NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

[openicehit42]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Anyone else having issues with online gameplay? Since Thursday I haven't been able to complete an online race; the race will freeze, I cannot connect to lobbies or I'll get into a lobby and the race won't load.

I believe it's isolated to NHE because my other online gameplay so are fine.

[Aggies7]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Question, if we do the 2017 update do we lose the ability to use Harvicks Busch (hunting) scheme and Brads Miller Lite Scheme? Or can you still use all the old one for a Career mode.


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[bravesfan1984]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Question, if we do the 2017 update do we lose the ability to use Harvicks Busch (hunting) scheme and Brads Miller Lite Scheme? Or can you still use all the old one for a Career mode.


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The way I understand it is when you load up the game you will be given the option to select 2016 or 2017, so nothing transfers between each. So no beer sponsors for 2017, however 5 hour energy is in.

[Aggies7]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

The way I understand it is when you load up the game you will be given the option to select 2016 or 2017, so nothing transfers between each. So no beer sponsors for 2017, however 5 hour energy is in.

Yea that is how I read it, which would be horrible. If you at least give the option to chose the field when you start a career I think it would help (at least for me) to justify purchasing for $9.99. Granted won't make up for lack of rules and Sprint to Monster issue.


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[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

If they did anything right, it was the AI for sure, and that's the encouraging part that will eventually make me buy NHE2 whenever it releases.

Yeah, it seems as though the rubberbanding goes away if you select an AI number setting (85-105) instead of Auto, which is great because the catch-up logic was killing the 1P game for me.

If you have a couple hours to kill I recommend trying a 100% race length, or at least something long enough to experience regular tire/fuel wear, long green flag runs, pit stops etc. etc.

I raced 100% this morning before the wife woke up, not sure I'll ever have time to do it again but it was fun. The other thing I'm doing is going for Elite status on most tracks, I'm currently up to 13 but completing the rest doesn't seem super-difficult. That is except for the road courses, I don't think I'll ever Elite those.

Granted won't make up for lack of rules and Sprint to Monster issue.

I was assuming that Sprint to Monster was part of the 2017 DLC, thanks for pointing out that it's not. So it's essentially a graphical update without all of the 2017 graphical updates... makes it an easy pass for me.

[UFCMPunk]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Overall I have fun with the game but I just hope they make career mode as deep as say Thunder 2004 eventually. Don't think I'll buy the new game since I'm not fond of the new race and championship format. I may buy the 2017 update and just keep playing this game until the 2018 game or something like that.

Would be nice to see in future games that NASCAR allows them to put all the different championship formats into the game(including the old Winston Cup Format). Then before we begin a season or career, we choose which championship format we want to use throughout the career or season.

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Guess I'm getting Daytona fever, 'cause I've been playing a lot of this game recently. Going off what brandon27 said about the AI, I'm trying to figure out exactly how the AI settings work to get the best racing experience. I haven't come across anything definitive online so I'm going to do my best to detail it here (it would be nice if DMi explained these settings themselves). You guys let me know if this is way off base:

First off, as far as I can tell, AI adjustments only affect the top speed of the CPU cars, not their racing behavior. So you can't make the opposition race smarter or dumber, only faster or slower. I think we pretty much expect this with racing games though, and as brandon27 said, the built-in AI is actually good if you race at a decent length.

The default AI setting is Auto, which is basically rubberbanding AI at 100% top speed. This is where I was getting screwed up as it's the default setting. and where "20th Place Mode" kicks in. You'll notice an abrupt change in CPU speed as you as get close to this position, but if you're three laps down you'll blow by the lead car like it was standing still. You can slow the AI down (Auto -2%) or speed it up (Auto +2%), but the game is still using catch-up logic at certain intervals.

FWIW, I've seen people comment that Auto reads your track Speed Rating, but I don't believe this is the case. I have a 105 Speed Rating on many tracks and the Auto AI is as slow as it ever was on those tracks, until I reach 20th place that is. And besides, you can clearly see the dividing lines where the CPU evaluates your position and decides to make your competition faster, therefore the best thing to do is to disable Auto and find a Custom setting that suits your skill level.

The Custom settings range from 85-105. Again, this is only a governor of the CPU opponents' top speed. 85 means they'll reach 85% of top speed compared to your untuned (no setups) car, 105 means they'll reach 105% of top speed compared to the same car. This is immediately evident if you race at both settings, you'll be blowing by the opposition at 85 and will get left in the dust at 105, unless you find a killer setup and do plenty of drafting.

To test this out I ran two races at Darlington, one at 85 and the other at 105. The top CPU laps were:

85 = 37.692
105 = 30.113

As you can see, the AI is much faster at the top setting. It has nothing to do with actual racing intelligence, just a higher top speed.

