You really need to stop worrying about what people think of you. Be confident brother. You was about to delete or quit your channel months ago over a few people's words. You have a nice channel stop bowing down to these idiots. We are watching your video, your the man!
Monetization and the ability to “patch” games has created such a downward spiral in so many games. Back in the PS2 days it was you either made a near flawless game or you didn’t. Now devs get away with producing garbage with the promise of patching it which almost never works. To me the days of the PS2 Madden, NASCAR, NBA, WWE, GTA ECT are a thing of the past and we will never get quality out of those titles again. I’d love to be proven wrong but those devs have had too many chances
What’s wrong with gta it’s been such a good game and i believe it has been produced by rockstar since the star unless you mean the oppressors and the weird futuristic stuff and how expensive every new vehicle is then yes I’ll agree with you that’s bad but like the middle of like gta v was great
Not really amazing or surprising, that's what happens when they sign lucrative deals to release a particular title every single year instead of every 2-3 years.
Dirt to Daytona will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first video game I ever had or at least remember playing. Getting into genres from sports to open world to real-time strategy to fps to fighting games, THIS was the one that started it all for me and I will always love it for it. It was also the game that got me big into NASCAR in my childhood and while my love for the sport has waned due to various reasons, I still hold fond memories of every Sunday afternoon in the summer being appointment TV or having sleepovers with my other NASCAR friend for the night races as a kid. And NASCAR 05 is the GOAT!
I found Dirt to Daytona interesting because Dirt to Daytona didn’t have the xfinity series... no Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono or Chicagoland... I always wondered why did this happen I still do....
A dream Nascar game that has: All Series with including Featherlites, Trucks, and Xfinity Graphics and artsyle of Nascar 08 Simulation Physics of NR2003 Arcade Physics of Thunder 2004 or 2005 Career Mode of Thunder 2004 and 2005 CFTC All current tracks on the calendar with some historical tracks like Daytona Beach and Original, fun tracks like Sawmill and Devil's Canyon What else y'all want to add?
Historic drivers and cars, different cars from different eras too like pre-cot, along with an online share feature for drivers/paint schemes they couldn't get the rights to (that the community would create anyways). I've always thought that would be awesome. Like being able to play with NASCAR 05 rosters and cars with modern graphics and gameplay!
If they could get the license, ARCA Series would be a interesting addition to a NASCAR game. Coming up through the ARCA Series, winning the ARCA Championship, to work your way into NASCAR would be fun.
Graphics of ignition Career mode of thunder 2004-5 Simulation of iracing Soundtrack of gta5 Sprint car series featherlite trucks xfinity Car setup like 2018-heats
I remember watching Michael Mrucz's first livestream on NASCAR 21 like a week and a half before it came out, and when people found out it was garbage, his entire chat was filled with people who were mad they preordered it. Don't ever preorder games kids!
As bad as Rockstar is at running the online part of their games. They make amazing games. The open world and story has never missed. Probably the only games I'll always pre order. If online isn't great I already know offline mode will be worth the money. But I'm waiting on everything else lol
The 6th gen is and always will be the golden age of gaming. Everything came together just right in that generation. The tech was good but still forced devs to be creative and not lean on graphics. The industry was big enough to comfortably take risks on oddball games, but not so big that business was the only consideration. The moral busy bodies were laughed out if the room rather than given all the power they desired. Yeah there were still misses, I'm not so nostalgic that I can't see the flaws of the era, but when you look at where we are now it's a stark contrast in all aspects. God I miss it and God I miss good Nascar games.
@@nopenope2550 definitely, while I don't think 30 frames is bad or unplayable it's laughable the PS2 and Wii had more 60 FPS games than modern games do, and they want to get 120 FPS on consoles now!? They barely can get 60 and high resolutions...I'd be fine with games being 720p or 900p if they had 60 FPS, I think that's part of why it was so common in the PS2 era is less games had high resolution modes, barely any games had 480p support on PS2, so less need to sacrifice performance for graphics.
@@PaperBanjo64 Don't even get me started on that man. On a technical level Jak and Daxter the Precursor Legacy is still LEAGUES ahead of anything produced since. 60 FPS, massive open world, no loading screens during gameplay, it still looks beautiful, and most importantly, it's fun to play. The fact that it hasn't been surpassed isn't just astounding, it's plain sad. I can understand the technical hiccups in the 7th gen, the switch to HD consoles was painful for a lot of devs, but there is no excuse now. Then again, most games these days are either shitty addiction simulators or "cinematic experiences" that barely qualify as games. Why would you need 60 FPS if the only interaction you ever have with the game is holding the stick forward and occasionally pressing X? Sorry if this barely makes any sense, I'm just jaded with the modern gaming landscape as a whole.
“NASCAR 21 is easily the 2nd worst NASCAR game of all time” I think at its current state, it is THE WORST NASCAR game of all time. Heat Evolution is terrible but it was no where near as broken as Ignition.
28:16 people also need to realize that usually people aren't criticizing the game because they hate the game, brand, or devs. They're criticizing the game because they want to see a good Nascar game and letting devs get away with making games like this won't result in a good game.
When you realize that expect for The Show the last 5 years for every gaming sport expect for NBA 2K16 are some of if not the worst sports video games ever?
This is one of your best pieces and I love how detailed you are. Dude you deserve so much respect for the work you put into this stuff that need to be seen and pointed out. The ps2 had flaws but again people spoke and games were great day one. I have seen so much copy and paste stuff that its sad because it robs the customer of what they should be getting. You see this with WWE games with 2k20 and so on compared to ps2 which is sad. I know people were mad at Heat 5 from being a copy and paste from 4 to even having a BLM car in the game which insulted so many people. Its a shame because 5 could have been OK as a update if it wasn't 50 bucks lol. Still though you are an absolute legend and I hope you keep up this awesome content. Maybe a WWE games series would be awesome with experts too and even use fan comments? (Cheap plug lol) But serious SoftdrinkTV you are damn good at what you do and you are very detailed. Don't stop and remember that for every one person that hates on you there's 4 that see your point and appreciate the honesty and hard work that goes into this.
If you think this is a great video your insane critizing a game with alot of great ideas is only helping people not buy the stupid thing gaming is going downhill I agree that iracing is so much better than anything so stop complaining about Xbox and playstation and go to pc
@@meganelliott4577 Have you seen computer prices? Plus many folks don't live in the city so high power internet isn't accessible to do things such as Iracing. People that spend their money on a product deserve to get a great product not something that is lower than average. Telling people to just buy a computer is just as ignorant as some of the other things you'll see. Again if a person doesn't do computers then they shouldn't be robbed of a great product plus this documentation was about the quality going down not a complaint piece. It's right there in the pudding I mean if you didn't see that then you are blind. Gaming companies should be stepping up not lessening themselves but without competition that seems to be happening. Again SoftdrinkTV nailed it so well on this and showed examples of flaws in a great transparent way with other people who have a ton of knowledge. If that's the only response you have to someone that demands more quality from what they pay for then you're a self entitled, pompous, bubble brat that just brushes off peoples concerns as long you have what you want. How disrespectful is that like really that would be like saying just buy an electric car even if you paid a pretty penny for a quality car that dropped in quality overtime without that competition to push it. Its just a statement that is intended to down anyone that's not on the Iracing train plus have you not forgotten how many had issues with them with the whole banning and assisting in Kyle Larson's issue in 2020 yet had a driver that was say black or half black said that, Iracing wouldn't have banned them or continued to push the streaming clip everywhere for a cheap pop? There's a number of folks that have no intention for that plus thats a very in depth form of racing gaming that maybe casuals aren't desiring. If F1 can improve year after year then why not the Nascar series? People that paid money for these games have a right to make their opinions heard. If you don't like it then move on but being critical of their complaints is just shallow and pitiful to do. If someone burnt your dinner or messed up your iced coffee would it be okay to have a person just say buy it else where and stop complaining? No because you paid your money for a service that underdelivered so what's the difference?
@@BoleDaPole I'm sure there are words you probably cannot pronounce either. He had the material and thought there that's pretty solid. Mispronounced word isn't make or break if the substance is there and it is. Again I'm sure there's words you probably struggle with but I don't see anyone wanting to thumb the eye of a person for one word thats not so common to pronounce like seriously. You can try make smart cracks like Detail but again the guy made some solid points. No need to always wanna be sarcastic but I guess ignorance runs deep with people, everyone wants to be a critic huh?
I remember watching so many videos in NASCAR the game inside inside and remember playing it on the Wii. Great video! This had to be talked about especially from what’s happening in 21 ignition right now
I have a newfound respect for the Eutechnyx games... Inside Line and NASCAR 14 aren't perfect but they are amazing compared to Ignition. IMO those two games have the best driving controls of any NASCAR console game.
I had played NASCAR the Game 2011 and NASCAR the Game: Inside Line before. Sure, it had faults, but in the end it was good. THANK GOD I did not purchase NASCAR Ignition or Heat because those later games were atrocious.
@@fallonwomack5777 yeah thats when the shit hits the fan and when it happens we are going to rebel the shit out of Motorsports Games. Hell I wanna start a petition rn for them using marketing hype and fraudulent advertisement
The game industry has been on a decline since the ps3/360 era around 2013 or 14. Though the newer games have better graphics, it come at the cost of less content & game breaking glitches. This is part of the reason why I transition to being a retro gamer; there is not enough good new content to justified the purchase of a newer system.
