Nascar Racing 4 by Papyrus Preview

**NASCAR RACING 4 BY PAPYRUS**
PREVIEW

Papyrus Official N4 site Release Date: It'll be under the tree for Christmas 2000 (which usually means November 23rd) Maintained by Larry Currie Email: NEWS@simcyberworld.com After an undeservingly underrated Nascar 3 (which was really quite improved over N99/2 but the GPL engine fiasco killed everyone's enthusiasm) Papyrus WILL regain the king of the hill title with a GPL based Nascar 4. GPLPhobics take note, this car model is a lot easier to handle (it puts the feel back in that was lacking in GPL) than the car model in GPL. Overall the entire game is reworked. While N3 was more of a feel update (ie. race N99 martinsville then N3's) to the car model, Nascar 4 will feature a full car model along with the non-standard textures we've been longing for. The competition this year is stronger than any other, but is still no threat. Nascar 2000 was highly improved but several flaws still persist and an F title as Nascar Rev. is now a C- title. Nascar Heat is the biggest threat, but it is only based on the Viper engine, which was a great engine several years ago and the whole game is based around more of an easy to play fun game. Will Nascar Heat still be popular once the novelty of the game wears off? What really will we be seeing when Nascar 4 arrives? Read on:

Series

Nascar Racing 4 will contain a large helping of Winston Cup and Busch stars and tracks. A truck pack is an option at a later date, but if N3 is any indication, it's not likely.

Cars

An improved car model wiht 3d cockpit, side-looking capabilities, 3D wheels, a more realistic mirror, and driver arms fill the latest spec 2000 "Chassis 1 2 &3's". It's doubtful if Ford, GM, or Dodge will liscenese nameplates to the cars. Stop back here at SC for our N4 logopatch. With the GPL engine, all the goodies we've hoped for will be here. Flipping, spinning wheels and locking brakes will all be available for your pleasure or pain.

Tracks

Long the scourge of Papyrus sims, the tracks "Get Real" in the latest version of N4. In addition to remodelling the tracks in more detail, many of the flagrant errors of games past are gone. Go ahead, blow the chicane at the Glen, D.J. already did. Probably the best improvement to the tracks is the same thing I loved seeing in our Sprintcar patch, dirty tracks. There's a reason tracks are textured, and Papy now puts mips to good use. The concrete at Talladega is now a spiderweb of tar patches. A real, dark groove emerges in teh racetrack. Asphault now has a realistic random wear pattern. Oh yeah, and did I mention DAYTONA WILL be included?

Ok, that's not official yet (July 20th) but every other Nascar game is doing it, and Papy did author a little game on a certain Millenium Program for a 500 race and Papy usually does "public betas" before major products so Daytona is more likely than having a CART sim anytime soon. After all, the Nascar 2 3Dfx patch gave way to N99, SODA Offroad gave way to GPL, and many of the experimental features of N3 are ending up in N4. Daytona is as good as included.

AI

Sure we've heard it all before, but once again this versions' AI will be better at avoiding collisions (I pray they at least TRY, unlike some of the guys in GPL), won't get hung up behind a stopped car, avoid obsticles better and make better pitting decisions.

The HARDware

Mortgage your house, here comes the hardware lowdown. A Pentium ][-266 is Required, with 64Mb and a 3D card. The graphics engine is hardware only, 32 bit. Real time reflections and shadows should be there, along with unlocked framerates and smooth slo-mo replays. The graphics engine is D3D enhanced and allows the normal Z polygon ... stuff. Bottom line: It's going to want a big graphics card.