NASCAR 06: Total Team Control

[Danimal]

Anyone know anything about this? My boss who doesn't game much, is a real Nascar freak and really wnats this game. He was asking my opinion and well I don't do a lot of racing games, plus it is not out yet

Just wondering if you gear heads heard anythign about it?

[Boom]

As PK will surely tell you, NASCAR 2005 was a great improvement over all the previous EA NASCAR games. It really is a good game.

Now, I don't know much about 06, but IF it doesn't take a few steps backward it'll be just fine. However, we all thought NHL 2004 was going in the right direction and then along came 2005.

Probably best to take a wait and see attitude with this one.

[DChaps]

In last years Chase for the Cup version of EA's Nascar series the horrible online interface, limited number of online opponents, and pretty bad frame rate issues in certain scenarios killed it for me. However, I have not followed the progress or feature set of this years console version.

[pk500]

It's a "crossroads" game for the series, in my opinion.

EA put out its finest NASCAR console racer ever last year with NASCAR 2005. The game was deep as hell, more of a sim than any EA console racer and really fun to play. The big addition was the deep, immersive Chase for the Cup career mode, which featured four classes of NASCAR machinery -- modifieds, trucks, Busch, NEXTEL Cup.

The new feature this year is "Total Team Control." It allows you to use voice or joystick commands to team up with teammates, making drafting decisions, blocking decisions of rivals, etc. It's based on reality, as Jeff Gordon will team up with real-life Hendrick Motorsports teammates Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, for example, but not with Kurt Busch of Roush Racing.

Perhaps the biggest wrinkle of this "Total Team Control" is the ability to switch to a teammate's car DURING the race. If you're 25th with Gordon and Vickers is running second, for example, you can push a button and immediately be transported to Vickers' driver's seat.

That feature scares me, to be honest. Sounds hokey as hell.

I think "Total Team Control" has great potential, but as with any EA novelty feature, proper and restrained implementation is the key. And we all know that EA rarely shows restraint with first-year features, as they usually take over the game and make it somewhat unrealistic.

I'm giving this game a rent next week and will turn a ton of laps. I hope to get a copy for review for DSP, too.

This is the first year I'm looking forward to an EA NASCAR game in a long time, perhaps ever. EA surprised the living hell out of me with the quality and fun of NASCAR 2005. It easily was EA's most improved game last year.

So if your boss doesn't like NASCAR 06, tell him that NASCAR 2005 will give him a ton of fun for a long time, as long as he doesn't mind the paint jobs and drivers from last year.

Take care,
PK

[pk500]

In last years Chase for the Cup version of EA's Nascar series the horrible online interface, limited number of online opponents, and pretty bad frame rate issues in certain scenarios killed it for me. However, I have not followed the progress or feature set of this years console version.

Very good point by Don. The online racing was fun once you were on the track. But the flaws in the menus and basic setup were atrocious:

1. No voice chat in online lobbies.
2. Only <b>four humans</b> per online race. WTF?
3. Every player would be tossed into a general lobby after each race. You couldn't keep the same group of four guys together for multiple races.
4. No Gamertag ID icon over the user-controlled cars. So unless you memorized which driver your human opponents were using in the pre-race lobby, you had to guess.
5. No caution flags in online racing.

Despite these nasty online flaws, I still put in a hell of a lot of laps and races with NASCAR 2005 on XBL. Racing at Daytona or Talladega was incredibly fun, as this game simulates the effects of drafting on the restrictor plate tracks really, really well, online and offline. Bristol also was a hoot online, especially if you raced with clean human drivers.

Oh, and driving the NASCAR modifieds ranks right up there with WoO Sprint Car Racing on the PS2 for fun factor. I LOVED racing modifieds on XBL on any track.

Take care,
PK

[Danimal]

Thanks guys

Honestly he would probably never play online. We have several Nascar clients, and I am sure he wants to jump in the 31 car and then give voice commands. He is not a gamer, so I am sure that would be enough to get him excited.

I'll await your feedback PK.

[Dave]

The new feature this year is "Total Team Control." It allows you to use voice or joystick commands to team up with teammates, making drafting decisions, blocking decisions of rivals, etc. It's based on reality, as Jeff Gordon will team up with real-life Hendrick Motorsports teammates Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, for example, but not with Kurt Busch of Roush Racing.

So they could have called it Andretti Green Total Team Control?

