X3F TV -- X3F Impressions: Nascar 09 Demo
by Xav de Matos 
{ Jun 4th 2008 at 10:00AM }
While not as timely as our other X3F Impressions features, today we're bringing you our take on the Nascar 09 demo that dropped earlier last week. While we showoff some of the new installments features, we also take a look back at Nascar 08 to compare how the two titles stack up graphically. With a significant boost in graphics and gameplay, Nascar 09 is a top-notch entry in the long standing series. While we can't say general racing fans will enjoy the experience, we are confident Nascar fans will finally be pleased after last seasons abysmal showing.
Music:
"20/20" by (De La Vega) Ivy League
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Daisama @ Jun 4th 2008 10:14AM
I don't mean to offend anyone but...
I thought this demo absoutely sucked. I just held the right trigger the whole race and I was easily in first. I didn't even have to try or anything. I even slowed down and tried to crash but it won't even let you enjoy that. Maybe this would be more fun with more competitive AI or friends. But for me, it wasnt.
Anticrawl @ Jun 4th 2008 10:26AM
The old Nascar games pioneered real-time damage/wear & tare. To bad they are so aweful now. I use to love getting online with them only to drive backwards and devestate the other players until they got pissed and left. People take gaming to seriousl
marauder800 @ Jun 4th 2008 1:01PM
You need to turn the difficulty up as well as the adaptive AI. The defaults are horribly arcadish.
Vcize @ Jun 4th 2008 10:40AM
Yeah, it seems like after last year's complaints that the game was too hard all they did here was leave the driving mechanics the same and make all the AI cars slower. After every restart you can easily pass 15 cars before the first turn.
Although, to be fair, I think the demo wouldn't let you go any higher than the second lowest difficulty setting so maybe that's why.
DjDATZ @ Jun 4th 2008 10:43AM
Turning left is not a sport.
NAsCAR = FAIL.
JBurton @ Jun 4th 2008 12:30PM
Yeah man. Turning left isnt a sport. However, driving is. If someone thinks it isnt a sport because its just left turning then why is Football a sport for throwing a ball, why is basketball a sport for bouncing a ball, and why is running a sport for competitive running?
Ohh right, its a skill.
DjDATZ @ Jun 4th 2008 1:45PM
Oh here, let me turn my wheel up to 15 percent in a couter clockwise rotation, hold this thing called a throttle down all the way, and repeat the turning motion several hundred times in one race day.
If you want decently-real racing, at least look at Cart racing. If you want actual real racing that involves more skill from the worst driver than any NASCAR driver, watch some Formula 1 or Moto GP. They actually have to switch gears, brake, accelerate and pass properly. Oh yea, and they do turn right as well, unlike NASCAR.
Ever wonder why some NASCAR drivers tell F1 teams their interested, and then the F1 team doesn't even bother responding? They just couldn't give a shit for garbage drivers that think they can drive.
Anyone can drive NASCAR. I laugh in the face of anyone that even remotely considers NASCAR or the Craftsman Truck series as real racing. It's all fucking crude and hilarious joke at the believers.
Pit a n00b F1 driver (like Anthony Davidson or Adrian Sutil) against a NASCAR driver on a real track, and I can guarantee you that the F1 driver will win. Why? Cuz NASCAR requires no skill.
Vcize @ Jun 4th 2008 2:06PM
Since when do Nascar drivers never change gears?
There are plenty of F1 racers that have tried the Nascar circuit and failed to be any better than mediocre, and that includes the 2 road tracks a year that have, you know, those vaunted impossible right turns.
Vcize @ Jun 4th 2008 2:07PM
I'm not even a Nascar fan (I watch the last 10 laps of about 2 races per year), but I just hate ignorance.
And DjDatz, you stink of it.
DjDATZ @ Jun 4th 2008 2:33PM
I do know that NASCAR drivers turn right, and that they have to switch gears. I'm not that much of an ignorant idiot. But they sit in...what 5th or 6th for about 95% of the race? I'm sorry, I can't claim to have watched a WHOLE NASCAR race before, as it just becomes UTTERLY boring. I have watched the highlights on TSN in order to see the wrecks because, (I'll give NASCAR that) those multi-vehicle wrecks are spectacular.
I happen to also know that there are FOUR NASCAR tracks that require right turns. Out of 31 (yes, I had to count, but I didn't have to look up that there are 4 with right turns) tracks and even more races? No offense, but that is pathetic.
Did you happen to watch the F1 race in Monaco 2 weekends ago? Well if you didn't it was a RIDICULOUS race, easily one of THE best I've EVER seen.