The problem started when game studios started to go public. Forced to focus on ways to increase revenue to satisfy investors. It's lead to a decline of quality and content in almost every game released by a major studio/publisher. Almost every major problem plaguing large publishers and studios can be traced back to the late 90s early 2000s when they went public. Investors want unsustainable year to year growth. Something that doesn't mesh well with taking years to plan, design, and develop a product like a video game.
As soon as developers could fallback on letting players download a patch the overall quality tanked. "We'll fix it later." was the death nail on quality.
As soon as developers could fallback on letting players download a patch the overall quality tanked. "We'll fix it later." was the death nail on quality.
NASCAR 05 was my first NASCAR video game. I loved it as a kid, but I really never appreciated getting to race Ryan Newman through New York City in a Viper, all the different tracks, the in depth career mode, or any of the unique features until I picked up NASCAR 09 years later. I just thought those were standard features and could only be improved on from there. Good golly 09' showed me just how far a franchise can fall in such a little time. It was like an indie arcade game with decent graphics compared to 05'.
Very informative video. I am a longtime diehard NASCAR fan, and I actually like NASCAR 09. Yes, I see why people don't like it, but I have the PS2 version and got it when I was young so I have fond memories of it from my childhood. I still remember getting my first win on that game
The fact that NR2003 is still probably one of or if not the best Nascar game today is a testament that developers back then were really motivated and dedicated to make a great game
Guess what. iRacing offers a peerless Nascar experience, including the ability to race with AI. Not cheap, but neither is the wheel and pedal gear that a lot of folks use. Better yet, iRacing VR is stunning and runs smoothly on quite modest machinery. Rather thank cling to the wreckage of these flawed titles we see every year, I'd suggest trying that.
The crazy thing is that IRacing is the creation of Dave Kaemer, the man who founded Papyrus and put out those first "SimRacing" titles like NASCAR/INDYCAR Racing and the iconic Gran Prix Legends. NASCAR's exclusive EA contract killed PAPY and that stalled NASCAR being involved in "Sims." " EA's NASCAR stuff is nothing more than console based arcade games. IRacing isn't cheap, but it is also unrivaled as a way to experience something through a computer that a person wouldn't normally be able to experience.
Straight facts. It's sad to see that you made a video about 2k, Madden, NHL, and now NASCAR. Games are getting lazier and more thirsty for money. They add roster updates, one new feature, slap a new number on it, and bam. NASCAR 21. They have to bring back the amazing features that they remove. I believe these franchises were all good at one point. They just refused to expand on their definitive features, and instead remove them. Then they usually make an ultimate team that's 100% pay to win. Let's look at madden for an example. Create a team. Create a play. Being able to rewind plays and redo them. They had so many amazing things. And instead of expanding on them, they decide it's too much work and delete it. Now we're left with a bare bones cashgrab game.
Hell there was an investors meeting a few days ago from Motorsports Games that they said they are thinking about adding a Ultimate Team mode by next year (either in 21 early next year or 22 in the fall of next year). It’s like sports games are all full of all of the worst parts of gaming
@@Blood-PawWerewolf and NASCAR racing 2003 season. That game and pretty much the entire thunder series were the peak of NASCAR gaming, loved every bit of NR2003
The early 2000s EA Sports and Monster Games were so influential in getting fans involved in the sport! I think like you said in the video, it's no coincidence that the decline of the game quality correlated with the decline of NASCAR's popularity. I still remember when I first got a PS2 when I was six years old and played NT04 almost daily. It really got me into the sport and helped me learn about the drivers and how the sport works. I honestly credit the game with helping me find my lifetime passion of motorsports!
I’m not a nascar guy but I can appreciate the video. I know it takes a long time to make videos like this. Keep up the great content. I was wondering if you would ever do reviews for madden arcade and or nfl blitz. I know they don’t have a lot of content in them but they were so fun.
The Nascar game simulation actually perfectly parallels Nascar growing, being really good, then becoming crap So one could argue its simulation is spot on
This is such a fantastic video. Don’t listen to the people who criticize you for wanting a solid product, because videos like this are SO important for the community in regards to getting better games. Think guys who work at these companies don’t see these videos? There havent been plenty of UA-camrs who have been contacted by employees of some of these companies, and gave them crap for being honest about the games flaws. THANK YOU SoftDrinkTV, and to BlackFlagsMatter and Idkplayer, too! Videos like these are very important, and give the community a VOICE which in turn is heard by the people in positions to make these games BETTER. Which not only is what we want, but what we DESERVE as consumers who pay our hard earned money for these products. If somebody cooked only half your meal you paid full price for, you wouldn’t sit there and say “You should be happy for the half that is cooked”. The justifications for companies such as EA and others, who rake money in hand over foot whilst giving out incomplete, half assed projects while charging full price is INEXCUSABLE. Final note in regards to that idiot who suggested we give them our money so they can make a better product… There are proper ways to go about getting funding if you don’t have any/enough, and its not by releasing incomplete games at full price under the guise its finished. Disgusting dolt.
It’s just sad to see the state of NASCAR gaming over the last 5 years. Back in the day it used to be such a powerhouse. Now it’s a dumpster fire. NASCAR 21 truly is the straw that broke the camels back.
Still playing Heat 4, excellent game. While 704 brought a lot on themselves, it's a shame the community didn't rally behind this title as the failure to do so is what led to the horror show that is Ignition.
Sit tite bud it will get better NASCAR 21 was trash because they had to release a game it was in the contract with NASCAR to do so. Even if the they could have got NASCAR agree to wave putting out a game this year the same people who complain about about Heat 4 would be complaining cause they didn't give them a game this year. So its a no win situation the company thats helping 704 games now is one of the best racing companies around so one of the next couple NASCAR games that come out will out do the EA era in time.
@@jdevlin1910 i take it you never played of the Formula 1 games? It's a really good franchise game good racing the company that has its hand it in the pot helping 704 games makes the Formula 1 games. Console NASCAR racing games will get way better in 2022 or 2023 just watch man.
@@wolfpackstudios3040 I hope they will bring back dirt racing maybe with the Sprint cups, the dirt modified don't know what it's called and the xtreme dirt tour
As a kid I loved NASCAR 08-09. (I’m not a nascar fan my brother was) and I loved it for getting on with people from my neighborhood and see who could make the biggest crash. I remember doing some career modes and just set it to easy and see how fast I can get to first and start lapping everyone...
Spot on guys I am so glad to see videos like this coming out on multi sport channels so that the Madden crowd can see what we as a community put up with. I've been playing nascar and sports games since I got a PS1 in 1997. I'll never forget the day I came home from school and my dad had setup a steering wheel and pedals and presented me with the brand new nascar 99. I can still hear and recall the lines from ole BP and Bob Jenkins. Then when the heat series came out we had so many options. Nascar heat was my main game until thunder 2002 came out and I was blown away by a 43 car field. Continued to play 03-04 and dirt to Daytona until I sold my PS2 years later. Got into online league racing with NSR and NR2003 and really enjoyed the racing and physics even on NSR. Wish I could get my fix on a console game today like I could then. Inside line was definitely the game I last I enjoyed that way. Refuse to by ignition based on what I'm seeing. No patch can fix that crap. Played Madden ultimate team religiously the past 5 years and I can say while it has unacceptable glitches and a bare Bones game outside of mut, at least the game is functional. Ignition is not playable and heat 5 is a joke. I'll stick to playing mlb the show made by San Diego studios who gets it and produces a well functional fun product
Great video! It really took me back to the golden days of NASCAR games. My first PC Nascar game by Papyrus in '98/'99 was a blast. Being a lifelong Days of Thunder fan, I recreated movie scenes and made mini movies with the replay feature, adding all the film's paint schemes. The roster had legends like the late Dale Earnhardt and late Rusty Wallace. This was also during the time Jeff Gordon dominated. So, I'd swap his car with Rowdy Burns' #51 Exxon or Russ Wheeler's #18 Hardee's schemes. For a lower-tier driver who i would use to drive, I painstakingly added Cole Trickle's City, Superflo, and Mello Yello paint job on it. This being the Windows 95/98 era - internet on dial-up modems, drawing everything with a mouse was a long and hard undertaking. Nowadays, talented folks do it 30x better!
Interesting in retrospect how much the best era of Nascar games in the early 00s matched the peak of Nascar itself. Its like after the 2003 season Nascar went on a rampage of bad decisions, both screwing season long competition in their desperate pointless dream for a "playoff" and screwing game building competition by giving EA exclusivity. The end result sending everything into an era of stagnation with occasional fixes and bright spots, all trying to recapture the magic of the lost era. I say that knowing full well that I have nostalgic love for Nascar 2005: Chase for the Cup too. At that point we were still close enough to the top of the hill not to realize we were heading down. The absolute best to me though was Dirt to Daytona. That game was a gem. At the time it always seemed underappreciated, hidden by the dominance of EA's brand.
I grew up with NASCAR 06: TTC so that's probably my favorite NASCAR game. Of course it was more arcade-y, but what captivated me was the story and adventure of starting in the lower leagues and rising up to be a dominant owner team, making friends and enemies along the way. Definitely spent a lot of hours in that game. I also played NR2003, I agree it's probably one of the best, if not the best, NASCAR games made to date. I discovered it back in the 2010s when there were some UA-cam channels that did AI racing series but replaced their names with your UA-cam nicknames (or whatever you signed up with). Good times. I hate to know that EA practically killed the NASCAR franchise though, but in this day and age, we all know that's what EA is about: milking a series to make the most money from it. I wish more people would rise up against the scumbaggery of EA Sports, because there are *multiple* games and series that they have to touch and make mediocre games of.
