NASCAR Heat 2

[Rob]

However the racing is pretty good and other people seem to have no performance issues.

It is very well optimized on the XBO, but the frame rate is locked down to 30 fps, I believe. It's a damn sight better than pCARS2 right now (and even Assetto in Multiplayer) if that tells you anything. On the XBO, F1 2017 and DiRT4 reign supreme re: frame rate and visuals (not including Forza). So yes, it's a bit ticky tacky on the XBO, but the driving and game play is really well done. I even think the physics are good, but what makes the game for me are the A.I. It's damn hard to get oval A.I. right. SMS still can't do it, and I'm not sure anyone else on the console ever has. But the weight, balance, drafting, and rubbing between you and the A.I. are nearly perfect. And now you can use them in multiplayer.

 

[Michael Watts]

I've seen some post patch videos of post patch and things look good, but AI pitting still gives you unrealistic opportunities to win every race. If they get that fixed this game will be great. It already is pretty awesome in Multiplayer

 

[darkelf1]

i like to play oval tracks in AC... but no love to these nascar cars

 

[Ruy Horta]

It is very well optimized on the XBO, but the frame rate is locked down to 30 fps, I believe. It's a damn sight better than pCARS2 right now (and even Assetto in Multiplayer) if that tells you anything. On the XBO, F1 2017 and DiRT4 reign supreme re: frame rate and visuals (not including Forza). So yes, it's a bit ticky tacky on the XBO, but the driving and game play is really well done. I even think the physics are good, but what makes the game for me are the A.I. It's damn hard to get oval A.I. right. SMS still can't do it, and I'm not sure anyone else on the console ever has. But the weight, balance, drafting, and rubbing between you and the A.I. are nearly perfect. And now you can use them in multiplayer.

I think you point out the main advantages and disadvantages of this new series.

The NH2 is a great improvement over NHE in terms of racing. The AI is pretty good on the ovals and even decent on the road tracks. But it was also primarily made for consoles and the PC port is not optimized as much as it should have been for a second game in the series - the basic game engine has been unchanged. That is my biggest gripe and disappointment with NH2.

Getting a new 144hz monitor tomorrow and I hope that will end my frame drop issues. I can live with the poor AA and LOD.

Maybe I have said it before, but NH2 is at its best with longer races and high speed ratings, that's when the AI becomes more believable as you fight for position - the rubbing you have described earlier.

 

[William Wester]

i like to play oval tracks in AC... but no love to these nascar cars

AC is not the game to race NASCAR, no wonder why you have no love

 

[Fonsecker]

Can i enjoy the NASCAR stuff with this game? Last time i enjoyed NASCAR was with Papyrus NASCAR Racing 2 "few" years ago and i have watched the last races from the real deal and all i want now, is NASCAR racing with a funny game, no iRacing stuff or anything else...just fun and plain NASCAR thing.

I have heared that this game is a crap when driven with a wheel...is that true or can i have a go? I am sure that this game is not the holy simracing grail, but it shoudl make fun with a wheel...

Thanx for comments!

 

[Keith Dixon]

Can i enjoy the NASCAR stuff with this game? Last time i enjoyed NASCAR was with Papyrus NASCAR Racing 2 "few" years ago and i have watched the last races from the real deal and all i want now, is NASCAR racing with a funny game, no iRacing stuff or anything else...just fun and plain NASCAR thing.

I have heared that this game is a crap when driven with a wheel...is that true or can i have a go? I am sure that this game is not the holy simracing grail, but it shoudl make fun with a wheel...

Thanx for comments!

Had myself a bit of a Nascar weekend, put Papy's 2003 back on yesterday and been playing heat 2 for the past couple of hours

For the racing it's bloody good fun, the AI are quite reasonable for what it is although a bit slow in places, just destroyed them at Bristol running at 100%, best described as the Codies version of F1 for the Nascar world, which isn't a bad thing, you need games like that to unwind with, you take it for what it is your have a cracking time

Not had an issue with the graphics, keys need a bit of working out on PC, FFB gets the job done and the wheel took a bit of getting used to but runs fine when your racing, show a bit of patience with it and your have fun

 

[scrawley82]

I bought this at weekend for PS4 after really missing racing ovals in nr2003 and iracing.
Pleasantly surprised at how much fun it is. Oval racing is hard to beat for concentration and holding your nerve when surrounded by other cars.
having a proper career mode that isn’t afraid to make you work to get results is really refreshing. Such a shame other titles don’t make you work up through the ranks too.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

704Games don't hang about when it comes to DLC content, check out the October 2017 DLC drop details revealed earlier today...

NASCAR Heat 2 was made available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC back on the 14th September and since then the newly retitled 704Games have been hard at work producing plenty of post release content for an audience that remains fiercely loyal to the authenticity of the most prominent auto racing series in North America.

