NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

[dubcity]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Wow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPSHzuNMy7Q

Jump to 4:38 of that video, it's a graphic comparison of Heat Evolution vs. 09, Daytona night race. We're talking an eight-year-old game developed on previous-gen and it's not even close which one looks better. Not even close.

Funny, I bought NASCAR 09 about a month ago, just to check out the last NASCAR game by a major developer, and it's not too bad. Has it's fair share of bugs. Not sure I can agree that it looks better than HE or NASCAR 15, but the engine is obviously more solid than both. It's really hard to drive in the traffic tho.

[bravesfan1984]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

They just posted an update on twitter, listing items they are working on for the next patch. That's encouraging to see. Hope the fixes improve the game enough for me to take it off the shelf.

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

From the website:

As The Chase heats up on the track, NASCAR Heat Evolution has a few upgrades planned. We’ve been listening to your feedback and we’ve got some updates planned over the coming weeks with the features you’ve been asking for. Below is a list of features Monster Games is working on.

You may notice a few fan suggestions are missing from the list. Don’t worry! We’re looking into them. Some updates require more development time than others and may have to wait until the next title release. Nonetheless, we’re here listening to your feedback. Stay tuned.

Online
Address issue of players driving backwards
Set physics type option
Allow setups option

Features
Add additional drivers
Adjust screen size option on console
Miller Lite paint scheme integration

General
Update engine sounds
Improve caution flag sensitivity
Fix engine issue when using “Full Damage”
Polish fuel windows
Other improvements and fixes

Pretty encouraging stuff. There are also a few new free DLC paint schemes on the PS Store, basically the Gamestop/Best Buy/etc. pre-order schemes.

[brandon27]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

That's a step in the right direction. However, it's nowhere near enough. It's encouraging though that they're doing something about it at least. Wish tire sounds were on that list, because they're awful too. Some effort into improving the framerate would be greatly appreciated too. It's going to take at least that to get me to come back to this and play it regularly.

I tried playing it while FH3 and Madden were both downloading their big recent patches (I have slow internet lol). I played a couple career races, Atlanta and Vegas. While the AI that essentially guarantees you'll finish no higher than 20th when you start out is a drag, the fight to get to 20th can be fun against the AI though. However, the constant framerate drops (especially if you enable rearview mirror) ruin that fun experience pretty quickly. Hopefully there's something to address that under "Other improvements and fixes".

Going to keep an eye on this, looks like they're making and effort, and that's good.

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Yeah, framerate improvement would probably be at the top of my list, along with A.I. I'm a not a game developer but based just on what I've heard, it might be tough to expect dramatic performance improvements with the Unity engine. Kinda like trying to draw a Mona Lisa with crayons. Still, I appreciate these guys being open and responsive with their post-release support.

I've haven't played HE for nearly two weeks, but I may play some this weekend to check out the new paint jobs and make some left turns.

[Tomba]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I SO wanted this to be good.

After getting the Forza Nascar DLC i was all for a all out Nascar game. Now i have Nascar 15 Victory edition on PC and in 4k its pretty sharp.

Is this game better than that game in any way? anyone play NASCAR HEAT on pc?

It seems like if it aint forza all racing games should be played on PC now.

[brandon27]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I SO wanted this to be good.

After getting the Forza Nascar DLC i was all for a all out Nascar game. Now i have Nascar 15 Victory edition on PC and in 4k its pretty sharp.

Is this game better than that game in any way? anyone play NASCAR HEAT on pc?

It seems like if it aint forza all racing games should be played on PC now.

In all honesty... N15-VE is the better game right now IMO if you want a Nascar racing game that has the features you're used to from a driving and physics standpoint. Nascar HE has the better AI at this point, but that's really where it starts, and stops. It's pretty bare. Career is a nice foundation though in Heat, so there's that too.

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

After getting the Forza Nascar DLC i was all for a all out Nascar game. Now i have Nascar 15 Victory edition on PC and in 4k its pretty sharp.

Is this game better than that game in any way?

I mentioned this earlier, but in my opinion Victory Edition is a much better game than HE. So is NASCAR 09. At the very least, both of those games have features that you would expect from a modern NASCAR game.