Never got around to playing 2005, but I really want to take a look at 06. Need to get it in my rental list.

[pk500]

So they could have called it Andretti Green Total Team Control?

True, true! Made me sick that Wheldon won last Sunday. I don't think there will be a racetrack big enough on Earth to contain his head now that the championship is almost in his palm, even if the guy is quite gifted.

Take care,
PK

[Dave]

I like Wheldon, despite his ego, since he drove for PacWest in Lights while I was there.

But the whole AGR team makes me want to puke with their complaining and tactics.

[Inuyasha]

Nascar 2005 was a very fun game to play. I think I even got PK to change his tune about it since he didn't like it when he first got it.

2006 looks like it's packed with so many features but for a casual racing gamer like me, it could be a bad thing. What I liked about last years game was it was a good mix of sim/arcade for someone like me who wants to turn on the console and just race.

That being said, I am still going to get this game. I am glad they put the in car view back .
Also, I think it's going to retail for $29.99.

[pk500]

Also, I think it's going to retail for $29.99.

Not sure about that price, Weaver. EB still shows both the PS2 and Xbox version retailing for $49.99. With its exclusive NASCAR license, I see no incentive for EA to drop the price.

Take care,
PK

[spooky157]

I didn't like the fact that there were no yellows and no damage at all online, as I recall. Even with ICS's problems I still preferred it as a race sim.

I did like the full field online though. For some reason Tony Stewart was always pissed at me. Go figure.

[b_assassin]

1. No voice chat in online lobbies.
2. Only <b>four humans</b> per online race. WTF?
3. Every player would be tossed into a general lobby after each race. You couldn't keep the same group of four guys together for multiple races.
4. No Gamertag ID icon over the user-controlled cars. So unless you memorized which driver your human opponents were using in the pre-race lobby, you had to guess.
5. No caution flags in online racing.

They also need real optimatch options, that allow the player to search for races at specific tracks, durations, difficulty levels. 90% of the races in the lobby are Talladega, which is fun on occassion, but gets old real fast. Although most people knew that their offline setups were automatically used online, it would have been nice to have options to disable custom setups, or allow players the opportunity to load a setup before starting an online race.

I think Nascar 06 is going to be the best in the series. I don't have high hopes for significant online improvements, but I think the team control features look pretty cool. Perhaps with the team control stuff they actually fixed some of the blatant AI bugs that have plagued the series...we'll see. We'll find out in a week

[Inuyasha]

Even with the limitations I had fun with this game online. I think there were yellows online if you decided to turn them on in the options menu. But most rooms just had straight racing.

I dont know why EA can't get at least 8-16 (or more) player cars online when other games can do it.

[b_assassin]

I dont know why EA can't get at least 8-16 (or more) player cars online when other games can do it.

I think their insistence on filling the online field with AI cars is part of the problem. One would think that if you could save the bandwidth required for the AI you could support 8 or more human racers, but that is not the case. Since they don't even give you the option to trade AI for human players, I assume there are fundamental weaknesses in the game's network components. On the bright side, even with just 4 human players, online is still pretty enjoyable. Anyone that has played much of the Papyrus Nascar games online knows that as you increase the number of human drivers, you increase the risk of races becoming unmitigated wreckfests. Maybe the 4 player limit is a blessing in disguise?...ok, probably not

[Sport73]

I enjoyed last year's game, but I'm far from a NASCAR nut. I enjoy videogame driving when it's exciting & realistic.

How many here plan on picking this one up? If there are some good DSP race nights planned, I'm in; if not, I probably will pass on the single-player experience.

[DChaps]

True, true! Made me sick that Wheldon won last Sunday. I don't think there will be a racetrack big enough on Earth to contain his head now that the championship is almost in his palm, even if the guy is quite gifted.

Take care,
PK

I like Wheldon, despite his ego, since he drove for PacWest in Lights while I was there.

But the whole AGR team makes me want to puke with their complaining and tactics.

Not to threadjack, but I have been completely out of it racing-wise the last 6 weeks or so. I haven't watched the whole race from Sun. on Tivo yet, but what did Wheldon and AGR do that was so wrong?

PS - Did not know you were with PacWest Dave. Pretty cool. Big Mo was always a favorite of mine.

[pk500]

I enjoyed last year's game, but I'm far from a NASCAR nut. I enjoy videogame driving when it's exciting & realistic.

