I know I mispronounced Papyrus. I promise I won't do it again!

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

It's amazing how much "EA was obviously phoning it in" has become a theme for all of their games

Thanks for having me on!

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!

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?

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!

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.

“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.

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?

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'.

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.

Great video. The fall of nascar games is drastic. We’re the new madden lolcow.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 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!

The Nascar game simulation actually perfectly parallels Nascar growing, being really good, then becoming crap So one could argue its simulation is spot on

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

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

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.

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 UKpostsrs 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.

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.

Nascar 21 was the first game I've ever returned. Right back to Heat 5.

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!

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.

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...

In my opinion, NASCAR The Game Inside Line is the last good nascar game.

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.

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 UKposts channels that did AI racing series but replaced their names with your UKposts 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.

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.

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 will always have great nostalgia playing “chase for the cup” on the gamecube. even returning to the game today I have to say it holds up very well. Awesome vid btw!

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

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.

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

Real ones know Dirt to Daytona is the GOAT of Nascar games

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!

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.

Thanks for listening to my request! Love it man!

I remember Chase For The Cup. I thought it was cool that you could also race real cars like the Corvette, or Viper.

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

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.

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.

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 video man! Keep up the good work

I agree. I've never pre-ordered a game before and just build a new PC. I was feeling excited to play a new Nascar game as it had been some years ago on the PS3. While I love the paint booth this game hurts to play. I'm less mad and more heartbroken by the state of the game and Nascar racing games as a whole.

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!

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..😔

There were things in the EA PS2 games in the 2005-09 timeframe that were just infuriating. Things such as having "adaptive AI" not as an option but as a gameplay feature, so if you slowed down and took it easy, EVERY OTHER CAR ON TRACK WOULD. This meant you could trick the game by driving at about 80% for a few laps (and still catching up to 1st), then hammer down for a lap and watch as you jumped forward. Then just slowly ease back again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Or the fact that you were FORCED to run the low line around corners. Tracks like Michigan, California, Charlotte, etc where drivers in real life regularly run the high line to maintain momentum for the straights, you NEEDED to stay low, even if you ran times that were just as fast or even faster. The AI would just go low and if you were doing 150, they'd do around 150 because they should be about as fast as you. I actually loved the PS3 version just because I could pass on the high side. It wasn't better (honestly in many cases it was worse) but it at least made me FEEL like the racing had something in it. Or in 2009 on PS2 you had the mid-race save, which was great if you wanted to run long races... but if you reloaded that save, every driver that had pulled off and was out would then roll out of the pits and rejoin when you continued. The one thing I like about 2004 is that when you started, YOU SUCKED. As you should. You're a rookie nobody with a startup. As you fight for the chance to do well, then you slowly get better equipment and can start to challenge. It felt like a great progression. And it still was a challenge because there were so many off-track things to mind. The last NASCAR game I got was Heat 3 because of a big sale. It was okay but one thing that infuriates me now is difficulty modes. Hard? Laughable. Legend? INSANE. Times literally would drop by a second on tracks. Your pole times on Hard would be low-30 positions in Legend. And they're the two adjacent options. There's no other way to adjust difficulty than that one setting. Also, the AI was BROKEN. I forget which one it is, but the AI either basically uses no fuel or doesn't wear the tires. I think it's the former. I want a game I can play and love and get a good experience with as a console gamer. And I've been waiting far far too long to get one where NASCAR is involved. :\

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.

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.

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

Nice video. NASCAR Thunder 2004 was the first video game I ever got. It sucks how far NASCAR games have fallen.

I agree. I’m sad because I never played these iconic games you talk about. I just have a switch and play to NASCAR Heat ultimate edition +, which I think is kinda cool, I’m having a good time playing at that, and there are no crashes of the gaming experience. I preordered NASCAR Rivals in 22, and I’m more than unhappy about it. It crashes all the time in career mode, and it’s a shame because even if it’s a copy paste of nascar heat, the graphics are better, the drivers are updated, you’ve got some recent paint schemes… but that’s just a shame to publish 50$ games on a Nintendo console that crash all the time. Nintendo are supposed to be serious. There have been some updates on this game, but today, in February 2024, it’s still crashing all the time. They published another NASCAR game which is called nascar arcade rush, and this is absolute garbage. I don’t have a lot of hope for the nascar games to come, and this, on whatever console or pc.

We need another Nascar rumble. That game was crazy fun

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.

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.

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

Grand Turismo added NASCAR into one of the games. It was actually pretty good

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.

Got my copy of inside line and nascar 09 to relive the nostalgia also been grinding on thunder 2004 and CFTC 2005

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.

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 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 someone who grew up on the 90's Nascar games and came of age on the 2000's PS Classics (Thunder & Chase FTC) and I actually really liked Heat 3 & 4 (the only modern Nascar games I've played) I almost thought about getting Ignition but now after hearing all this I'm glad I didnt. One of my favorite Non-Nascar racing games I play these days is Wreckfest, it's super fun, lots of depth and stuff to do and it's like an Arcade/Sim hybrid. Really fun game would recommend.

