I recently purchased NASCAR Racing 3 based on only one feature; support for force feedback steering wheels. I lucked out. Sierra Sports and Papyrus software really outdone themselves when they made the racing simulator game.
One of the biggest complaints about simulator games is the amount of realism and complexity. This game allows you to control how complex the setup and the simulation will be. You start from ground zero as a new team rather than just driving another racer's car. You can choose either Busch or Winston Cup drivers to compete against. The manual is easy to read and set up so that you can just refer to it as you run the game. For the impatient, it will also show you how to leave defaults in place if your just wanting to run the game. For the big fans, it explains how to set the car up by adjusting the suspension, spoiler angle. air pressure, etc. You can even paint your own car and set the colors of your pit crew's fire suits.
Once on the rack you can choose from two arcade style views (watching from behind the car) or view from the driver's seat which allows for monitoring things like tire pressure and wear, mph, and lap times. If you prefer, you can have your crew chief will radio you (by voice or by text) lap times. Your spotter will tell you (by voice or by text) if you're clear of another car after passing or being passed. His job includes informing you about wrecks and how to avoid them. Each of these features are easy to set up and a quick reference guide is supplied so you can turn them on and off without opening the manual. One additional note, the radio voices are very realistic in that they have some static and you can hear their radios "key in".
Driving a simulator game is not the same without a steering wheel. It makes even more sense to use one with feed back feel. This game is the only one I've found so far that supports feed back steering and since it is based on the '99 season the price was right. The feed back is exactly what one expects it to be, the harder you drive the car into a turn, the harder it is to steer. The tires squealing warn you if you're in trouble of losing control of the car.
This game also supports on-line interactive play so going head to head with your friends or other on-line racing junkies is a snap.
For those who have a hard time getting complex graphic games to run on their PC, a guide is included in the manual to make this game run as smooth as possible. I would still recommend a good 3D accelerator to anyone interested in this game. Aside from that, it just doesn't get much easier or more fun than this.
Believable physics model Crisp 3-D accelerated graphics Convincing 3-D sound effects Many tracks and lots of tweaking options for nearly infinite repl...More at Amazon Marketplace
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