Any way to turn on simulation mode?

[CaptainNebulous]

Was thinking of buying this game, but in all he videos and streams I watched people seem to be having trouble getting the game to feel very "sim-like." Of particular concern there is issues figuring out how to turn off speed sensitive steering and low-speed steering boost. Because of this, for example, the dirt cars don't appear to handle like dirt cars at all. I don't see people having to counter steer nearly as much as they should have to. Also the damage model doesn't appear to have any significant effect on car performance and there is no way to DNF? And is there any way to turn off the automatic driving during yellows and automatic driving in pit road? I want a game that will make my hands sweaty and makes me use my brain, not casual physics, arcade handling, and low driving difficulty. I also noticed this weird behavior with the AI where if you turn the difficulty up for the AI, they are a beast in the turns but go oddly slow on the straightaways. Did they patch that bug yet?

Might be ok for children but for me, I need to know if there is a way to make the driving model more realistic and have less forced assists. Any INI files I could edit if I buy the game? Any mods that could help it? Or am I stuck another year without a good NASCAR game

[Murph]

turn off staility, this game is not a sim, it is a game, if you're looking for realism try iRacing, asseto corsa or project CARS 2

[CaptainNebulous]

Originally posted by Agent 86:

turn off staility, this game is not a sim, it is a game, if you're looking for realism try iRacing, asseto corsa or project CARS 2

I am looking for a realistic dedicated stock car racing game with single player options and a career mode. These games should allow options that cater to everyone from casual to sim racers. There is no good reason why that wouldn't be possible. If they don't want to include these possibilities in the in-game options then they need to at least make the files opened to easy editing.

Tired of people saying "go play another game if you want that" when this company has the exclusive NASCAR license and is the only one that can produce a dedicated NASCAR game. As long as that is a thing, then they need to stop focusing on just casual racers and open up the possibilities. I'm not asking for laser scanned tracks or anything. Just a good physics model and being punished realistically for any mistakes I make on-track.... and more control over how the game plays. Being a small team doesn't mean they can't do it, either. They could easily patch in these features.

I'm also not sure why this company would be content letting Papyrus NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, a game that came out over 15 years ago... remain the best NASCAR game ever. (With the other Papryus games and NASCAR Thunder Series being close 2nds)

[Murph]

this game is meant to appeal to console players, or people who aren't going to find it difficult, iRacing has the NASCAR license too but, it is quite expensive

[dthayer0971]

Then we will never see a good gameplay Nascar licened game for a long time if the company has this kind of strategy. Even the original Nascar Heat 1 is better than this game far as realistic gameplay options.

[Murph]

agreed, but us, being pc gamers are looking for realism, while console players just want a game they can pick up here and there, and be able to play

[dthayer0971]

I Agree with you @Agent 86. I still have Nascar 2003 up and running on a Windows 10 system, and used to race in online leagues long ago with the game, which Iracing has now taken over that role(i am not an Iracing member though). I will still watch and see where this NH3 goes in future revisions if they pull in any simulation aspects. take care.

@Agent 86 I am finding out that Iracing is supposed/might be adding AI to the game next year. Where they are going with that is not clear right now.

[Elvis2]

I agree with A86 and dth. To the original op, if you want a more realistic "sim" experience than this game offers but cant do iracing, opt out for NR2K3. With the mods and updates from that community NASCAR Racing 2003 Season is alive and well. A lot of good leagues still up and running after 15yrs. Get the MENCS 2018 mod. That being said, I like this game. It's fun. It's not meant to be a "sim" but I find that each iteration is better that than the one before. For that reason, I will continue to support Monster games and 704 with dollars from my purchases. I've been a Sierra/Papyrus fanboy since the original Nascar Racing then to the ultimate sim for it's day GPL and beyond thru the whole series. I was a beta tester for iracing in '05-'06. Imo, when the original Heat came out, it was better than Nascar 3 (not to be confused with Nascar Racing 2003 Season) but lacked online racing support whereas Papyrus excelled with free servers and such and promoted online racing extensively. I'm a PC guy and don't own a console. A throw back to a different time. Just have fun with the ride.

