USA Drivers - Including Nascar Enhance the Game for you?

[Villain]

NASCAR is one of my favorite things about GT5 -- especially online. It's the easiest way to organize an almost perfectly balanced event, and if you can get a good group of guys who will drive cleanly and communicate their lines and drafting... beautiful.

 

[C_Raccoon23]

Yes. People may bash NASCAR but it's a lot of fun online.

However, I would rather have a bunch of other race series added to the game first before NASCAR, such as ALMS, DTM, FIA, etc.

 

[analog]

Because NASCAR is about as relevant to the rest of the world as Rugby is the the U.S. It's an American sport based in America, other countries can freely enjoy it but mostly they just make fun of the lack of anything but left-hand corners.

Probably true for the most part but since this is an international forum discussing the inclusion of a national racing series into an international game I found it odd to only ask US players if this inclusion enhances the game for them since it can be experienced by everyone.
What's more, some who aren't familiar or knowledgable (like me) with NASCAR might change their perception of the sport or those who hate it might be converted or confirmed in their hatred or dislike.

There's another thing, which is that enjoying racing cars or a type of race cars or series in a videogame (or in real life for that matter) doesn't always necessarily translate to enjoying watching it on the telly.
I know that I would probably quickly lose the will to live if I had to watch a full NASCAR race on television, driving NASCAR cars in GT5 however has mostly until now put a big grin on my face.

 

[YellowG1]

NASCAR had no bearing on my decision. I think one issue with GT5 is that it's trying to be a jack of all trades by including NASCAR, F1, etc. Except it's a master of none--all you're getting is a little taste of NASCAR without getting all the tracks, special tuning issues relatively unique to NASCAR like weight balancing, caster, etc., a full field of 30-40 cars, bump-drafting, etc. So other NASCAR titles do it better like F1 2010 does with the Formula 1 cars. You get a sort of sample of what NASCAR is like, which is nice, but if the choice was between including NASCAR and including classic tracks like Midfield, Apricot Hill, then I'm a little disappointed NASCAR won out.

 

[Zenith]

Most of the fun is in taking the NASCARs around other circuits. 900hp, rear wheel drive, 4 gears, Nurburgring... Oh yeah.

 

[peterjford]

I am from the USA, but I am a Formula 1 and ALMS fan, not really a NASCAR fan. Does including NASCAR enhance the game for me? Yes! I am not going to start saying what I would have rather had, how does anyone know that PD would have put that in if NASCAR wasn't there? For all of you saying I would rather have _______ instead, maybe they would have just made every version of MX-5/Miata/Eunos Premium if they didn't do NASCAR. For now, we have what we have, and I enjoy racing all types of cars, including NASCAR.

I believe it was a great marketing strategy that brought in new fans of GT5 even though, honestly, I do feel out of place and sometimes unwelcome

Welcome to GT Planet Dandwg! Don't let the trolls get you down.

 

[Exorcet]

I am not going to start saying what I would have rather had, how does anyone know that PD would have put that in if NASCAR wasn't there? For all of you saying I would rather have _______ instead, maybe they would have just made every version of MX-5/Miata/Eunos Premium if they didn't do NASCAR.

No one knows what would have been if NASCAR were not included. This means we don't know if we would not have got ALMS instead of NASCAR.

People aren't saying that if NASCAR were gone, PD could have added amazing other features. They're just saying that they would prefer other series.

 

[Akmuq]

I enjoy NASCAR in real life and the game has made me enjoy it more, but it should have been done better. I wish we had a couple of short track ovals and some of the cookie cutter ovals and a proper series. Honestly the A-Spec mode needs a pretty big revamp to fully utilize the strengths of NASCAR, SuperGT and WRC. Which, apart from the Suzuka 1000km are all 10 minute or less races with tiny championships. 👎

 

[BlazeTheCat05]

I love NASCAR, and to have it included in GT5 is a huge honor. However, I wouldn't flip out if they decided to leave out NASCAR. It's fun to detune them, and drift on my drift track.

