NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

[BurghFan]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

Had a feeling the careers would have to be restarted once the patch dropped which is why I never started one. Just did a couple single seasons and some single races.

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Just gonna edit this post rather than make a double post.

Started my career and not really sure what to make of these results. For the Daytona 500 Reutimann won the pole and Mears won the race. At Phoenix I won the pole (55% AI difficulty, 20% length for 62 lap race, 2x fuel, 1x tire wear) while Ryan Truex was on the outside pole. Start of the race I pretty much immediately get knocked back to around mid pack and Truex (Ryan, not Martin) proceeds to lead the first 35 or so laps until he finally pits. He then regained the lead after Jimmie Johnson finally decided to pit on lap 61 of 62 so RYAN Truex won the race. So, in short AI cars are still running absurd amounts of laps without pitting and there may be an issue drivers that should have lower ratings being too good. Other than that, the racing itself was pretty good. I finished 28th and 26th in the 2 races I ran.

[goravens2052]

Re: Updated NASCAR '14 Patch News, Free Daytona 500 DLC Pack Arrives After Patch Rele

If you are getting freezing while loading turn the music off. I saw some other guys they turned the music off and have had no problem. I always turn the music off and I haven't had an issue.

The problem I'm having is during qualifying when I pit for adjustments I can't go back out again.

This is my only issue as well. Other wise, I love doing qualifying and am enjoying this game quite well. Haven't started a season yet but will do so tomorrow to test out the Chase Format.

[brandon27]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

So, I put in a few races last night just to see if it was worth me spending more time with this game or not.

Honestly, I don't see or feel much improvement. The AI may be a touch better, but its nothing special really. I raced at AutoClub... aside from a few of the cars in the back of the pack it was basically just a big pack of cars together. Looked more like a plate track than it did anything else.

The AI now seems overly paranoid about the players car now. Not all the time, but sometimes if you get under them or right up behind them, I've seen them wiggle and wobble up out of the way, sometimes into the wall. Which of course doesn't bring out a caution. Decide for yourself if that's good or bad.

Michael Waltrip and Ryan Truex are apparently all of a sudden the greatest Nascar drivers ever. After 5 races, Michael and Ryan are both top 10 in points. Ok.... sure.

When I go to pit during qualifying, they show my car pull up to the pits, and then just drive on through and before I know it I'm back on the track again. I don't have the option to select my wait time. Its set at 0 minutes, and nothing I do in the pit menu that comes up on screen can change it.

I didn't even attempt a race yet with fuel and tire wear to see how the pitting is.

Bristol still seemed to be a bit of a nightmare to me as well. I got driven through quite a few times.

All in all, I really don't notice much difference. Not enough to make me want to work my way back through career and re-create all of my setups and cars etc.

I'm going to put a bit more time into it tonight, play with a setup or two and up the difficulty a bit to see if I can get a better experience out of it, So far its very much of the same to me after 4 or 5 races. Sounds like others are having similar experiences. It's better I guess, just, nowhere near enough IMO.

[cusefan74]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

The AI is not gonna be any different while racing. They said there wasn't much they could do with it. I noticed at Daytona that as soon as I bump somebody and try to push them in the draft now that their car is all over the place and they spin out really easy.

[brandon27]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

The AI is not gonna be any different while racing. They said there wasn't much they could do with it. I noticed at Daytona that as soon as I bump somebody and try to push them in the draft now that their car is all over the place and they spin out really easy.

Exactly what I noticed. It was even happening between two AI cars.

The same thing though happens at almost any track if you get underneath a car. They just get all out of shape or into the wall. It's pretty messy at times.

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

That's what I was saying yesterday. That's been around for a while, and it certainly wasn't helped yesterday. I did find it was easier to fall in line and not get taken out in a race, but it was bizarre having Cole Whitt and backmarker cars running in the top 10 every time.

All in all, it seems to be pretty much what I expected. Which wasn't much.

Cars at least all pitted when I raced, so I didn't have 2 cars that miraculously made it an entire 10% race on 4x fuel, and the CPU cars' tires seemed to fall off about like mine. That in itself may make it more playable for me, but their difficulty percentage is all weird 60% should be a little over half speed at a track, you would think...but nope, it's only a second off the real pace, go figure), the controls are impossible to dial in consistently from track to track using a wheel.

It's just a mess every time I try to play it. I have about 30% fun, 70% head-scratching "WTF" moments.

[cusefan74]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

From what I am seeing they are talking about another patch already. It seems that this patch really didn't help much and made things worse in some areas. This company is a lost cause I think, they can't seem to do anything right.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

It sucks that so many are disappointed. The group I race with actually have enjoyed the patch, and the game as a whole now - that's just us though.

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

Maybe that's the difference, Bob. If you're running online (and it works, which is different than last I tried), that would be a big part of it. Or maybe longer races with lower wear percentages, like a 50% race on 2X or something, would create less obvious issues. I'm curious what you run as far as race length percentage, AI percentage, fuel and tire wear.

Because I ran a few races on the 360 last night and watched "the train" follow each other around Richmond unless I stuck a nose under, at which point they wiggle-spazzed and would go up into the wall, halfway through a spin--and then magically right themselves.

