704Games have released a new trailer for the upcoming NASCAR Heat 2 game, giving us the first moving images of the new Camping World Trucks series and several new pieces of content.
Due for release towards the end of the year, NASCAR Heat 2 is the latest sequel to the popular NASCAR franchise of games, and is the second attempt at breaking the NASCAR videogame marketplace since Monster Games reacquired the official license for one of America’s most popular racing series.
Unlike in previous generations of the title, Heat 2 will feature both the main Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series as well as supporting categories the Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide championship.
As is befitting for an officially licensed product, Heat 2 will replicate the current 2017 racing season over in America, and as such the game will contain all the regulations of the main NASCAR series and lower tier feeder events. New for 2017 will be the often discussed stage points feature, where a standard NASCAR event is broken up into 4 ‘stages’ throughout the race, with minor points awarded for positions held at the close of each stage, and the race restarted in the new running order until all stages are complete and the chequered flag has fallen.
Other new inclusions for the upcoming title will be the use of dirt racing for the first time. With the Camping World Truck Series visiting the loose surfaces on occasion during the year, the new game will now see the inclusion of short dirt ovals, with Eldora Speedway appearing in the trailer you can see below.
New for 2017 will also be new tracks not previous included in last season’s main NASCAR calendar, allowing players access to the some of the most attractive of America's enviable track rotation.
Feature wise it has been confirmed that split screen multiplayer returns, as does the ability to run online events up to 40 cars in size. It is not yet apparent if full course cautions will be making the cut for the new game, nor if dedicated servers will be supported, however with a release only a couple of months away this level of detail is sure to surface in the near future.
NASCAR Heat 2 looks at this early stage to be the kind of game that should have shipped last time out, and as such, 704Games may well be on to a winning formula.
NASCAR Heat 2 will release on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC September 12th 2017.
Keep an eye out for a new
NASCAR Heat 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment. We will be hosting mods for the game, online race events and of course bring you all the news and reviews of the new title on the build up to release this September.
Looking forward to Heat 2? Happy to see the inclusion of trucks and the Nationwide series? Can the game move forward from the underwhelming initial release? Let us know in the comments section below!