 

[IceMan PJN]

I've seen a lot of Nascar online. But when I hear the talk it's all "Wish they didn't include Nascar." So for you Nascar Fan/USA drivers does including Nascar in GT5 make the game better for you. Or would you be just as happy if it wasn't in the game?

I live in the US and I don't care for NASCAR. I enjoy racing and watch several forms, but NASCAR isn't one of them. I watch the Daytona 500 just because it's the Daytona 500, and with IndyCar I watch the Indy 500 just because it's the Indy 500, but otherwise if it isn't on a road course I won't watch it. NASCAR has a couple road races and I've started checking up on those, and I sometimes watch some of the Indy road races, but generally I just focus on series that exclusively road race. My number one is Formula One, by an enormous margin.

So, for me the inclusion of NASCAR means absolutely nothing. I don't think the inclusion of NASCAR in the game hurts it in any way, but it doesn't do anything for me and it's not represented very well in the game. By that I don't mean "not enough tracks" or "not enough events", but "twelve cars on track rather than forty-three".

I was very happy to learn it was going to be in the game but once I saw how it was used and how little a championship series it was and the lack of tracks, I was very dissapointed. Another what could have been...

There are many out there just like you, but I never understood why anybody anywhere ever expected much of the NASCAR element of GT5. GT5 isn't a new IP that the world is unfamiliar with, but rather it's an established franchise that's been around for many years now and we've come to know exactly what GT is about, and it isn't about oval racing.

With that being the case, they absolutely weren't going to be committing an enormous amount of GT5 content to NASCAR. I've seen lots of topics on lots of sites wondering if they would have all the NASCAR tracks or even full NASCAR calendars as events or something to that effect, and those dreams were always pure nonsense. There was no way they were going to devote dozens of the game's tracks to just NASCAR ovals, and NASCAR races definitely weren't going to make up a noteworthy percentage of the game's events. That's just not GT.

Further, NASCAR is still an almost exclusively American thing, namely the US, aside from a few token fans sprinkled about here and there. GT, on the other hand, is a global brand with fans around the world, and "around the world" generally has little to absolutely no interest in NASCAR or oval racing in general. Nobody should have ever, even for a moment, expected NASCAR to play a major role in this game.

There are people outside of the States who watch NASCAR, just as their are people in the States who don't.

Only as a technicality. Sure, there are NASCAR fans outside the US, and even outside North America, but they're token fans. There's just enough of them to say that they're there and have such a statement stand as technically true. They don't number in the many millions. NASCAR boasts 75 million fans, and it's unlikely that any meaningful chunk of that figure comes from outside of North America. Heck, even if it was a total of 2 or 3 million worldwide (excluding North America), that's just a drop in the bucket.

I bought GT5 only because NASCAR was in it.

Even though it wasn't really a NASCAR game at all?

 

[G.T.Ace]

I am not from the US, but:

Definitely adds to my enjoyment

 

[ALMSDriver]

Doesn't matter to me one way or the other,I don't watch or follow Nascar at all,having it in the game really doesn't effect me one bit....

 

[MNLumberjack]

My only complaint is that the gas is to slow and you always need tires.
Also I'd like a Daytona 500

 

[Jason_B]

I do wish they would have added DTM, Indycar, GT, or Grand-Am. But hopefully that will be coming.

 

[James May]

I want the American LeMans series.

The actual Stock Cars are nice to have, but I don't drive on ovals much.

I would rather have the American lemans series also. I cant stand nascar. There is already a nascar game out , I dont comprehend why its even in GT5.

 

[nascar49]

I have been a NASCAR fan since I was kid, yes its kind of cool that they are in GT5, but I think they are out of place for game. Now if they had more tracks that NASCAR race's at then that might be different.

I didn't buy GT5 because of them having NASCAR in the game, and seeing how they implemented them in the game I would of been ok with not having NASCAR in the game.

