From TheGamersPress

NASCAR 4

• Platform: PC/Windows

• Genre: Sports

• Publisher: Sierra - www.sierra.com

• Developer: Papyrus - www.papy.com

• Good Thing 1: The most accurate racing engine to date

• Good Thing 2: Cars are modeled in staggering detail

• Good Thing 3: The feeling of speed may send you to the store for some Depends

• Bad Thing 1: Does not come with a cool NASCAR helmet

• Bad Thing 2: No career mode

• Bad Thing 3:

• Summary: Left turns never had it so good.

Beer, burning rubber, and babes in bikinis. You can hear the thunder of engines, choke on the exhaust of turbo charged engines, the screams of countless fans barely audible over the sounds of cars racing around the track at breakneck speed. You could pay big bucks to go to a NASCAR race OR you could do the next best thing - sit at home in your underwear, and load up NASCAR 4 from Papyrus.

Since the early days of racing games for the PC, Papyrus has been a driving force behind the genre. With software engines that emulate skidding around a corner on a smoking banana peel at 120 MPH while the road is covered in a slight sheen of Budweiser, to the impact on the rear axle following a head on collision with a latte cart, the physics models have been second to none.

It should come as no surprise then that NASCAR 4 is the pinnacle of the Racing Sims. Papyrus has listened to fan feedback and created a near perfect simulation of racing cars around big oval tracks. It does not get any better than this unless you go to a track and pay big bucks to take lessons and drive a real car for a day. Cars spin out and flip over, 5 - 8 car crashes become commonplace and the thrill of passing on the inside at 175 MPH never looses its gosh-wow effect.

Everything about the game is presented in a very professional manner. The manual is thick enough to satisfy the obsessive readers (like me); offering up everything from how to tighten sway bars to meeting other racing sim fans online. The menus are rendered nicely offering every aspect of game selection at a single glance, right clicking on any item gives a detailed explanation of its function. The playback function following races is as easy to use as your basic VCR controls.

The game offers several modes of play. For instance, Test Drive gets you up to speed in a hurry. Single race allows you to set the number of laps so your butt does not get numb after the 147th lap - a real quick 40-lap game will give you a real taste of the action. Then there's Championship mode, which offers a series of races true to NASCAR's seasons or a customizable season, which can make the game a bit shorter. Multiplayer is where you can meet new and interesting people then get shoved into retaining walls by them.

Once you jump behind the wheel of your first car you will see right away this is a far cry from 320 x 200 blocky graphics on a 386. The engine is extremely powerful, the other cars are rendered in staggering detail, gone are the day's of soapbox shaped rectangles. They are replaced by rounded curves and shinning chrome. If you do take on a full race with a track full of AI opponents, the engine does an admirable job of modeling all of them to the nth degree. This can also be the source of some great crashes (auto-based, not CPU), there is nothing like trying to avoid a 6-car pileup when the car you were trying to pass has suddenly become airborne.

The AI in the single player game is pretty amazing. If there is a crash no longer will you see the other cars come to a stop. They will simply slow down, go around, and pass your sorry smoking butt. Also, expect them to nudge you, which can easily result in an unfriendly meeting with a wall - SMACK. If you piss off a car, chances are he will come back at you full steam.

If you find the cars or AI too hard to handle there is a full host of options to lower the realism to human levels. Also included is an expanded garage that allows you to tweak endless details on the cars then take them to the test track race and watch how your times are affected. This in itself is a NASCAR junkie's dream come true. The game also offers several views to help take in the action. The best one though has to be the "you are sitting on top of the hood" like Peter Sellers strapped to a nuclear missile in Dr. Strangelove. The full-screen mode with no other instruments is very nice. Be sure to put your nose 8 inches in front of the monitor so you can dive for a barf-bag though.

I am not a big NASCAR fan, nor do I play many racing games. In fact, the Need for Speed games are about as involved in racing as I get. This game though can be played in a matter of seconds, you do not need to know who all of the drivers are to enjoy it, nor do you need a license to speed at 200 miles per hour. You just need a rig powerful enough to play it and a little patience to master the modeling. If you take your time and learn the game, you could end up with a virtual trophy in your virtual hands.