The following is my view of the soon to be released version of PAPYRUS's NASCAR Legends.  In the following lines I will give you my opinion of this newly designed simulator from PAPYRUS.

Rants!!!!

I believe that PAPYRUS/SIERRA have done all of us an injustice, by not giving any credit to The Pits and Simulator Cyberworld and their editors for the original idea that they had come up with by making the N@50 add-on for N2/N99.  I believe that this upcoming simulator would not have been made without these two powerhouse sites making this add-on and showing PAPYRUS/SIERRA that there was interest in all aspects of NASCAR racing, which includes the Legends, Craftsman Trucks, Busch Grand National, and Winston Cup.  Well, let's get on with my first look at NASCAR Legends, shall we?

System that NASCAR Legends was tested:

DFI Motherboard
AMD K6-2 350 Mhz
64 Mb of 100PCI RAM
16.8 Gb EIDE HDD
Windows 98 SE
Sierra Screaming 3D Rendition Video Card
Diamond Monster II VooDoo 2 Video Card
Creative Modem Blaster 56K Flex
Sound Blaster 32 AWE PnP
32X CD ROM Drive
Thrustmaster Formula T2

Features of NASCAR Legends:

• Speedway Cars: Plymouth Superbird, Dodge Daytona, Ford Torino Talladega, and the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II
• Shorttrack cars: Plymouth Roadrunner, Dodge Charger, Ford Torino, or Mercury Cyclone.
• Bias Ply Tires
• No Pit Speed Limit
• Generally, the engine from NASCAR 3

Tracks

• Alabama
• Atlanta
• Bowman-Gray Stadium
• Bristol
• Charlotte
• Darlington
• Greenville-Pickens
• Martinsville
• Michigan
• North Carolina
• North Wilkesboro
• Ontario Motor Speedway
• Richmond Fairgrounds (the non-tri oval)
• Riverside
• Texas World Speedway
• Thompson

• 71  B Isaac
• 21  C Yarborough
• 27  D Allison
• 99  C Glotzbach
• 22  B Allison
• 43  R Petty
• 32  D Brooks
• 4  J Sears
• 11  A Foyt
• 6  B Baker
• 48  J Hylton
• 40  P Hamilton
• 55  T Lund
• 17  D Pearson
• 98  L Yarbrough
• 64  E Langley
• 06  N Castles
• 34  W Scott
• 30  D Marcis
• 24  C Gordon

Well, since this the advent of NASCAR Racing, Taladega has been scrutinized by most of the sim-racing world.  So this is the reason I myself started with Alabama Motor Speedway to give my opinion of the sim-racing experience with NASCAR Legends.

I selected my race to run over 26 laps, just enough laps to make the computer AI make a pitstop as well as myself.  I smashed the gas pedal of my Plymouth Superbird and lit my tires and pulled from my pit stall.  I noticed that the wheel spin of my car was a bit easier to control then it was in NASCAR Racing 2.  I sped down the pit road at over 100 mph.  All of a sudden cars pulled right out infront of me just asking to be a hood ornament.  we got off of pit road and entered turn 1.  The Plymouth Superbird just drove by all of the cars, which I figure was due to the computer AI as usual.  At the end of the back strech I was up to speed to begin a few laps of practice and wow the car would slide up the track.  The speed box showed that at the end of the back strech on lap 2 was 212 mph.  I was flying.  I completed 10 laps and topped my speed out at 203 mph.  I decided it was time to start racing.

I skipped the qualification and went straight to the back of the pack.  I drafted around the first lap in 43rd position, and then I decided that it was time to move up.  Even the slower cars kept their lines pretty well and was hard to pass.  Since I had quite a large draft of cars I pulled down and followed a line running the low grove.  All of a sudden a car spins in front and the smoke flies.  (Note:  The smoke is identical to the NASCAR Racing 3 smoke since it is the same engine.)  Cars start dodging and checking up.  I pick a line and blow by a ton of cars to take 23rd position.  Well at this point I settle in for the a few laps and start drafting again.  Wow there goes the speeds!  207 mph in the draft.  My car starts to slide up the track due to the bias-ply tires and the tire squeal is horrible.  I check my tire wear and my right side is being torn to shreads in just a few laps of this pace.  (Note:  I was using the ACE setup)  I decided that with 14 to go it was time to pit.  At my 21.3 second pit stop it was back out to catch the leaders.  I picked up only a few positions to 18th and then settled in to finish the race.  There were a few wrecks, but overall it was a quiet finish to the race.

Opions of the other tracks

I then decided to run some laps at Michigan, Bristol, Charlotte, and North Carolina.  I didn't think there was much of a change except for the nostalgic graphics of the era and the different tire settings in the track.txt.  Other then that, not much else was different.  I also decided to run at the tracks not before released, which includes:  Bowman-Gray, Greenville-Pickens, Ontario, Richmond Fairgrounds, Riverside, and Texas World Speedway.  These tracks made for some fun racing, and kept my attention looking at the detail and different graphics.  I really was captured by the external pit road at Bowman-Gray.  I loved this track and raced many laps here, but was too busy watching for the pit entrance that my laps times were horrible.

Overall Attitude of the Simulator

Overall I felt that PAPYRUS/SIERRA could have done more to the simulator and give us more of a change.  As with NASCAR Racing 3, NASCAR Legends was a dressed up NASCAR Racing 2.  It seemed as though that PAPYRUS is milking an old simulator engine for all the money that it's worth.  I only notice a few changes in the simulator and they are as follows:

• Two different body styles on the track at one time.
• Sun glare on cars, but this does not effect the driver.  (NO winshield sun glare)
• Translucent smoke.
• New settings in the set-up menu to be accurate for the era of the cars driven.
• New Paintkit options.  (Wheel painting)
• Free Internet Racing!!!!  (A Nice PLUS!)
• Shaded racing groove and skid marks.
• New graphical and and menu interfaces.