Cyberpunk 2077 is a AAA title from Cyber Punk studio CD Projekt Red that has been in development for over six years. The game’s first trailer was released on April 2016 and the hype train never stopped running since then. Cyberpunk 2077 could be one of the most important games ever developed and it will release this year, 2020.
The “nascar ignition 21” is a meme that has been around for a while. It is most often used in online gaming communities or on social media platforms to express excitement or frustration.
For years, it seems as though NASCAR fans have been anxiously waiting for their chance to load up a game (on a console) that allows them to live out their racing fantasies (spoiler: you’ll have to wait even longer). However, it also seems as though they have been disregarded for years. After EA Sports cut connections with the NASCAR series and license in 2008, several firms have attempted, with varied degrees of success, to fill those shoes, but none have ever stolen the checkered flag.
Enter Motorsport Games, a studio comprised of former Codemasters, Forza Horizon, and rFactor 2 developers that know a thing or two about making good racing games. Not only does the firm employ some of the top developers in the industry, but it also just added Peter Moore (yes, that Peter Moore of EA Sports/Xbox fame) to its board of directors.
Fans have cause to be enthusiastic about NASCAR 21: Ignition based on the lineage, history, portfolio, and skill. This is a game with some of the greatest physics available, according to the makers, in the form of rFactor 2’s driving model, a redesigned career mod, a new presentation package, and an all-new paint booth.
After all of that, it’s time for my NASCAR 21: Ignition analysis, which I’ve been working on for almost a week.
NASCAR 21: Ignition Analysis– What I Like
Model of Transportation
If you’re acquainted with the rFactor 2 driving model and physics, you’ll understand why I’m excited to see it in NASCAR 21: Ignition.
The gains over prior attempts were obvious from the moment I turned on the engine and drove out of the pits for the first time. I could feel how varied track surfaces interacted with my wheels and setup, and the combination of the two kept me looking for the optimum line on each track.
The effect of tire wear was also a minor but welcome enhancement. My preferred line changed to varied degrees as my tires went thinner, and my driving style was forced to adjust to be less aggressive.
Now, depending on the difficulty and amount of assistance, some of the effects I’m referring to may be minimized to some extent. If you race on easy with full assistance, the vehicle will feel nearly like it’s on rails, which is good if that’s how you want to race.
For the sake of this evaluation, I deleted practically every assist and alternated between normal and pro. The intricacies and varied degrees of stability that were sensed during the race were fascinating to me.
In summary, while racing on pro with zero aids in a pack at a super or normal racetrack, the controller’s clutch is genuine, and it demanded my whole attention and effort on every lap.
The game’s creators have created an experience that most people of all skill levels can enjoy on the track, and the game also allows me to adjust the complexity of the driving model and AI individually, which is always a nice touch.
Paying Attention To The Details
Rarely has there been a game where doing the right thing felt so right, and doing the wrong thing felt so horrible, but NASCAR 21: Ignition is one of them.
There are a lot of flaws in this game, but they didn’t stop me from recognizing and appreciating a lot of the little elements that the devs got right in the first version.
Little nuances abound in the game, such as racing at Daytona with its incredible day-to-night shift. It’s breathtaking to see the sun gently go from biological to man-made. That first glimpse of the outside and track-side lights flickering drew me into the world of NASCAR at Daytona, and it didn’t end there.
The little elements keep coming up during my time with this title. Watching my pit crew use a sledgehammer to remove a portion of the fender well or a section of the body panel is a great touch, as is seeing them use the heavy metal saw to remove a part of the fender well or a bit of the body panel.
The nuances are also carried over into this year’s game’s damage model, such as the crumpling of the hood or a tire slowly inflating because I brushed the wall.
If you take the time to look for them, little things like these may be found all around. The sound of the pit crew chief’s “good luck” voice line and smack on the hood reverberating throughout the car, as well as seeing rays of sun change course inside the car, realistic debris gathering on the windows, and the sound of the pit crew chief’s “good luck” voice line and smack on the hood reverberating throughout the car, are fantastic details.
I could go on and on about the intricacies, but the bottom line is that the creators gave fans of the sport a familiar feel while also creating a real, breathing NASCAR experience both on and off the track.
Presentation
While presentation and details typically go hand in hand, NASCAR 21: Ignition’s presentation is strong enough to earn its own section.
The zenith of racing presentation, in my opinion, remains to be Codemasters and their fantastic F1 simulation series. Presentation involves more than simply presenting a circuit and vehicles on the grid to Codemasters.
While the creators here don’t quite reach that level, they go above and beyond what we’ve seen in terms of capturing the NASCAR experience for over a decade. NASCAR 21: Ignition is lots of subtle presentation rapid cuts, from seeing the team in the garage squeezing out every ounce of speed they can to seeing them pull the vehicle out of the garage to pit row.
The game provides short glimpses of the arena and surrounding region as you go from one track to the next. It also features pre-race interviews with drivers on pit row, as well as flyovers and the national anthem.
Regardless of the mode you are playing, the presentation can be seen and felt all around the place. That isn’t to say there aren’t difficulties, which is to be expected for a first-year endeavor.
Apart from the presentation issues I’ve previously highlighted, there isn’t much more to brag about in career mode, which I’ll go over in more detail later in this analysis. The game also has issues with offering a race-day experience over and over again. What’s there is immersive and genuine, but it’s the same for all races.
When I play a licensed racing game like NASCAR 21, providing a strong and immersive race-day experience has always been and will continue to be a top priority for me. I’d want developers to create an organic experience for me and everyone else that draws me in and makes me feel like I’m sitting in the garage or a member of the broadcasting crew.