Now don't get me wrong, 704 are still updating the core game software alongside popping our DLC releases on a regular basis, as can be evidenced by the very first patch deployed just last Friday, however it does feel slightly jarring to see so much DLC in such a short space of time when the game is still pretty much fresh off the production line.

Strategy gripes aside, let us have a look at the next offering coming from the American developers...

October Jumbo Pass DLC Details
The upcoming DLC will retail for $9.99 or included as part of the 2017 Hot Pass. Containing 41 throwback paint schemes from all three NASCAR National Series, three new Challenges, and new Spotter Audio.

Included in the September Jumbo Expansion Pack are 40 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series paint schemes and 8 NASCAR XFINITY Series paint schemes. Highlights of this pack include many of the patriotic paint schemes that ran during the 2017 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Kevin Harvick’s paint scheme from the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

• Jamie McMurray, McDonald’s Throwback
• Brad Keselowski, Brad K Throwback (For players under the age of 21)
• Austin Dillon, American Ethanol Throwback
• Kasey Kahne, Great Clips Throwback
• Trevor Bayne, Advocare Throwback
• Denny Hamlin, Sport Clips Throwback
• Ty Dillon, Geico/Smokey’s Garage Throwback
• Clint Bowyer, Carolina Ford Dealers Throwback
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Fifth Third Bank Throwback
• Matt Kenseth, Circle K Throwback
• Ryan Blaney, Motorcraft Throwback
• Joey Logano, Shell Pennzoil Throwback
• Chase Elliott, NAPA Throwback
• Ryan Newman, CAT Throwback
• Landon Cassill, Love’s Throwback
• Chris Buescher, Cheerios Throwback
• David Ragan, Camping World Throwback
• Kyle Larson, Credit One Throwback
• Aric Almirola, STP Throwback
• AJ Allmendinger, Kroger Click List Throwback
• Jimmie Johnson, Lowe’s Throwback
• Cody Ware, Pray For Texas Throwback
• Cole Whitt, Ted Whitt Plumbing Throwback
• Erik Jones, 5 Hour Energy
• Martin Truex Jr, Bass Pro Shops Throwback
• Dale Earnhardt Jr, Nationwide Throwback
• Michael McDowell, WRL Throwback

NASCAR XFINITY Series

• Cole Custer, Haas Automation Throwback
• Elliott Sadler, Armour Throwback
• Justin Allgaier, Brandt Throwback
• William Byron, Liberty Throwback
• Blake Koch, LeafFilter Throwback
• Ryan Reed, Lilly Diabetes Throwback
• Erik Jones, Resers MSB Throwback
• Dylan Lupton, NutUp Throwback
• Dakoda Armstrong, JGL Racing Throwback
• Kevin Harvick, Hunt Brothers Pizza Throwback
• Jeremy Clements, Repairable Vehicles Throwback

NASCAR Camping World Series

• John Hunter Nemechek, Fire Alarm Services Throwback
• Austin Cindric, Draw-Tite Throwback
• Chase Briscoe, Cooper Standard Throwback

Challengers and Spotter Audio
Also included in the October Jumbo Pack are 3 new Challenges featuring Denny Hamlin, Jeremy Clements, and Ben Rhodes as well as new Spotter Audio from MRN announcer Alex Hayden!

October Value Pack ($4.99 or included in Hot Pass)
The October Value Pack has 13 new schemes across the 3 NASCAR series. Highlights include Chase Elliott’s Hooters scheme and Ryan Blaney’s Omnicraft scheme!

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

• Jamie McMurray, Credit One/Cessna (Las Vegas)
• Brad Keselowski, Wurth (Auto Club)
• Kasey Kahne, Great Clips (Phoenix)
• Ryan Blaney, Omnicraft (Michigan)
• Clint Bowyer, Rush Trucks (Auto Club)
• Joey Logano, AAA SC (Auto Club)
• Chase Elliott, Hooters (Talladega)

NASCAR XFINITY Series

• Elliott Sadler, Armour 150 Years (Bristol)
• Justin Allgaier, Cheney Brothers (Bristol)
• Aric Almirola, DenBeste Water Solutions (Las Vegas)

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

• John Hunter Nemechek, DAB Constructors (Martinsville)
• Austin Cindric, LTi Printing (Martinsville)
• Ross Chastain, Rugged Cross (Atlanta)

October Toyota Pack (Free)
Through our partnership with Toyota, fans will receive a free Toyota DLC pack each month. This month, players will receive 15 free schemes and 1 new NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Challenge from Matt Crafton! Highlights include Kyle Busch’s Interstate Batteries paint scheme and Christopher Bell’s SiriusXM paint scheme.

