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I must say, I was excited for the release of this game, but after playing the retail version with patch #1 downloaded from Xbox Live, I am most disappointed. The developers and publishers (Eutechnyx and Activision), in my opinion, have released a beta version. The developers started off with the right idea, but, either due to time constraints, budget issues, or contractual obligations, released an unfinished and untested game. This game, compared to other racing games (not just NASCAR games), is poor and unfinished. Compared to today's current generation offerings, to include but not limited to: GRID, DIRT 2, FORZA 3, GT5, Flat Out: Ultimate Carnage, PGR4, BLUR, MotorStorm, NFS HP, Shift 2, etc..., there is no comparison. The immersion, graphics, AI, game play, replay value, car customization, as well as replay mode (some of the above have replay mode) are far and above what NASCAR The Game 2011 can offer.
It's not that the driving physics are bad, or the graphics are cut rate, or the game freezes (not including online play), but small things are present in today's version that take away from what could have been a great first entry for the developers. The AI is untested, the small details that make up NASCAR racing don't currently work (AI crashes, caution flags, pit stops, track side details, car damage), the replay video after a race is a joke (it looks like paper cut outs of cars placed on your TV screen). It's horrendous that developers would release this to the public, when the public can purchase instead cheaper and better racing games that are out right now that handle everything that I mentioned 100% better. It's not good enough to compare NASCAR The Game 2011 to EA's NASCAR 09. We have to compare it to other racing games, arcade or simulation. And when compared, it's poor. The developers missed the mark on this entry. Because of that, I can only hope that maybe someday, CodeMasters (creators of GRID, DIRT, and F1 2010) will make a decent NASCAR game.
I am not looking for simulation, because iRacing has that field covered. What I am looking for is a polished, fun, exciting racing game that properly represents the spectacle of NASCAR racing. NASCAR The Game 2011 does not offer that experience. As a gamer, when I pay $60 dollars for a product, I expect a finished product. NASCAR The Game 2011, in its current state, is not a finished product. My only hope is that the developers can support this game with patches, as they have stated that they would on their forums. My concern is that patches will not fix many of the items gamers are currently complaining about. If that's the case, I will keep my money when NASCAR The Game 2012 releases. The old saying goes, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me".
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I bought this as a pre-order because I was so amped up about getting a NASCAR game for my XBox 360. What I saw online was that this was supposed to be a great game, and would be better than ever. WRONG. A lot of people have spoken about the game play, but I will tell you what makes me mad that I paid $60 for this game.1. The points system is last year's system. I'm a huge NASCAR fan, and I want the new rules to be included in my NASCAR games. If I just wanted to race, I would stick to Forza. I want NASCAR.
2. Pit Stops It is great that they used motion capture of Matt Kenseth's "Killer Bees", but they didn't capture any mistakes. Every pit stop is the same every time, and you gain no advantage or disadvantage on pit road. They give you some different options for adjusting your car on pit road, but you don't get to fix any damage. In fact, they barely give you enough time to take advantage of the few adjustment options they do have. Under caution, the cars on track go much faster than pit road speed, so you end up losing tons of spots on pass through penalties. A huge pet peave of mine is that they still have a catch can man. There are no catch cans in NASCAR anymore!!!
3. Career Mode??? ONE season does not constitute a career mode. Besides, whose career starts in the Sprint Cup series, anyway? What happened to the Whelen Modifieds, the Truck Series, and Nationwide??? You don't get any of those options.
4. Sponsorships In order to get a sponsorship, you have to complete certain achievements. Once you obtain a sponsorship, there is no money involved, and the sponsor doesn't even get to go on the car. If there is one thing I know, it's that sponsors want their names to be seen. There are fewer than 20 sponsors you can choose for your car, and you can get them regardless of whether or not you have a sponsorship from them.
5. Car Customization You can choose 1 car color, and no secondary colors. In order to accomplish any type of this, you have to spend way too much time picking layers and graphics. Then comes actually applying them to the car. The settings for the controls are too sensitive to get them in the right spots. No matter what you make your number, you're still #53. It took a lot of time to actually get my car to have a number on it on race day. Getting an outline on a number is nearly impossible, but after an hour, I accomplished it correctly.
