Is there any other Nascar type racing game on the market, or due out soon, that is worth getting?
I've been out of touch for a bit. I have Rfactor but dont want to race with 20 cars at start then have 3 guys left at end of race because their kids need a bath and they have to stop. In other words, looking for something that has offline use with some AI cars.
Still have NR2003/NR4, etc and a few EA titles.
What about Heat? is that still around with any modding? Used to be pretty big as I recall.

thanks,
GLB

Hi

There is ARCA Sim Racing.
I haven't tried it, but do know some leagues switched to it from NR03, so I assume it is pretty good. I would guess it has a offline career mode.

hmm, I guess Nascar racing on a PC is pretty much dead as far as new titles then.

Thanks,
I checked the link, appears to be online oriented only.

Oh well. One good thing is that the old games sure run good on our latest equip!

GLB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDZXXdx0siI

Give ARCA a try! I've been racing there for about a year and a half and I'm loving it! Plus, in the VERY near future there are a couple of updates coming that will bring a whole new dimension to this sim. You are correct in ARCA being aimed at multi-play on-line racers.

If you get it and want to get some help setting it up and learning the ins-and-outs of it, look for the HsT server. We'll help you get up to speed.

Racing on-line as HsT_V-man

guod, that link looks good. I have a follow up question :

In MP mode, can AI cars be put into the field? Example, specify 40 cars and when humans join, they take the place of one AI car.
It makes for a full field when only 2-3 of your buddies can make time for racing. I think one of the Sierra games used to have that feature. Cant remember which one though. I used to host with buddies connecting with IP address straight in.

Thanks for the links guys, appreciated.

GLB

You can add and remove AI cars in rFactor, but they don't spawn and disappear automatically; it is a manual (but simple) process.

Bammer, here is a screenshot thread showing the VHR stock cars (52 screens).

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ub...tml#Post2707372

Not quite sure about the answer to my question. Here is the feature I am looking for.

Say I host a MP game. I setup the parameters to allow 20 connections and I allow 20 AI cars. If one human joins, then there are 19 AI cars. Another human joins, there are 18 AI. I cant remember EXACTLY how this works but I used to do this about 6-9 years ago with one of the Papy Nascar racing games. It allows my and just a few buddies to run with a full field of cars for the whole race. If 6 guys joined, then there would be 14 AI cars to fill out the field.


guod, yes, I am going to d/l that mod. Looks good. I'm sold. But before I BUY another game, I am looking for the above feature.

thanks for the help,

GLB

Bammer,

I understood your intent exactly, and my answer was that this AI manipulation can't be set up to take place automatically in rFactor. It is, however, a simple manual process.

- 20 AI cars are on server.
- 2 Humans join.
- one of the humans selects an AI and clicks the "boot" button.
- AI goes away, message says "[AI Driver] has been removed from the server".
- repeat for other AI.
- Go drive.

It's easy and quick, but not automatic.

ahhhh, Perfect.. I understand now. Then I'm all set with Rfactor then. I have had it since week one I believe and it is truly the only thing going now.

Thanks, for the help.

GLB

Hi, you may want to try out Project Torque, it has a Nascar like race mode (Thunder Alley) which is pretty good, it is also free of charge.
Check out this YouTube video.

Here is a link to the Project Torque website.
http://project-torque.aeriagames.com/

Just thought I would update with my impression of the VHR stockcar mod.
Anyway, in offline mode, it fairly sucks. The AI cars cant get out of this so called 'pen" that they start in, (daytona and Tal) so there is no practice with AI, only race. Their speed is so fast that even with it set to the lowest levels they would leave me standing at the start of a race.
I didn't go much further into the offline mode and was about to un-install when I decided to see what was online.
It reminds me of the old days with that old online service for Nascar2. Cant remember the name but we paid to race each month and the servers were excellent. It went away after N3 as I recall.
Yes, online racing with the keyboard drivers. That brings back memories. We didn't have Xbox and Playstation back then and the crossover drivers are certainly apparent now. Seems it is quite fun to them to screw around and wreck before the start, during pace laps. One big smashfest to them I guess just like console players. Start, smash, leave, join new race, start smash. It was interesting to see the good drivers get tired of this, move to another race only to be followed by the smashers.

Yes, smashing, it brings back memories. There was some of this years ago with the Papy servers but not as prevalent. Those Papy servers actually has a system to keep track of your crashes. You would get a rating based on how many crashes you had. Then a race host could raise the rating of the game to keep the crashers out. Damn nice. That plus pay per month basically eliminated the punks.
Anyway, the mod is well done and if you can get past the idiots, (password), then its really good. I would swear there were some old Papy programmers involved in this mod.

Thanks for the tip for the mod. Still looking for something that has more than 10 good drivers for racing. Nascar style of course.

GLB

I have Arca and the AI sucks for offline play but I guess it is good for online play. I didn't buy it for online play though and have never even tried it online so feel a bit ripped off because I thought it was supposed to be a good sim for both offline and online.

rFactor AI is poor in many mods too because the AI can't handle the cars well on certain tracks. I think the only solution for a Nascar lover is to go back to older Papyrus sims to get a god Nascar sim for offline, if it is online you want then go Arca.

No, there is no offline career mode in Arca. t's just single races and obviously I made a bad impulse buy with this game because online MP is not what I was looking for.