Paint Schemes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

• Denny Hamlin, FedEx Freight (Phoenix)
• Kyle Busch, Skittles (Phoenix)
• Kyle Busch, Interstate Batteries (Auto Club)
• Daniel Suarez, Arris (Martinsville)
• Matt Kenseth, BlueDEF (Las Vegas)
• Erik Jones, Sport Clips (Bristol)
• Erik Jones, Toyota Care (Talladega)
• Martin Truex Jr., Wix Filters (Loudon)
• Corey Lajoie, Bubba Burger (Auto Club)

NASCAR XFINITY Series

• Daniel Suarez, Subway (Dover)
• Daniel Suarez, Interstate Batteries (Daytona)
• Dylan Lupton, JGL Young Guns (Atlanta)

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

• Christopher Bell, SiriusXM (Kansas)
• Cody Coughlin, JEGS (Atlanta)
• Grant Enfinger, Champion (Charlotte)

Gamestop Pack (Free)
We’re excited to partner with our friends at GameStop and offer players 2 new paint schemes for free! Race as Erik Jones’s NASCAR XFINITY Series #20 GameStop GAEMS scheme from Texas Motor Speedway and the GameStop TurtleBeach scheme from Daytona International Speedway.


NASCAR Heat 2 is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC now.

If you are enjoying NASCAR Heat 2 (or just curious about the new game) then head over to our NASCAR Heat 2 sub forum. A place on the internet to discuss the game, download the mods and have your say with your fellow NASCAR Heat 2 fans!

Looking forward to the October DLC? Happy with the DLC policy of 704Games? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[CC]

Already got a sore neck last thing I need is to be driving around in circles

 

[Chobonator]

Not buying until they add a Jacques Villeneuve Dollar General livery.

 

[CC]

Not buying until they add a Jacques Villeneuve Dollar General livery.

Im not buying it until it free and then ill still not play it

 

[gamer19]

Not buying until they add a Jacques Villeneuve Dollar General livery.

Ohh JV my man.
That livery + his livery when he ram at Danica cute backside too, yes !
At Road America, can't remember which year that was but it was hilarious. And it's totally not his fault. No, I mean, it's really not... not like I'm ironic or something...






.

 

[Chobonator]

Ohh JV my man.
That livery + his livery when he ram at Danica cute backside too, yes !
At Road America, can't remember which year that was but it was hilarious. And it's totally not his fault. No, I mean, it's really not... not like I'm ironic or something...
.

I will also accept this livery.

 

[Pywackett-Barchetta]

From what I've heard, the livery packs are outsourced to contractors while the main dev team works on patches; I may be wrong, but even if so, makes sense to me for the graphics team to still have stuff to work on while the programmers iron out other stuff and prepare for next year.

 

[gamer19]

I will also accept this livery

I don't care. I love it. I love it. I don't care.

 

[@apocapollo]

From what I've heard, the livery packs are outsourced to contractors while the main dev team works on patches; I may be wrong, but even if so, makes sense to me for the graphics team to still have stuff to work on while the programmers iron out other stuff and prepare for next year.

Don't know where you heard that.

The base content for NHE 2016 was contracted out to my design group. After that, one our artists was hired full time by 704 and he creates all of the paint schemes for the game from inside the NASCAR headquarters. Since then, there's been no contracted artists.

 

[Ruy Horta]

You would think that NHE had provided Monster with enough input to fix its many flaws, unfortunately NH2 is a terrible PC port. It has poor visuals (poor AA poor LOD), poor optimization - high fps but frame drops, limited graphics options. Still the same controller tool they supplied as a fix for NHE.

The redeeming factors is an AI that can actually provide a fun race and the new series and road tracks are pretty good too.

I cannot really forgive Monster for failing to improve the performance and visuals of NHE.

They appear not to know how to make the unity engine purr on a PC.
Keep hoping for fixes though, keep hoping that they have learned from NHE.

Ok, more or less solved my main problem with frame drops by replacing my 60hz iiyama with a 144hz samsumg monitor. Looks like NH2 does not like to run on 60hz monitors (or at least some), it also does not like to run in duplicate mode 144hz together with my TV. So only exclusive mode.

Together with some graphical tweaks using nvidia inspector this makes the game pretty nice to play even in 1080p. LOD I cannot change.

Finally able to race without irritation.

 

[Rob]

Not buying until they add a Jacques Villeneuve Dollar General livery.

I'm not paying for paint that plasters corporate logos across cars, for which 704 probably gets paid.

 

[@apocapollo]

I'm not paying for paint that plasters corporate logos across cars, for which 704 probably gets paid.

They don't get paid anything by the sponsors on the cars.

The only time money exchanges hands between 704 and a corporate sponsor is their partnership with Toyota. The game has some Toyota logos in the menus, and in return, the players get every Toyota paint scheme in the form of free DLC.