[bravesfan1984]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Patch details are up:

http://www.nascarheat.com/2016/10/12/nascar-heat-evolution-update-3/

[dudesteve]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

We have literally been starved of a true NASCAR sim since 2005, and I hate calling NASCAR Sim Racing a sim. So depressing when you think about it.

[b_assassin]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

My impressions after over a month of playing this thing:

Overall, I'm having fun with it, in spite of its many flaws and general v1/bare bones feel. It does retain the spirit of past NH games in that it is pretty easy to pick up and play, but isn't as refined a sim racer as something like the classic Papy games. I'm also a more forgiving of the elements that are less realistic, as I'm not looking for a hardcore sim, just a reasonably 'authentic' NASCAR experience that can scratch my itch for stock car racing. I've primarily been playing career mode on Normal, and I've already fully upgraded my team and won the championship in my third season. I'll probably keep playing a bit more on higher difficulty, but without being able to tweak the physics and setups on normal, I feel like I'm about done with it until next year's version (hoping there is one). I don't think my complaints are anything new, but my biggest issues with it are:


- Lots of bugs and polish issues - you can tell that they ran out of time toward release, as the launch version was pretty buggy and clunky. They've been making some light improvements with patches, and thankfully they fixed the bad frame hitching due to spotter audio.
- There is no happy medium between 'Normal' and 'Sim' physics. Normal feels too restrictive (no setups, lots of assists) and sim is really hard to control using a controller. I'd love to be able to select specific assists to really dial in the racing feel to my liking.
- You can't edit or tune setups in Normal mode - I don't want to go deep with setups, but I do want to be able to make some basic adjustments outside of pit stop adjustments mid-race.
- Visuals and performance are average at best - maybe this is due to being on Unity, but visually not as sharp as other modern racers like Forza, P-Cars, etc. I'm hopeful that they future versions will push the bar higher, both in image quality and framerate.
- Audio - I'm pretty sure they are using the same engine audio that they had in the old Nascar Heat games. This is bad because the engine sounds aren't that good (no throat or depth/range to them IMO), and it feels pretty low-budget to not at least update the audio for engines from games that are 10+ years old. I read somewhere they are replacing the engine audio, hopefully that happens soon.

I agree with the sentiment that Nascar 15 VE is currently a better game, but I really hope they get the chance to keep refining and improving NHE in the future, since this I suspect this will be our primary option for Nascar on console moving forward. :/

[BurghFan]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I agree with pretty much everything in the above post. After having completed a full season in career, my biggest issue is the extreme AI rubber banding.

First of all, I play on Normal physics, normal difficulty, 25% race length, 2x fuel/tires, no flags, no damage.

I started in the back in most races but was quickly able to move up to 20-24th place which seems to be the equilibrium point as once you get there you can't gain any more ground only getting lapped by the leaders and lapping the guys at the tail end of the field. If someone ahead of you should pit allowing you to move up a spot, the guy behind you who probably hadn't gained an inch in the last 5 laps will suddenly rocket up to and past you to put you back in the equilibrium point.

A couple examples to further illustrate the rubber band AI problem.

At the spring race in Texas (I think) I was going to pit, but overshot the entrance on my 1st try and had to go around another lap. On my 2nd attempt I got hit and spun out by another car trying to pit and it took me a few seconds to right myself especially since I couldn't see anything from all the smoke. Well, once I had pitted and everything cycled through, I inexplicably ended up right back in about the same position I was before my 1st botched attempt to pit, maybe even 1 or 2 spots ahead.

Drafting is rendered completely irrelevant at the plate tracks. At Talladega I was drafting with the same guy for 5 laps yet couldn't gain an inch on a guy running by himself 2 seconds ahead nor could my drafting partner and I get away from a guy running by himself side-by-side with me.

