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A lot of good, but a few surprising omissions

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 38 / 48
Date: November 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First off, just like role-playing games, there will be a segment of the game-buying populous that will buy this game the week it is released, and a portion that will avoid it like the plague. It really depends on whether or not you enjoy Nascar. I have played EA's Nascar series for a few years now, and have always been pleased by their treatment of America's fastest growing sport. As for this rendition, there is a lot of good, as well as some question marks.

First off, the good: The graphics are WOW good. The cars, tracks, periphery, and especially pit stops look incredible. The sense of speed is fine. The amount of cars on the track at one time has increased to 20 (up from 14-16 previously.) The driver roster is diverse, and includes Richard Petty (as well as Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin.) Control is spot on, and you will need it to be. There are a few pre-sets to use in certain modes so if you aren't really big on endless tweaking, you can pick one and race.

Now the interesting stuff: The track list had been reduced to 14. No Las Vegas, Texas, Michigan, Homestead, Dover, Pocono, New Hampshire, or Phoenix. Although there are several instances of visiting the same track twice under different lighting (day/night,) the missing tracks do hurt. Not to mention there are no fantasy tracks, which were fun to race when the standard ones got old. This smells of a rush-job, and wouldn't be surprising, given the fact that Knockout Kings 2001 got pushed back to early 2001, and that NHL 2001 also seemed a bit hurried and not fully planned out.

The main other issue I have is with the general difficulty. Even on Arcade/Rookie, this game puts up a fight. Being a veteran of these games, I tried to jump in at Simulation/Veteran and got shellacked by the competition. Not that the difficulty is a horrible thing, I was just very surprised, given the relatively easy nature of the previous iterations.

There is some frame-rate drop at certain points in the race, and though I love the new real-time damage to the cars, the actual visuals for this effect leave a bit to be desired. The menus are very sparse, and this time around the commentary is almost exclusively done by Bob Jenkins, with minimal input from Benny Parsons, who is always a treat ("This track has the best food!" for EVERY track in Nascar 2000!) Though now your spotter and crew chief are a lot more vocal.

But even with the annoying leave-outs, and a few irritating in-game features, this still manages to come out as another quality Nascar title for EA Sports. Like I said, many will either be running to the store, or ignoring it altogether, so reviews won't change a lot of minds in this case. Let's just be glad that it's a first-effort for PS2, and can only get better from here.

P.S. Did I mention how GREAT it is to creep up on the #3, ride his bumper, give him a little tap, and watch the tire-smoke billow up as he takes a hard right into the wall? You hafta see it to believe how cool the wrecks are!

EA Sports should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 24 / 30
Date: December 08, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This reviewer is a die hard Nascar fan and has been for over a decade now. When I first heard that Nascar 2001 was coming out for the PS2, I was quite excited. Unfortuntately, although this game is pure eye candy, its rather disappointing when playing its previous version Nascar 98, 99, 2000, and 2001 on the Playstation.

EA had to rush this game and must have cut a whole lot out of it in order to ship it in time. What is missing is several tracks on the Winston Cup Circuit, Including Homestead, Michigan, Phoenix, Las Vegas, New Hampshire, Pocono and Dover.

A second problem is the inability to set your car the way you like it as you were able to in the previous games. You have the ability to set your car up one of three ways, Loose, Tight, or Neutral. No tweaking the tire pressure, spoiler angles or Wedge in this game.

Players can choose a quick race, no track or car selections, A single race, in which you can choose driver and track, or Championship, where you can try to win the Winston Cup Championship in a series of races on the 14 tracks in the game.

Nascar 2001 for the PS2 isn't all bad. The tracks and cars look better than they ever have in any other home console version of this game. Cars seem to wreck in front of you more often than ever before, and its not uncommon to see a car start to smoke up ahead leaving your visability on the track to a virtual nil. These features have to be seen to be appreciated.

I tested the collison detection by running a polish victory lap, a.k.a Alan Kulwicki, during the race I was running at Talladega. The end result was a pretty cool collision with cars turned upside down on the track, and tires and debris all over the infield.

The cars in this game seemingly have a more arcade style feel, are easier to drive, and look great. The problem with the graphics lies in the two player mode, where it breaks down badly, and when you turn on the real view mirror in single player mode. This really breaks up the frame rate and it is very noticable.

The bottomline on this game is this, if you have to have an Nascar style racer on your PS2, then this is your only choice. If you have previous versions of this game on your Playstation, save your money until EA Sports releases a respectable version of this game.

Not recommended by this Nascar fan!

Did EA Sports really develop this game?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: February 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

After playing games like Knockout Kings 2001, and Madden 2001 I start to question whether EA Sports developed this game or some newbies who threw stuff together. First of all "real time" commentary, forget it. The commentary in the game .... When you go from track to track during the career mode you've got the same stupid commentator saying "So and so really moved in the point standing after last weeks race.", they say this EVERY time. How hard is it to record a few different statements? The graphics are okay and the physics engine is pretty good but not good enough to make up for the rest of the game. They should have added more to the career mode, like getting offers from sponsers depending on how you're doing. Hiring and firing crew chiefs and spending your earnings to keep you car running and to buy upgrades and stuff. When the ... will game developers learn that they are leaving out most of the reality in these games? Rent it, beat it, and buy something else.

And one more thing, if you rent it DON'T turn on the rear view mirror or the whole game is as choppy as the ocean during a hurricane.

