NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Okay, I think I'm done with this game for now. I played for nearly a week straight, I also bought NHL 17 and Bioshock Collection in that time and both of those games sat on the shelf so I think I've given this game a fair shake. I'm finishing up my impressions with one huge positive and one huge negative:

Positive = Track authenticity. Whoever worked on the track modeling needs to stand up and take a bow, because it has been the best part of this game for me by far. You can tell DMi devoted a lot time and attention to replicating every track on the Cup circuit, they all look and feel great. There some visual snags that detract from the experience, but the venues themselves are impressive. If nothing else, NASCAR Heat Evolution works as a sort of virtual NASCAR track simulator.

Negative = A.I. At first I was impressed, but once you figure out what's going on here it's mind-blowing the way CPU A.I. has been handled in this game. Call it "rubberbanding", call it "20th place mode", call it whatever. The current state of competitive A.I. in this game is so bad that it's a wonder they chose to promote it as a feature in the first place. I do believe they'll iron this out eventually, fingers crossed.

I could go about the negatives, such as the bugged video rewards, sparse options and numerous typos that really make this game feel like a budget title. But I'll leave this as-is, hopefully a few patches will make NASCAR Heat Evolution a much better game in the coming months.

P.S.: I was wrong about needing a Speed Rating of 3 to unlock challenges. It seems like improving your rating on any track unlocks a challenge. I'm pretty sure I unlocked the final challenge this morning, there is one per track.

[TypicalPhenom]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Press Triangle/Y when you're in the Career Menu. The button placement is really low on the screen, it's probably getting cut off on some people's monitors.

I wish I knew how Speed Rating worked. Last night I raced in Kansas, ran a clean race, lapped several cars and took first place for a Speed Rating of 99. In Martinsville I ended up causing several crashes, got a black flag for flying into pit road (did I mention I'm lousy on short tracks?) and ended up 40th, 4 laps behind the winner for a Speed Rating of... 99.

Do you have to get past the first couple races or something? I'm in the career menu, about to run my first race but triangle doesn't bring anything up. When I go to the race, triangle just brings up "Next session", but I keep ending up in super short races and backing out to try and fix the length.

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Do you have to get past the first couple races or something? I'm in the career menu, about to run my first race but triangle doesn't bring anything up. When I go to the race, triangle just brings up "Next session", but I keep ending up in super short races and backing out to try and fix the length.

Yep, you have to finish those first two "get a sponsor" races before you can change the race length.

[dodger1010]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

After a week all I got to say is im glad to have a nascar game after 3 yrs. My advice for DMR is to fix online ASAP or this game will fail like the others when the NASCAR deal is done. I have over a 1000 + console online races under my belt and have played just about every NASCAR made and all I can say is nothing is more fun then a good room of drivers bumping and banging in a clean way fighting for the win.NASCAR 09 was some of the best online racing ever and that was 7 yrs ago. Here is how it worked. 1 The host set up the room size laps a pit stop if needed and 2 laps of qualifying. 2 We could practice while the room filled up and see who was coming in the room and there driving level. 3 We could talk to each other and say things like low high or lets work together to draft by some cars doing the same thing and that lead to more games sold more good racing leagues ect. If DMR can do this the other things will get fixed because better sales lead to a better game.GOOD LUCK you can do it.

[brandon27]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Okay, I think I'm done with this game for now. I played for nearly a week straight, I also bought NHL 17 and Bioshock Collection in that time and both of those games sat on the shelf so I think I've given this game a fair shake. I'm finishing up my impressions with one huge positive and one huge negative:

Positive = Track authenticity. Whoever worked on the track modeling needs to stand up and take a bow, because it has been the best part of this game for me by far. You can tell DMi devoted a lot time and attention to replicating every track on the Cup circuit, they all look and feel great. There some visual snags that detract from the experience, but the venues themselves are impressive. If nothing else, NASCAR Heat Evolution works as a sort of virtual NASCAR track simulator.

Negative = A.I. At first I was impressed, but once you figure out what's going on here it's mind-blowing the way CPU A.I. has been handled in this game. Call it "rubberbanding", call it "20th place mode", call it whatever. The current state of competitive A.I. in this game is so bad that it's a wonder they chose to promote it as a feature in the first place. I do believe they'll iron this out eventually, fingers crossed.

I could go about the negatives, such as the bugged video rewards, sparse options and numerous typos that really make this game feel like a budget title. But I'll leave this as-is, hopefully a few patches will make NASCAR Heat Evolution a much better game in the coming months.

P.S.: I was wrong about needing a Speed Rating of 3 to unlock challenges. It seems like improving your rating on any track unlocks a challenge. I'm pretty sure I unlocked the final challenge this morning, there is one per track.