[CaptainNebulous]

Originally posted by Elvis2:

I agree with A86 and dth. To the original op, if you want a more realistic "sim" experience than this game offers but cant do iracing, opt out for NR2K3. With the mods and updates from that community NASCAR Racing 2003 Season is alive and well. A lot of good leagues still up and running after 15yrs. Get the MENCS 2018 mod. That being said, I like this game. It's fun. It's not meant to be a "sim" but I find that each iteration is better that than the one before. For that reason, I will continue to support Monster games and 704 with dollars from my purchases. I've been a Sierra/Papyrus fanboy since the original Nascar Racing then to the ultimate sim for it's day GPL and beyond thru the whole series. I was a beta tester for iracing in '05-'06. Imo, when the original Heat came out, it was better than Nascar 3 (not to be confused with Nascar Racing 2003 Season) but lacked online racing support whereas Papyrus excelled with free servers and such and promoted online racing extensively. I'm a PC guy and don't own a console. A throw back to a different time. Just have fun with the ride.

Oh trust me I am quite familiar with Papyrus sims. Probably still the best racing games of all time. I remember when I first installed their first sim Indianapolis 500 from a floppy drive... having to answer the Indy 500 trivia questions in order to get into the game. Then when NASCAR 1 and Indycar 1 came out they blew my mind. I owned them all as they were released. Waiting outside of Babbages or Electronic Boutique so I was gaurenteed a copy before they sold out. Those were the days man :D

NASCAR Heat I believe came out during the NASCAR 4 era, but perhaps I'm wrong. But if we're comparing Heat to N3... I consider them about just as good as one another, for different reasons. Heat was the first game I recall having a semi-realistic depiction of an AI driver actually trying to save their car after it gets loose. I liked how the AI interacted with one another over NASCAR 3. However I did still prefer NASCAR 3's driving mechanics and physics over Heat, and I felt it handled yellow flags a bit better and stuff like that. I played them both quite a bit.

Biggest dissappointment of all time for me was by far a tie between NASCAR Revolution in 1999 and NASCAR Sim Racing in 2005. Both ridiculously hyped games that were advertised towards the sim racers, but both were huge let-downs. Ironically EA's Revolution was no more realistic than the late 90's EA NASCAR games... and EA's Sim Racing was in no way better than their Thunder Series which was out at the same time. I'd consider pretty much every EA NASCAR game since '05 to be a total flop in regards to quality, but I can't say they were dissappointments because after NASCAR '05 you pretty much already knew the dreadful direction EA was taking the series.... but '05 still held some redeeming qualities that future titles in the series no longer had.

One thing I can say is that this developer has outdone every EA NASCAR game later than 2005. So I can definitely credit them with that.

[Patches]

Originally posted by dthayer0971:

@Agent 86 I am finding out that Iracing is supposed/might be adding AI to the game next year. Where they are going with that is not clear right now.

Whoooooa, can I get a link with that information.

I have an iRacing account that's inactive at the moment. I have a lot of money in iRacing ..ha. Even though I've spent a couple years or more off and on with iRacing. I like racing AI if it's good which is hard to find. Like AC's ai sucks. ACC's ai seems to be a little better with an ai update next month I think.

iRacing has (if he's still there) the best guy with ai that made Nascar 2003 which I raced online for years along with all the mods like Indycar. I've been waiting for years for iRacing to realize they could make another big bank if they added ai.

