Nascar Thunder 2004 (EA Sports PC G)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Nascar, or American stock car racing, is the poor man's Formula One. The first stock cars of the 1950s were road-going vehicles, tuned on a farm or a backyard before being thrashed on the famed Daytona track. Over the years, sponsorship money has transformed the cars into high-tech machines that rival for sophistication vehicles from the more glamorous branches of motor sport.

And the sport, best known for its premier contest, the Winston Cup, has a huge track and TV following in the States, where races are held each Sunday.

EA's Nascar Thunder has firmly established itself as the top game, to the extent of having a link from Nascar's official website.

EA promised to make this their most realistic racing title to date and put together a top team to develop it.

This team developed a new game engine that mirrors the power and fury of stock car racing.

It's a sport so raw that Michael Schumacher would probably think twice before hopping into a Studebaker or Dodge and mixing it with the likes of Nascar's top drivers.

Nascar 2004 manages to simulate this rough and ready sort of racing, thanks largely to much improved artificial intelligence.

This makes cars controlled by the computer compete much more realistically than in last year's version.

It also has a comprehensive career mode, which lets you manage your car's construction, research and development and sponsorships.

The car set-up options will make hard-core Nascar fans think they've died and gone to petrolhead heaven.

There are more than 50 customisable options, ranging from the angle of rear spoilers to changing gear and differential set-ups.

Too much information for some, probably, and there's a basic garage option which boils this down to half a dozen options.

If the game has a fault, it's that it is so American and players from this part of the world need to make a cultural leap to understand it — much in the same way as they would to play and enjoy EA's gridiron game, Madden.

But there's no doubting the quality of either Nascar or Madden. Both deliver in terms of playability, value, and sheer good looks.

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