It is strange how attracted I am to Nascar racing, knowing nearly zero about it... But I have a few excuses for my ignorance, and for my attraction. I grew in Eastern Europe, where motorsports live under the shadow of football. To make things worst, a decade ago, there was no such Internet thing, and people would only read and watch information that was physically available, via newspapers and magazines, or broadcasted by local media providers. The world wasn't so small.

I developed an odd personality that always fights for options that aren't popular, even if destructive. Forget the destructive bit, and refocus on Nascar, which was zero popular by the early 1990s at my hometown. So, I tried to the get into it, and the original PC game "Nascar Racing", from Papyrus, helped a lot.
But sports change, pc games change, preferences change, and my Nascar knowledge hibernated until... today. Today, Papyrus is reborn, with a software title that is for roadsters, as GP Legends is for single-seaters. In other words "Nascar 2002 is the closest you can get to the real thing".

Nascar Racing 2002 Season (N2002, for short) is such a faithful, beautiful, impressive Nascar simulator, that if it doesn't magnet you to the Nascar scene, nothing else will.

The game installed flawlessly and it impressed me, the moment I double clicked its icon... The room was silent, when an engine rooaaaaaaared by... followed by "a pack" of competitors, all thundering to a quality intro, that ends up with a very suggestive video of what you're gonna get! Actually, the video is real footage, but by the time you've watched an in-game replay, you'll have a hard time deciding what's your favorite Nascar action...

Audio was N2002's first jaw-dropping demonstration!, but the player will only understand this is an *under* statement, the moment he finally gets to drive...

After an optional game setup, that led me pushing the graphics quality to the max, and easily configuring my Microsoft steering wheel for separate axis, for throttle and brake pedals, I was ready for the candy. Oh, and let me remind you that games that, "out of the box", support separate axis for throttle and brake pedals are quite rare. For example, GP3 does NOT.

As I always did, since the invention of driving games, I started my practice on the most technical circuit of them all: Sears Point, in N2002's case.
The Sears Point Raceway is best described at http://www.searspoint.com, but please believe me that it represents quite a challenge! Its a short track, easy to learn, but incredibly hard to lap fast. Turn one, not only is the fastest left, but also the spot where you'll reach your top speed (around 140-145 mph ~ 232 kph). Most circuits have their top speeds on straights... not Sears Point... Turns two and three are an "S" that will spin any poorly balanced car; should you keep it going, then get ready for a diving short straight - the first of just two... Hard on the brakes, then a hard right, then two "S"s, the second faster than the first, getting you the internal straight, where some try to go past ~130 mph, only to smash against the pits' wall. Take care. Handle the final "U" right, and that's it.

If you drove the above paragraph under 1:10 (1 minute, 10 seconds), then you're God. So, you do exist?! The point is that I simply can't get beat a personal best of 1:21. In "real" Nascar, they can fly on 1:10 - 1:11, but I can't start to understand how to replicate such speed on Papyrus' simulation.
It is obviously a matter of poor setups. I remember the day I first compared my Grand Prix 2 times to the world's best, on the Internet, and had the shock to find out that there people doing less 4-5 seconds than me! But in a few weeks time, I learned how to reach their level and even achieved "world records"... But NOW I am 12 seconds OUT of the pace!! Am I too old? Am I dead? I can't explain it, but while *I can* be consistent on 1:22, doing a 1:21 is a nightmare, and the engine won't resist more than two laps. I drive with ZERO helps, but that doesn't explain it.

By now, I hope that some of the challenges that N2002 represents, have become clear. This "game" is superb. It really looks like you are driving the real thing. Oh, and make sure you only use the many external views (TV1, TV2, Spectators, Pitlane, etc...) for replays - most of the realism comes from driving from the inside.
The inside view is NOT static, like in nearly ALL other software racing titles: it moves, as the cars turns, jumps, whatever; plus you can look left and right, which is quite useful for fast ovals... and there is a rear view mirror that shows the exact perspective you'd get.

Tires scream and smoke; the engine rrroars, and cross your fingers, it doesn't smoke. The chassis can bend, and there is a realtime damage model that will reflect from minor missing bits, to major deformations. Adversaries are just right, when set at 98-100% difficulty. The car handling responds a LOT to minor setup changes, and you can tweak whatever you want: weight distribution, brake force distribution, air-in overture, tire pressure, camber, plus *many* other options: more than in GP3 and GP Legends. Impressive.

For short: if you appreciate true simulators, do NOT miss N2002. If you are into PC-Racing, take note: GP Legends finally has a "rival". And that just says it all.

Buy N2002 (best possible price), via:

amazon.co.uk (best choice for European buyers);

amazon.com (best choice for American buyers).