This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Chuck Landry.

If you think Nascar is nothing but racecars driving in circles, then why are you reading this review? And if you ever say that to a dedicated fan, you might just get knocked out. There are so many strategies, details, and intricacies to the sport (both on the track and behind the scenes), that it would be impossible to include it all in one videogame. The Papyrus team had it almost nailed before EA bought up the exclusive rights a few years ago (the NFL was not the first, people). Since then, EA has struggled to catch hardcore sim fans’ attention with it’s much more simulation-like PC Nascar outings, even though the Nascar Thunder console games managed to hit the spot with casual gamers. This year, EA has given the series a major revamp that those of you starving for a decent Nascar simulation should find very satisfying.

No rap! At last, no rap! EA Sports games love to make us listen to rap, regardless of whether we’re shooting hoops, tossing the pigskin, or touching gloves in the boxing ring. Heck, even a nice Sunday game of golf, being one with the pristine wilderness, gamers playing Tiger Woods 2005 are subjected to hip hop tunes of popular artists. But no more! Nascar Simracing does not go that route; instead opting for some slightly lighter rock tunes which, while not an exact fit, suit the game much better than previous EA Trax compilations would have. But enough of my little tirade. Let’s get to the important stuff.

Make no mistake – this is not Nascar Thunder. Nascar Simracing is all about being realistic, and that it is. The sheer volume of options in this game is simply astounding. I honestly don’t know what half of them do… but that’s besides the point. Hardcore sim fans will love it. Of course you’ll find the normal options, like turning flags on or off, limiting number of laps per race, adjusting the time of day and weather, or turning on unlimited fuel and tires. Of course, none of those are going to help your car go any faster. For that, you’ve got a plethora of options. You can adjust everything from the differential ratio to the wedge, the nose weight to how much grille tape you have on the front. Tire pressure obviously can be adjusted as well, including tweaking your spoiler, spring, ride height, and shocks. And if that doesn’t look like much, know this: that isn’t half of it, plus things like toe in/out have six sub-options. Trust me. If you can dream it, you can probably do it to get that extra 1/16th of a second.

The races themselves are beautiful to watch. The detail levels can be adjusted as per your system’s capabilities, but on a nice machine things really stand out. Little details really help to bring the game alive. Your entire pit crew is animated on screen as they change out tires, refill the tank, and make other adjustments. Each track is marvelously recreated, complete with blackened roads where the tires of racers have worn a visible race line. Everything shines and shimmers appropriately from the sun (which appears and reappears on a cloudy day, and even sets eventually). The cockpit view is extremely limiting (understandably) but also well represented, as well as the driver and his gloved hands working the racecar.

Special effects are also nice, but not overdone. Metal against pavement produces a whining, screeching noise as well as orange-hot trails of sparks and smoke in your wake. Car damage is visually represented and consistent with what has happened. It isn’t uncommon to see an ugly right angle in the front right panel after a slip-up. When cars do wreck, white smoke fills the air, making anyone unlucky enough to be behind the crash have a difficult time navigating the resulting chaos. Too bad it doesn’t happen very often without some…help.

Sound effects throughout the game were right on par with what I expected. Engines are loud and deafeningly low roars and the screeching tires, sounds of crunching metal, and screeching rubber are pretty accurate. The pit crew will be communicating to you as the driver almost constantly, informing you of who is trying to pass you, where cars are located when near your vehicle, and when people enter/exit the pit. There are actually quite a few lines of dialogue, which helps add that little extra touch of this being a real race, screaming along at 180 mph. Music is non-existent during the races because you’ll have plenty going on in the auditory department as it is, so no complaints there. In the menus, however, you’ll hear the aforementioned EA Trax of alternative rock. Some of it you may have heard, but other songs probably not. Overall, it’s mainly enjoyably music that isn’t so far off the Nascar vibe that you cringe and wonder what they were thinking.