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.

So this is why Ryan Moody so mad with new NASCAR game

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.

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

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.

OMG zaddy soft drink uploaded

Do WWE games next

I picked up a copy of Nascar 09 PS3 at a thrift store even before I became a nascar fan. I actually like it! It took quite a while to learn how to race competently but now I'm decent and won my first actual race recently, which felt amazing. The game does lack a lot as you mentioned but I still think it's a good game that has some cool features, especially gyro steering which i was very surprised to see. Maybe my positive opinion is a result of never having played any other nascar game tho

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)

I blame Kyle Busch

People hate me more after showing this game.

Nascar 98 and 2004 will always hold special places in my heart

I’ve been waiting for this one forever. Thank you SoftDrink.

NASCAR the game 2011 was the best one in the series

Tony Stewart's Facepalm says it all

I like chase for the cup and total team control is my second choice. It's awesome being able to switch cars and get your whole team up to the front

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.

I wish I would have seen this and allot of videos on 21 before i bought it. I am 51 yrs old and remember the old Papyrus games including playing on the old Hawaii Bulletin Board with my fellow sim racers from the past Smokkinu boys and Black Hole Motorsports teammates there is nothing these days that come close to the papyrus games. I retired from sim racing after Papyrus. I have serious thought about buying a wheel and pedal setup and coming back in Iracing but don't have the internet ( live in the sticks now) or Pc to run it. The Man , The Myth, The Legend GT86 signing out :)

I noticed at 29:21 there is a mustang and fusion in the same race. Ford Fusion on a mustang body

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

Great Video!! Have a sub :) Your thoughts mirror mine on the sad state of official NASCAR games.. I feel like if we started seeing better games, maybe that excitement would spill over into the actual sport again. I miss the old days when both the games and the sport were in their peak popularity.

I found NASCAR thunder 2002 a bit interesting because it was just being a simple EA NASCAR game... whenever a caution comes out the cpu controls the caution laps and you literally have to wait patiently until the last yellow lap with no crash replay... And yea they payed tribute to Dale Earnhardt at the beginning of the game I think that it’s bittersweet... I always wondered what could’ve been if Dale Earnhardt survived his fatal crash and he would’ve a playable driver and I’m sure it would’ve been cool... but we know that thunder 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 has already did that as an unlockable...

I had Nascar Thunder 2004 and I agree it was the best racing game. I loved the ability to share draft, build alliances and also rivals. Liked you were black flagged for speeding into pit road. My only complaint was you had the same pit box all the time and you couldn't control your car pitting. There was a Nascar game on my PC I want to say around 99 or 2000. Don't remember the name but when the yellow flag came out your spotter would say let's go race back to the line. You drove the caution laps, had to hold your position or on the green flag they black flagged you for passing under yellow. You could hit the pace car and your spotter would say what a bone head move. Drive wrecklessly and your spotter would quote Days of Thunder you want to come sit on this pit box and I'll drive. You drove your car in and out of the pits. You are right racing games have gone downhill. If anyone remembers that PC game I am talking about let me know

The Forza Motorsport games are pretty great when it comes to NASCAR (or any motorsport for that matter). The only drawbacks are you only have a few drivers and NASCAR tracks to choose from, and it's on 2017 cars. The bright side is you have the best paint booth in the business to recreate your favorite schemes, and can download any paint a player publicly shares. So is Project Cars 2, if you have a wheel. Sadly it only has generic paint schemes and the only model is a Ford Fusion. These are really cheap alternatives, around $20 each on sale. Sure, they have their drawbacks but I'll buy a much nicer game for $20 with limited cars than spend $60 on a buggy game.

The Papyrus PC NASCAR games were the best. Might have been their NASCAR 2004 I think with a wheel and pedal set was awesome. You could even mod the paint schemes. Only downfalls were you couldn’t bump draft as if you touched their bumper on superspeedways it would make them terribly loose and slow. Other than that it was great. I might have the year wrong as it’s been a while of course. Wished we could get it back along with Burnout drag racing (where you could build ANY real life motor) and the old World of Outlaws & Late Model games by Wizard Works/RATBAG

Thanks for this analysis. I think it's natural people will get bored with a NASCAR game after 4 months. I did with 2004 every now and then. I only come back to it for the nostalgia. I'm a damage nerd so I would like to see carnage when crashing. People make NASCAR mods on Wreckfest and it's fun until the AI never want to race you clean. I would like a hybrid of both games.

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 remember when I was a kid, looking at games to rent from Blockbuster, and I saw Nascar thunder 2002, and it looked so cool I had to rent it. From that point on, I was a nascar video games fan until about 2006, was never a fan of the actual sport of nascar, but the games were fun.

Finally, a SOFTDRINKTV spin on the NASCAR series. Well done!