With a sport that has grown in popularity like Nascar Winston Cup
Racing. It is inevitable that it would be made into a video game, even
though EA Sports was beaten to the Playstation punch bowl by that
dreadful incarnation released last year by Sierra(sorry Papyrus, I hear
the PC version is great). On the surface NASCAR 98 looks very similar to
EA's own Andretti racing. My problem with Andretti was that, while
combining elements of both NASCAR and Indy car racing, it didn't
accentuate the positives of each nearly as well as a game that is
devoted to one style. These two styles of racing are too different to
try and fit on one CD. This may be a biased statement because I still
think arcade modes waste valuable disk space that could have been used
to improve the sim mode. However, NASCAR 98 is very much its own game
and unlike CART vs F1:CE, it can't be compared with anything but the
real thing.

OVERVIEW
	NASCAR 98 is your standard racer. It opens with FMV of real racing
footage that get you pumped up and ready to race. It doesn't really have
separate Arcade and Sim modes, but you can set the Physics/AI settings
to be more Arcade-like or more Sim-like. Game options let you tune your
controller, Sound, music etc. and choose single race or championship
season. Here is where you choose your car along with the option of
viewing the driver's profile. Nascar options allow you to set race
length, car and game physics, damage, breakdowns, flags, timing and
opponent strength. Once you choose your car and track, you get the race
menu: Car Setup, Practice, Qualify, Race, or back to Game options. In
car set-up you can adjust manual or automatic gears, tire pressure,
spoiler, wedge, and gear ratio. A nice little bar graph meter reflect
the changes in car performance in your adjustments. What I like about
this menu set-up is that you can go between car set-up and practice as
much as you want. You can also change spoiler and wedge in the pits. The
game employs two-player split-screen action for those of us who enjoy
tradin' paint with a buddy or foe. Single-player mode pits you against a
field of twenty-four. In two-player, it's only eight cars including
yours and your opponents' car. The game has a replay option that is just
awesome. This allows you to "rewind" the race a few seconds and replay
it with any view and camera angle. This is really cool after a bad wreck
or slide out. My racing buddy and I use it to determine who was at fault
in a wreck. I should also mention that I use the Madcatz wheel with this
game and the response is great. I have no idea how the game responds to
the regular controller. 

GRAPHICS
	I've read some reviews that really shit-can the graphics. Well
sure...If you compare them to F1:CE with its' hi-res mode. NASCAR 98's
graphics are really good. The cars are detailed enough where you can
read the sponsor decals.  But I am going to tell you right now folks,
don't expect to jump in the Miller Lite car or the Bud #25. They ain't
there... as is any mention of Winston Cup. In this game, it is the
NASCAR Racing Series. Of course, this was expected. Although I suspect
it took EA some time to edit out all those advertisements because, like
it or not, NASCAR was built on alcohol and tobacco sponsorship. On those
cars mentioned you will see either Penske or Hendrick decals. There are
bits and pieces of eye-candy here as well. Damage shows up as crumpled
fenders and bumbers. Roof-flaps pop up and Goodyear's lock-up when you
get spun around. Smoke pours from the back of a car whose engine has
failed. When cars bump and bang each other hard, you can see bits and
pieces fly everywhere. If your car is "loose" or you take a turn too
fast, you will leave skid marks on the pavement that stay for the whole
race. This, however, is a plus because it shows you where you should be
slowing down. When being paced around the track during a yellow flag,
you might see a wrecker picking up the car that brought out the yellow
flag. There are about 6 different views to drive from: road view,
roof-cam, cockpit, behind, behind-low, behind-high. All views are
useful, but in the roof-cam, and cockpit view, the screen bounces around
too much. I guess this is supposed to simulate a rough ride. The in-car
view restricts the view of the track too much for me, but it shows the
driver's hands on the wheel and changing gears...Cool. On-screen
information includes tach, speedometer, draft meter, lap counter, fuel
gauge, best time and track map. You also can clear all of this off and
race without the cluttered screen. The map is interchangeable with a
rearview mirror. The map and rearview are available in all views, but
neither is available in two-player mode. The Tracks are faithful to
their real life counterparts. The concrete mixer(Bristol) looks really
good and the road courses offer a lot of nice scenery.  Notice the
"vericose veins" of Talledega. Just like the real thing. There is some
pop-up, but it doesn't detract at all from the race. This is mainly due
to the framerate being at a constant. Even when many cars are bunched
up, or you are playing slit-screen, the framerate doesn't falter.
However, 190 mph doesn't really feel like 190mph either. The game
doesn't really give a good sense of speed, but after playing for a few
hours, your brain adjusts and it begins to feel fast. Face it folks,
don't play F1 all day and then plug this title in. The sense of speed is
just not the same. 