Oh yea, and when's the last time you saw a NASCAR driver in F1? If I'm not mistaken, and I could be wrong, Mario Andretti was the last. I know Montoya was the latest F1 driver to go to NASCAR, and he has won once in his 2 years at NASCAR...which means he's not that bad.
Anyways, i'm off to a coffee break, i'll continue arguing later.
intRvenous @ Jun 4th 2008 4:19PM
Why...why expend so much energy ranting about something you don't care about in the first place? Nothing better to do?
You can't compare F1 to NASCAR drivers - open-wheel drivers are very rarely successful itransitioning to NASCAR. It's like saying drag-racing sucks because they don't turn the wheel. It's a completely different skillset. Again - don't whine unless you understand what you're talking about.
Such an idiot - FAIL
DjDATZ @ Jun 4th 2008 5:02PM
No, cuz it's all over the place and I'm sick of seeing it. Every time I turn on the Speed channel to watch some real racing, its either cars or trucks driving around an oval track. The weekends aren't that bad because I can catch some AMA Road Racing, MotoGP, or F1. I guess it's a culmination of years and years of dislike for NASCAR and its useless variations.
I do like drag racing, but that's because its more of a showcase of the limits of our current technology.
I know transitioning from open-wheel racing to NASCAR and vice versa is hard and rarely is anyone successful, but I will forever maintain that NASCAR drivers are nowhere near in skill to F1 drivers.
All I'm really saying is that if you were to pit an F1 driver vs. a NASCAR driver on a real international track (that neither have raced on previously) with the exact same cars, I have a distinct feeling that the F1 driver would win.
stinger503 @ Jun 5th 2008 2:58AM
Let's compare the Daytona 500 to the Indy 500. Indy 500: 18 Lead changes. The Daytona 500 however had 42 lead changes. Perhaps fans enjoy racing where cars can actually touch without falling apart.
Vcize @ Jun 4th 2008 10:54AM
Also, unfortunatley the crashes are still broken in that it warps you forward to the "under caution" cutscene way too soon (before the crash is over).
It was really bad in the '08 version where it would do it as soon as you or someone else started spinning out (which was funny because they had a "navigate through the crash" training mode even though in the actual race you never had to do it because it just skipped past the crashes). In '09 it seems like they give you a little longer, but still not enough time. It seems to be based off the first person that crashes. So if one guy spins out it skips forward to the caution laps as soon as he's done spinning out even if him spinning caused 15 other cars to start crashing that haven't finished their crash yet.
Ah well, wish they had an option to go back to the old rule of racing back to the start/finish line for a caution.
Zach S @ Jun 4th 2008 12:18PM
You were able to stay awake long enough to form an opinion on this game?
DjDATZ @ Jun 4th 2008 12:44PM
Win.
+++volume+++ @ Jun 4th 2008 2:03PM
I'm happy the game is looking good, but I'll have to see what some reviewers say before I decide to pick this one up.
intRvenous @ Jun 4th 2008 4:23PM
If DjDitz is done with his rant...
The game looks promising - like the review stated, the game is about strategy and driving consistency which EA seems to have gotten right.
The difficulty in the demo is waaaay to easy by default but adjustable. The cars look great - love the cockpit cam at night with the backlit dash ;-)
Toysrme @ Jun 13th 2008 4:18PM
This is no diffrent than 08. It's still a buggy piece of shit. It's still impossible to be competative against live opponents without the microsoft wheel; yet the game is so typical of ANY EA Sports game, or NASCAR game. It suffers from premature ejaculation. You HAVE to have a steering wheel to play, and it only takes minutes of playing to cause a loss of force feedback.
Not to mention the STILL shitted flag rules... Congrats bitches! You couldn't fix a god damned problem in 08, so you carried an unchanged game engine into 09, add some particle and lighting affects and call it finished.
Fuck anyone that buys this, NCAA or MADDEN for letting them continue to get away with this bullshit.
smoke @ Jun 10th 2008 5:48PM
Ok DjDATZ ................
Don't you find it kind of funny that Dario franchitie and Patrick carpentier transitioned to nascar and suck just like juan pablo montoya sucks.
Robby gordon is a great example, he is pretty decent in open wheel races but sucks in nascar. Tony Stewart (the best) was good in F1 and is good in Nascar.
It takes no skill at all to race F1 the cars practically drive themselves because they are basically big computers with wheels. So why don't you stick to the real american racing because it is truely the best.