What I am about to say is both funny and sad at the same time. In the days of Madden 22, NBA 2k22, MLB the Show 21, Nascar Ignition 21, the games I choose to play are NFL 2k5 (modded on psxs2) Super Mega Baseball 3, Iracing, Legend Bowl, Sunday Rivals, NBA Jam (pcsx2), I have played Axis football, but despite the game having the franchise mode we all have been asking for, the gameplay of Axis is awful. The funny part about this is I tell my brother about a game like Sunday Rivals, and the first thing he always asks is how are the graphics?! My response is this. "Here's the thing..... all NEW AAA games today look fantastic but play like garbage, where as a games like Legend Bowl, Sunday Rivals, looks like garbage but the gameplay is fantastic and fun. That's what is important..... fun! Madden, Nascar 21, just as examples are turds...... you can polish a turd, shine it all up in 4k goodness, but at the end of the day they are now nothing but shiny 4k turds being sold for top dollar with micro transactions. Sports gaming today is a joke. US older gamers have NO CHOICE but to go back in time and play older games because older games were actually GOOD! Young gamers today have absolutely no idea how good sports games used to be and as a result they defend today's games because it's all they know.
I agree with you that people need to stop defending terrible games. Even if I spent my money on a terrible game, I wouldn't defend it...I would be upset that I wasted my money!
The only way we will ever get better games is to stop blindly giving these developers our money. Pre orders are completely unnecessary, and buying on day one of release is also dumb.
Last time I ever have high hopes for a game in general. I felt betrayed from the devs videos showing how good the game was going to be just to relive wwe 2k20 all over again. Speaking of, maybe you can do a rise and fall of wwe games
I’m sure a wrestling content creator has made a video about it already. WWE 2k20 was pretty bad, I’d put it up there with 15 too. From the looks of 22, it’s looking ten times better than 20 so fingers crossed.
I havent played any games from this series, but I know for a FACT that the PS2 games were the best. PERIOD. Maybe Fight Night is the BEST of the BEST. Who knows...
This is an AMAZING video man. Now onto my opinions of the games. I recently quit playing NASCAR 21 because I have shifted thoughts about it. At first, I was HYPED after I saw the trailer, I was excited. I was saying that this was going to be one of the greatest NASCAR games ever. Then when the early releases happened, it fell off a cliff for me. The game had many Vanellopes and bugs in it. (Noticed I replaced the word “Glitch” with Vanallope because I made a reference to Wreck it Ralph) IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!! At first, I “sarcastically” enjoyed the game, and some people were defending the game, and sadly, I was one of them. I tried to defend the criticism by saying that it will get fixed, but people were against me and rightfully so. Then as time went on, I started to learn the truth of the criticism, the numerous patches that still can’t fix the game, and on top of all that, I started to regret getting it and playing it. The game became broken and it was harder for me to play. It was unplayable. Then when news broke out that Motorsport Games got sued by investors for millions of dollars due to false advertising, and not fixing the game enough, I had enough of Ignition. I decided to throw out the towel and gracefully quit. The game SUCKED! Then I decided to make the ironic switch to NASCAR Heat 5 for casual playing. I get it, it’s a copy and paste of 4, but it’s actually good and WAY better then Ignition. The graphics look more crisp, the frame rate is faster and better, and the physics even though have a mixed reception, are actually not bad. 21s physics felt like 08 but worse. I’m starting to regret what I said about Heat 5 when ignition was ready to release, saying Igniton is going to be 10000000000 times better then Heat 5, but I was wrong. It’s so ironic that Heat 5 was so criticized for being a copy and paste until it started to be more appreciated when Igniton flopped. It’s kinda funny to me. I even switched to Project Cars 2 for a while, and it’s great and better than 21, even it has bugs and glitches but are harmless. F1 2021 not to mention is absolutely amazing and blows Ignition out of the water. I even switched to playing the PS2 games of the glory days, and some PS1 games. Then one month later, I made the biggest and greatest decision I ever made as a racing gamer. I decided to join iRacing. iRacing is absolutely amazing, realistic and fun, I can’t grasp too much about the game because there’s so much to discuss. It’s a game that I will never stop playing and I will be the one step to be a pro racer. (But I so understand that it’s not the only way, I won’t play the Jason Jacoby game and use iRacing to immediately race in NASCAR. As for Jacoby, he sucks.) In conclusion, that’s my take on NASCAR games today. I hope that next year, we can have a better game and it better be made correctly. Thanks for your consideration.
The decline of NASCAR gaming is the most depressing of any major form of sport/motorsport. Not a good game in nearly a decade, a constant decline, and filled with many lies from its developers caused this downfall. Unfortunately, this looks like to be the future of NASCAR gaming for the rest of the decade.
Two things I want to say: 1. This is why I’m playing the f1 games more and more every year, say what you will about their launches, but at least they care. 2. I’m going to try to get NR2003 as soon as possible, I don’t want to give up hope for nascar console gaming, but as of now, I don’t know if it’ll last for me.
Nascar 2006 will always be my favorite. Everything was perfect. I was 7 years old playing on the PS2 with my brother, the damage physics were hilarious and we would spend hte whole time going backwards on the track smashing into people
This is why gaming Companies shouldn’t try to rush a game to get a quick buck. There’s so many companies that do this and it ruins their games. Madden, Fifa, Cod (witch FINALLY DELAYED THEIR GAME not to come out on a yearly basis for the first time in a long time) and so many other games (especially sports games) are ruined because of games being released so early!! And people still wanting to trick themselves into thinking the games are great.
Definitely a good perspective. You and I are both huge fans of NASCAR 05. As a clarification; the "pro" players like myself aren't trying to silence criticism; we're trying to gear it towards being constructive in a way that helps us communicate with the developers. We're not happy either and we're doing what we can to foster improvements and feedback.
All of the greatest NASCAR games ever made were created either in 2003, 2005, or 2015. And there will never EVER be another NASCAR game that will EVER be created better than the games in the years 2003, 2005, and 2015.
For "The Rise" there's a missing link. A game called "Andretti Racing" on PS1 was effectively a precursor to EA's NASCAR '98, and probably got their foot in the door to getting a NASCAR license. Advertisements for the game showed off what was clearly meant to be Ernie Irvan's #28 Texaco\Havoline Thunderbird from the early-mid 1990s NASCAR season, and in-game Geoff Bodine's #7 QVC Thunderbird and Bill Elliot's #94 McDonalds Thunderbird were also present, though the three cars had their numbers removed during races. It also featured Bob Jenkins, who was then commentating on NASCAR races for ESPN. The engine that Andretti Racing used was refined for NASCAR '98, but the art style, the way the cars bob while they're in motion, the game's collision and limited physics, and most notably the sounds used for the cars themselves are the same as in the Stock Cars featured in Andretti Racing.
Don't know if you have any interest in pro wrestling, or pro wrestling video games. But if it gives you any interest, you could probably have a hell of a time seeing how much WWE video games have declined over the years.
I gave up on consoles and bought NR2003 and a computer and after over 400 starts in my career mode (and still unable to win a championship after 12 seasons of hard racing), I regret nothing. It's by far the best racing experience for me. iRacing was fun, but I didn't enjoy getting ran over by others so often (this, despite getting in plenty of wrecks on NR2003), and it takes too much time to get racing for my schedule. NR2003 is the perfect combination of physics, graphics, paint schemes, set ups, and competitiveness that I believe I'll enjoy for years to come.
Great vid as always, but I feel a need to clarify the "21" in the name. Motorsports (except Formula E) unlike football (I don't know how American season goes but I assume it's similar to European) or hockey, take part enterally in one calendar year. That's way titles like MotoGP, MXGP, F1 and NASCAR in this case have current year in the name, versus FIFA, PES or NHL which have next year in title as that's when season ends. I know I'm nit-picking, but that's how motorsport works.
@@SOFTDRINKTV Games based on the most important series (F1, MotoGP, WRC) drop in summer - more or less mid season. As that's when we know just enough about current cars/bikes and drivers/riders performance. Why Ignition came out now not mid season? Beats me. I guess they wanted holiday sales and/or cash in on celebrating fans.
NASCAR 21 is genuinely a terrible game. I just bought it in 2022 and I’ll be racing, passing drivers on the “race now” mode and my position will get stuck and it will never change. Or when there is a yellow flag it runs me into the wall or makes me loose multiple positions before the game actually takes over and gets me back in the lineup. On top of that, I miss the toolbars we could use to tell us true wear, damage, tire heat, and how many laps of fuel we have left because in nascar 21, you get none of that and to top it off when you start the race usually your fuel warning light will come on before you even do 10 laps and the spotter will glitch out and tell you to bring it to the pits on every single lap or they will tell you to put in 5 laps every single lap. Even if you cause a caution and go in and put a full tank in your car the light will still be on, it will still be on even if you do a regular pit stop but by then you are all the way back in the back
Couldn't agree more. To be fair, organisations such as Nascar selling exclusive licenses are equally to blame. Anyone selling an exclusive license to EA deserve what they get. This has been their business model for decades and has stunted good quality games as a result.
I remember playing NASCAR Thunder 2003 on my GameCube. That was a week ago. I haven't touched Ignition since I got it on Christmas. I'm really hoping that NASCAR 22 in onwards improves on a lot of the issues ignition has. I don't even care if it uses the same engine, graphics, sound, etc. I love playing ignition for the paint booth and that is it so far. And it really saddens me.
