MaximumPC 2005 06

JUNE 200 5 MA XIMUMPC 79

Reviews

I

f you think about it, it’s absolutely astounding that a motor sport in
which drivers pretty much only turn left can be as popular as NASCAR
is today. It’s even more impressive that a game that simulates the
sport on the PC can be as engrossing as NASCAR SimRacing is.
SimRacing is big and brash, and it brings a new level of realism to the
track that gear heads will relish. The game boasts 25 official NASCAR
circuit tracks (plus three fictional tracks) and some five dozen rides and
drivers spanning the three prominent NASCAR series: Craftsman Truck,
Nextel, and National. The tracks look resplendent, with real-time weather
effects and grandstands brimming with enthusiastic fans. Add stellar
sound—particularly if you have a decent 5.1 speaker system—and it’s
like you’ve got a driver’s eye view of the Daytona 500.
The cars look and behave realistically as well, with believable han-
dling characteristics and even some damage modeling, although we
would have preferred the latter to be more developed, and we would
have liked more realistic driver AI. As it is, the AI drivers are eerily pre-
cise, and crashes among the computer-controlled cars are infrequent.
Maybe next year....
The strong career mode starts you off in the Truck series and lets
you work your way up, one race at a time, to the big show—the Nextel
series. Good performance will conjure sponsorship opportunities, and
more sponsorship money equals faster cars to play with. Grease monkeys
will savor the garage mode, which lets you tinker with every conceivable
facet of your car.
While the AI is good, live opponents are much more challenging. You
can race against up to 42 human drivers online via EA.com or LAN. In test
races with more than 20 other drivers, plus a few AI-controlled cars, the
game played well, with minimal warping. Of course, you’ll need a broad-

band connection.

Overall, SimRacing

might not be as deep

as Papyrus’ NASCAR

games, but it bridges the

gap between arcade and

hardcore simulation bet-

ter than any game we’ve

played before.

—STEVE KLETT

You probably should have listened to your pit boss and

not tried—again—for “just one more lap.”

Stellar visuals and sound, solid physics, good use

of NASCAR license.

AI quirks, minor graphic bugs, and a cumbersome

interface.

$40, http://www.easports.com, ESRB rating: E

8

CORVETTE

PINTO

MA XIMUMPCVERDICT

T

urn your head, turn your field of view. That’s the promise of the
TrackIR 3 Pro. It connects to your PC via USB and sits atop your
monitor. From there it uses infrared sensors to track the move-
ment of a reflector that you clip onto your hat, then translates your
movements into data your games can parse. The games can use the
movement data to control your field of vision in games—just like you’d
use your mouse to “look around” in an FPS.
The benefits of hands-free view controls are obvious to flight
simmers: Just move your head to look wherever you want from the
cockpit. It’s a much more immersive and intuitive method than using
a hat switch. The system is equally useful in racing sims, such as
NASCAR SimRacing , and it’s even applicable to some FPS games (such
as WWII Online ).
The catch is that developers must include support for the TrackIR in their
games so you can use the device, and said support is spotty—particularly
for the full six degrees of freedom (6DOF) the TrackIR 3 Pro can support
when used with the Vector Expansion upgrade ($50).
Most “TrackIR Enhanced” titles support only two degrees of freedom,
which means up/down and left/right field of view. This is fine for tracking a
bogey, but full 6DOF support lets you also lean forward for a close-up look
at the cockpit (or dashboard) dials, and lean to the left or right to peer out
of the cockpit while taxiing (or lean into a turn in SimRacing ). While only a
handful of games—including SimRacing —currently support 6DOF, more
are reportedly on the way (see http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/games for an
up-to-date list).

It can take a few hours of training to get the hang of the TrackIR 3 Pro.

You’ve got to keep your head steady and move it only when you want to

change your view. And it can take some time to find the ideal positioning

and software settings (the

control software interface is

cumbersome, and there’s no

printed manual).

If you’re a sim-head, the

reward is well worth the

effort. Heck, even the TrackIR

3 Pro’s limited 2DOF mode

is worth its price of admis-

sion—if your favorite sim is

on the list of supported titles,

that is.

—STEVE “GOOSE” KLETT

TrackIR 3 Pro

Look, Ma—no hands! Better view-control for sims has arrived!

Much more intuitive and immersive than

traditional view-control methods.

Tricky to set up properly, and support

in games is spotty.

$130, http://www.naturalpoint.com

8

TALLY-HO!

CHECK SIX!

MA XIMUMPCVERDICT

NASCAR SimRacing

EA makes a right turn into the realism pit,

but doesn’t leave out the fun!

Look, Ma—no hands! Better view-control for sims has arrived!

It may not be

fashionable, but the

TrackIR 3 with Vector

Expansion will help

improve your game.