"The first NASCAR game for GameCube is good. Thankfully."

I've been waiting quite a long, long time for NASCAR Thunder 2003 for GameCube. Well, okay, a few weeks. I finally got it and played it for a good five or six hours last night, and I was quite happy with it, though I did have a few beefs.

GAMEPLAY
It's NASCAR. There isn't a whole lot of in-game gameplay other than drive fast and know what you're doing, and at times, know what's going on around you. There's a career mode, where you can basically take a shot at being a pro Winston Cup driver. It's almost RPG-like, with all the choices you can make. Hire that new front tire carrier? Sure. Take out that engine and sell it? Be my guest. Paint yourself a ''special'' paintscheme for those special races, like the Winston? Go for it. For Create-a-Car, which I know all (or most) of you love, there really hasn't been a big improvement from the previous Create-a-Car options, sadly enough, as far as I can see. But with an absolute ton of unlockable drivers, that probably isn't too bad. There are alot of new tracks, too, unlockable, with the addition of road courses I never knew these tracks even had. A Talladega road course? Now that's some good lovin'. Er, racin'.

GRAPHICS
Graaaiiinnnyyyy. Reminds me of Spy Hunter. But they're nice up close. At least you can see what's going on ahead of you. Smoke graphics are very nice, as are damage models. The tracks are very nicely made as well, though like always, the crowds could use a bit of upgrading.

AUDIO
The sound is great. Turn the volume up if you ever play the game. It WILL sound good. Tires screeching, paint trading, your spotter babbling like a loon to you about what's happening on the track, the poor guy. Everything is immersive. My only, only problem with it is that the ''in-car'' engine noise isn't used for the roof cam. But this is a minor problem. So minor, in fact, that it doesn't detract from the score, so don't get mad and act like it does.

CONTROLS
The game's controls are a rather mixed bag. By this, I'm referring to the ''stability control'' setup. In order to properly tell you the problem, let's take a little practice run at Atlanta Motor Speedway!

Okay, we're on the track. Nervous yet? As you exit pit road, you'll probably notice the big orange ''stability'' sign popping up in the corner above the speedometer, should you be in one of the chase viewpoints. Well, try turning stability control off, if you think it's annoying. Go on.

*Screeeeeeeeeeeech*

Whoops. Before this game, I'd never spun coming off of pit road, but without stability control, I entered the record books. Yeah. Make sure to keep it slow when you're leaving pit road. Okay, with stability control on, go into one of the turns at race speed. Can't turn left very well, can you? I didn't think so. Stability control takes a LOT of getting used to. Now turn it off.

I suppose you can successfully guess what happens when you have stability control off and are turning left at over 160 MPH. Yep, that's why they call it STABILITY control. In a nutshell, the car can be difficult to turn when it's on, and when it's off, the car's just too dang loose. I haven't fiddled with setups very much yet, so that'll probably help the situation. I know it makes it more realistic, as you're probably thinking, but it's just an annoying hinderance.

For acceleration and braking, they have no real nuances that I can see. Press the big green button, go fast. Press the small red button, stop. You were expecting the car to sprout wings with the touch of one of those things?

REPLAYABILITY
If you enjoy driving around in circles seemingly endlessly (like me), then you'll enjoy this game and will want to replay it, obviously. If you enjoy trying to unlock all the drivers with a neat Challenge type game mode, you'll enjoy the game. If you... well, you get the picture.

Speaking of replays (where better to put them than replayability), they're almost non-existant. Sorry. But I have no problem with this, personally. It's the racing that matters, not the big, cool crashes from replays.

TO BUY OR RENT
I bought it. I wasn't disappointed (with a few minor quirks). You, on the other hand, considering you're unsure enough to read this review, may want to rent first, if you're THAT unsure anyway. I do feel it's worth my 50 bucks, and I had other things to buy, too. So, let that be a lesson... or... something like that.

OVERALL SCORE
9 / 10
Even with the rather intimidating stability control feature, NASCAR Thunder 2003 is a game that is a worthy update to Thunder 2002. Career mode will keep you going for a long, long time. As said, there's an almost overwhelming amount of things to unlock.

So what are you waiting for? Stop reading this review and go buy or rent it and submit your own inane review of it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/02, Updated 09/29/02