Title: NASCAR 08

Platform: XBox 360

Developer: EA Sports

Review Summary: Stick with Forza2 unless you own a wheel. Even then, rent it first.

Before I say anything, it is important to understand that NASCAR 08 is not a racing game, it is a simulation. As such it absolutely is not for your average gamer who likes to race against their friends on the weekends.

I have been a fan of NASCAR series since they first appeared back in the mid 90’s. As a matter of fact, the assumption of a NASCAR 07 is one of the main reasons I invested in the 360 when my PS2 died a sparking, smoking, and noisy death. Why EA didn’t release it for the 360 is a mystery, but it did make me all the more anxious for 08 when it was finally announced.

I consider myself a pretty good racer when it comes to console games. I don’t have a wheel, but that never stopped me from being on the “expert” settings of whatever game I happened to be playing. That said, even with all the (very limited, by the way) settings put to easy, and all the gimpiness turned on full blast, and everything automated that could possibly be automated… I couldn’t drive in a straight line in NASCAR 08.

To put it quite bluntly, I have never, EVER, played a racing game that is so amazingly difficult to control. Perhaps it is designed to be played with the steering wheel, but I don’t think it should be required to lay out $60 for a game, then an additional $100 for a controller that makes it actually playable.

Sadly, the negativity doesn’t stop there.

This is the only racing game I can think of developed in the last 5 years, and maybe the last 10 years, that has no 2 player mode. I can’t even think of anything else to accompany that truly baffling and blatant omission, so it will have to stand on its own.

Over the years, this franchise, built on the astounding physics engine developed by Papyrus, has slowly strengthened and become increasingly robust with each new incarnation. NASCAR 08 has stripped everything out and focused on the minutiae of technical details of NASCAR simulation. The depth they venture to control is ambitious, to say the least, but they have implemented this depth at the expense of game elements that not only were enjoyable, but were unique within the world of racing games. Gone are “Fight to the Top” and “Intimidator” modes. Gone is a “Chase for the Cup” mode that doesn’t require hours tedious “licensing” tasks. Gone In a nutshell, gone is everything that made this a “game”.

All that said, NASCAR 08 does have some positives. Firstly, it is flat out gorgeous. It’s so gorgeous that it’s almost a negative, as I get the feeling much of what has been left out of NASCAR 08 was done so as a sacrifice to the stellar graphics.

Also, it is important to note that with increased play, you will kind of figure out how NASCAR 08 works. You will get better. It comes slowly, and by that I mean after 6-10 hours of playing I still haven’t made it more than 25 laps without crashing, but I have become more adept at the intricacies of controlling the car.

Unfortunately, after 6-10 hours, it has also become painfully clear that the standard XBox controller is woefully unsuited for the precision needed, and what I have seen from the game has in no way convinced me that the additional expenditure of $100 for the steering wheel will be even remotely worth it.

My advice is to pass this up and stick with Forza2, which is a much stronger game with a simply astounding level of replayablility. If you simply need to see for yourself, by all means rent it before plunking down $60 bucks. I certainly wish I had gone that route.