I'm with you. I just can't take it anymore. There's too many glaring issues, or deficiencies. There's some good, but its far outweighed by the seeming rushed, and unpolished bad. With Madden, NHL, F1, and FH3... realistically I'm not sure when this one gets back to the rotation unless some major improvements are made. Which is sad considering the original price point. To me, it's actually a step back from the Eutechnyx efforts with the lack of options and customization. There's a foundation for them to build on that seems to have potential. However, I think we all said that with the Eutechnyx offerings that never realized that potential too. Hopefully it gets there.

[krtgolfing]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I'm with you. I just can't take it anymore. There's too many glaring issues, or deficiencies. There's some good, but its far outweighed by the seeming rushed, and unpolished bad. With Madden, NHL, F1, and FH3... realistically I'm not sure when this one gets back to the rotation unless some major improvements are made. Which is sad considering the original price point. To me, it's actually a step back from the Eutechnyx efforts with the lack of options and customization. There's a foundation for them to build on that seems to have potential. However, I think we all said that with the Eutechnyx offerings that never realized that potential too. Hopefully it gets there.

Exactly. The game is meh at best. With Madden and F1 being pretty damn good along with NHL and NBA being okay I do not see this getting in my rotation anytime soon. Also have Fifa and WWE coming out.. I will probably hold onto the game another month or so to see if it improves. Probably should just go ahead and trade this game in.

[bravesfan1984]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Considering how fast they got the first patch out and seeing as they appear to be serious with post release support, I'm willing to wait and see how future patches will improve the game. I'm such a NASCAR junkie, I'm going to keep playing no matter what. As long as they can tweak/improve the adaptive AI, that alone will increase my playing time.

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I'm fairly optimistic about the post-release support, there's one thing that concerns me though: That the poorly-timed release date -- along with the mostly brutal reviews and word of mouth -- will affect this game's sales in a very negative way. That in turn could determine how much post-release attention this game gets, maybe even the future of the series.

NASCAR games were never big sellers in the first place, which is apparently why EA gave up the license all those years ago. And timing-wise, DMi could not have picked a worse time to release a mediocre-at-best game. Yes, the Chase is starting and NASCAR fandom is on the rise this time of year, but surely someone could have glanced at a calendar and saw eight high-budget sports titles being released within roughly the same one month span. Two of those happen to be racing games, and extremely well-reviewed racing games at that. So unless you're a super-hardcore fan, this game already falls pretty low on your priority list. Add to this the tidal wave of negative press (Google "NASCAR Heat Evolution review," seriously) and you're looking at a game that is destined for the bargain bins.

I really hope I'm wrong, that DMi can shrug off poor timing, bad reviews and potentially weak sales figures and keep forging ahead. Judging from various blogs and video interviews, they do seem dedicated to making great NASCAR games. I guess we'll see in the months to come.

[Inverarity]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I agree on the release timing. Why not at the start of the season in February? Or memorial day weekend? The timing is auspicious.

[TypicalPhenom]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Ugh, I'm so tired of being spun out every other lap. It's like a damn demolition derby.

[StoneCalf]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Ugh, I'm so tired of being spun out every other lap. It's like a damn demolition derby.

Are you referring to your online experience? I haven't tried online yet. I haven't had any concerns with the CPU spinning me out. In 18 races, I've only had one incident were I got forced into the wall. Other than that, the CPU has been very civil. The race leaders can be a bit pushy when I'm a lap down and they need me out of the way, but that's realistic.

[Dos_Santos]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Ugh, I'm so tired of being spun out every other lap. It's like a damn demolition derby.

It is a mess.

Had two races I was going to win and a clown driving backwards hit me or pushed me off my line both times.

I'm done with this.

And locking everything and only giving a 6 race championship to start is off the charts anti consumer.

[TypicalPhenom]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

Are you referring to your online experience? I haven't tried online yet. I haven't had any concerns with the CPU spinning me out. In 18 races, I've only had one incident were I got forced into the wall. Other than that, the CPU has been very civil. The race leaders can be a bit pushy when I'm a lap down and they need me out of the way, but that's realistic.

No, completely offline and in career mode. Some spinouts are me being too aggressive, but even when I'm driving careful, laying off the throttle, I still get spun out constantly by other cars.

[JeremyB]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

I have a question for you guys

If this was a budget priced game would it be worth it then? Here in Canada games are 79.99 so with tax your looking close to 90.

I just don't see almost a 100 worth of game play in this right now. If it came out in the 39 or 49 i probbaly would have bought it.

[Turbojugend]

Re: NASCAR Heat Evolution Available, Post Your Impressions Here

If this was a budget priced game would it be worth it then?

If you're a hardcore NASCAR fan then yes, I think it might be worth it at the right sale price. But not at full price, and not with two other awesome racing games on the market.