How many here plan on picking this one up? If there are some good DSP race nights planned, I'm in; if not, I probably will pass on the single-player experience.

Me. Maybe not next week upon release since Moto GP 3 is coming out the same day, but definitely within the next two or three weeks.

Moto GP 3 will be my Xbox Live racing MONSTER this fall and winter. Can't wait for endless nights of fun with that.

Take care,
PK

[Dave]

Not to threadjack, but I have been completely out of it racing-wise the last 6 weeks or so. I haven't watched the whole race from Sun. on Tivo yet, but what did Wheldon and AGR do that was so wrong?

PS - Did not know you were with PacWest Dave. Pretty cool. Big Mo was always a favorite of mine.

Actually, AGR/Wheldon didn't act up this past weekend, at least not from what I can consider. It is more the accumulation of their complaining and tactics--boycotting the autograph session, blocking, protecting each other, etc.--that has me rooting against them at this point.

Spent two summers with PacWest (Blundell/Gugelmin first year, Dixon Gugelmin the next, with Wheldon, Renna, Slick Dominguez driving Lights as well). Talk about a messed up organization! Big Mo was a very nice guy, but pretty well removed by the end. Wheldon at least pretended to like everyone and got points with me for actually caring about his quotes for pre-race releases instead of just having us make them up.

[pk500]

Not to threadjack, but I have been completely out of it racing-wise the last 6 weeks or so. I haven't watched the whole race from Sun. on Tivo yet, but what did Wheldon and AGR do that was so wrong?

Don:

I can't speak for Dave, but from my perspective I'm just sick of AGR's tactics, on the track and off.

The entire AGR team, especially Wheldon, Kanaan and Franchitti, has succeeded Scott Sharp as the most vicious high-speed chicane in the IRL. They block like Jerry Kramer during the Packers' glory days.

And I've never seen a team in the 10 years of the IRL be so arrogant and faux-fun loving when they win and such whiners and complainers when they don't.

They're a perfect mirror of the way the youngest team owner behaved when he was a driver. An ideal match.

I'll also admit that my ire is increased because AGR is winning almost everything in sight at the expense of my two favorite IRL teams and drivers, Penske and Panther, and Hornish and Scheckter.

Take care,
PK

[Dave]

They're a perfect mirror of the way the youngest team owner behaved when he was a driver. An ideal match.

Definitely agree with you on this one.

The autograph session ordeal put the past 15 years of open-wheel interest problems into perspective for me.

Maybe if the public gave a d*mn about meeting the AGR drivers, it wouldn't have been a problem. But along comes Danica, someone who genuinely interests people outside of the 500,000 open wheel fans left in America, and AGR simply can't handle that the public wants to meet her and not them.

Open-wheel owners have been hiring uninteresting drivers for too long. It doesn't matter how many races a Dan Wheldon or Tony Kanaan win, the public doesn't care. Deal with it and either develop a personality or shut up.

The AGR team has very high villain potential if they develop it properly.

[DChaps]

I can't speak for Dave, but from my perspective I'm just sick of AGR's tactics, on the track and off.

The entire AGR team, especially Wheldon, Kanaan and Franchitti, has succeeded Scott Sharp as the most vicious high-speed chicane in the IRL. They block like Jerry Kramer during the Packers' glory days.

Doesn't the IRL have a pretty strict blocking rule? It always seemed to me that Barnhart was pretty consistent with calling that. If AGR is pulling that kind of crap why doesn't Barnhart do something about it?

I honestly haven't watched enough of the races this year to know all the incidents that you may be talking about, but hasn't Wheldon led like over 600 laps this year? Didn't he go from 16th to 1st at Indy, and 11th to 1st last Sunday? Wasn't he up on Hornish by like 12 seconds by the end of the race? Was that all achieved through blocking?

I admit I may be missing something. I just haven't seen Wheldon scoring these victories by blocking.

I agree that Michael has always been a whiner when things don't go his way. Rarely is there any wrong doing on his part.

PS - What in the world has happened to Ganassi?

[DChaps]

Open-wheel owners have been hiring uninteresting drivers for too long. It doesn't matter how many races a Dan Wheldon or Tony Kanaan win, the public doesn't care. Deal with it and either develop a personality or shut up.

I have absolutely never cared one bit about the personality of a driver. I hope most teams hire the best driver for the job, but I know sponsors and press potential factor into it.