MUSIC/SOUND
I hope you like southern rock, because that's about all you get in this
game. Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' with Disaster" is basically the theme
song. You'll find yourself humming it after awhile. You can adjust the
sound effects and music separately. The sound is standard racing fodder.
However, the engines sound very good. This was mentioned in another
review, but in two-player mode, when both cars are running flat out; the
engine resonance will match up and the effect is pretty cool and will
probably have you reaching for the volume control. There are decent
effects for when you scrape the wall, trade paint with another car or go
sliding through the infield. Bob Jenkins of ESPN provides what very
little commentary there is. He introduces the races and tells you when
the flags are out and when the leader pits or says "Great Move" when you
pass many cars at once, or when a car drops out, but that's about it.
Your pit crew informs you when your fuel is low and if your tires are
worn or if you wreck to hard, that the race is over for you. I don't
recall much of a cheering crowd effect though. If your PSX is piped
through a home theatre system(and whose isn't), you can tell which side
the car behind you is trying to pass you on. Overall, the music and
commentating is adequate and the sound effects are well above average.

GAMEPLAY 
This is the only area where the game really excels and yet still manages
to shoot itself in the foot.  The races themselves are a lot of fun and
it will take some practice to learn how to set your car up and race at
each track. The loading times are not very long compared to most racing
games. I would say less than ten seconds. The timing seems as accurate
as I can tell. One nifty treat with the timing is that every time you
cross the start/finish line a box comes up that helps you determine if
you are gaining ground on the car in front or if the car behind is
gaining on you. I really enjoy the pit sequence. When you pit, the
computer takes your car and guides it to your crew. First, the right
side of the car gets jacked-up and then the left. No two-tire stops are
allowed. When you are done the computer rolls your car down pit road at
an excruciating slow pace before you again get back on the track. The
racing can seems much too easy at certain points and then becomes
extremely challenging toward the end.  If you want the absolute
simulation experience, you can set the race length at 100% and race 400
laps at Charlotte or 188 at Talladega, but keep in mind these can be
four hour+ races. Pack your lunch. Over time, however, little bugs, AI
discrepancies, and overall gripes begin to show their ugly heads. We
shall discuss a few here. 
	First: there is no pitting under yellow. Most of the time, you won't
even know why the yellow came out, but when it does, the computer takes
over your car and paces you around the track. During one race, the
computer took control of my car and rammed it into the back of the car
in front and took me out of the race. Don't ask me what happened.
Speaking of pacing, where is the pace car? Surely, that couldn't have
been difficult to add. In this game, all the yellow flag does is bunch
the field back up. So if you are having a hard time catching the leader,
this might help you some. I think that allowing cars to pit under the
yellow would add more realism. 
	Second: A championship season is only 17 races long. A real season is
32 with some tracks hosting more than one race. I think this could have
easily been implemented here. What the hell, maybe in the sequel,
they'll let you even name your own races. The Trojan Condoms 300...Talk
about Pole Position. 
	Third: Cars that challenge you the entire race suddenly pit on the very
last lap. This reminded me of the first F1 game where this sort of thing
happened a lot. 
	Fourth: The only way to make my next point is to use this example: I
come out of the pits and I am 9 seconds behind the leader. I catch up to
him in about 15 laps. However, once you pass him you can't extend your
lead. It seems that if you can make up that much time that you should be
able to put that much time between you and him after you make the pass. 
	Fifth: No matter where you qualify, you can take the lead in 5 laps or
less even on 100% difficulty. This is either another AI flaw or the #24
team had technical input on the game. Also, it is much to easy to pass
and move through the field.
	Sixth: This one isn't really a bitch against the game, but where's
Jimmy 'Mr. Excitement' Spencer, or the Tide car, or Darrell Waltrip. I
was surprised to see Gordon listed among the drivers and not a
"Driver#1" with a blank picture for the #24 car. Another thing that a
NASCAR fan might notice early on is the unusually high number of road
courses in this game. There are only two road courses in the real Series
and many more ovals. In the game, there are only 8 ovals, but there are
9 road courses. I already know what you are going to say: that ovals are
boring and road courses appeal to the average racer. That may be so, but
the title of this game is NASCAR, and NASCAR is 90% oval-track racing.
Three or four road courses would have been fine, but there should have
been at least that many more oval tracks. Where is Richmond and
Darlington. Martinsville would have been a nice second short-track. I'm
sure Daytona is under some license with Sega so I won't even ask about
that one. 

CONCLUSION
	Overall, NASCAR 98 is a solid title that will definitely appeal to the
racing enthusiast. Fans knowledgeable of real Winston Cup racing will
probably agree that some elements essential to strategy racing were left
out, but the basics are still there. I recommend that you should at
least give it a spin as a rental. I bought my copy as soon as it was
released and haven't been disappointed yet.



Brandon
lawsonb@dms.state.fl.us