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Review: NASCAR Racing 2002 SeasonReviewed By: Kirk Hiner Review Computer: 867MHz G4, 640MB RAM, ATI RADEON 8500, Mac OS X v10.2.3 Review Date: February 15, 2003
I'm going to be brutally honest with you. This is nothing new, really. As a semi-professional critic, it's my job to be brutally honest with you. So, brace yourselves, for here we go... When Aspyr's NASCAR Racing 2002 Season arrived at Applelinks Towers, my first, second and fourth thoughts were all the same; "I wonder what I'll hate the most about this game." There, I've said it. I'm sorry, Mac gamers. I'm sorry, racing fans. I'm sorry, Aspyr. Hopefully, you can still accept me for who I am. I'm a guy who loves computer games, and I'm a guy who'd rather stare at a blank wall for a few hours than watch a NASCAR race. So, what do I hate most about this game? Take a look above and it'll become clear; the system requirements. There are two reasons for this. First, I think system requirements this high are actually against the law in a few states, aren't they? At least for racing games, anyway. Second, it had to be the system requirements because the rest of the game is actually fairly decent.
Well, the speed feels the same, anyway. There's actually quite a bit in NASCAR 2002 to make it feel quite a bit different, but we'll get to that in a bit. First, let's talk about "realism." As far as I can tell, there are two types of racing games out there: those that try to be realistic and those that allow you to blow stuff up, race in zero gravity, or blow stuff up in zero gravity. Those developers believe that the race is enough, and that it doesn't need to be realistic to be fun. They have it easy. Those who go for realism, on the other hand, not only have to research and study a bunch of stuff I haven't thought about since college physics, but they also have to try to make going around in circles fun. NASCAR 2002 takes this route, of course. Whether or not they succeeded depends upon what you're looking for in a game. Even though the only race I've watched in the past five years is the nude bicycle race in Queen's video for "Bicycle Race," and I watch that on average of a dozen times a week, I can still understand that there's more to it than stepping on the gas and perpetually turning a wheel to the left. There are pit crews and mechanics and scientists and, most importantly, sponsors. NASCAR 2002 takes some of this into account, allowing you to mess around with a bunch of stuff in the garage to tweak your car's performance to match your driving style. If you're not into that, there's Single Race Mode that just lets you have at it.
They say you learn best from experience. So, it's time to get in a car and race...sort of. The first step is to calibrate your game pad or steering wheel, depending upon how dedicated you are to racing sims. NASCAR 2002 supports force feedback in Mac OS X v10.2.3 or higher, and I'm told that's exciting for those using wheels. I'll have to take their word for it. Me? I drove with my old Macally iShock. Of course, you don't have to race right away. You first get to adjust the difficulty level by turning on a bunch of driving aids like automatic shifting and anti-lock brakes. I'm told you can paint your car, too, although I was unable to get this to work. Following the instructions laid out the manual, I was unable to access any sort of painting controls and could therefore only create a basic, steel colored car. Know what? It looked cooler without all those dorky sponsor logos, anyway. More James Bond-like. When you're finally ready to go, there are test laps and time trials and practice runs galore, so you have plenty of room to practice. And believe me, you'll need plenty of practice. The first few times I tried, I couldn't even make it around a D-shaped track without spinning out on every turn and crashing repeatedly into the wall. Make sure you configure your gamepad to a method that's comfortable for you. I only mention that here because that narrator guy completely glossed over it in his driving tutorials.
