SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - NASCAR Racing 2003 Season

So why consider 2003 if you’re happily lapping along with the 2002 version? So how much different is NASCAR Racing 2003 Season over it’s predecessor? If you already have 2002, should you spring for the latest version?

Besides the new "smart" opponents mentioned earlier, the physics engine, graphics enhancements and a rework of the track surfaces are the main reasons to buy 2003 if you already own 2002.

Papyrus has rebuilt the physics engine with the help of Goodyear and Jasper Motorsports. While the additional setup features are great, the real difference in the two versions is most apparent on the track. As good as 2002 is, 2003 is that much better. But if you stay in arcade mode or only occasionally play it, you may never see the difference or at best it’ll seem a nominal difference.

Try running a few laps at Daytona in one of the night races in the 2002 and then the 2003 version with the same settings and options. You’ll realize the difference in the two versions very quickly. Sure 2002 is great, but there is a certain new feel of predictability in 2003 as to how the car moves around on the track surface and how the loading in the turns affects the car’s balance and stability. The physics are better presented in 2003. This also curiously makes 2003 seem “easier” to drive because it’s closer to the real world feel. It’s a tactile experience and difficult to isolate but it’s definitely there. When you get "tapped" or do some "rubbin", you don't automatically go flying off into the infield. There is a definite opportunity to react to save the car. Overcorrect and bad things will happen, just as in the real world. If you get airborne you'll feel the air lifting you up-and-over. Amazing.

The glare isn't just eye candy in NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. Enhancement to the graphics haven't just added eye candy, they've affected the racing. While there is a gorgeous sky heading into turn 1 in 2002s Daytona Night racing, you get an environmental impact with 2003. The glare as you drop down into turn 1 can be so blinding that you have a complete white out condition. This makes you use the tracks lane markers as your guide for turning into the turn. In a recent practice session another guy and I both made for the turn but by using the marker I was able to out brake him and pull ahead through the turn. He almost lost it to the outside retaining wall due to the glare. Run the same race a second time and you’ll see things change again with the sun not as intense. The conditions are also very different from an early practice session to the race because of the change in the track and ambient temperature.

Two weeks ago when someone lost an engine in front of me, I got the oil residue on the windshield. Not covered, just splotches. Another time I nailed somebody when they rolled down the banking in front of me. It naturally bent the front-end sheet metal badly but it dumped oil all over the windshield to a much different degree than I saw from the lost engine episode earlier.

I heard an interview with a driver a few years ago where he assured the interviewer that if forced onto the inside yellow line, you could derive a temporary burst of speed from moving over it’s slick surface. I found it at a Daytona race about a month ago. Two of us were fighting for position and kept swapping positions back and forth for several laps. We were running very clean passes on each other and having a great time. When going into turn 1, he was high and I was low. He was a half-car ahead. I got the left side of the car on the yellow from him moving down to avoid a spinning car against the outside retaining wall. Soon as I got on the yellow line, the revs kicked-up and as I moved back off the line the higher revs shot me ahead. He never let up and I passed him deep into 1. I’ve been able to recreate it again in 2003, but have been unable to in 2002.

These scenarios are all a part of NASCAR Racing 2003 Season.

Papyrus has lots of nice touches throughout the sim. Having a different guest voice for each track’s “gentlemen, start your engines!” provides a great effect that adds depth to the sim without detracting from the seriousness of the racing. My favorite is the guest starter that hollers, “Is this thang on?” after a couple of microphone taps. Hilarious.

If you’re an occasional racer, and like the “indestructible” option, the sim can be set for the arcade mode in case the realism version is more than you are interested in pursuing. If you do, you'll miss much of this sims strength and charm.

If you have never bought any of the Papyrus NASCAR Racing sims, do yourself a favor and go get it. Even if you don‘t care for real life NASCAR stock car racing you‘ll enjoy and appreciate the excellence Papyrus has built into this sim through their knowledge, but also through their refinement of the series.

A Fond Farewell

Papyrus is winding-up their commitment to the highly acclaimed racing series and moving onto other projects. As of this writing, there is much speculation about what those “other projects” may be. One thing is certain; Papyrus is exiting NASCAR Racing with the audience cheering. That might be the best time for them to go onto other things, but it sure makes you wonder if they could have added any more capability into a “NASCAR Racing 2004 Season”. With the demise of the series, is all that great racing sim knowledge accumulated over the years destined to be lost?

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