Even though this game is a simcade as they say, the ai is actually some of the best I've seen in my opinion. That's why I enjoy this game for what it is.

thanks for the info
g

[Elvis2]

Originally posted by CaptainNebulous:

Originally posted by Elvis2:

I agree with A86 and dth. To the original op, if you want a more realistic "sim" experience than this game offers but cant do iracing, opt out for NR2K3. With the mods and updates from that community NASCAR Racing 2003 Season is alive and well. A lot of good leagues still up and running after 15yrs. Get the MENCS 2018 mod. That being said, I like this game. It's fun. It's not meant to be a "sim" but I find that each iteration is better that than the one before. For that reason, I will continue to support Monster games and 704 with dollars from my purchases. I've been a Sierra/Papyrus fanboy since the original Nascar Racing then to the ultimate sim for it's day GPL and beyond thru the whole series. I was a beta tester for iracing in '05-'06. Imo, when the original Heat came out, it was better than Nascar 3 (not to be confused with Nascar Racing 2003 Season) but lacked online racing support whereas Papyrus excelled with free servers and such and promoted online racing extensively. I'm a PC guy and don't own a console. A throw back to a different time. Just have fun with the ride.

Oh trust me I am quite familiar with Papyrus sims. Probably still the best racing games of all time. I remember when I first installed their first sim Indianapolis 500 from a floppy drive... having to answer the Indy 500 trivia questions in order to get into the game. Then when NASCAR 1 and Indycar 1 came out they blew my mind. I owned them all as they were released. Waiting outside of Babbages or Electronic Boutique so I was gaurenteed a copy before they sold out. Those were the days man :D

NASCAR Heat I believe came out during the NASCAR 4 era, but perhaps I'm wrong. But if we're comparing Heat to N3... I consider them about just as good as one another, for different reasons. Heat was the first game I recall having a semi-realistic depiction of an AI driver actually trying to save their car after it gets loose. I liked how the AI interacted with one another over NASCAR 3. However I did still prefer NASCAR 3's driving mechanics and physics over Heat, and I felt it handled yellow flags a bit better and stuff like that. I played them both quite a bit.

Biggest dissappointment of all time for me was by far a tie between NASCAR Revolution in 1999 and NASCAR Sim Racing in 2005. Both ridiculously hyped games that were advertised towards the sim racers, but both were huge let-downs. Ironically EA's Revolution was no more realistic than the late 90's EA NASCAR games... and EA's Sim Racing was in no way better than their Thunder Series which was out at the same time. I'd consider pretty much every EA NASCAR game since '05 to be a total flop in regards to quality, but I can't say they were dissappointments because after NASCAR '05 you pretty much already knew the dreadful direction EA was taking the series.... but '05 still held some redeeming qualities that future titles in the series no longer had.

One thing I can say is that this developer has outdone every EA NASCAR game later than 2005. So I can definitely credit them with that.

Lol. I always tried to reserve my copy. I was such an addict. We had a standing joke in my league when the new Papy sim came out: "There goes another grand", and a nooby'd say:"What, it's $39.95". Yeah, and a grand for computer upgrades to run it. That's how gaming evolved to consoles. Think about it. No two computers are the same. After they come off the assy. lines at Dell or HP whatever we all personalize them. Upgrades, processors, video cards, build our own, etc. Dev's have to write code for millions of possible combinations (Consoles make it simple. Xbox, PS4. They're basically the same. Personally, I'll take my i7 8700k @ 5ghz and 1080ti over any console.

EA bought the rights to every major sporting franchise in 2002? Including NASCAR. That's when Dave Kaemer (senior dev for Sierra/Papyrus since GPL) bounced. Left the year before NR2K3 was released. His best work at that point. He later went on to form iRacing. I bought Nascar Thunder. What a POS. Sold it on ebay the next day and haven't looked to EA since.

Imo, your right about Monster/704. Way better than EA ever was.