I have Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3, which has NASCAR, and I absolutely love the fact that they don't appear to be sporting restrictor plates since I can see myself going 215-220MPH without draft.
As a guy that played just about every game you mentioned, except that very first one, I have said for years that there is not a racing game at all that gives me everything I want in a racing game. I’ve been pretty happy with Heat 5 though, but I really was looking forward to the added features of Ignition, only to find that the game is essentially unplayable in its current condition. For now I’ll be playing Heat 5 and checking back with Ignition from time to time to see if it gets fixed. I’ve also determined that I will only have an excellent racing game when I create it and find someone to program it for me.
Great documentary 👍 Played a lot NRS2003 back in 2004-2005 on dial-up connection with a friend, this brought me good memories. Sad about the current state of the series, hope we can relive the glory days of 2000 Nascar games.
I would argue most defending Nascar 21 on Twitter and in general are: Below the age of 12, and didn't purchase the game. Mommy did. Knowing I spent 8 hours of hard work to waste it on the $90 special edition is painful.
Something interesting about the Eutechnyx era was that Richard Towler, long time sim racer and multiple time Coca Cola eNASCAR Series champion way back in the day before it was even known as that helped give feedback on developing the game.
Whatever flaws iRacing does have in the grand scheme of things is minor. Everything is playable. And they use Week 13 to test things to make sure they are playable. And if they aren't, they remove it and develop it more. Every cent I have spent on iRacing has been totally worth it. These console companies need go strive to be like iRacing. They make money providing great value. Not by trying to make a quick buck when they are in over their head. Be more like iRacing.
Getting Title rights has been the downfall of gaming. There’s no competition so studios drone out horrible games because they are the only people making them. It’s sad
i think i used to play Nascar 2001 (not sure though) ANd despite me being a bit young for the game, i did enjoy it. European here, who doesn't understand nascar and only loving car sims now due to VR ;) So hooked on Project cars 2 at the moment. And yes, i tried a nascar race.. Quite intense, i like it.
Few drivers who removed from the 5 Nascar EA Sports games NT2002 - Ricky Craven and Jimmie Johnson (both #48 and #92) NT2003 - Hut Stricklin and Dave Blaney NT2004 - John Andretti (#81 Kraft or #90 AOL) and Dave Blaney NCFTC2005 - Jeremy Mayfield and MTJ (#81 Bass Pro Busch Series) NTTC06 - Bill Elliott (#91) N07 - Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer (#07 Cup) N08 - Johnny Sauter, Kenny Wallace and Carl Edwards N09 - Michael McDowell, Scott Riggs, Dave Blaney, Jacques Villeneuve and Ken(nny) Schrader (#49)
Dirt to Daytona was a great game. Spent many hours playing it. I've got 09 and Inside Line. Haven't played that much of 09 but didn't find it that bad. Haven't started Inside Line yet but hopefully it'll be better like you say. Yes I know they're old games but I only have an Xbox 360 cuz I refuse to pay the money they want for a next-gen system for crappie games and the fact that you have to download some them. Seems like all the good games are mainly for multiplayer online or things that I'm not interested in so I'll just keep my old 360's.
since iRacing recent acquisition of the monster games i hope they get full nascar license sometime in the future. Atm Monster games is working on World of Outlaws game that im pretty exited for But imagine if iracing (former papyrus) and Monster games made new full nascar game it would feel like proper '' Return of the King'' moment
Really enjoyed the retrospective look at gaming. To address Black Flags Matter’s question, no; it’s not worth $60 especially cause upgrading to nascar 21 means a system upgrade for me (still rocking PS3) Especially since it seems a bit pointless to me to get a PS4 now that 5 is out. I also wanted to add: that I hadn’t really heard about the community around NASCAR Racing 2003 that still exists. In about 5 minutes of researching I realized that the people keeping this game alive, up to date and constantly improves are the people who should be developing THE NEW GAMES!!!!!!!! Actually getting very interested in learning more about Nascar Racing 2003 and how I can get involved. Thanks!
I thought it was just nostalgia glasses but I actually went back to play the old NASCAR Thunder games for the PS2 and was impressed how well they played compared to the most recent releases.
Might be an unpopular opinion, but I adore Inside Line. My favorite and most nostalgic game. For sure not the best, but a solid game and a game I love. Remember playing it on the Wii, was so happy when I got it on 360.
I am not a NASCAR fan I prefer F1 or rally racing which is more interesting to me, having said that this is perhaps the best video retrospective you have done to date and I was engrossed with both your presentation and your insight on the subject matter and I love the remark, like a trampoline at Sky Zone which gave me a laugh every time I have seen this video. I can only imagine how bad NASCAR video games have become by how good this video is. Now the F1 Racing is back in EA's hands I just hope there will never be a video retrospective like this from the 3 of you but only time will tell
The Heat series is fine, the Eutechnyx games were good DRIVING games but horrible RACING games, I've seen AI cars stop at the start of a race and just stay there and no caution to move them
Motorsport Games should've waited for the start of the 2022 season to release their game. NASCAR UA-camrs and influencers should've gotten a beta version to play and give feedback on a few months before release, which would allow Motorsport Games to fix all the bugs in time for the game's release around the Daytona 500 in 2022.
Drivel, they had plenty of time and their recent poor attempts to fix bugs show more time would have been wasted, they're simply not up to the task and making excuses for them won't solve that.
@@jdevlin1910 they actually had no games made by themselves (they only published KartKraft) as well as only being a company since 2018. There were red flags with MotorSport Games, but no one took them seriously.
I know I mispronounced Papyrus. I promise I won't do it again!
Hey you mispronounced papyrus........jk great job on the vid softdrink
In case you missed it you mispronounced papyrus
It's ok. it happens to the best of us. keep up the good work, Sof T Drin KTV
You need to Stream
You really need to stop worrying about what people think of you. Be confident brother. You was about to delete or quit your channel months ago over a few people's words. You have a nice channel stop bowing down to these idiots. We are watching your video, your the man!
Monetization and the ability to “patch” games has created such a downward spiral in so many games. Back in the PS2 days it was you either made a near flawless game or you didn’t. Now devs get away with producing garbage with the promise of patching it which almost never works. To me the days of the PS2 Madden, NASCAR, NBA, WWE, GTA ECT are a thing of the past and we will never get quality out of those titles again. I’d love to be proven wrong but those devs have had too many chances
Sports games peaked with the $20 2005 2K series. NFL 2K5 is still the high water mark and it's been 16 years.
What’s wrong with gta it’s been such a good game and i believe it has been produced by rockstar since the star unless you mean the oppressors and the weird futuristic stuff and how expensive every new vehicle is then yes I’ll agree with you that’s bad but like the middle of like gta v was great
@@ahmed35gaming I was referring more towards the remake of the trilogy that looks like an utter trainwreck
Perhaps, but games now are so much more complex than what was ever release on the PS2. The ability to patch games is absolutely necessary now.
The industry is full of frauds and liars now even more so than back in the day
It's amazing how much "EA was obviously phoning it in" has become a theme for all of their games
I remember Harry Potter lol
NASCAR in 08 and 09 was the worst games in EA's time. Just horrible.
Not really amazing or surprising, that's what happens when they sign lucrative deals to release a particular title every single year instead of every 2-3 years.
Yet yall keep buying their games 🤣😅
@@BoleDaPole nah, I'm on an all EA boycott. No buying their game till they make a decent one.
Dirt to Daytona will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first video game I ever had or at least remember playing. Getting into genres from sports to open world to real-time strategy to fps to fighting games, THIS was the one that started it all for me and I will always love it for it. It was also the game that got me big into NASCAR in my childhood and while my love for the sport has waned due to various reasons, I still hold fond memories of every Sunday afternoon in the summer being appointment TV or having sleepovers with my other NASCAR friend for the night races as a kid.
And NASCAR 05 is the GOAT!
I still play that. It had the best car physics I have ever found.
I found Dirt to Daytona interesting because Dirt to Daytona didn’t have the xfinity series... no Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono or Chicagoland...
I always wondered why did this happen I still do....
@@dathorndike4908 yes. Me too played those NASCAR PS1 and 2 games. Still amazing than in PS5
@@Mister_Matt_X hi matt X.
Thanks for having me on!
Obviously Bubba
@Fries I don’t have a favorite. Just enjoy watching the sport.
bfm is awesome but idkplayer is aids, along with Michael Mcruz... Both probably punch dry wall
Thanks for doing this darian
@@BlackFlagsMatter Nijigasaki high school idol club also love NTG INSIDE LINE as the last great NASCAR.
A dream Nascar game that has:
All Series with including Featherlites, Trucks, and Xfinity
Graphics and artsyle of Nascar 08
Simulation Physics of NR2003
Arcade Physics of Thunder 2004 or 2005
Career Mode of Thunder 2004 and 2005 CFTC
All current tracks on the calendar with some historical tracks like Daytona Beach and Original, fun tracks like Sawmill and Devil's Canyon
What else y'all want to add?
Historic drivers and cars, different cars from different eras too like pre-cot, along with an online share feature for drivers/paint schemes they couldn't get the rights to (that the community would create anyways). I've always thought that would be awesome. Like being able to play with NASCAR 05 rosters and cars with modern graphics and gameplay!
4 player splitscreen and more alternate paint schemes (already included in the game not in the paid DLCs).