I mean, it's exactly what it's been the whole time for me--a sometimes fun little diversion that looks sorta like NASCAR. But as a mostly offline gamer, there are a plethora of issues I still saw within 30 minutes. If you are meaning the group you LITERALLY race with, perhaps that's the difference...online vs. offline?

[Flamehead]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

Yeah, so apparently PC users have already started to see the 2nd update (the patch for the latest patch). ETX says they are going to use the feedback they get from this latest (2nd) update to basically formulate the next update for the consoles.

I have the steam version but haven't had the opportunity to check any of this stuff out.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

Maybe that's the difference, Bob. If you're running online (and it works, which is different than last I tried), that would be a big part of it. Or maybe longer races with lower wear percentages, like a 50% race on 2X or something, would create less obvious issues. I'm curious what you run as far as race length percentage, AI percentage, fuel and tire wear.

Because I ran a few races on the 360 last night and watched "the train" follow each other around Richmond unless I stuck a nose under, at which point they wiggle-spazzed and would go up into the wall, halfway through a spin--and then magically right themselves.

I mean, it's exactly what it's been the whole time for me--a sometimes fun little diversion that looks sorta like NASCAR. But as a mostly offline gamer, there are a plethora of issues I still saw within 30 minutes. If you are meaning the group you LITERALLY race with, perhaps that's the difference...online vs. offline?

We are running offline, but are talking with each via text, and phone. We are typically running 20% to 50% Race Now races, with full qual and damage on. We see some of the issues that most are describing on here. but we also see a decent amount of good in the game also.

Trust me I'm not on here trying to convince anyone to like the game, or convince people that the game is better now, post patch - and truthfully, it doesn't even matter what myself and three others see or don't see. When a person plays a game, they are going to look at that game in a certain way, and we all have our own way of looking at things.

[Stormyhog]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

I think people who follow the sport religously will be more harsh on the game than say a more casual person. Not a negative mind you as the passion for the sport you want it to be reflected as close as can be to real life. Where a casual like me will play it & if I am enjoying it & having fun I can overlook things. I am the same way with the NHL series I critique the game & look at everything alot closer than a casual would as I love & follow the sport. I'll still play the game warts and all but I do understand why fans of Nascar might be down on it.

[TCrouch]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

We are running offline, but are talking with each via text, and phone. We are typically running 20% to 50% Race Now races, with full qual and damage on. We see some of the issues that most are describing on here. but we also see a decent amount of good in the game also.

Trust me I'm not on here trying to convince anyone to like the game, or convince people that the game is better now, post patch - and truthfully, it doesn't even matter what myself and three others see or don't see. When a person plays a game, they are going to look at that game in a certain way, and we all have our own way of looking at things.

Oh, I know. I trust your opinion and didn't think you were doing anything like that at all. I know I've just always had bigger issues with this series than you have when I've spoken to you, but the PC version is definitely better than the console versions, for sure. Since my PC is gone for repair (again), I'm stuck trying the console versions for now.

The longer races would make sense if I could nail down a solid difficulty setting that I had fun with from start to finish. Seems so long ago that NR2003 had such a good balance. It didn't get wildly different from qual to race in the same race weekend, for example.

[cusefan74]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

I think people who follow the sport religously will be more harsh on the game than say a more casual person. Not a negative mind you as the passion for the sport you want it to be reflected as close as can be to real life. Where a casual like me will play it & if I am enjoying it & having fun I can overlook things. I am the same way with the NHL series I critique the game & look at everything alot closer than a casual would as I love & follow the sport. I'll still play the game warts and all but I do understand why fans of Nascar might be down on it.

I follow NASCAR and watch all the races every week, and when it comes to video games I can overlook things alot. I know games aren't gonna be perfect and don't expect them to be. I can live with the pit strategy for the AI being messed up. I can live with not having a NASCAR game where cars never break down or blow a tire. But, we can't have 4 and 5 wide racing at short tracks, and cars that never have to pit during a race, or the AI just running you right over.

There is one more thing that I don't expect and that is everytime I try an online race my PS3 locksup. I can only do 1 or 2 races and then it freezes, unacceptable. That is my biggest thing, I could actually overlook everything else if they would just fix that.

[Stormyhog]

Re: NASCAR '14 Patch Has Finally Arrived

I follow NASCAR and watch all the races every week, and when it comes to video games I can overlook things alot. I know games aren't gonna be perfect and don't expect them to be. I can live with the pit strategy for the AI being messed up. I can live with not having a NASCAR game where cars never break down or blow a tire. But, we can't have 4 and 5 wide racing at short tracks, and cars that never have to pit during a race, or the AI just running you right over.

There is one more thing that I don't expect and that is everytime I try an online race my PS3 locksup. I can only do 1 or 2 races and then it freezes, unacceptable. That is my biggest thing, I could actually overlook everything else if they would just fix that.

Yeah I hate when there are technical issues with games like freezes drives me nut's. BF4 was horrendous at launch crashing all the time. Made me not want to play it.