NASCAR gaming’s peak was a great time for a NASCAR fan to be alive. With so many fun games coming out we all thought the good times would continue to roll. Ultimately they didn’t but today we are going to look back at when they did. This was the peak of NASCAR console gaming (EA)
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Video Credits:
AutoRockinRacing94
David Robiduox
EA Sports
GXZ95
iAnthony13
MetalHead88x
Microsoft Edge
NASCAR
Pichu London
SpaceMetalFerrari248
Sphered
Udin Tutul
White Bat Audio
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Thumbnail Credits:
EA Sports
Outro Song:
Strang Animal (Crowder Remix) by Gowan
Songs:
Action (Instrumental) by Powerman 5000
Thunder (NASCAR Theme) by David Robiduox
80s Retrowave / Synthwave Music – Hackers by Karl Casey uploaded by White Bat Audio
#nascar #motorsports #racing
29 comments
What is your favorite NASCAR game?
Probably NASCAR Heat 5, don’t hate me okay.
Nascar 2005 chase for the cup was my all time favorite
Does iRacing count?
NR2003
The Eutecnyx Saga
The career modes in these games were GOATED! It truly hasn’t been replicated and may never be eclipsed.
2003 had a more realistic take in NASCAR career when starting out, 2005 had more depth between series but more cartoony physics and stop-and-go action no thanks to Dale Jarett eliminating the racing back to yellow rule. And 2004 never even got a Gamecube release
Well, the sad part is, we could have still had this and more, but gaming companies (yes, I include the later years of EA Sports in this) got greedy and lazy, and just start slapping games together and selling them to make a quick profit, and not caring about quality because they developed a, “Hey, it’s NASCAR, and people will buy it, even if its terrible” mentality!
I miss when EA was good, before they found out microtransactions exist.
Before they realized monopolization was easy
EA Sports was at its peak in 2003-2005…every game was great…NCAA Football and basketball, NASCAR, MVP Baseball, Tiger Woods, Madden…
Too bad they hated Nintendo in that era and did not release any games for it after 2002 and 2004
I still have Tiger Woods 2003 and 2005, both of them are fantastic. I may have to look out for 2004 and try it out as it’s my favorite year for the nascar series.
Truth be told? Thunder 03, 04, and CFTC 05 were some of my all-time favorites. 06 TTC was fun at the time, especially playing around with the voice commands, as primitive as it was! I’d get a kick out of my crew chief reprimanding me for saying “Shoot” or “Dang” like I was cursing. Was super immersive! When it worked, that is… 04 had the best soundtrack, physics, and in-depth career. Improved from 03; but then with 05, it added a lot but also took away some of the depth from 04 in some ways. Like, sure. You had the other series, and also a new killer soundtrack. But the depth of building your cars was sort of gone in 05 from 04. If you could combine the two, and have the handling of 04? Perfection. I want to not only drive, but manage a team with AI drivers! Silly season, car building, all of it! Hope we get there again one day!
NASCAR Thunder 2003 is the first NASCAR console game I ever played. I got it for Christmas back in 2002.
Some of my fondest memories as a child was playing NASCAR 2005 CFTC. Truly an OG!
My vote has to be for 05, it’s the game that introduced me to the lower divisions like truck and modifieds and was something I missed in later games. I probably put over 3000 hours on that game that when the soundtrack kicked in I was hit with a wave of nostalgia
These games are the only reason I’m into Nascar like I am today. Played them to death as a kid, taught me a lot about the sport
Yeah, my main era was NASCAR 2000-2005 CFTC (1999-2004), and also played a big role in why I’m still a fan, and helped me branch out into other motorsports in general.
What’s sad is that from 2002-2005, gaming had nowhere near the technology it has now. But back then we still had awesome NASCAR games.
Technical limitations made for great games, only current gen system I have is the Switch and I love that thing!
Nascar 04′ and 05′ were sooooooo fun! I missed playing with my friends. They were very accessible to someone who didnt know how to play. Even my dad would play.
Its amazing how the community has been able to keep giving life to these games especially with the NASCAR 2005 CFTC retexture mod on Dolphin that adds in more drivers that weren’t in the game and replaces the fantasy ones
They’ve even figured out how to rename the fantasy drivers so drivers not in the game are legitimately in the game now and not just as a bozo made up driver. Modders have added Dave Blaney to the game! They’ve added more legends in their actual original paint schemes!
I have all 3 of these games for the original xbox still today. I got them when they were still pretty new and i’ve put a lot of time into all of them. My favorite is 2004. That one seems like it had great car feel and ai driving. You can put the ai difficulty on rookie and get a pleasant idea on how the game worked. Veteran made it feel like they were going to put up a decent fight. Legend will make the ai really difficult especially at Talladega, Daytona, and the fantasy track Tiburon (which is a beefed up, 3 mile version of Talladega ran in reverse). I have found in a lot of other nascar games, the ai is generally quite rubbish as in sometimes comically easy to beat even at the highest difficulty (I shouldn’t be pulling away from them on the highest difficulty at Daytona or Talladega) I spent a lot of time playing split screen multiplayer with a friend of mine from high school I still keep in touch with today. We’d have some races that would leave Darrell Waltrip gasping for air. We both had a copy and we’d ride our bikes to each others places to play this. Overall, 2004 played really, really well and is quite enjoyable for a long time nascar fan like me. Thunder 2004 still remains as one of my most favorite games overall.
Imagine what absolute masterpieces we would have if not for the exclusivity license. I genuinely think it could have helped NASCARs popularity during the drop, while I didn’t first experience it through games, I got 05 when I was 7 and it sealed the deal.
I want a NASCAR game where not only can I build my own team but there’s actually the ability to hire other drivers and build them up as a multi car organization. And beyond that I want the ability to not make the race with bad qualifying times.
I played all 3, but I only ever owned 1 and that was 2004. Racing in some legacy places like Daytona Beach was an awesome sensation that iRacing really is the only other true source of that nostalgia. (Also in the “Watched till the end of the Video” club)