If they could get the license, ARCA Series would be a interesting addition to a NASCAR game. Coming up through the ARCA Series, winning the ARCA Championship, to work your way into NASCAR would be fun.
I just want a NR2003 remaster and android port
Graphics of ignition
Career mode of thunder 2004-5
Simulation of iracing
Soundtrack of gta5
Sprint car series featherlite trucks xfinity
Car setup like 2018-heats
I remember watching Michael Mrucz's first livestream on NASCAR 21 like a week and a half before it came out, and when people found out it was garbage, his entire chat was filled with people who were mad they preordered it. Don't ever preorder games kids!
Exception to preordering based on my experience was Ace Combat 7. Got PS4 version of Ace Combat 5 as well and the game was ready to go from the start.
As bad as Rockstar is at running the online part of their games. They make amazing games. The open world and story has never missed. Probably the only games I'll always pre order. If online isn't great I already know offline mode will be worth the money. But I'm waiting on everything else lol
Yeah right , been 3 years since I pre ordered GTA 6 from pop tart studios .scm
The 6th gen is and always will be the golden age of gaming. Everything came together just right in that generation. The tech was good but still forced devs to be creative and not lean on graphics. The industry was big enough to comfortably take risks on oddball games, but not so big that business was the only consideration. The moral busy bodies were laughed out if the room rather than given all the power they desired. Yeah there were still misses, I'm not so nostalgic that I can't see the flaws of the era, but when you look at where we are now it's a stark contrast in all aspects. God I miss it and God I miss good Nascar games.
More games ran at 60 FPS too
100% isn’t it sad?
@@PaperBanjo64 That should be top of the list, can't believe I blitzed on that
@@nopenope2550 definitely, while I don't think 30 frames is bad or unplayable it's laughable the PS2 and Wii had more 60 FPS games than modern games do, and they want to get 120 FPS on consoles now!? They barely can get 60 and high resolutions...I'd be fine with games being 720p or 900p if they had 60 FPS, I think that's part of why it was so common in the PS2 era is less games had high resolution modes, barely any games had 480p support on PS2, so less need to sacrifice performance for graphics.
@@PaperBanjo64 Don't even get me started on that man. On a technical level Jak and Daxter the Precursor Legacy is still LEAGUES ahead of anything produced since. 60 FPS, massive open world, no loading screens during gameplay, it still looks beautiful, and most importantly, it's fun to play. The fact that it hasn't been surpassed isn't just astounding, it's plain sad. I can understand the technical hiccups in the 7th gen, the switch to HD consoles was painful for a lot of devs, but there is no excuse now. Then again, most games these days are either shitty addiction simulators or "cinematic experiences" that barely qualify as games. Why would you need 60 FPS if the only interaction you ever have with the game is holding the stick forward and occasionally pressing X?
Sorry if this barely makes any sense, I'm just jaded with the modern gaming landscape as a whole.
“NASCAR 21 is easily the 2nd worst NASCAR game of all time” I think at its current state, it is THE WORST NASCAR game of all time. Heat Evolution is terrible but it was no where near as broken as Ignition.
Oh this IS the worst nascar game of all time. So many removed features and so buggy that it put Eutechnyx to shame
I mean at least Heat Evolution was PLAYABLE
@@P8nda nah Heat evolution is definitely worst
@@jakebrooks58 But at least it was playable
@@jamisintheair6657 most tracks are playable + Heat evolution looks like a Wii game
28:16 people also need to realize that usually people aren't criticizing the game because they hate the game, brand, or devs. They're criticizing the game because they want to see a good Nascar game and letting devs get away with making games like this won't result in a good game.
When you realize that expect for The Show the last 5 years for every gaming sport expect for NBA 2K16 are some of if not the worst sports video games ever?
Codemaster's F1 series is really good but yeah, pretty much every other game sucks.
I think we can say that PS4 era was the death of the sports videogames
I wouldn’t say the worst for some games, but definitely not close to their peaks. Except madden. Madden is just awful year in year out.
@@scullye127 codemasters F1 games are the only sports games I can play without wanting to break my tv
@@scullye127 I should probably buy F1 before they fuck it up
This is one of your best pieces and I love how detailed you are. Dude you deserve so much respect for the work you put into this stuff that need to be seen and pointed out. The ps2 had flaws but again people spoke and games were great day one.
I have seen so much copy and paste stuff that its sad because it robs the customer of what they should be getting. You see this with WWE games with 2k20 and so on compared to ps2 which is sad. I know people were mad at Heat 5 from being a copy and paste from 4 to even having a BLM car in the game which insulted so many people. Its a shame because 5 could have been OK as a update if it wasn't 50 bucks lol.
Still though you are an absolute legend and I hope you keep up this awesome content. Maybe a WWE games series would be awesome with experts too and even use fan comments? (Cheap plug lol) But serious SoftdrinkTV you are damn good at what you do and you are very detailed. Don't stop and remember that for every one person that hates on you there's 4 that see your point and appreciate the honesty and hard work that goes into this.
If you think this is a great video your insane critizing a game with alot of great ideas is only helping people not buy the stupid thing gaming is going downhill I agree that iracing is so much better than anything so stop complaining about Xbox and playstation and go to pc
@@meganelliott4577 Have you seen computer prices? Plus many folks don't live in the city so high power internet isn't accessible to do things such as Iracing. People that spend their money on a product deserve to get a great product not something that is lower than average.
Telling people to just buy a computer is just as ignorant as some of the other things you'll see. Again if a person doesn't do computers then they shouldn't be robbed of a great product plus this documentation was about the quality going down not a complaint piece. It's right there in the pudding I mean if you didn't see that then you are blind. Gaming companies should be stepping up not lessening themselves but without competition that seems to be happening. Again SoftdrinkTV nailed it so well on this and showed examples of flaws in a great transparent way with other people who have a ton of knowledge.
If that's the only response you have to someone that demands more quality from what they pay for then you're a self entitled, pompous, bubble brat that just brushes off peoples concerns as long you have what you want. How disrespectful is that like really that would be like saying just buy an electric car even if you paid a pretty penny for a quality car that dropped in quality overtime without that competition to push it. Its just a statement that is intended to down anyone that's not on the Iracing train plus have you not forgotten how many had issues with them with the whole banning and assisting in Kyle Larson's issue in 2020 yet had a driver that was say black or half black said that, Iracing wouldn't have banned them or continued to push the streaming clip everywhere for a cheap pop? There's a number of folks that have no intention for that plus thats a very in depth form of racing gaming that maybe casuals aren't desiring.
If F1 can improve year after year then why not the Nascar series? People that paid money for these games have a right to make their opinions heard. If you don't like it then move on but being critical of their complaints is just shallow and pitiful to do. If someone burnt your dinner or messed up your iced coffee would it be okay to have a person just say buy it else where and stop complaining? No because you paid your money for a service that underdelivered so what's the difference?
Dudes so detailed that he didn't even know how to pronounce one of the most iconic Nascar devs.
dEtAiL
@@BoleDaPole I'm sure there are words you probably cannot pronounce either. He had the material and thought there that's pretty solid. Mispronounced word isn't make or break if the substance is there and it is. Again I'm sure there's words you probably struggle with but I don't see anyone wanting to thumb the eye of a person for one word thats not so common to pronounce like seriously. You can try make smart cracks like Detail but again the guy made some solid points. No need to always wanna be sarcastic but I guess ignorance runs deep with people, everyone wants to be a critic huh?
I remember watching so many videos in NASCAR the game inside inside and remember playing it on the Wii. Great video! This had to be talked about especially from what’s happening in 21 ignition right now
I have a newfound respect for the Eutechnyx games... Inside Line and NASCAR 14 aren't perfect but they are amazing compared to Ignition. IMO those two games have the best driving controls of any NASCAR console game.
What about nascar the game 2011?? They made that too and its better than the following games
@Tony Overstill thanks. How is NASCAR The Game, better than NASCAR 14?
@@xman777bNTG INSIDE LINE still amazing.
I remember playing The Inside Line for hours when I was younger
I had played NASCAR the Game 2011 and NASCAR the Game: Inside Line before. Sure, it had faults, but in the end it was good. THANK GOD I did not purchase NASCAR Ignition or Heat because those later games were atrocious.
Great video. The fall of nascar games is drastic. We’re the new madden lolcow.
Nah madden is worse. Madden has the budget of AAA titles and plays like early access indie games.
Just be glad you dont have nascar ultimate team yet
@@fallonwomack5777 yeah thats when the shit hits the fan and when it happens we are going to rebel the shit out of Motorsports Games. Hell I wanna start a petition rn for them using marketing hype and fraudulent advertisement
The game industry has been on a decline since the ps3/360 era around 2013 or 14. Though the newer games have better graphics, it come at the cost of less content & game breaking glitches. This is part of the reason why I transition to being a retro gamer; there is not enough good new content to justified the purchase of a newer system.
The problem started when game studios started to go public. Forced to focus on ways to increase revenue to satisfy investors. It's lead to a decline of quality and content in almost every game released by a major studio/publisher. Almost every major problem plaguing large publishers and studios can be traced back to the late 90s early 2000s when they went public. Investors want unsustainable year to year growth. Something that doesn't mesh well with taking years to plan, design, and develop a product like a video game.
As soon as developers could fallback on letting players download a patch the overall quality tanked. "We'll fix it later." was the death nail on quality.