NASCAR 21: Ignition isn’t quite up to pace with the F1 or NBA 2K series, so there’s still work to be done. In any case, this is a great start for a firm that will be associated with NASCAR and its gaming community for a long time.
NASCAR 21: Ignition Analysis– What I Don’t Like
Glitches And Bugs
There are various difficulties that currently afflict this game. I mentioned the little aspects that the creators got right, but the list of things that are incorrect vastly outnumbers them.
Where should I start? To begin, the game’s failure to provide a realistic NASCAR racing experience on the track. To be clear, this has nothing to do with the driving model, but it does concern everything else.
To begin with, the HUD that displays lap times, remaining gas, and opponent closeness vanishes more often than it looks. Yes, the HUD that provides important information is missing more than 90% of the time, therefore I have to rely on my spotter for information.
Furthermore, I often began each session with damage to my vehicle, which would carry over from practice to qualifying and ultimately to the actual race. To make matters worse, my car’s engine sound was often absent. A NASCAR game that fails to provide critical information and does not enable you to hear your vehicle is a significant miss.
The misery doesn’t end inside your vehicle though, as I’ve seen my AI opponents crash and then sit on the circuit for lap after lap with no yellow flag or tow truck to get them off the course. To make matters worse, the other AI opponents would indiscriminately crash into that vehicle, resulting in a pile of steel sheet metal in the center of the track.
Continuing on, the AI vehicles do not pit, implying that they are driving the long-rumored hybrid cup car that does not need petrol or tires. In all honesty, I’ve raced over 50 different races with varied degrees of laps, and I’ve only seen them pit once at Daytona, and that was due to a yellow flag being thrown as they exited the pits.
So far, in over 50 races, I’ve only seen the AI pit once and one caution flag has been thrown, both of which occurred in the same sequence.
As my time with this game progressed and the difficulties piled up, I began to realize what it’s like to be a heavyweight fighter who is constantly hammered for 12 rounds. The strikes kept on coming, and they came from unexpected areas.
The exact NASCAR mechanics and workings, as well as the regular procedure we see on TV, are included in the game, but they are not engaged at the appropriate moments — or at all. A few bugs were to be anticipated and could be readily fixed, but the sheer quantity of valid problems and faults suggests that this game required at least another six months of development.
Insufficiency of depth
While this is a regular problem in first-year titles, the lack of depth in NASCAR 21 is concerning. Currently, the game includes Race Now, a very limited career mode (which I’ll discuss later), and an internet feature that is as basic as it gets.
The possibility to play a basic NASCAR season as your favorite driver is missing from the single-player mode, which seems like an easy addition.
Again, first-year games tend to be light on features as creators strive to build a strong foundation from the ground up and then add on afterwards. Even with that perspective, what’s featured in NASCAR 21 seems underwhelming at best, particularly given the game’s glaring problems in so many areas.
Mode of Work
At this point, I suppose I’d prefer a season mode to the career style that NASCAR 21 provides. I find the career mode to be quite confusing, particularly when compared to other games’ career options.
To begin, create your own driver and sign with a cup team of your choosing. Yes, as an unknown driver with little experience, you have the choice of signing with a team like Joe Gibbs, Rick Hendrick, or Roger Penske.
Because the makers were upfront about this game not containing the Xfinity or truck series, I can overlook the lack of a progression system. Having the potential to sign with the best NASCAR teams straight out of the gate, though, reeks of sloth or stupidity.
So, now that your inexperienced butt sits in some of the top automobiles on the market, it’s time to show your worth. The main issue is that there isn’t much to prove since career mode is just a glorified season mode with accumulated career and track numbers.
The game often reminded me that the better I perform, the greater my alternatives would be when my contract with my present club expires. Again, this is an issue since I have nowhere to spend the money I make, no way to communicate with my agent, and why would I leave if I had already signed with one of the greatest teams?
Another problem with career mode is that the cutscenes were often jerky and played at very low frames per second. Finally, I tried two careers, both of which ended soon since the game would either freeze or start with my driver’s vision displaying as if my head was on the floor of the vehicle when I tried to continue. You may read that final statement as many times as you like, but it is 100% accurate and without embellishment (as you can see below).
Again, it’s fantastic that a career mode is included in a year-one game, but the issue is that I’m not sure I (or anyone else) can really call this a career mode, and even what is there has some serious flaws.
Conclusion
I seldom get enthusiastic about a game that has yet to be published before being disappointed when it is finally released. I usually can see what’s going on in preview builds and can adjust my expectations appropriately. Well, my expectations were completely unrealistic in this case. It reminds me a little bit of Cyberpunk 2077, to be honest.
While there are some outstanding features of this book to cling to, the list of flaws could easily cover many more pages.
I like Motorsport Games, and the talent that has joined the team is impressive. In my opinion, their dedication and talent will never be questioned. That said, unless you’re okay with racing a series of brief “race now” races and have no aspirations of anything more, I can’t suggest this game until it gets some big fixes soon.
Related
Cyberpunk 2077, the cyberpunk RPG from CD Projekt Red, is finally here. The game has been in development for eight years and it’s release was delayed several times. It’s worth the wait though. Reference: is cyberpunk 2077 worth it.
Related Tags
- nascar 21 ignition analysis
- nascar 21 ignition metacritic
- nascar 21 ignition patch
- how long is cyberpunk 2077
- when will cyberpunk be fixed