Just a little history lesson for you kids ;)

[CaptainNebulous]

Originally posted by Elvis2:

Originally posted by CaptainNebulous:

Oh trust me I am quite familiar with Papyrus sims. Probably still the best racing games of all time. I remember when I first installed their first sim Indianapolis 500 from a floppy drive... having to answer the Indy 500 trivia questions in order to get into the game. Then when NASCAR 1 and Indycar 1 came out they blew my mind. I owned them all as they were released. Waiting outside of Babbages or Electronic Boutique so I was gaurenteed a copy before they sold out. Those were the days man :D

NASCAR Heat I believe came out during the NASCAR 4 era, but perhaps I'm wrong. But if we're comparing Heat to N3... I consider them about just as good as one another, for different reasons. Heat was the first game I recall having a semi-realistic depiction of an AI driver actually trying to save their car after it gets loose. I liked how the AI interacted with one another over NASCAR 3. However I did still prefer NASCAR 3's driving mechanics and physics over Heat, and I felt it handled yellow flags a bit better and stuff like that. I played them both quite a bit.

Biggest dissappointment of all time for me was by far a tie between NASCAR Revolution in 1999 and NASCAR Sim Racing in 2005. Both ridiculously hyped games that were advertised towards the sim racers, but both were huge let-downs. Ironically EA's Revolution was no more realistic than the late 90's EA NASCAR games... and EA's Sim Racing was in no way better than their Thunder Series which was out at the same time. I'd consider pretty much every EA NASCAR game since '05 to be a total flop in regards to quality, but I can't say they were dissappointments because after NASCAR '05 you pretty much already knew the dreadful direction EA was taking the series.... but '05 still held some redeeming qualities that future titles in the series no longer had.

One thing I can say is that this developer has outdone every EA NASCAR game later than 2005. So I can definitely credit them with that.

Lol. I always tried to reserve my copy. I was such an addict. We had a standing joke in my league when the new Papy sim came out: "There goes another grand", and a nooby'd say:"What, it's $39.95". Yeah, and a grand for computer upgrades to run it. That's how gaming evolved to consoles. Think about it. No two computers are the same. After they come off the assy. lines at Dell or HP whatever we all personalize them. Upgrades, processors, video cards, build our own, etc. Dev's have to write code for millions of possible combinations (Consoles make it simple. Xbox, PS4. They're basically the same. Personally, I'll take my i7 8700k @ 5ghz and 1080ti over any console.

EA bought the rights to every major sporting franchise in 2002? Including NASCAR. That's when Dave Kaemer (senior dev for Sierra/Papyrus since GPL) bounced. Left the year before NR2K3 was released. His best work at that point. He later went on to form iRacing. I bought Nascar Thunder. What a POS. Sold it on ebay the next day and haven't looked to EA since.

Imo, your right about Monster/704. Way better than EA ever was.

Just a little history lesson for you kids ;)

I would say that the Thunder Series, while it did lack sim physics... it had the depth and enough challenge to keep even a sim driver interested. At least it did for me. Your entire first season was in a piece of crap backmarker car that pushed like a dump truck and was like 5 to 8MPH slower than everyone else. Getting a top 25 finish in points in season 1 felt like a championship. Then each season after you gradually worked your way up and got into better and better equipment. (I hope that progression in NASCAR Heat 4 adds this kind of challenge). The driving wasn't that bad in it. The AI was half decent except on plate tracks where the field spread out a lot more than in real life. Where it lacked the most was spin/crash physics both for player and AI.

[dthayer0971]

@Patches I dont have any links about AI coming to Iracing at this time. But heard the information from a popular reviewer on youtube. Plus talked to an person in our RaceRoom league who races on Iracing and say he has heard about it also. The reviewer on youtube told me it may be available 1st or 2nd quarter of 2019. Thats about all I know. Just do a search on youtube for AI coming to Iracing.

take care.

[Patches]

Originally posted by dthayer0971:

@Patches I dont have any links about AI coming to Iracing at this time. But heard the information from a popular reviewer on youtube. Plus talked to an person in our RaceRoom league who races on Iracing and say he has heard about it also. The reviewer on youtube told me it may be available 1st or 2nd quarter of 2019. Thats about all I know. Just do a search on youtube for AI coming to Iracing.

take care.

Thanks
g