As with most sports games these days, there are many ways to play. You can simply pick a single track and either race right away or go through the whole qualifying and warmup rigamarole. You can also race an entire season. There are 23 different tracks on which you can race, and the tracks can be raced during the day or the evening. And finally, there's multiplayer racing. Get a load of this...you can race up 43 other drivers online. You'll want a broadband connection to do this effectively, but it is pretty cool when it's working well. I'm not a racer, and I'm not big into multiplayer gaming, but this was fun. It also wasn't too hard to find opponents on GameRanger since I was easy to beat. Everyone liked having me around. One thing to consider, though; when racing online, you'd better be at least fairly good at controlling your car. One crash can take out many other drivers, and that's not a good way to make friends online. Despite all its bells and whistles, the best thing about NASCAR Racing 2002 Season is the racing itself. Once you've got control down, you can start to focus on more interesting elements such as when to use the pit (the pit animations are pretty cool), when to pass, and how to not be passed. There are various views you can use while driving, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages. Although I didn't like the lack of vision in the cockpit view, I found the rear-view mirror to be extremely helpful. That's not all you can control, of course. You can customize pretty much everything in this game, from your car's weight to the quality of your opponents to the day or night's weather to the number of laps you'll be racing. It's interesting, really...the more I played this game, the longer I wanted the races to be. This is because, despite the subject matter, NASCAR Racing 2002 Season is actually pretty entertaining. There's a lot more to stock car racing than I would've thought. Although this makes for an entertaining racing game, it's still not enough for me to waste a weekend afternoon watching the real thing.
So, yeah...racing. Undoubtedly, NASCAR fans will love this game. It's got people they know doing things they know in places they know, and it's fun. Is it more fun than any other racing game out there? That depends upon your frame of mind. It's different from other racing games out there, just like stock car and formula one racing are different. There's no one to blow up and no secret routes to find, but maybe that's a good thing. Here, it's all about the race. Ultimately, though, it's not so much a matter of what type of racing you like, but of whether your computer can handle the requirements. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going down to the media room here at Applelinks Towers. There's a NASCAR race on ESPN2 right now, so Bill, Joe and I are going to heat up some dip, crack open a few cold ones, and stare at the wall.  [an error occurred while processing this directive]
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In NASCAR Racing 2002 Season, you...race. Not much to set up here, really. You drive a stock car around and around and around to the left, and then you either win or lose depending upon how many arounds you made compared to the other drivers. Stock cars apparently have 750-horsepower engines, which allows them to zip along at speeds up to 200 mph. Of course, this means nothing in a computer game...NASCAR 2002 feels no faster than those SUVs in 
Now, I could've just stayed in that mode and been happy, but that's not my job. Nope, I'm a semi-professional, dangit, and I dedicated myself to learning this thing. NASCAR 2002 provides plenty of tutorials, but they're all non-interactive videos. Who's idea was that? That's not a tutorial, it's a manual with moving pictures. They did a good job of explaining the rules (there are rules to racing?), terminology and such, but did precious little to teach me how to drive these things. The videos are long, too. Some even give histories of the tracks on which you'll be racing. Why don't football computer games give histories of the stadiums. Why doesn't Unreal Tournament give histories of the arenas? Or...wait, maybe it did. Regardless, I'm certain those could be narrated by Darrell Waltrip. I have no idea who he is, but he did a pretty good job here in NASCAR 2002.
So, once you've got a handle on your car, it's time to race. It cracks me up when people claim that racing sims are "as close to the real thing as..." First of all, driving to work is closer to race car driving than a computer sim can be. Second, how do most of these reviewers and copy writers know what real stock car racing is like? And third, every year a new racing sim will get "closer" anyway, so why make that claim? Cut the hyperbole, I say! Let's look at it as a game, not as a simulation.
Which reminds me...NASCAR Racing 2002 Season looks great. If you've got the power for it and you can jack up all the video settings, it's a wonder to behold. The cars look fantastic, and the background and lighting effects (especially at night) create a wonderful atmosphere. Trouble is, I can't imagine most computer gamers are going to be able to take advantage of all this. The game includes many options to dumb down the video effects so you can get good framerates, but no one likes to be forced to do that. And what's up with no support for MX series GeForce cards? I'm sure there's a sound explanation for this, but pity the poor iMac user who was all set for Daytona.