NASCAR '14 Available Now - Post Your Impressions

[Aggies7]

NASCAR '14 is available today for both Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, check out the launch trailer here. Post your impressions after you get a few laps in.

A few reviews have been spotted online, we'll add to the list as they become available.

• Gamesradar (3.5/5)
• ApexTimes (6.5/10)
• Terminal Gamer (8.5/10)

[Steve_OS]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Here are a couple of reviews.

Gamesradar (3.5/5)

ApexTimes (6.5/10)

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Obviously I am working on the review - but I wanted to throw these quick nuggets out for those that are interested -

- Gone are the days of choosing Easy/Medium/Hard for opponent difficulty.You can now choose difficulty in increments of 5% points at each track.

- Car handling is much different than in '13, and I for one really like it

- AI is better, but still some issues there - but def better than last year(so far at least)

[Stormyhog]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Obviously I am working on the review - but I wanted to throw these quick nuggets out for those that are interested -

- Gone are the days of choosing Easy/Medium/Hard for opponent difficulty.You can now choose difficulty in increments of 5% points at each track.

- Car handling is much different than in '13, and I for one really like it

- AI is better, but still some issues there - but def better than last year(so far at least)

Can you change the percentage of fuel and tire wear when doing short races like for 10 laps. I would like to be able to pit at least once or do you need to play longer laps for that to happen. Thanks.

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

You've always been able to change those...can't imagine they changed that. Last year they changed fuel and tire wear independently, too. So you could set fuel to 4x and tire to 1x wear and still have to pit on a 10% race without the car falling off a cliff performance wise. Their tire management between human and CPU drivers has always been horrendous.

[Stormyhog]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

You've always been able to change those...can't imagine they changed that. Last year they changed fuel and tire wear independently, too. So you could set fuel to 4x and tire to 1x wear and still have to pit on a 10% race without the car falling off a cliff performance wise. Their tire management between human and CPU drivers has always been horrendous.

Yeah I remember in the first game you had to do longer races in quick race to pit. Last game I was glad they fixed that but whenever a new game comes out I like to know if things were changed. The reason I ask is I like to play short laps but want to be able to pit to add more fuel and change tires. Thx for the response.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Can you change the percentage of fuel and tire wear when doing short races like for 10 laps. I would like to be able to pit at least once or do you need to play longer laps for that to happen. Thanks.

Well if you do a 2% race at Marty - you cannot set fuel and tire wear high enough(only goes to X4 for each) to accomplish that, but at 5% races it looks like it might be needed this year - but haven't tested it - .

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Minimum length for stops is 10% race length. Anything less, 4x wear/fuel use won't help.

But something that bugged me to no end last year--even if I set it to 4x wear and the CPU could make it 50% of a race distance when set to 10%, they'd short-pit it by a lap or two and make it a two-stop race. That's ridiculous.

Then, there was the inevitable instances where 1 or 2 cars would inexplicably NEVER pit, leading to a win by a large margin. So many head scratching instances in the previous games, which still occurred on PC as recently as last month when I ran it some more.

[[Icy]]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Looking forward for the review, i know it won't be what i get in Iracing, but hope it's more or less "sim" with a decent AI for when i want to play offline.

[brandon27]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

I ran two quick races over my lunch break. One at Michigan, one at Vegas, with the stock "setups" the game provides. Here's some impressions from me:

- AI seemed better to race with. I didn't notice any issues with brake checking etc. while in the pack at Michigan.

- As mentioned earlier, player handling is different. I like the feel better as well.

- If you played the last version of this title, this one will look almost identical in the menu's and such aside from some color changes etc. It's eerily similar which I guess has become the norm for most sports titles.

- The visuals/graphics to me... seem like theyve been downgraded. I was playing NTGIL a few nights ago, and it looked great on my TV using the picture settings I normally watch TV with. I play most other games that way as well. This one... looked awful. Just awful, the colors were bad, things were blurry. So, I flipped my tv over to "game mode" and it looked better, much better, but still nowhere near as nice as the previous version did. To say I'm disappointed in that, would be a big understatement. One of the thigns that made even the poor previous versions of this title enjoyable to me were the visuals, now, not so much. Using a 60" Samsung LED here... I'm going to try the game out on my 52" plasma later tonight and see if its the TV, but I'm doubting that, because like I said, I was playing NTGIL the other night and it looked fantastic. Something is going on here...

- Didn't get a chance to dig into career, season, or anything like that though. Just had time for two quickies at Michigan and Vegas, the racing seemed improved.

- That being said... I didn't use any tire wear either, not enough time to really play with it, so I'm not sure how the AI handles pitting etc. etc.

- I found it extremely hard to trigger a caution though. I could get AI cars loose by hitting them if I wanted to, but they'd typically just slide around, hit the wall, and keep going with no caution, or complete spin, just this weird almost like side to side slide until it hit the wall. Disappointed a bit there, but... hard to judge based on two quick races.

Those are some initial thoughts of mine.. .

[bigdoc85]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Good points --Here are my initial observations after 1 quick race at Daytona:

1. I do agree that visuals seem to be a downgrade - that was disappointing.

2. I put the AI at 35% and the AI pretty much ran as a pack the entire race.

3. I do agree that the feel is a bit better and maybe easier to control the car.

I ran two quick races over my lunch break. One at Michigan, one at Vegas, with the stock "setups" the game provides. Here's some impressions from me:

- AI seemed better to race with. I didn't notice any issues with brake checking etc. while in the pack at Michigan.

- As mentioned earlier, player handling is different. I like the feel better as well.

- If you played the last version of this title, this one will look almost identical in the menu's and such aside from some color changes etc. It's eerily similar which I guess has become the norm for most sports titles.

