Ryan Newman News and Information

Well I finally got EA Sports NASCAR 2008 as a late Christmas present. And I should start off by saying that I am going from NASCAR 2006 to NASCAR 2008 so there may be some features that are new to me, but were available in the 2007 game.

KEEP IN MIND I HAVE A PLAYSTATION 2
Also, I am not a serious gamer. Infact, I am not even really a gamer. I play about 6 hours worth in 2 or 3 months and that is usually only if I am lucky.

For starters, I really like the Tony Stewart face on the cover. Something is off about it and it looks a little crazy.

POSITIVES

There were two things that drove me nuts in the 2006 game (and earlier I believe).
One of them was that you could not save a race in the middle of the race. It never made sense to me that you could not do this before. It is great to race a full race at Talladega or Bristol but if you can’t save the race in the middle, lets face it, your usually going to have to quit the game especially with kids and everything else in life going on.

In career mode, another difference I like, is that selecting a new race is not in a “calendar” mode. You don’t go to practice/qualify on one day and then go to race on another day. I like the realism of that style, but I am usually in a hurry and try to squeeze a race in here and there. So loading a day to go practice/qualify and then getting out (saving) and then loading another day to race is really time comsuming.

Now everything loads at once, so you go to one event and you have all of your race week events right there. Practice, qualify, race, car and car setup is all accessed from one screen. Less loading time. Now in my career I am only racing in the Craftsman Truck and Whelen Series, so I don’t know what is going to happen if there is a conflict in the schedule when I am racing in all 4 series. Or if there even will be conflicts in schedules.

Also, another great thing that I like is that in the middle of practicing you can change your car setup. Before you had to end you practice session and then go make adjustments. After that your car had to leave pit row and you got to start practicing again. Now you just pause it and make the changes.

If you notice, all things that I like involve saving time.

Also, the car seems to be a little more touchy (with my controller) but seems to stick to the track a lot better. This is great.

You have more car set up options as well. Front springs, rear springs, front and back shocks and more. I think this is great, but for someone like me, it is going to confuse me even more.

NASCAR 2008 also features the COT (Car Of Tommorrow/Today). I have not had much time to play with this, but it seems pretty cool. Especially since this is the only car that should be featured in the 2009 game.

The graphics seem good to me, also. I don’t know enough or pay attention enough to tell you about graphics. My impression is that they are better, but I don’t know if it is just a little crisper or just better graphics.

The accidents, spins and everything else seems to be better. I hate wrecking in the game but if I am going to, I want a show. I believe that they have improved on that.

NEGATIVES
If you look at the game on line at EA Sports NASCAR 08 the Playstation 3 vesion has a lot cooler features. I understand that the Playstion 3 is the newer more exciting one, but they could have added some to the Playstion 2 version.

I don’t know this for sure, but it appears that you can not own a team. I have not seen that option in my Career mode yet, but it may exist. I did like that about the 2006 game. I owned a team in every series and drove in the Nextel Cup and Whelen Series. I really like that. I have not seen anyting indicating that is possible to do once you have enough money.

OVERALL

Overall the game gets a thumbs up from me. Game seems to move a long pretty good. I will probably get online with it today sometime. If not, I will try it in the next 3 or 4 days.

NASCAR 2008 HOMEPAGE - Check out all the features.