My favorite driver of all time, Rick Mears, was not known to have much of a personality. He was no AJ, Mario, Rutherford, or Bobby Unser when it comes to giving a sound bite. He just could drive the crap out of a race car. That's all I have ever really cared about as a racing fan.

Actually, the Danica frenzy has gotten on my nerves this year. I am glad to see her have some success, but it does bother me the extra media attention. I would imagine if I was a driver kicking her ass week in and week out, I might have a little jealousy. It used to piss me off all the attention Sarah Fisher received as well. Not because they are women, but because it was more attention than their on-track performance warrants. But hey, that's what professional sports and the media is all about and Andretti Green drivers have been around long enough to know that and just deal with it and move on.

[Dave]

I have absolutely never cared one bit about the personality of a driver. I hope most teams hire the best driver for the job, but I know sponsors and press potential factor into it.

My favorite driver of all time, Rick Mears, was not known to have much of a personality. He was no AJ, Mario, Rutherford, or Bobby Unser when it comes to giving a sound bite. He just could drive the crap out of a race car. That's all I have ever really cared about as a racing fan.

Mears is my all-time favorite as well, and a driver's off-track personality doesn't matter much to me, either. But we're part of that diminishing fan base. And you can argue that the presence of AJ and those greats made Mears a personality, just a calm collected one. There isn't a foil right now--to the general public, open wheel racing is infested with foreign robots driving small, fast cars.

Look at the cult of NASCAR and how much the personality angle is played. It works. The question will be the new generation of drivers and whether or not they develop much of an image outside of young race car driver. Brian Vickers? Zzzz. Kyle & Kurt Busch? Zzzz.

Bah, I'll stop thinking about the runaway train that is NASCAR...

Ganassi's ego finally ate his team...I think Dixon is a major part of their problem. His F1 dreams were shattered and now he doesn't seem to have the same fire. Losing Tommy the Tester Scheckter hurt, too. Sounds like he's a set-up whiz.

[pk500]

I can't speak for Dave, but from my perspective I'm just sick of AGR's tactics, on the track and off.

The entire AGR team, especially Wheldon, Kanaan and Franchitti, has succeeded Scott Sharp as the most vicious high-speed chicane in the IRL. They block like Jerry Kramer during the Packers' glory days.

Doesn't the IRL have a pretty strict blocking rule? It always seemed to me that Barnhart was pretty consistent with calling that. If AGR is pulling that kind of crap why doesn't Barnhart do something about it?

I honestly haven't watched enough of the races this year to know all the incidents that you may be talking about, but hasn't Wheldon led like over 600 laps this year? Didn't he go from 16th to 1st at Indy, and 11th to 1st last Sunday? Wasn't he up on Hornish by like 12 seconds by the end of the race? Was that all achieved through blocking?

I admit I may be missing something. I just haven't seen Wheldon scoring these victories by blocking.

I agree that Michael has always been a whiner when things don't go his way. Rarely is there any wrong doing on his part.

PS - What in the world has happened to Ganassi?

I didn't mean to infer that Wheldon has earned his victories cheaply, although St. Pete and Motegi were gifts when Briscoe and Kanaan collided at St. Pete and Schecky ran out of fuel with three laps to go at Motegi.

Wheldon is a hell of a driver. Let that be stated for the record. And he hasn't won solely through blocking. But AGR does block. It's not the cut-and-thrust stuff that Sharp pulls; it's more of the easing a guy up the track or just interfering enough to make rivals' lives miserable. Those boys tiptoe on the line between hard racing and unethical blocking extremely well, which is why it's hard for Brian to take action, in my opinion.

As for Ganassi, he doesn't have a Penske Toyota, and a non-Penske Toyota is the worst of the three engines in the IRL right now. Plus I don't rate Briscoe much as a driver at all, and Dave is right about Dixon -- he has lost his fire.

But there's also more to losing his fire than the failed F1 test. Dave, you know that Scott and Tony Renna were good friends. When Renna was killed, I think that shook up Dixon considerably. Follow that with Dixon's first race after Renna's death, his hard hit into the pit wall attenuator in the 2004 season opener at Homestead, and you now have a driver without many embers left in his soul to take chances on an oval.

Dixon will be in sports cars, maybe with Ganassi's Grand Am team, before long, I predict. He'll only return to ovals for Indy. That's my prediction, not any sort of fact or rumor.

Take care,
PK