INTIMIDATE THIS

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: August 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I ORIGINALLY BOUGHT THIS GAME SO THAT A FRIEND OF MINE, WHO IS REALLY INTO NASCAR, WOULD HAVE SOMETHING TO PLAY ON MY PS2 WHEN HE CAME OVER. I WOULD PUT IT IN AND PLAY WITH IT MYSELF EVERY NOW AND THEN. WHEN ANOTHER FRIEND OF MINE WAS THINKING OF GETTING A PS2 (TO REPLACE HIS DC) I PULLED THIS GAME OUT AND WE WENT HEAD TO HEAD. WHAT CAN I SAY? I GOT HOOKED. I GOT SO HOOKED THAT I WAS EAGERLY AWAITING NASCAR HEAT 2002 AFTER SEEING THE GRAPHICS. THAT DID NOT STOP ME FROM CONTINUING TO PLAY THIS GAME. BESIDES, THIS IS THE ONLY VERSION THAT I CAN CRASH SOMEONE WHEN I'M FEELING THAT THAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO "INTIMIDATE" ME. INTIMIDATE THIS.

If you're a true NASCAR fan, this is for you!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is great! I've read reviews on several sites and was surprised at the mixed response. I've read several complaints about the game that can be avoided. One complaint had to do with only having only three car settings...That is only in arcade. Try simulation. Wedge, tire pressure, gear ratios, downforce, etc. can be manipulated here. You can customize your car and save your settings for each track. Graphic are good, driving is realistic. Although, I have probably had the most fun racing my friends in two player mode, one player mode alows you to really study the fine points in the tracks. Boring ovals? I disagree. Try keeping your car down on the huge banks at Bristol, or draft your way to the front at Talladega. How about 195 mph through turn 2 at Daytona? There are enough options to increase or decrease the difficulty for any skill level, and races can be as short as 3% race. as far as the season being too long, there are even options to race a short 4 race season. Some people may disagree, but I think this game has what it takes. I definitly can appreciate the GT style racing games. Upgrading your cars is a lot of fun, but NASCAR is a different type of racing. You have to appreciate NASCAR for what it is. If you do, you'll have fun with this game.

Better than Nascar Heat for PS2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is HIGHLY underated on this site from people who dont like nascar. I am an average Nascar fan. Most people that have reviewed before have NOT been nascar fans. This game delivers a real bumper to bumper feel. The cars are very realistic and they still have Dale Earnhardt because he passed away after this was made. They have most of the tracks including Daytona. If you like to crash cars than this game would also be very good for you because the physics are awsome and make you spin and fly in the air when you hit hard, and they spinout when you get a medium hit. One of my favorite things to do is just turn around and hit cars headfirst, then peices fly around the track and stay there for about a lap, thats cool. You have to time your pit stops as the same time as the other cars. Graphicaly this game will break down occasionly but it does not take away from the fun at all. The sounds that the cars are very authentic and represent Nascar very well. The cars in this game are very detailed and have all of the logos that the cars in real life have. I feel that the people who made this game were true Nascar fans, and its a shame that the people who have been reviewing it havnt been. So if you like Nasvar AT ALL than this is definatly the game for you. Oh yeah, theres one thing i forgot, the drafting model in this game is the best yet and makes all the difference in the races. (P.S. I have played Nascar Heat 2002 for PS2 and although it is a fine game with a little better graphics, this game is more realistic and fun)

Just OK - From a true race fan who owns Nascar98, 99, & 2000

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: November 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The addition of Daytona was the compelling reason for me to purchase this. When I first took a practice lap around the track, it was amazing. The graphics looked great. However, once you start racing with other cars, the graphics seem to slow down, and go down in resolution.

Seems like this one was rushed out. Lot's of features from previous versions are missing... ie. fine adjustment of your race car, custom instant replay with controls and camera angles, etc.

A total of 12 tracks are included. An ad that I got in another EA flyer seemed to suggest that Homestead was a track included, but it was not.

You might want to rent this one first before purchasing it.

This game really lacks

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have all the the Nascar games that has came out, but this new 2001 PS2 version is the worst yet of all. The graphic are good, but that is standard with the PS2 console. So that don't count. The reduction of tracks in the 2001 version is the biggest down fall of this game. No interactive pit stops. The Nascar 2001 PS1 version is a better game than the PS2, and I play that one on the PS2.

I'm not a Nascar Fan but this game was some neat things.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a big fan of racing or of racing games usually, I mean to me watch 30 guys in cars go around in a circle for 3 hrs isn't my idea of fun and excitement, so instead of buying this title, I first decided to rent it. This game graphically is stunning, except when you pull up behind someone and someone is behind you and to try to watch them in your rear-view mirror, ohh then the graphics get choppy. I thought in all this was a pretty cool game, and like I said I'm not much on racing games or real racing (NASCAR). I would have given this a 3.5 stars if I could have. The pit stops were cool although you really didn't have any control on what goes on. All in all though this game is good if you like racing and may be good even if you don't like racing, just rent it first, see if you like it enough to buy it.

Great fun, but problems abound

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

No doubt about it, NASCAR 2001 is a fun game to play. However, this game shows signs of being rushed out the door. The most noteable problem comes in the graphics department: graphics break up (get chunky) when racing in two player mode or on the more complicated courses like Sears Point.

I would wait for NASCAR 2002 (or whatever it will be called) to give EA a chance to tune its graphic engine for the PS2.

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