As soon as developers could fallback on letting players download a patch the overall quality tanked. "We'll fix it later." was the death nail on quality.
same thinking 👍🏻 i am considering to reinstall my old games.. old games more fun than today games
@@faydulaksono even NASCAR 1998 on ps1 still better than all modern NFL games.
NASCAR 05 was my first NASCAR video game. I loved it as a kid, but I really never appreciated getting to race Ryan Newman through New York City in a Viper, all the different tracks, the in depth career mode, or any of the unique features until I picked up NASCAR 09 years later. I just thought those were standard features and could only be improved on from there. Good golly 09' showed me just how far a franchise can fall in such a little time. It was like an indie arcade game with decent graphics compared to 05'.
Very informative video. I am a longtime diehard NASCAR fan, and I actually like NASCAR 09. Yes, I see why people don't like it, but I have the PS2 version and got it when I was young so I have fond memories of it from my childhood. I still remember getting my first win on that game
I've gone back and revisited many games from my childhood and have realized that a lot of them are shit.
@@KartKing4ever Yea, I get that, but it was one of my first NASCAR video games and I have a lot of fond memories of it
08 and 09 was copy and paste on the PS2 I've played both
@@MJForever1999 Yea same, they're very similar
I played 09 on ps3. I remember doing 100% talladega races with that green amp energy 88 around the top lane.
The fact that NR2003 is still probably one of or if not the best Nascar game today is a testament that developers back then were really motivated and dedicated to make a great game
Guess what. iRacing offers a peerless Nascar experience, including the ability to race with AI. Not cheap, but neither is the wheel and pedal gear that a lot of folks use. Better yet, iRacing VR is stunning and runs smoothly on quite modest machinery. Rather thank cling to the wreckage of these flawed titles we see every year, I'd suggest trying that.
Yeah, plus all the other cars, the game is amazing and not that expensive.
I prefer rFactor 2.
@@johns.8220 Ignition uses rf2's engine. Only difference is they tuned the AI per track.
The crazy thing is that IRacing is the creation of Dave Kaemer, the man who founded Papyrus and put out those first "SimRacing" titles like NASCAR/INDYCAR Racing and the iconic Gran Prix Legends. NASCAR's exclusive EA contract killed PAPY and that stalled NASCAR being involved in "Sims." " EA's NASCAR stuff is nothing more than console based arcade games.
IRacing isn't cheap, but it is also unrivaled as a way to experience something through a computer that a person wouldn't normally be able to experience.
Cost a lot to get it all game steering peetles
Straight facts. It's sad to see that you made a video about 2k, Madden, NHL, and now NASCAR. Games are getting lazier and more thirsty for money. They add roster updates, one new feature, slap a new number on it, and bam. NASCAR 21. They have to bring back the amazing features that they remove. I believe these franchises were all good at one point. They just refused to expand on their definitive features, and instead remove them. Then they usually make an ultimate team that's 100% pay to win. Let's look at madden for an example. Create a team. Create a play. Being able to rewind plays and redo them. They had so many amazing things. And instead of expanding on them, they decide it's too much work and delete it. Now we're left with a bare bones cashgrab game.
Hell there was an investors meeting a few days ago from Motorsports Games that they said they are thinking about adding a Ultimate Team mode by next year (either in 21 early next year or 22 in the fall of next year). It’s like sports games are all full of all of the worst parts of gaming
In my opinion, NASCAR The Game Inside Line is the last good nascar game.
And the peak was Nascar Thunder 2004.
@@Blood-PawWerewolf and NASCAR racing 2003 season. That game and pretty much the entire thunder series were the peak of NASCAR gaming, loved every bit of NR2003
The early 2000s EA Sports and Monster Games were so influential in getting fans involved in the sport! I think like you said in the video, it's no coincidence that the decline of the game quality correlated with the decline of NASCAR's popularity.
I still remember when I first got a PS2 when I was six years old and played NT04 almost daily. It really got me into the sport and helped me learn about the drivers and how the sport works. I honestly credit the game with helping me find my lifetime passion of motorsports!
Nascar 21 was the first game I've ever returned. Right back to Heat 5.
I’m not a nascar guy but I can appreciate the video. I know it takes a long time to make videos like this. Keep up the great content. I was wondering if you would ever do reviews for madden arcade and or nfl blitz. I know they don’t have a lot of content in them but they were so fun.
Why you have to bring up that you arent a nascar guy
@@manueltjuhh3807 he enjoyed this Nascar video despite not being a Nascar fan, it's complementing how good the video was
Go Birds
The Nascar game simulation actually perfectly parallels Nascar growing, being really good, then becoming crap
So one could argue its simulation is spot on
This is such a fantastic video. Don’t listen to the people who criticize you for wanting a solid product, because videos like this are SO important for the community in regards to getting better games. Think guys who work at these companies don’t see these videos? There havent been plenty of UA-camrs who have been contacted by employees of some of these companies, and gave them crap for being honest about the games flaws.
THANK YOU SoftDrinkTV, and to BlackFlagsMatter and Idkplayer, too! Videos like these are very important, and give the community a VOICE which in turn is heard by the people in positions to make these games BETTER. Which not only is what we want, but what we DESERVE as consumers who pay our hard earned money for these products. If somebody cooked only half your meal you paid full price for, you wouldn’t sit there and say “You should be happy for the half that is cooked”. The justifications for companies such as EA and others, who rake money in hand over foot whilst giving out incomplete, half assed projects while charging full price is INEXCUSABLE.
Final note in regards to that idiot who suggested we give them our money so they can make a better product… There are proper ways to go about getting funding if you don’t have any/enough, and its not by releasing incomplete games at full price under the guise its finished. Disgusting dolt.
It’s just sad to see the state of NASCAR gaming over the last 5 years. Back in the day it used to be such a powerhouse. Now it’s a dumpster fire. NASCAR 21 truly is the straw that broke the camels back.
Still playing Heat 4, excellent game. While 704 brought a lot on themselves, it's a shame the community didn't rally behind this title as the failure to do so is what led to the horror show that is Ignition.
Sit tite bud it will get better NASCAR 21 was trash because they had to release a game it was in the contract with NASCAR to do so. Even if the they could have got NASCAR agree to wave putting out a game this year the same people who complain about about Heat 4 would be complaining cause they didn't give them a game this year. So its a no win situation the company thats helping 704 games now is one of the best racing companies around so one of the next couple NASCAR games that come out will out do the EA era in time.
@@wolfpackstudios3040 Just total nonsense but you enjoy your imagination
@@jdevlin1910 i take it you never played of the Formula 1 games? It's a really good franchise game good racing the company that has its hand it in the pot helping 704 games makes the Formula 1 games. Console NASCAR racing games will get way better in 2022 or 2023 just watch man.
@@wolfpackstudios3040 I hope they will bring back dirt racing maybe with the Sprint cups, the dirt modified don't know what it's called and the xtreme dirt tour
EA getting exclusive rights to a sports league always is the answer when someone asks "what happened?"
Let's go another upload by the legend SOFTDRINKTV
As a kid I loved NASCAR 08-09. (I’m not a nascar fan my brother was) and I loved it for getting on with people from my neighborhood and see who could make the biggest crash. I remember doing some career modes and just set it to easy and see how fast I can get to first and start lapping everyone...
Spot on guys I am so glad to see videos like this coming out on multi sport channels so that the Madden crowd can see what we as a community put up with. I've been playing nascar and sports games since I got a PS1 in 1997. I'll never forget the day I came home from school and my dad had setup a steering wheel and pedals and presented me with the brand new nascar 99. I can still hear and recall the lines from ole BP and Bob Jenkins. Then when the heat series came out we had so many options. Nascar heat was my main game until thunder 2002 came out and I was blown away by a 43 car field. Continued to play 03-04 and dirt to Daytona until I sold my PS2 years later. Got into online league racing with NSR and NR2003 and really enjoyed the racing and physics even on NSR. Wish I could get my fix on a console game today like I could then. Inside line was definitely the game I last I enjoyed that way. Refuse to by ignition based on what I'm seeing. No patch can fix that crap. Played Madden ultimate team religiously the past 5 years and I can say while it has unacceptable glitches and a bare Bones game outside of mut, at least the game is functional. Ignition is not playable and heat 5 is a joke. I'll stick to playing mlb the show made by San Diego studios who gets it and produces a well functional fun product
Great video! It really took me back to the golden days of NASCAR games. My first PC Nascar game by Papyrus in '98/'99 was a blast.
Being a lifelong Days of Thunder fan, I recreated movie scenes and made mini movies with the replay feature, adding all the film's paint schemes.
The roster had legends like the late Dale Earnhardt and late Rusty Wallace. This was also during the time Jeff Gordon dominated. So, I'd swap his car with Rowdy Burns' #51 Exxon or Russ Wheeler's #18 Hardee's schemes. For a lower-tier driver who i would use to drive, I painstakingly added Cole Trickle's City, Superflo, and Mello Yello paint job on it. This being the Windows 95/98 era - internet on dial-up modems, drawing everything with a mouse was a long and hard undertaking.
Nowadays, talented folks do it 30x better!
UPDATE: Last month, Iracing had announced that they are the new developers for the next game in 2025. There is hope!
Yes, but only for console, no for PC
Interesting in retrospect how much the best era of Nascar games in the early 00s matched the peak of Nascar itself. Its like after the 2003 season Nascar went on a rampage of bad decisions, both screwing season long competition in their desperate pointless dream for a "playoff" and screwing game building competition by giving EA exclusivity. The end result sending everything into an era of stagnation with occasional fixes and bright spots, all trying to recapture the magic of the lost era.
