GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES AGAIN

>>11841348 (OP)
Did only hicks play this?

>>11841475
I mean, it's nascar

>>11841348 (OP)
let the sound take you away

>>11841475
>>11841557
Nascar was really popular at that time, it went beyond just being for rednecks. Then they made it gay, then rednecks and non rednecks alike both stopped watching. I honestly think if Nascar didn't fuck up it'd probably be the 4th popular sport in amaerica by now, on front of hockey and soccer.

>>11842195
I wonder how many people remember the 'NASCAR dad' phenomenon that was used alongside 'soccer mom'.

I'm pretty sure NASCAR is already ahead of the NHL and MLS. there was a period of time, from 1997 until maybe around 2005 when it legitimately was competiting for the title of second-most popular sport in the country, only behind the NFL.

>>11842240
>there was a period of time, from 1997 until maybe around 2005 when it legitimately was competiting for the title of second-most popular sport in the country
Not close.

>>11842240
No way Nascar was ever more popular than steroids era baseball.

>>11842195
>it'd probably be the 4th popular sport in amaerica by now
It is.

>>11842275
or NBA and NHL by any metric, TV ratings, ticket sales, merch whatever. nascar did have a short boom period but it fizzled quick and never left the south.

>>11842275
It was. Right up until Earnhardt died it was absolutely massive.

>>11842287
NBA and NHL are not comparable at all. Apples and oranges in terms of popularity and cultural penetration.

NBA and MLB were in slumps when NASCAR was at its biggest with it's most memorable drivers.

>>11842292
>NBA and MLB were in slumps when NASCAR was at its biggest
And nascar never passed either. That's how boring it is to non hicks.

>>11842296
It did pass NBA and MLB.

>>11842301
lol no

>>11842195
How'd they 'gay' it up exactly?

>>11841348 (OP)
The E*ropean mind is incapable of comprehending this.

>>11842328
i'd like to see you turn left without a combustion engine
i'd also like to see you try to drive a stock car considering they have manual transmission

>>11842328
lmao we have F1 which is faster and more dangerous than your pussyass stock car shit

>>11842313
https://www.jayski.com/nascar-tv-ratings/
NASCAR factually consistently surpassed every other sport in TV ratings save for the NFL in the early 00s. the Daytona 500 was second only to the Super Bowl in ratings.

>>11843016
more people have died in NASCAR over the last 50 years than F1. and Indycars smoke F1 in top speed.

>>11842123
The ONLY reply in this thread that's actually about the game

>>11843385
most people prefer to talk about 04 because of the more in-depth team management, or 05 because it has the more complete career mode.
03 does have a cool skin replacement mod for the GCN version that upres'es the textures and decensors the liveries like Jr's and Rusty's. but so does 04 and 05.

my hope is the iRacing team's new NASCAR game takes inspiration from the Thunder series. rivalries, running a team, fun challenges.. a spiritual successor to Thunder but with mod support would be a dream come true.

So which of these NASCOPE games is the best one? My family had the team switching entry on PS2, which was pretty fun. We also had a PS3 version that kinda sucked because it reset the race whenever you crashed into someone.

That’s something I appreciated about the Tony Hawk sports games, particularly THUG. You could pull off all kinds of insane and unrealistic tricks but it only improved the experience since that captured the spirit of the sport.

>>11843016
>thinks the current state of F1 is anything to be proud of
grim

>>11841348 (OP)
as a white trash american I never grew up in nascar country, I grew up in off roader country, but I will say this is one of the most underrated racers ever

>>11841348 (OP)
I remember playing this in '02 and thinking it was weird that the title said 2003 when that year hadn't happened yet.

>>11844687
don't forget the not-nascar-branded sequel on ps2

>>11842321
hicks got really really mad over safety equipment and the car of tomorrow

>>11842854
actually, modern NASCAR spec stock cars have a clutchless sequential transmission now. its necessary when all your drivers are american

>>11845416
all the lower class cars still use the Jericho 4 speed from the 60s.

NASCAR 98's Molly Hatchet title song was the best of the EA run. Flirtin With Disaster rocks. 02's Sweet Home Alabama is good too

>>11846243
>Flirtin With Disaster rocks
That song was also in Wakeboarding Unleashed, another great game

>>11844846
Did you not notice that happening with all the sports games?

>>11847550
I have all the Neversoft THPS spinoffs. even the weakest one, Shaun Palmer Snowboarding, is still fun.

>>11842321
Elimination-style playoffs in a sport where all the competitors are on track every week.
Team Penske has won the last three championships because the final race is a winner-take-all event for the four drivers remaining, and they've completely figured out that one track in the shitty new car.

>>11847584
I didn't really play sports games. Still don't.

>>11844846
sports games tended to be released towards the end of or even after a season had concluded, so the intent was for those games to serve the player base in the upcoming year. Like, you'd get Sport 2003 for Christmas 2002, and then play it throughout 2003.

>>11844687
Why? Not being antagonistic, why this one? What are we missing out on

>>11848137
lol u don’t have to be into sports. At least in America, every car model has the next years name it in. Like my Chevy Silverado 04 special edition 2500hd came out in 03.

>>11848165
that's also an 'end of year' thing. they usually debut in Q4, sometime around September or October. I have a 1997my Land Rover (British) whose first buyer bought it in November 1996.

>>11848184
my theory being that because car companies aren't going to wait until January of the new year to start manufacturing the new MY cars, they stop production of current year cars sometime in the summer and start the next year's production early and end up with a stockpile of cars with next-year VINs that were technically manufactured in the previous year. and as a result, if dealers run out of current MY models early, manufacturers have no choice but to ship out next-year cars to meet demand.

>>11848160

presumably because its more like a daft Daytona or *Kart arcade racer than an actual attempt at a turn left simulator.

>>11841348 (OP)
A fucking circle

>>11850039
Simple circular race tracks show off the racers' raw skill, without any gimmicks to get in the way. Like Final Destination in Super Smash Bros., or as a more direct example, Baby Park in Mario Kart.

>>11841475
Those Nascar games were used to build iracing which is the definite sim racing game

i remember my grandpa babysitting us in the mid 90s and he would watch NASCAR for hours while we played, never saying anything to us or taking his eyes off the TV. the good old days

>>11844846
Games always do that because them look not outdated.

>>11848160
bangin music, good tracks, great artstyle, fun enough controls, a weird fusion of ridge racer and mario kart. You would think it gets a bit more recognition but everyone just thinks its automatically NASCAR shovel-ware