[brandon27]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

My impressions after over a month of playing this thing:

Overall, I'm having fun with it, in spite of its many flaws and general v1/bare bones feel. It does retain the spirit of past NH games in that it is pretty easy to pick up and play, but isn't as refined a sim racer as something like the classic Papy games. I'm also a more forgiving of the elements that are less realistic, as I'm not looking for a hardcore sim, just a reasonably 'authentic' NASCAR experience that can scratch my itch for stock car racing. I've primarily been playing career mode on Normal, and I've already fully upgraded my team and won the championship in my third season. I'll probably keep playing a bit more on higher difficulty, but without being able to tweak the physics and setups on normal, I feel like I'm about done with it until next year's version (hoping there is one). I don't think my complaints are anything new, but my biggest issues with it are:


- Lots of bugs and polish issues - you can tell that they ran out of time toward release, as the launch version was pretty buggy and clunky. They've been making some light improvements with patches, and thankfully they fixed the bad frame hitching due to spotter audio.
- There is no happy medium between 'Normal' and 'Sim' physics. Normal feels too restrictive (no setups, lots of assists) and sim is really hard to control using a controller. I'd love to be able to select specific assists to really dial in the racing feel to my liking.
- You can't edit or tune setups in Normal mode - I don't want to go deep with setups, but I do want to be able to make some basic adjustments outside of pit stop adjustments mid-race.
- Visuals and performance are average at best - maybe this is due to being on Unity, but visually not as sharp as other modern racers like Forza, P-Cars, etc. I'm hopeful that they future versions will push the bar higher, both in image quality and framerate.
- Audio - I'm pretty sure they are using the same engine audio that they had in the old Nascar Heat games. This is bad because the engine sounds aren't that good (no throat or depth/range to them IMO), and it feels pretty low-budget to not at least update the audio for engines from games that are 10+ years old. I read somewhere they are replacing the engine audio, hopefully that happens soon.

I agree with the sentiment that Nascar 15 VE is currently a better game, but I really hope they get the chance to keep refining and improving NHE in the future, since this I suspect this will be our primary option for Nascar on console moving forward. :/

I agree with pretty much everything in the above post. After having completed a full season in career, my biggest issue is the extreme AI rubber banding.

First of all, I play on Normal physics, normal difficulty, 25% race length, 2x fuel/tires, no flags, no damage.

I started in the back in most races but was quickly able to move up to 20-24th place which seems to be the equilibrium point as once you get there you can't gain any more ground only getting lapped by the leaders and lapping the guys at the tail end of the field. If someone ahead of you should pit allowing you to move up a spot, the guy behind you who probably hadn't gained an inch in the last 5 laps will suddenly rocket up to and past you to put you back in the equilibrium point.

A couple examples to further illustrate the rubber band AI problem.

At the spring race in Texas (I think) I was going to pit, but overshot the entrance on my 1st try and had to go around another lap. On my 2nd attempt I got hit and spun out by another car trying to pit and it took me a few seconds to right myself especially since I couldn't see anything from all the smoke. Well, once I had pitted and everything cycled through, I inexplicably ended up right back in about the same position I was before my 1st botched attempt to pit, maybe even 1 or 2 spots ahead.

Drafting is rendered completely irrelevant at the plate tracks. At Talladega I was drafting with the same guy for 5 laps yet couldn't gain an inch on a guy running by himself 2 seconds ahead nor could my drafting partner and I get away from a guy running by himself side-by-side with me.

If the devs really care about giving those of us who paid for this game something worthwhile, this is exactly what they need to read and fix. These two posts right here, sum it all up perfectly. The game needs all of these issues addressed at a minimum to be even compared to the last console Nascar game from the previous guys.

Did they ever patch in the beer sponsors?

Not that I've seen.

[JMD]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Flash sale now on the PS4 has this game for $29.99. I so want to buy it but after reading the last few comments here I can't do it.

[Richzilla]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I pulled the trigger. Had planed to wait for 19.99 lol

So far I did a couple quick races. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Dont get me wrong it's not a 59 dollar title.

Seems rough in spots and short on some basic features you would normally see in past nascar games. Example I didnt see where my lap times stand up vs. the field in practice...not sure if I missed it.

I did run laps at Kansas and Texas.

Once I adjusted the AI I had some fun running practice. I battled with the 18 for several laps. It was actually fun.

When the race started I was on the pole and was passed by the 4 on the bottom going into turn 1. Got back by him going into 3 and then just blew away the field.

Flashes of fun so far....Dont have high expectations....should get 20 bucks of value from it though.