With each variation of their sports franchises, EA Sports seems to be getting better and better at providing the most in-depth experience of the sport you’re playing. NASCAR 09 seems no different in this case. Playing the demo, you will notice significant changes that look to provide this new entry a more fulfilling professional racing experience. With Jeff Gordon being the cover guy and also your resident tour guide, he helps you through your journey in the Sprint for the Cup. You may not be a fan of the sport, but you may find yourself surprised at how easy it is to jump into a race.

Hi, I’m Jeff Gordon

It is quite interesting to see good old Jeff Gordon standing there in the garage, introducing himself and helping you as you browse through the in-game menus. If you’ve ever wanted to know the ins and outs of the NASCAR sport, you might just learn a thing or two from Gordon, as he is with you every step of the way. With this much involvement from a cover boy, this makes you wonder if EA Sports could do this to your other favorite sports titles. With NASCAR 09’s sharp presentation, you shouldn’t find yourself lost through the in-game menus and finding your way to the start of the race.

One intriguing feature that is may very well pull gamers into the single player experience of the sport is your reputation. As with any sport you have to earn the respect of your fellow players and those around you. NASCAR 09 is no different, as you must earn your respect points, which help determine many things such as race placement and your ability to sign with sponsors among other things. There are also challenges, which encourage you to increase your skill as a driver and help you earn reputation points for use in the single player campaign. These challenges range in difficulty and can either give you grief or provide relief from the normal races.

There is only one race available in the demo and the game likes to tease you into thinking there are two other races available. But there is only one and that is called Sprint for the Cup. Two other races are the Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series. After choosing your race, you come to find out that there are only two tracks available to play through giving you only 7 and 10 laps each respectively. You can choose out of a select group of racers and are on your way to racing through the exciting left-turn lap fest.

There is unfortunately no multiplayer included in the demo which is disappointing to say the least, as it would’ve been fun to try out racing against your friends online and beating them out in a 10 lap race. However, we will just have to wait until the game’s release on June 11^th to have fun with that. Visually, the demo looked well patched together, with no hiccups noticeable. Cars and tracks seem pretty smoothed out and there are no slow downs in loading times as it’s a smooth ride, as you would say. 

Conclusion 

NASCAR 09 feels about as close to a professional race as you’re going to get with a video game representation of the sport. Physics feel pretty good throughout, as the cars and the tracks hold together quite well from the limited test run we got with it. EA Sports seems to have put a good deal of effort in this entry and it certainly shows. NASCAR 09 could very well appeal to the casual crowd and hardcore crowd alike, with its pick-up-and-play gameplay, and maybe even bring in some new fans to sport itself. Either way, NASCAR 09 has the features and extra content to make the each race a different and fulfilling experience.

Written by: Jereme Puik, Staff Writer