And that pretty well sums up all of the pretty little details that make this a true sim racer. You can obviously do any of this in any custom race you see fit, or you may choose to go into the game’s Career Mode. As you might expect, this will put you as a rookie trying to climb up the ladder into the high ranks, in pursuit of glory, money, fans and, ultimately, the championship cup. You can choose your paint scheme as you start, and then just try to get a few races under your belt. You begin in the truck series with a couple of low-dollar sponsorship offers, which you can use and replace to your liking as contracts expire. You’ll also have your prestige tracked, which will fluctuate due to your performance in races. Something completely new to the game is the ability to also merchandise. You can create branded souvenirs such as t-shirts and they will sell better when you have higher prestige and thus a larger fan base. Of course you can also lose money on these little investments if nobody wants them.

Multiplayer is your other main option, and lets up to 43 players race for first place at once, which I was very excited about. You can imagine how much different the race dynamics are when you’re paying against 42 other aggressive humans rather than the somewhat predictable A.I.. Nascar Simracing supports voice over IP during the races for the appropriate smack-talking, and you are also able to trade car settings online with other drivers if you find yourself having trouble tweaking your car for a particular track.

This really is a much better offering in the way of a Nascar sim than EA has given us in the past, but it isn’t without its problems. The first problem I spotted occurred almost immediately when playing in the Career mode. I was on my second lap, and although I had not hit anything at all, nor had I been doing donuts or anything else out of the ordinary, and still my car was sending up sparks on the turns. I could understand this if I was driving into barriers or other cars, or if I’d somehow seriously messed up my tires in the first lap of Daytona, but I was driving the proper line, doing nothing out of the ordinary. Even when my car didn’t begin sparking that early, I immediately found myself falling behind the pack (within the first quarter mile), and it was then near impossible to catch up.

In other words, this game does not go easy on you. If you are anything but a diehard Nascar fan, this game will simply punish and frustrate you, even on the beginner difficulty setting.

But it does have some fundamental flaws as well. When playing an online game, observing as a spectator after wrecking is very cumbersome. By the time I finally figured out how to watch a full screen, uninterrupted view of a particular racer, it wasn’t easy to do anything else until the race stopped. And watching a replay seemed equally buggy. Once I started one, I couldn’t seem to find any playback controls. Things like this make the interface just plain strange at times. Although the sound effects are generally satisfactory, I found it odd that your engine sounds the same, whether you’re inside the cockpit, using the hood view, or trailing camera view.

Admittedly I’m not the most knowledgeable fan of Nascar, although I am a fan, and know the basic rules. Still, controlling the car during a yellow flag is not fun for anyone, so I usually had the computer take over for me. On more than one occasion, the computer would get me a penalty due to its driving, although I couldn’t figure out why, and it is very frustrating to essentially lose a lap due to the A.I. being quirky. And apparently I’m not the only one who has seen this issue.

Lastly, although I definitely played this game in the way it was intended, as a true sim racer, I was kind of disappointed to see that it really isn’t conducive at all to letting you let loose to work out some aggression. You get disqualified very easily in Nascar Simracing, and I found no easy way to change the settings to allow me to…drive the track in the wrong direction, for instance. That’s understandable, I suppose, but still kind of a letdown, since the wrecks are so cool.

I kind of look at Nascar Simracing as EA’s apology to Nascar fans. It really is an overhaul of the series, and finally one that does the sport justice. Again, the customization is incredible – you’ll find everything you need to run your dream race. Those of you who’ve been depressed without a decent sim the past few years now have cause to rejoice. But casual racers beware: this game will chew you up and spit you out if you’re just looking for cheap thrills. Nascar Simracing was created to be a simulation of the fastest sport there is, and it’s impressive where it counts.

All of the options are here, even the ones you don’t expect.

Everything is marvelously detailed and accurate.

Crunches and scrapes sound great. Engine Noises are sub par.

There are enough settings in this game to drive any sim fan wild.

It’s great while it lasts, but once you’ve played it to death…you’ve played it to death.