...alternative version (2005 version of the track and the paint jobs don't quite match last Sunday's race), courtesy of NASCAR Racing 2003 Season and COT mod from Superspeedway.net.

Nice shots. The game has aged pretty well.

I've been getting into racing sims lately but haven't tried any of the NASCAR games. I've gotten GTR 2, GT Legends and Race 07. I'll get rFactor eventually. Wouldn't mind getting a NASCAR game at some point.

If its a new one it will be console only unfortunately. There's a Nascar mod out for Rfactor which is decent but its not the same as having a dedicated Nascar game. The last one I played was EA Nascar SimRacing which came out like 3 years ago. It was pretty good but it failed to sell well enough for EA so they dropped it for the PC.

Thanks, Leeman. Like PanzerMeyer says. To get your NASCAR fix offline you have the following options:

1) Spend anywhere from 50 to 150 bucks for this seminal Papyrus' last release as pictured above (bought mine a couple of years ago). You do get your money's worth with the plethora of mods available: not just COT, but trucks, Grand National 1970 season, AeroWar88, Winston Cup 1990 season, modern and historical tracks, sound packs (want Chad Knaus to be your crew chief and spotter in one? No problem!), not to mention non-NASCAR mods. The drawback is that the rules are frozen in time (that of 2003 season, yellow flag rules changed shortly after), and though as you pointed out the graphics aged well, it still is no match for the most recent sims. Not many tracks got upgraded past 2005/2006 season if you pay attention to those things like sponsors and such.

2) Go cheap and get EA's NASCAR Sim Racing (saw it bundled with some other EA stuff). It was decent but never really captured me, the cars looked a bit cartoonish and lots of people decried the physics. Not sure if COT was ever created for this sim, it's pretty much abandonware at this point. Might be good for figuring out if oval racing is your thing.

3) Get the TPSCC mod for rFactor (the 1.0 release has the old cars, 1.93 beta has COT but no real liveries, 2.0 is supposed to come out soon with real-world skins), together with a bunch of real-world tracks. Some people swear by its physics, but for me the feel's not quite there yet and I still prefer NR2k3S.

4) Get NASCAR 09 on 360 or PS3. I got mine on 360 and do enjoy it, the graphics (though to some people it's subpar compared to other 360/PS3 releases) and the fact that it's most up to date (though the cars aren't lincensed with the manufacturers, so you will see just a generic COT, no Camrys, Fusions, Impalas or Chargers), although my Logitech 360 wheel and the game itself are no match for the Momo/NR2k3S combo with mods.

I don't race online but I understand that ARCA Sim and iRacing, though limited in scope (you won't get the COT and current paint jobs) and with some teething pains, may displace, or already have, NR2k3 in this respect. Won't get much in the way of offline racing with them though.

I am still playing N03 but recently got into ARCA. N03 has a lot more going for it right now, with all the mods, but ARCA is the future.

Thanks for the info, otterspotter.

I don't worry much about "rules" and such. I just want to race around a bit. I don't often do full races. Sometimes I just want to get in and drive around the track a bit and do "practice" and "time trials".

I'm not crazy about ovals, which is why I tend to shy away from the NASCAR games. I know there are some good road courses, like Watkins Glenn (a track I really like), but I get bored pretty easily with turning left all the time.

I'm a noob at this and a casual sim racer for sure. I know nothing about setting up my car for specific tracks and, frankly, don't really care to learn. Too many games, too little time. I'm just looking for some fun. I'm one of those guys that can have nearly as much fun racing in Grid as I can in GTR 2.

EA's NASCAR Sim Racing might fit the bill (ie, cheap) for me. I won't pay full price for these games because I get tired of them quickly, but every now and then I fall in love with sim racing and I'm sorta in that mode now.

It's not as hardcore as the last Nascar game by Papyrus but if you have all of the realism options enabled, SimRacing can still be a good challenge. It's definitely not an arcade-like game. Oh and its the only racing sim I've played which supports 6 DOF for TrackIR!

Hey Leeman, glad I could help. Oval racing may prove more challenging than you suspect but if indeed you prefer the road courses, and don't care too much about your roster being current, the TPSCC mod for rFactor may prove more useful. Once you get the base game, there's so many series and tracks out there that it's mind boggling, all of it for free. I just gave TPSCC 1.93b another spin last night and it was better than I remembered, particularly on some of the better tracks available (love Phoenix). TPSCC now features both Car of Tomorrow (the latest realease - 1.93b) and Busch/Nationwide cars (the original 1.0 release, in addition to the old cup cars; both releases function independently) and the good thing about it is that if you want to race on the road courses that NASCAR races in real life (though there's nothing wrong with racing NASCAR at Monza, as I've seen some people do), you have 4 at your disposal, not just 2 that NASCAR Sim Racing may offer (in addition to Infineon/Sonoma (not a very good rendition for rFactor) and Watking Glen (much better) where Sprint Cup races, you can also race Busch/Nationwide in Mexico City (Hermano Rodriguez, though it's a 1988 version) and Montreal (default and some conversions)). Once you have rFactor, be sure to check out the V8Factor mod -- one of the best mods available (I love V8s).