- The visuals/graphics to me... seem like theyve been downgraded. I was playing NTGIL a few nights ago, and it looked great on my TV using the picture settings I normally watch TV with. I play most other games that way as well. This one... looked awful. Just awful, the colors were bad, things were blurry. So, I flipped my tv over to "game mode" and it looked better, much better, but still nowhere near as nice as the previous version did. To say I'm disappointed in that, would be a big understatement. One of the thigns that made even the poor previous versions of this title enjoyable to me were the visuals, now, not so much. Using a 60" Samsung LED here... I'm going to try the game out on my 52" plasma later tonight and see if its the TV, but I'm doubting that, because like I said, I was playing NTGIL the other night and it looked fantastic. Something is going on here...

- Didn't get a chance to dig into career, season, or anything like that though. Just had time for two quickies at Michigan and Vegas, the racing seemed improved.

- That being said... I didn't use any tire wear either, not enough time to really play with it, so I'm not sure how the AI handles pitting etc. etc.

- I found it extremely hard to trigger a caution though. I could get AI cars loose by hitting them if I wanted to, but they'd typically just slide around, hit the wall, and keep going with no caution, or complete spin, just this weird almost like side to side slide until it hit the wall. Disappointed a bit there, but... hard to judge based on two quick races.

Those are some initial thoughts of mine.. .

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

- The visuals/graphics to me... seem like theyve been downgraded. I was playing NTGIL a few nights ago, and it looked great on my TV using the picture settings I normally watch TV with. I play most other games that way as well. This one... looked awful. Just awful, the colors were bad, things were blurry. So, I flipped my tv over to "game mode" and it looked better, much better, but still nowhere near as nice as the previous version did. To say I'm disappointed in that, would be a big understatement. One of the thigns that made even the poor previous versions of this title enjoyable to me were the visuals, now, not so much. Using a 60" Samsung LED here... I'm going to try the game out on my 52" plasma later tonight and see if its the TV, but I'm doubting that, because like I said, I was playing NTGIL the other night and it looked fantastic. Something is going on here...

Speculation of course, but my guess is they might have subtracted some graphical assets to free up RAM space for the AI, or math needed elsewhere.

I'm holding for Bob's review before I lift a finger to even think about buying again this year.

I need to hear more about complete races with AI pitting...the concerns that Terry posted about.

I know Ed already said the paint shop was pretty much the same but would like to hear if there are some new sponsors we can use?

We need to know about online racing and the bubble effect...in particular if Terry or I would take each other out without trying again like on Inside Line lol.

So far it's really sounding like IL 2.0, but like I said, Bob's review and some thorough testing by him and other trusted OS racers here will be appreciated.

[cusefan74]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Speculation of course, but my guess is they might have subtracted some graphical assets to free up RAM space for the AI, or math needed elsewhere.

I'm holding for Bob's review before I lift a finger to even think about buying again this year.

I need to hear more about complete races with AI pitting...the concerns that Terry posted about.

I know Ed already said the paint shop was pretty much the same but would like to hear if there are some new sponsors we can use?

We need to know about online racing and the bubble effect...in particular if Terry or I would take each other out without trying again like on Inside Line lol.

So far it's really sounding like IL 2.0, but like I said, Bob's review and some thorough testing by him and other trusted OS racers here will be appreciated.

I don't have the game but someone I know does and he said the bubble effect was still there but that it was less then the last game. He said it doesn't seem as near as bad as before.

[brandon27]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Good points --Here are my initial observations after 1 quick race at Daytona:

1. I do agree that visuals seem to be a downgrade - that was disappointing.

2. I put the AI at 35% and the AI pretty much ran as a pack the entire race.

3. I do agree that the feel is a bit better and maybe easier to control the car.

I'm glad it's not just me that thought that then. The tv I was playing on today, I've only had for a few weeks now, so I thought maybe Im just not used to the switch from Plasma to LED in that room yet etc. etc. Im still going to run a race on the plasma I used to play on later tonight and see, but hearing it from someone else too at least makes me feel a bit better it's not just me, or my eyes in my old age!

I don't want to get others upset who dont have it, It's not that the game looks bad, because it still looks good. It just feels like its been downgraded. The menu's look almost a bit blurry in spots with some of the wording, the cars the same at times, lots of jaggies around alot of edges. Stuff that I typically don't notice, or care about, really jumped out at me this afternoon. Normally others complain about it, I read it here, but rarely ever notice or care at home.

That being said, there were also several times I was running from the in car, or roof cam, with wide open track in front of me, and it still does look really good for the most part.

I forgot to mention too, I ran two laps at Daytona too under testing mode. Felt good. Looked ok too.

Also want to mention, I was using a controller today too, felt I had no major issues at all controlling the car, or holding my line through the turns at Daytona. That's a huge plus for me, and any of you casual racers out there that may not have a wheel, or want to invest in one.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: NASCAR '14 Official Impression Thread

Speculation of course, but my guess is they might have subtracted some graphical assets to free up RAM space for the AI, or math needed elsewhere.

I'm holding for Bob's review before I lift a finger to even think about buying again this year.

I need to hear more about complete races with AI pitting...the concerns that Terry posted about.

I know Ed already said the paint shop was pretty much the same but would like to hear if there are some new sponsors we can use?

We need to know about online racing and the bubble effect...in particular if Terry or I would take each other out without trying again like on Inside Line lol.

So far it's really sounding like IL 2.0, but like I said, Bob's review and some thorough testing by him and other trusted OS racers here will be appreciated.

Well Dan - due to bad weather I just got the game in the mail this morning. I am playing both the PS3 and PC version and running short to long runs, and testing the AI on 50% difficulty up to 75/80% so far. They run so much better at the 75/80 mark than the default 50. Testing career right now, and will be testing online tonight hopefully - goals is to have the review done tomorrow, and possibly live tomorrow also -