NASCAR Heat 3

[dj-icey]

I bought the game digitally for my PS4 pro. It loads up ok, I created a player for career, selected save character. It the has a short loading screen, shows a glimpse of a desk and chair then goes to a black screen, where it stays until you restart the game. Also I tried quick race, which freezes on the loading screen and just stays loading forever.
The game is unplayable.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Would like to know if it plays well on a wheel on my PC.

No, it doesn't.

I shall be reviewing it and will pop a video on TY probably tonight, or tomorrow.

 

[dj-icey]

I reinstalled game and all is fine

 

[Dave R]

It plays fine on my Thrustmaster TX and TH8A Shifter. Just worked right away. I didn't even have to tinker with the FFB or anything. The dirt racing is loads of fun IMO. It feels great sliding through corners. The Dirt racing feels a lot like the old DTR2 game with more bells and whistles. To be fair in NASCAR Games, I only race at the Road Courses and short tracks so I can't offer an opinion on the speedway racing portion of it.

 

[Ruy Horta]

No, it doesn't.

I shall be reviewing it and will pop a video on TY probably tonight, or tomorrow.

It should work ok-ish with most wheels.
You’ve tried Heat 2, right?
Basically same iss

It plays fine on my Thrustmaster TX and TH8A Shifter. Just worked right away. I didn't even have to tinker with the FFB or anything. The dirt racing is loads of fun IMO. It feels great sliding through corners. The Dirt racing feels a lot like the old DTR2 game with more bells and whistles. To be fair in NASCAR Games, I only race at the Road Courses and short tracks so I can't offer an opinion on the speedway racing portion of it.

Hahah, so you ignore the real NASCAR part?

Ovals, Speedways and Superspeedways is where it is at!

The roadtracks only serve to show the poor physics and handling of these games.

 

[Fonsecker]

I just bought it on steam, drove 30 minutes and gave it back. It could be such a great game, works ok with my Fanatec wheel and H-Shifter, looks ok on my system and drives ok physic wise.

But the sound is where it lacks, and thats one of the most important departements. It can suck in handling and graphix, but if it sounds great, it makes fun. I remember a Need for speed game few years ago, don´t know the title, but it makes so much fun to drive, even if the cars do not have cockpit view, cause they sound so damn realistic!

Just an example, this may be not the correct GEN6 NASCAR, but it sounds so damn nice...it would be enough if it would sound something like this in game

 

[Chobonator]

Câlisse, j'ai eu l'impression que c'était un jeu en développement avec NASCAR à VIR.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

The RaceDepartment review of NASCAR Heat 3 is here. Is the game a step forward, or does it leave us going round in circles?

RaceDepartment recently had an opportunity to spend some time with the new NASCAR Heat 3 racing title from 704Games and Monster Games, and we thought it might be interesting to share our thoughts on this interesting new release, and see if it can produce a driving experience suitable for the sim and casual gamer on PC.

Now before I start I'll have to admit that as a European, my knowledge of NASCAR and American racing isn't as comprehensive as it could be, so please forgive me if some of the finer details of this title have either escaped my attention, or haven't been given enough credit in the review video.

With that said, I've very much taken the philosophy of looking at NASCAR Heat 3 from a gamer perspective, trying to evenly judge the title on its playability, the driving experience, presentation, audio ,physics and depth of content, rather than looking to see exactly how far it goes to replicate the real world NASCAR sanctioned racing series that are represented within the game.

So having put the excuses to the top of the article, it is worth mentioning that the world of NASCAR racing certainly isn't entirely new to me... I have some very fond memories of sitting up into the late hours watching those epic duels between Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan, and despite my interest having waned in the following years, I still keep half an eye on the series and retain some basic schooling in the way of this brilliant stockcar racing category.

In the above video I've explored several of the core game features and shared with the viewers my honest opinion of a game that could potentially be a massive hit. The big question is, does 704Games deliver with this third instalment to the series, or do NASCAR fans have to wait that little bit longer for a game the NASCAR category so desperately deserves?

NASCAR Heat 3 is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

 

[M D Gourley]

Tell us if you agree with our review and share your own thoughts in the comments section below!

I will have to admit, once you said it was fiddly setting up the wheel and it would drop out I stopped watching as I kind of suspected it would not be for me...as I had not so good of experiences years ago with the older versions with my older G27 wheel....sadley no purchase for me
I will now wait for iRacing to get their AI up and running with their Nascar series as THIS WILL BE the definitive Sim for Nascar Racing with laser scanned tracks etc....only my opinion.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Was this race at daytime? Looks like every scene in this game is on sunset to make it look better, so stupid

 

[Jason Mullin]

Very surprised it actually looks pretty good visually.
I'm American but you know more about Nascar than I do Paul, great video.
I've been to 4 or 5 races in real life, they are always very exciting at race start, but get boring about 20 laps in, but there's always tons of good looking women (especially Daytona) so I end up at the beer tent perfecting my pick up lines.

 

[ricerracer]

Engine audio is poor but looks like a fun exp none the less

 

[Austin Ogonoski]

Game's biggest problem is poor default setups.

 

[Durge Driven]

$13 for a skinset

 

[Shad3R]

Tried it, plugged in the game, configured the wheel, got into bristol.
- Lack of FFB
- Degrees of rotation are bad assigned.
- No extensive ffb menu, only intensity.
- AI is strange.
- Handling is awfull.

 

[RichardHessels]

Was this race at daytime? Looks like every scene in this game is on sunset to make it look better, so stupid

Almost all games use sunset pics or rain, or both.. midday is the dullest white light you can have, makes everything look like DX7 tech.
When the sun goes up or down the light gets better and shadows more dramatic.

 

[Dirk Steffen]

I am genuinely interested in options for a current NASCAR sim to do some offline racing.

Lot's of questions for @Paul Jeffrey and users of the series in the past:

1) What is up with the mirrors - they both look strangely distorted in the video?
2) Are triple screen setups supported - how are special resolutions handled by the game?
3) Can the steering wheel + hands be disabled for people running this in a sim rig?
4) Can the view settings be adjusted (FOV, zoom, position, …).
5) How is the replay system - can you do instant replays to rewatch some action, can you load up full replays after a race and easily navigate the replay say with short keys?
6) Are mods generally supported in this series of racing games from the maker?
7) How does this one play with a gamepad on PC (I prefer much rot have a proper sim to run in my rig but maybe this is fun for a quick race once in a while with a game pad)?
8) Can controller and FFB settings perhaps be edited in the file system and improved over the infame menu options?

What are the options to NASCAR HEAT 3?
I see the community around NR2003 is still very active and plenty of mods and upgrades to the original Papyrus/Sierra NR2003 are still available.

Is it worth getting into in 2018? I have fond memories from way back when NR2003 was current.

 

[M D Gourley]

I am genuinely interested in options for a current NASCAR sim to do some offline racing.

Not sure whether you are interested but 'iRacing' is getting AI at some stage this year and for me personally this will be the definitive Nascar Sim with laser scanned tracks and a very good selection of cars.

 

[Sky]

why are those dirt late models turning right in that op pic?

 

[Fonsecker]

What are the options to NASCAR HEAT 3?

I have tried the NASCAR´s in RF2. they are quite nice, lots of modding tracks. Makes more fun to drive than anything else.

iRacing would be an alternative if AI support will be available, but still too expensive. I started driving iRacing month ago, got my license up to C, but still have to pay too much to drive a full season, but in VR the best NASCAR experience.