All in all, I am glad to have a good NASCAR game. Unfortunately, it's on my PS2 and several years old. This game is the result of NASCAR letting a European company take a 100% American sport and making it into a video game. I don't think they can put enough patches or changes out to make this game tolerable. I can't wait until the 5 year contract is up on this developer. NASCAR should be ashamed of this game, and I'm shocked they let their name be on it with such little effort put into making it.
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Out of the box, this is the biggest disaster I have ever witnessed. There's more bad than good about this game. The worst thing I have seen in 20+ years of console and computer gaming.The good : graphics are nice looking..... that's really about it.
The bad : Where to begin
In single player after you complete 1 season, you have to start over your "career" if you want to race a 2nd season.
AI is terribly easy to win against even on the hardest settings.
Caution flags do not work for you. If an AI car spins/wrecks you, no caution. If you spin/wreck an AI car the caution is out immediately.
Drafting is a joke. When you get in a draft it's like hitting the turbo in Mario Kart where you boost about 30 MPH.
Car damage is terribly lacking. You can hit a wall head-on at 150+ MPH and have no damage at all to the car. To this day, I still can't get a car to breakdown. No matter how hard I try.
If you run out of gas, you get a DNF. No coasting, no tow....GAME OVER
No rear view/virtual mirrors in views outside of the car. Even in car views the mirrors don't work right. To even see them in the car you turn the drivers head.
Wall glue is worse than NR2003. If you graze the wall you'll lose 20-30 MPH
If you hit an orange cone at speed you'll get airborne as if it was a ramp.
Pit road bugs :
If you get wrecked and end up going into pit lane you'll get a black flag for speed or backing in.
While racing, if you break the timing line while racing(I do it a lot at Richmond) black flag.
Online : Completely unplayable
1 minute wait timer resetting. it's easier to have a ready button. It can take over 10 minutes in the lobby for a "quick" race to start.
If there's more than 6 players be prepared to wait well over 5 minutes (I've timed it and got tired at 5 minutes) for the race to load.
If you get lucky enough for a race to load, then you have to hope you don't get any of the numerous starting bugs. Cars missing the bodies, chassis only, starting upside down, flipping... the list goes on.
Paint booth -
Very confusing and terribly buggy as well. Can't use the Pre-set #'s if you want them to be seen. You have to use text to have #'s shown.
Adding text. you can only add 1 letter at a time.
Tracks Complete failures
caution lights are on 100% of the time.
Watkins Glen the pit boxes are on the left side. The tracks in the game is pretty much flat. In real life into turn 1 there is a hill, turns have banking.
Some night races are orange. I think only Bristol Night is dark.
Steering wheels DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE
This game has broken/ruined/fried many wheels. 1 guy had 2 get broken thinking his 1st one might have been on it's way out.
I only scratched the surface with the bugs. Many more out there, too much too type.
They are working of patches, but the list of bugs is too long. The game has loads of potential but out of the box it is NOT worth the buying price. I've lost any and all hope on this company. Most if not all of these bugs should have been found in Alpha/Beta testing, if they even did any of that. They have the NASCAR license for 5 years. Hopefully gamers won't have to wait that long for a good, playable game from a different company. EA's NASCAR games are much better than this release.
Honest reviews on NASCAR The Game 2011 - Xbox 360
i cannot believe I wasted money on this game, it is just about unplayable in its current state. there are barely any yellow flags,no DNF's, if you hit the wall you will spin out everytime. Save your money and use it to see a real race!!!!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for NASCAR The Game 2011 - Xbox 360
I quickly noticed very strange feedback to my XBox Steering Wheel during racing after any kind of contact to walls or cars. It felt like a gyroscope out of kilter banging around inside my wheel box trying to get out. It was so violent that I exited the race to start over. It turns out that was probably a good idea since after some discussion with others some have had their wheel damaged from the game. If you go to the official game site forum you will find several people whose wheel was broken from using this game. Apparently you can turn off the Force Feed Back to avoid damage but I'm not sure I'm willing to risk it. If you race with a wheel watch out! Update: Since I wrote this I have tried turning off the FFB which does eliminate the violent shaking but you lose much of the "feel" for the car driving. Even with FFB on low the wheel makes a disturbing noise and shaking after any damage.
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