I say that knowing full well that I have nostalgic love for Nascar 2005: Chase for the Cup too. At that point we were still close enough to the top of the hill not to realize we were heading down. The absolute best to me though was Dirt to Daytona. That game was a gem. At the time it always seemed underappreciated, hidden by the dominance of EA's brand.
I grew up with NASCAR 06: TTC so that's probably my favorite NASCAR game. Of course it was more arcade-y, but what captivated me was the story and adventure of starting in the lower leagues and rising up to be a dominant owner team, making friends and enemies along the way. Definitely spent a lot of hours in that game. I also played NR2003, I agree it's probably one of the best, if not the best, NASCAR games made to date. I discovered it back in the 2010s when there were some UA-cam channels that did AI racing series but replaced their names with your UA-cam nicknames (or whatever you signed up with). Good times.
I hate to know that EA practically killed the NASCAR franchise though, but in this day and age, we all know that's what EA is about: milking a series to make the most money from it. I wish more people would rise up against the scumbaggery of EA Sports, because there are *multiple* games and series that they have to touch and make mediocre games of.
Thanks for listening to my request! Love it man!
What I am about to say is both funny and sad at the same time. In the days of Madden 22, NBA 2k22, MLB the Show 21, Nascar Ignition 21, the games I choose to play are NFL 2k5 (modded on psxs2) Super Mega Baseball 3, Iracing, Legend Bowl, Sunday Rivals, NBA Jam (pcsx2), I have played Axis football, but despite the game having the franchise mode we all have been asking for, the gameplay of Axis is awful. The funny part about this is I tell my brother about a game like Sunday Rivals, and the first thing he always asks is how are the graphics?! My response is this. "Here's the thing..... all NEW AAA games today look fantastic but play like garbage, where as a games like Legend Bowl, Sunday Rivals, looks like garbage but the gameplay is fantastic and fun. That's what is important..... fun! Madden, Nascar 21, just as examples are turds...... you can polish a turd, shine it all up in 4k goodness, but at the end of the day they are now nothing but shiny 4k turds being sold for top dollar with micro transactions. Sports gaming today is a joke. US older gamers have NO CHOICE but to go back in time and play older games because older games were actually GOOD! Young gamers today have absolutely no idea how good sports games used to be and as a result they defend today's games because it's all they know.
I agree with you that people need to stop defending terrible games. Even if I spent my money on a terrible game, I wouldn't defend it...I would be upset that I wasted my money!
That's exactly how I am with Ignition rn
The only way we will ever get better games is to stop blindly giving these developers our money.
Pre orders are completely unnecessary, and buying on day one of release is also dumb.
Nascar 98 and 2004 will always hold special places in my heart
Last time I ever have high hopes for a game in general. I felt betrayed from the devs videos showing how good the game was going to be just to relive wwe 2k20 all over again. Speaking of, maybe you can do a rise and fall of wwe games
I’m sure a wrestling content creator has made a video about it already. WWE 2k20 was pretty bad, I’d put it up there with 15 too. From the looks of 22, it’s looking ten times better than 20 so fingers crossed.
Nice video. NASCAR Thunder 2004 was the first video game I ever got. It sucks how far NASCAR games have fallen.
I havent played any games from this series, but I know for a FACT that the PS2 games were the best. PERIOD. Maybe Fight Night is the BEST of the BEST. Who knows...
I'm pretty sure most games from 6th gen console are considered the best of their respective franchise
@@shino1300 i respect that with the greastest amounts of nostalgia
This is an AMAZING video man. Now onto my opinions of the games. I recently quit playing NASCAR 21 because I have shifted thoughts about it. At first, I was HYPED after I saw the trailer, I was excited. I was saying that this was going to be one of the greatest NASCAR games ever. Then when the early releases happened, it fell off a cliff for me. The game had many Vanellopes and bugs in it. (Noticed I replaced the word “Glitch” with Vanallope because I made a reference to Wreck it Ralph) IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!! At first, I “sarcastically” enjoyed the game, and some people were defending the game, and sadly, I was one of them. I tried to defend the criticism by saying that it will get fixed, but people were against me and rightfully so. Then as time went on, I started to learn the truth of the criticism, the numerous patches that still can’t fix the game, and on top of all that, I started to regret getting it and playing it. The game became broken and it was harder for me to play. It was unplayable. Then when news broke out that Motorsport Games got sued by investors for millions of dollars due to false advertising, and not fixing the game enough, I had enough of Ignition. I decided to throw out the towel and gracefully quit. The game SUCKED! Then I decided to make the ironic switch to NASCAR Heat 5 for casual playing. I get it, it’s a copy and paste of 4, but it’s actually good and WAY better then Ignition. The graphics look more crisp, the frame rate is faster and better, and the physics even though have a mixed reception, are actually not bad. 21s physics felt like 08 but worse. I’m starting to regret what I said about Heat 5 when ignition was ready to release, saying Igniton is going to be 10000000000 times better then Heat 5, but I was wrong. It’s so ironic that Heat 5 was so criticized for being a copy and paste until it started to be more appreciated when Igniton flopped. It’s kinda funny to me. I even switched to Project Cars 2 for a while, and it’s great and better than 21, even it has bugs and glitches but are harmless. F1 2021 not to mention is absolutely amazing and blows Ignition out of the water. I even switched to playing the PS2 games of the glory days, and some PS1 games. Then one month later, I made the biggest and greatest decision I ever made as a racing gamer. I decided to join iRacing. iRacing is absolutely amazing, realistic and fun, I can’t grasp too much about the game because there’s so much to discuss. It’s a game that I will never stop playing and I will be the one step to be a pro racer. (But I so understand that it’s not the only way, I won’t play the Jason Jacoby game and use iRacing to immediately race in NASCAR. As for Jacoby, he sucks.) In conclusion, that’s my take on NASCAR games today. I hope that next year, we can have a better game and it better be made correctly. Thanks for your consideration.
Real ones know Dirt to Daytona is the GOAT of Nascar games
The decline of NASCAR gaming is the most depressing of any major form of sport/motorsport. Not a good game in nearly a decade, a constant decline, and filled with many lies from its developers caused this downfall. Unfortunately, this looks like to be the future of NASCAR gaming for the rest of the decade.
Why is every single popular sports game so darn bad now? Madden, NHL, 2K, now nascar jeez..😔
All of the sports games are just copy and paste every year
I remember Chase For The Cup. I thought it was cool that you could also race real cars like the Corvette, or Viper.
Re: 5:56 - I played Dirt to Daytona quite a bit as a kid around the time it came out. Had no idea it was well-regarded by actual racing fans.
Two things I want to say:
1. This is why I’m playing the f1 games more and more every year, say what you will about their launches, but at least they care.
2. I’m going to try to get NR2003 as soon as possible, I don’t want to give up hope for nascar console gaming, but as of now, I don’t know if it’ll last for me.
I can agree with your opinion
Why does it feel like more mainstream sports games either come out really broken or just outright become micro transactions central.
Nascar 2006 will always be my favorite. Everything was perfect. I was 7 years old playing on the PS2 with my brother, the damage physics were hilarious and we would spend hte whole time going backwards on the track smashing into people
This is why gaming Companies shouldn’t try to rush a game to get a quick buck. There’s so many companies that do this and it ruins their games. Madden, Fifa, Cod (witch FINALLY DELAYED THEIR GAME not to come out on a yearly basis for the first time in a long time) and so many other games (especially sports games) are ruined because of games being released so early!! And people still wanting to trick themselves into thinking the games are great.
Definitely a good perspective. You and I are both huge fans of NASCAR 05. As a clarification; the "pro" players like myself aren't trying to silence criticism; we're trying to gear it towards being constructive in a way that helps us communicate with the developers. We're not happy either and we're doing what we can to foster improvements and feedback.
Good timing and glad to see nascar can get a video.
The thing is monster games developing heat until 4 was looking up but then 704 fired them
All of the greatest NASCAR games ever made were created either in 2003, 2005, or 2015. And there will never EVER be another NASCAR game that will EVER be created better than the games in the years 2003, 2005, and 2015.
I remember playing NASCAR Racing 2 on a Compaq desktop computer in 99-2000 as a kid. It was an amazing game for the time
So this is why Ryan Moody so mad with new NASCAR game
Yes along with WhatIfRacing Michael Mrucz and a bunch of other content creators. Hell Windvow knows the game is shit and isn’t playing it
For "The Rise" there's a missing link. A game called "Andretti Racing" on PS1 was effectively a precursor to EA's NASCAR '98, and probably got their foot in the door to getting a NASCAR license. Advertisements for the game showed off what was clearly meant to be Ernie Irvan's #28 Texaco\Havoline Thunderbird from the early-mid 1990s NASCAR season, and in-game Geoff Bodine's #7 QVC Thunderbird and Bill Elliot's #94 McDonalds Thunderbird were also present, though the three cars had their numbers removed during races.
It also featured Bob Jenkins, who was then commentating on NASCAR races for ESPN.
The engine that Andretti Racing used was refined for NASCAR '98, but the art style, the way the cars bob while they're in motion, the game's collision and limited physics, and most notably the sounds used for the cars themselves are the same as in the Stock Cars featured in Andretti Racing.
Don't know if you have any interest in pro wrestling, or pro wrestling video games. But if it gives you any interest, you could probably have a hell of a time seeing how much WWE video games have declined over the years.
