Best NASCAR video games
It’s pretty hard to find a guy who’s never played a driving game, and ever since the first game of this sort came out in 1985 there are dozens of new games released every year. What could possibly be better than engaging in a wild race, living out your childhood dream of becoming a NASCAR driver without the risk of crashing into the wall? Not to mention having a steering wheel and all other gaming equipment that makes the whole gaming experience as real as possible. But one thing that’s bad about having so many games to choose from is that you can’t afford to try them all out, and you certainly don’t want to waste your money on sucky video games. We’ve tried out some of the best NASCAR games on the market from the early 90s till today. Check out the hottest driving games there are!
Days of Thunder (1990)
In case you actually tried to play this game today, you would be more than disappointed. Lousy graphic even for that time period would make your eyes bleed, but that’s not why Days of Thunder deserved to be on this list. Until it was released, there was only one other game of this sort available, and Days of Thunder was the first to break the drought, making the way for the avalanche of games of this genre in the years to come. Even though as a game it didn’t bring anything revolutionary, it is important as a pioneer that enabled other similar games to develop.
Richard Petty’s Taladega (1985)
Now that we’re talking about pioneers, it would be unfair not to mention the first video game ever that involved the NASCAR theme. It was released for Commodore and Atari and had pretty astounding graphics for that time, even some 3D scenes which was really something back in the 80s. Unfortunately, even though the title suggested there would be actual NASCAR drivers (like the legend Richard Petty himself) involved, due to copyright issues the game had no real drivers. Coming from a game named after one, not pretty impressive.
Gran Turismo 5 (2010)
The legendary Gran Turismo series have been among the top racing games for years, and Gran Turismo 5 is important because it’s the first one of the series to include NASCAR racing. This version was released for Sony PlayStation 3 only and it featured some pretty impressive graphics. It was also great to have something other than the EA Sports version of the game, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that it became popular quickly. The downside of the game is that there isn’t many NASCAR racing tracks to choose from, but overall it was a good game. The reason it didn’t meet everybody’s high expectations is that the hype over the game prior to its release was so big it was impossible for the game to fulfill it, leaving many fans disappointed even though the quality of the game was above average.