can look at the numbers showing your last/fastest lap and how far away the leader and car in front of you are. And I appreciate that information. But just having that nice simple visual of the cars on the track would be such a helpful addition.

I haven't had a chance to really get into career mode yet, so I can't comment on first hand experience but I've read some things and seen some video that worries me. I'm honestly kinda baffled that the career mode only gives four levels of difficulty instead of the granular 105 scale that you get in Quick Race. Why wouldn't that extend to the Championship modes? For example, I have a 101 speed rating at Atlanta. But I only have a 91 right now at Talladega. What difficulty does that put me on? Will Atlanta be too easy? Talladega too hard? Small oversights and design decisions like these really hamper my long-term ability to enjoy a game.

Oh and I really would like the option to name my driver in career mode. And change his number to something other than 8, 28, and 98 (I think?) Any number not taken in a given series should be available unless there is some legal issue that I'm not seeing. I know these are small aesthetic things to some, but they really add up in immersing a player in the game and thus investing more into the game. More time with the game likely means more repeat business. This helps everyone involved when it's done, publishers, developers, and players.

I can barely hear my spotter when I need him the most sometimes and it's frustrating to not hear him and come down on a car you can't see. A slider for spotter volume, like the ones we have for engine and music would probably solve this problem completely. I know opinions are mixed on the spotter issue, but I'd personally like a slightly more "chatty" spotter, letting me know things as I run laps. Maybe an option for default or enhanced spotter audio?

So if anyone from 704 reads these forums, please consider some of these QoL additions in a patch this year.

Overall so far, as a racing product, I'd say it's very well done and a lot of fun. The on-track racing is as much fun as any NASCAR console game I can remember since the OG XBOX/PS2 days. And the fact that no other game has pushed it out of my PS4 since I got it on release day, tells me that something is intangibly "right" with the game. With some polish and QoL enhancements, this could easily be a game that NASCAR fans and racing fans look forward to each release.

[brandon27]

So, I was on race 8 of 23 in a truck series season in championship mode. Decided to try out career mode last night for a bit after race 7.

Turn on the game this morning. It's gone. Doesn't exist. Shows I have an active season, but race 0 of 23. Awesome...

Figure I'll go try my career mode again.

Guess what? It's gone too.

Look at my driver stats... I was at 20 races last night. Now it shows 9. So basically everything I did yesterday with the game, is gone.

Unreal... Anyone else experiencing this?

[scoman]

Quote: Originally Posted by brandon27

So, I was on race 8 of 23 in a truck series season in championship mode. Decided to try out career mode last night for a bit after race 7. Turn on the game this morning. It's gone. Doesn't exist. Shows I have an active season, but race 0 of 23. Awesome... Figure I'll go try my career mode again. Guess what? It's gone too. Look at my driver stats... I was at 20 races last night. Now it shows 9. So basically everything I did yesterday with the game, is gone. Unreal... Anyone else experiencing this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQdwH0jr-CY

[brandon27]

Quote: Originally Posted by scoman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQdwH0jr-CY

At work. Can't view. Can you provide some context?

[scoman]

Quote: Originally Posted by brandon27

At work. Can't view. Can you provide some context?

Just confirming the same issue you had. Your on xbox right? I haven't seen this mentioned on the steam forums as of yet.

[brandon27]

Quote: Originally Posted by scoman

Just confirming the same issue you had. Your on xbox right? I haven't seen this mentioned on the steam forums as of yet.

Thanks. If only there was a way to communicate with the dev team so they could be made aware of the abundance of issues that seem to be cropping up.


Find it odd though that I lost over an entire day's worth of gameplay. I started that Championship mode season on Tuesday. Resumed it Wednesday, along with starting my career, and It's all gone. Not just the championship and career, but the statistics, the speed points, the race count and speed ratings at the tracks. Everything, just... gone.


Yes, I'm on XB1

Glad they did some testing first.