Over on the217 gamersguide they have a great little article that takes note that the EA NASCAR 09 has a serious glitch on the XBox 360 and that the only way to fix it, to date, is to delete your saved games. Regardless of whether your 30 minutes or 30 hours into the game.
They go one to say
Let me say this: As one of the hard core simulation / on-line racers that competed in the serious leagues, it has been a known commodity for quite some time that EA does put out a product before it’s fully matured and ready for mainstream consumption. (Hey, I’m getting better. I didn’t say they suck! … crap… never mind.)
Even when they fix the initial bugs, there’s still other bugs that go for sometime before even being addressed, if they address them, and that’s that. Ever since they paid out BIG bucks to be the “Official” NASCAR stock car game, this genre of computer games has taken quite the hit in respectability and quality. We’d (Some folks in the leagues I was in) go out, buy it, try it, warn everyone and shelve it. I have an un-opened box of NASCAR 07 I think it is in a box somewhere.
I’ve been quietly waiting for their ‘exclusive’ contract to expire in hopes that Sierra / Papyrus would pick it back up where they left off, but I suspect that won’t happen since the originators of that game bought back the rights of the Papyrus game from others and have redistributed their resources into iRacing.com for professional, on-line training and competition. They can’t have a NASCAR division, but they do have a ‘Stock Car’ division, so more power to them!
There’s a little bit of animosity from some gamers towards this new effort, but that’s a whole nother ‘historical’ perspective on the Papyrus game in general that some day I may take up to write about. For now, I’m bashing… I mean pointing out, or warning potential users of the issues they may encounter with EA.
I have to say though, the old Papryus NASCAR Racing 2003, even today, is still head and shouldes above most of what comes out and is used most religiously by some of the drivers in Cup and Nationwide today. The physics are dang near perfect, the enviornment is the same and because of it’s reputation, it IS NOT CHEAP on Ebay because the serious gamers are still snatching it up for between $65 and $100, if you can believe that. The tracks were designed via track blueprints, simulating every bump and grind there is. It still has on-line support as you can get car skins to match the latest season sponsors, driver changes, track configurations and even COT mods.
Heck, over the last couple of years, I’ve created or been in accidents in the game that I thought were just odd, over the top side affects of the game, and sooner or later, I’d see it on the track watching Cup on TV. It’s too late to recommend an older product, but if you’re serious about your on-line NASCAR racing experience, this is the game for you. Hands down.
As one reader, Mike said: Right on. I bought EA’s NASCAR Sim Racing for the PC in 2005. It was incredibly awful. Exclusive rights means EA will never have to improve their product. Shame.
