NASCAR Racing 2003 Season

The only disappointing thing about Papyrus' latest NASCAR Racing game is that it will likely be the last one. That's right'after years of making genre-shaping NASCAR simulations under the NASCAR racing title, Papyrus is hanging up their helmets. The company might come out with future race games, but not under the Racing title, which is too bad because no other racing sim has affected this genre as much.

Racing 2003 continues to excel with unbelievably detailed graphics that capture the entire NASCAR experience and earth shaking sound effects that still capture the guttural growls of high-performance engines. Because of the exceptional strength of past NASCAR Racing titles, 2003 does little to change the basics of the game. Instead, the biggest changes are the addition and update of the year's drivers, teams and sponsors.

There are some minor tweaks to gameplay and a few flaws that continue to be overlooked. Racing 2003 now includes something called adaptive AI which basically means that when toggled, drivers automatically adjust to your driving skill to make sure you're almost always in the middle of the pack. Updated physics models make the already unbelievable realistic feel of the game that much more over the top and new accumulative windshield muck also adds to the realism. Another new graphic feature is the addition of glare. Now, when racing during a bright afternoon, a driver can be temporarily blinded by the light or perhaps distracted by its beauty in early evening or late morning. Online play remains as hardcore as ever, supporting up to 42 live players in one match and endless ways to get ranked among the best cyber-drivers around.

Although Papyrus strives to make NASCAR Racing 2003 Season accessible to even the most inexperienced of drivers, this game continues to be made for the hardcore racing sim fan. Only buy Racing 2003 if you have the time and desire to learn the finesse of cornering and stroking the most out of an engine, not if you're just looking to run a few laps in an ultra-realistic setting.