So what does this all mean? It means that theoretically, you could race at Custom 100 and get a fair, balanced race. Unfortunately Career Mode is an entirely different beast. There are only Easy/Normal/Hard settings, all of which seem to tie into Auto. Which unless I'm mistaken, is the reason you can't run a non-rubberbanding race in Career Mode.

[Aggies7]

NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Any of y'all running this on XBox One that use a racing wheel. I am trying to find one less than $100. I have a PC wheel that doesn't work on XB1. Don't want to spend a fortune on a 2nd wheel/pedals and want to make sure it works well with NASCAR Evolution


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[bravesfan1984]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Guess I'm getting Daytona fever, 'cause I've been playing a lot of this game recently. Going off what brandon27 said about the AI, I'm trying to figure out exactly how the AI settings work to get the best racing experience. I haven't come across anything definitive online so I'm going to do my best to detail it here (it would be nice if DMi explained these settings themselves). You guys let me know if this is way off base:

First off, as far as I can tell, AI adjustments only affect the top speed of the CPU cars, not their racing behavior. So you can't make the opposition race smarter or dumber, only faster or slower. I think we pretty much expect this with racing games though, and as brandon27 said, the built-in AI is actually good if you race at a decent length.

The default AI setting is Auto, which is basically rubberbanding AI at 100% top speed. This is where I was getting screwed up as it's the default setting. and where "20th Place Mode" kicks in. You'll notice an abrupt change in CPU speed as you as get close to this position, but if you're three laps down you'll blow by the lead car like it was standing still. You can slow the AI down (Auto -2%) or speed it up (Auto +2%), but the game is still using catch-up logic at certain intervals.

FWIW, I've seen people comment that Auto reads your track Speed Rating, but I don't believe this is the case. I have a 105 Speed Rating on many tracks and the Auto AI is as slow as it ever was on those tracks, until I reach 20th place that is. And besides, you can clearly see the dividing lines where the CPU evaluates your position and decides to make your competition faster, therefore the best thing to do is to disable Auto and find a Custom setting that suits your skill level.

The Custom settings range from 85-105. Again, this is only a governor of the CPU opponents' top speed. 85 means they'll reach 85% of top speed compared to your untuned (no setups) car, 105 means they'll reach 105% of top speed compared to the same car. This is immediately evident if you race at both settings, you'll be blowing by the opposition at 85 and will get left in the dust at 105, unless you find a killer setup and do plenty of drafting.

To test this out I ran two races at Darlington, one at 85 and the other at 105. The top CPU laps were:

85 = 37.692
105 = 30.113

As you can see, the AI is much faster at the top setting. It has nothing to do with actual racing intelligence, just a higher top speed.

So what does this all mean? It means that theoretically, you could race at Custom 100 and get a fair, balanced race. Unfortunately Career Mode is an entirely different beast. There are only Easy/Normal/Hard settings, all of which seem to tie into Auto. Which unless I'm mistaken, is the reason you can't run a non-rubberbanding race in Career Mode.

It wouldn't be the best thing for those who want to run their own schemes/career, but are you able to set the AI to 100 in season mode? If so, I might consider doing that instead of career to get a better experience without rubberbanding. I like your thought process!

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

It wouldn't be the best thing for those who want to run their own schemes/career, but are you able to set the AI to 100 in season mode? If so, I might consider doing that instead of career to get a better experience without rubberbanding. I like your thought process!

Yep, that is exactly what I'm doing right now. I'm racing last season as Carl Edwards and getting consistent finishes with fair and challenging AI.

[bravesfan1984]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Yep, that is exactly what I'm doing right now. I'm racing last season as Carl Edwards and getting consistent finishes with fair and challenging AI.

I'll probably just do season mode too. Not sure if I want to race as Harvick though (I'm weird, kind of like to see how he does as CPU), so I may pick a part timer or one of the worst cup drivers and "pretend" I've taken over their ride haha.

[bravesfan1984]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Just as I thought, with the season kicking off this week and after the Clash on Sunday, I'm tempted to get the update coming out today, ugh. Must refrain......

[longranger]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

so is this game worth purchasing now, or still not????

[bravesfan1984]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

so is this game worth purchasing now, or still not????

Well, nothing really has changed with gameplay. There are still issues. I think it just comes down to your interest level of NASCAR. Since I'm a huge fan, I can live with some of the issues in the game just to get my fix. I paid full price at release, so at the current discounted price, I'd certainly consider.

[Aggies7]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

As of this AM Amazon had it for $19.99 for PS4 and I believe $28.99 for XB1


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