I noticed at 29:21 there is a mustang and fusion in the same race. Ford Fusion on a mustang body
Great video man! Keep up the good work
Mrucz’s face I can’t 💀
I gave up on consoles and bought NR2003 and a computer and after over 400 starts in my career mode (and still unable to win a championship after 12 seasons of hard racing), I regret nothing. It's by far the best racing experience for me. iRacing was fun, but I didn't enjoy getting ran over by others so often (this, despite getting in plenty of wrecks on NR2003), and it takes too much time to get racing for my schedule. NR2003 is the perfect combination of physics, graphics, paint schemes, set ups, and competitiveness that I believe I'll enjoy for years to come.
Great vid as always, but I feel a need to clarify the "21" in the name. Motorsports (except Formula E) unlike football (I don't know how American season goes but I assume it's similar to European) or hockey, take part enterally in one calendar year. That's way titles like MotoGP, MXGP, F1 and NASCAR in this case have current year in the name, versus FIFA, PES or NHL which have next year in title as that's when season ends.
I know I'm nit-picking, but that's how motorsport works.
But then why does the game drop as the season is ending? Rather than in January?
@@SOFTDRINKTV Games based on the most important series (F1, MotoGP, WRC) drop in summer - more or less mid season. As that's when we know just enough about current cars/bikes and drivers/riders performance.
Why Ignition came out now not mid season? Beats me. I guess they wanted holiday sales and/or cash in on celebrating fans.
OMG zaddy soft drink uploaded
NASCAR 21 is genuinely a terrible game. I just bought it in 2022 and I’ll be racing, passing drivers on the “race now” mode and my position will get stuck and it will never change. Or when there is a yellow flag it runs me into the wall or makes me loose multiple positions before the game actually takes over and gets me back in the lineup. On top of that, I miss the toolbars we could use to tell us true wear, damage, tire heat, and how many laps of fuel we have left because in nascar 21, you get none of that and to top it off when you start the race usually your fuel warning light will come on before you even do 10 laps and the spotter will glitch out and tell you to bring it to the pits on every single lap or they will tell you to put in 5 laps every single lap. Even if you cause a caution and go in and put a full tank in your car the light will still be on, it will still be on even if you do a regular pit stop but by then you are all the way back in the back
I just want a good nascar game with a realistic damage model. Hell at this point wreckfest is a more realistic game as far as damage
I blame Kyle Busch
Couldn't agree more. To be fair, organisations such as Nascar selling exclusive licenses are equally to blame. Anyone selling an exclusive license to EA deserve what they get. This has been their business model for decades and has stunted good quality games as a result.
Do WWE games next
Yes they DEFINITELY declined
Got my copy of inside line and nascar 09 to relive the nostalgia also been grinding on thunder 2004 and CFTC 2005
People hate me more after showing this game.
I remember playing NASCAR Thunder 2003 on my GameCube. That was a week ago. I haven't touched Ignition since I got it on Christmas. I'm really hoping that NASCAR 22 in onwards improves on a lot of the issues ignition has. I don't even care if it uses the same engine, graphics, sound, etc. I love playing ignition for the paint booth and that is it so far. And it really saddens me.
There will be no nascar 22
Grand Turismo added NASCAR into one of the games. It was actually pretty good
I have Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3, which has NASCAR, and I absolutely love the fact that they don't appear to be sporting restrictor plates since I can see myself going 215-220MPH without draft.
As a guy that played just about every game you mentioned, except that very first one, I have said for years that there is not a racing game at all that gives me everything I want in a racing game. I’ve been pretty happy with Heat 5 though, but I really was looking forward to the added features of Ignition, only to find that the game is essentially unplayable in its current condition. For now I’ll be playing Heat 5 and checking back with Ignition from time to time to see if it gets fixed. I’ve also determined that I will only have an excellent racing game when I create it and find someone to program it for me.
NASCAR the game 2011 was the best one in the series
Yes!!
Nascar 2005 chase for the cup says u think i’m playing?!
It was literally one of the worst
Freefrom paintbooth, but no career mode
You sure you don't mean Inside Line? 2011 was one of the worst...
Great documentary 👍 Played a lot NRS2003 back in 2004-2005 on dial-up connection with a friend, this brought me good memories. Sad about the current state of the series, hope we can relive the glory days of 2000 Nascar games.
I would argue most defending Nascar 21 on Twitter and in general are:
Below the age of 12, and didn't purchase the game. Mommy did. Knowing I spent 8 hours of hard work to waste it on the $90 special edition is painful.
Something interesting about the Eutechnyx era was that Richard Towler, long time sim racer and multiple time Coca Cola eNASCAR Series champion way back in the day before it was even known as that helped give feedback on developing the game.
Whatever flaws iRacing does have in the grand scheme of things is minor. Everything is playable. And they use Week 13 to test things to make sure they are playable. And if they aren't, they remove it and develop it more. Every cent I have spent on iRacing has been totally worth it. These console companies need go strive to be like iRacing. They make money providing great value. Not by trying to make a quick buck when they are in over their head. Be more like iRacing.
Dirt to Daytona was one of my Favs
12:16 Ikr? Once back in 2019 I was playing this game on the Wii when it just randomly stopped and I had to restart it
Getting Title rights has been the downfall of gaming. There’s no competition so studios drone out horrible games because they are the only people making them. It’s sad
i think i used to play Nascar 2001 (not sure though)
ANd despite me being a bit young for the game, i did enjoy it.
European here, who doesn't understand nascar and only loving car sims now due to VR ;) So hooked on Project cars 2 at the moment. And yes, i tried a nascar race.. Quite intense, i like it.
Few drivers who removed from the 5 Nascar EA Sports games
NT2002 - Ricky Craven and Jimmie Johnson (both #48 and #92)
NT2003 - Hut Stricklin and Dave Blaney
NT2004 - John Andretti (#81 Kraft or #90 AOL) and Dave Blaney
NCFTC2005 - Jeremy Mayfield and MTJ (#81 Bass Pro Busch Series)
NTTC06 - Bill Elliott (#91)
N07 - Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer (#07 Cup)
N08 - Johnny Sauter, Kenny Wallace and Carl Edwards
N09 - Michael McDowell, Scott Riggs, Dave Blaney, Jacques Villeneuve and Ken(nny) Schrader (#49)
Dirt to Daytona was a great game. Spent many hours playing it. I've got 09 and Inside Line. Haven't played that much of 09 but didn't find it that bad. Haven't started Inside Line yet but hopefully it'll be better like you say. Yes I know they're old games but I only have an Xbox 360 cuz I refuse to pay the money they want for a next-gen system for crappie games and the fact that you have to download some them. Seems like all the good games are mainly for multiplayer online or things that I'm not interested in so I'll just keep my old 360's.
My favorite NASCAR game was the year the dude wore the M&M’s uniform on the cover!
since iRacing recent acquisition of the monster games i hope they get full nascar license sometime in the future. Atm Monster games is working on World of Outlaws game that im pretty exited for
But imagine if iracing (former papyrus) and Monster games made new full nascar game it would feel like proper '' Return of the King'' moment
Tony Stewart's Facepalm says it all
Really enjoyed the retrospective look at gaming. To address Black Flags Matter’s question, no; it’s not worth $60 especially cause upgrading to nascar 21 means a system upgrade for me (still rocking PS3) Especially since it seems a bit pointless to me to get a PS4 now that 5 is out.
I also wanted to add: that I hadn’t really heard about the community around NASCAR Racing 2003 that still exists. In about 5 minutes of researching I realized that the people keeping this game alive, up to date and constantly improves are the people who should be developing THE NEW GAMES!!!!!!!! Actually getting very interested in learning more about Nascar Racing 2003 and how I can get involved. Thanks!
Basically EA and Nascar killed it by not allowing competition, and it never recovered.
I thought it was just nostalgia glasses but I actually went back to play the old NASCAR Thunder games for the PS2 and was impressed how well they played compared to the most recent releases.
Might be an unpopular opinion, but I adore Inside Line. My favorite and most nostalgic game. For sure not the best, but a solid game and a game I love. Remember playing it on the Wii, was so happy when I got it on 360.
I am not a NASCAR fan I prefer F1 or rally racing which is more interesting to me, having said that this is perhaps the best video retrospective you have done to date and I was engrossed with both your presentation and your insight on the subject matter and I love the remark, like a trampoline at Sky Zone which gave me a laugh every time I have seen this video. I can only imagine how bad NASCAR video games have become by how good this video is. Now the F1 Racing is back in EA's hands I just hope there will never be a video retrospective like this from the 3 of you but only time will tell
The Heat series is fine, the Eutechnyx games were good DRIVING games but horrible RACING games, I've seen AI cars stop at the start of a race and just stay there and no caution to move them
Motorsport Games should've waited for the start of the 2022 season to release their game. NASCAR UA-camrs and influencers should've gotten a beta version to play and give feedback on a few months before release, which would allow Motorsport Games to fix all the bugs in time for the game's release around the Daytona 500 in 2022.
Drivel, they had plenty of time and their recent poor attempts to fix bugs show more time would have been wasted, they're simply not up to the task and making excuses for them won't solve that.
@@jdevlin1910 they actually had no games made by themselves (they only published KartKraft) as well as only being a company since 2018. There were red flags with MotorSport Games, but no one took them seriously.
Finally, a SOFTDRINKTV spin on the NASCAR series. Well done!
“Pay-per-rus” is crazy.
It’s “Puh-pie-rus”