NASCAR RACING

 

Ever put your foot down on 700 horsepower? Or enter a corner at 200 MPH, bumper-to-bumper with the car ahead of you? If you have ever wanted to drive a NASCAR stock car, then you're in for the experience of a lifetime with NASCAR Racing. Compete against top NASCAR drivers on nine authentic NASCAR tracks. Each track is painstakingly modeled using official blueprints and actual race footage. Customize your car set-up for each track in the garage. As engines blow and fenders crumple, keep your cool and work it like the pros. So true-to-life, it's officially licensed by NASCAR.

Features:

• Incredibly realistic racing with authentic NASCAR stock cars, tracks, drivers, and sound.
• Physics model duplicates real car behavior and actual conditions.
• Race head-to-head. Two player capability by modem or direct connect.
• Arcade Option-drive from inside or outside your car.
• Use the paint kit to customize the look of your car and team.
• Original, digitized audio CD rock music tracks, including "Race Riff" by members of Skid Row and "The Fastest Sport" by The Fat Man.
• SVGA high-resolution graphics provide extraordinarily crisp detail. 

~ advertising blurb 

Early 3D racing games have a janky charm to them, so much so that I still hanker for some literal box cars over the hyper-detailed graphics we have today. NASCAR Racing, released in 1994 by Sierra On-Line, was one of the earliest and boxiest of such games on home PCs.

I played this quite a bit in the mid-90s, yet never really got anywhere. Going back to it today, I now realise why. Racing through 40 laps on basic circular tracks could only keep my young mind interested for so long, so I just crashed into every car causing as much havoc as I could. It was great fun.

Over 25-years later, this joyous inclination has lessened somewhat. Not because I've matured at all, but because going back to this first game in the long-running series left me a little disappointed. It's like going back to your school as an adult only to find this monolithic complex isn't nearly as big or imposing as you had remembered. Negative nostalgia if you will. 

 

The controls, while competent, are a tad unresponsive - and that goes double if you turn on car damage in the options menu. Just a couple of hits and your tyres, wheels or steeling will get damaged making even the shallowest of corners impossible. You can drop off at a pit stop, but be prepared to lose your position by a large margin. Hell, even a simple bump can leave you careening off into the dirt leaving half the cars piling up behind in your wake and the rest overtaking you with perceived glee. It could be four or more laps until you get back to where you were. Worse still, if you were unlucky enough to smash your car's polygons into the boundaries of another on your 39th lap, fusing the two together in a geometric mess, be sure to kiss the last thirty minutes of play time goodbye. You ain't scoring above last place.

If you add the Track Pack, there are 16 tracks each based on real-world locations. Unless you are really into the stockcar racing scene, the layouts aren't particularly interesting. All but one are a variation of oval and any visual details that would distinguish each location is missing due to the limited technology at the time. As a result, almost all of the track look the same, play the same and appear to have the same loyout. So much for variety.

If you judge NASCAR Racing by the standards of when it was released, it's a top-tier PC game sure to be the envy of console gamers everywhere. Looking back, it's aged very poorly, ruining any nostalgia I may have had for it. If you're in the same boat, beware the revisit.

 

To download the game, follow the link below. This exclusive installer uses the DOSBox Daum build of DOSBox 0.74 to bring the game to modern systems. Manual included. MP3 soundtrack available as a separate download. Tested on Windows 10.

  01.03.2021 Ver.2 - Fixed ROL (1) error by changing inital install type

File Size: 53.2 Mb.  Install Size: 100 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download


NASCAR Racing is © Papyrus Design Group
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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