Now I don't understand why people get so bent out of shape over having NASCAR in the game, I don't care at all for F1, but I am not on here starting threads complaining that F1 is int the game. Its a form of motor sports, just like all the other types of race cars in the game, and with the type of racing GT5 covers, I think the ALMS would of been a better fit in this game.

But at the same time, it lets people that don't like or would not play a NASCAR game to get to experience what driving a NASCAR race is like, and that fits the style in a way that the GT series is.

 

[Turkey :D]

I wish Nascar wasn't in GT5... Why not focus on LMS, ALMS, FIA GT, DTM, WTCC, WRC, V8 Supercars, or F1? What the heck PD?

 

[elric718]

From NYC and only got into NASCAR in the last few years. I was getting GT5 no matter what, but NASCAR may have moved my excitement to a whole 'nother level (plus got me so excited that I pre-ordered the collector's edition.)

I love taking them out against completely different types of cars on tracks that they would never be on. I do wish they had one of the 1.5 mile ovals in the game tho.

 

[W3H5]

I'm not from the US but do enjoy watching NASCAR on TV.
My friends and I were saying years back how much fun it would have been to include it in GT4 and now, that it is in '5, I'm satisfied with the results.
If it wasn't in the game I wouldn't have worried too much but it is nice to have it.

 

[eran0004]

I think it's great. The two first racing games I ever played was the Papyrus titles NASCAR Racing 2 and IndyCar Racing II, so it's pretty cool that NASCAR gets into the GT series. Now I'm just waiting for IndyCar

 

[Welsh-Fury]

I have never once watched an entire NASCAR race, but NASCAR stock cars are straight up fun to drive.

Damn strait they are!

 

[Azure Flare]

I like the inclusion of NASCAR. Once you get into it, it adds another dimension to the gameplay.

This 👍

 

[nizmo_bro]

NASCAR already gets their own exclusive game, so I think they would have been better off just leaving it out of GT5 and added other racing leagues in the game instead.

 

[TRC GeorgiaDawg]

Just like Super GT, LeMans and DTM cars I was glad they included the cars. Not a huge NASCAR fan, but not a hater either. It can be a bit boring to watch on most tracks but it certainly isn't easy like many folks tend to believe. Nothing done at 200 mph is ever easy. Much less with 43 other crazed fools doing 200 mph on the track.

But NASCAR, just like the other racing series, wasn't implemented into the game very well and left ALOT to be desired. Which about sums up the whole game for me. Cars are good to drive and everything looks nice, everything else is just lacking to the point you don't want to play.

 

[WolfpackS2k]

I live in North Carolina, the heart of NASCAR country...and I hate NASCAR. It's impossible to avoid! They have something like 35 races a year (for the Sprint Cup) and more for the lower series. I've never been a fan of racing that uses inferior technology, not to mention there's nothing "stock" about these vehicles. To each his own but what really ticks me off about it is that it takes fans and air time (and money) away from more (to me of course) interesting series.

In GT5 I don't care too much, as I just don't use the NASCARs. I bought one for the A-Spec events and the Seasonal challenge and I'll admit the seasonal challenge was fun. But I think PD could have spent the the developing time implimenting NASCAR consumed doing something more in line with the core values of the GT franchise.

 

[GT_Prologue5]

Sure. They're fun to drive. If you throw the "redneck American" stigma out the window, they're just fast cars with big engines.

 

[BadgerPoker]

If it's the reason we got the Indianapolis tracks, yes, it enhanced the game for me. Don't care for the cars though. I grew up not far from Indianapolis and took an interest in racing years before NASCAR came to town, so I follow Indycar.

 

[Exorcet]

NASCAR already gets their own exclusive game

Why is it better to have to spend more money on more games to get the same variety?

 

[freedomweasel]

Why is it better to have to spend more money on more games to get the same variety?

Not only that, but we'd have to lose more than just NASCAR if GT5 can't have cars from other games. Rally and F1 spring to mind, but I'm sure there are more.

 

[Rossticles]

I wish they would have spent the time on some other aspect of the game, but NASCAR is interesting. I don't really ever watch the sport, but it is challenging in-game.