"Racing around in circles is fun!"

NASCAR has always been known as a redneck sport and, personally, I don’t enjoy it as much as Indy Car or Off Road Racing. However, NASCAR, in NASCAR Thunder 2003, is a fun and enjoyable experience for racing fans of different genres or gamers who just enjoy the racing genre. NASCAR Thunder 2003 boasts excellent gameplay and sound. The graphics are also the best of any NASCAR game I have seen. Overall, this game provides an enjoyable experience to any gamer who wants to have some fun racing around in NASCAR Thunder 2003.

Story- N/A- It’s a racing genre game. I didn’t expect it to have a story when I rented it and of course it didn’t. It does provide some drama with the Career Mode where you must hire a team, purchase sponsors, and race a season that will bring prestige and other things to get your team to the big time. If you want a racing game with a damn story, you’re one crazed little being who should be banished from gaming forever. I’m only joking.

Graphics- 9/10- The game comes with some excellent graphics that are definitely and improvement over past EA NASCAR Games. The cars all look excellent and smooth looking. Past NASCAR games have had the cars appearing box shaped and like Link would if he drove a racecar. Sponsors, numbers, and decals are well defined in the graphics package on the cars as well. You can create you own car in this and make it look like anything your heart desires. The racing environments are very well defined and can easily be interpreted. Some do look a tad bit bland though. However, everything and everyone presented in this game is very realistic to some degree. The asphalt is the most realistic of all though. The only major downside is the fire in the game when your car blows up. It doesn’t look so hot to me. In short and to a concise point, there isn’t a more excellent looking NASCAR game on the market. A solid 9 out of 10 in this category for it.

Sound- 7.5/10

Sound Effects- 6/10- This game is pretty decent in the sound effects category. The humming of the car as you race is realistic and very enchanting to some odd extent. The screeching of the wheels as you turn sounds very nice as well. The game’s best sound effect is probably the collision of cars between one another. It’s pleasant and maniacal to listen to these sounds. The main thing that brings this down is the spotter sound effects. He can be helpful sometimes, but his monotone voice is very annoying and repetitive. The sound effects receive a decent 7 due to the fact of that annoying person on the other end of the line.

Music- 9/10- The only major downside is there’s no music when you are racing. It would be such a pleasant experience to listen to some jams while cruising down the Long Pond Straightaway in Pocono or around Bristol’s small but turbulent track. The music that is provided is excellent and fun to listen to. If you watch NASCAR on Fox for the first half of the season you may recognize some it. The music receives a 9. EA Sports Trax are great…

Gameplay- 8/10- The game in itself is a tad bit noisy, but fun and educational experience. The education comes in where you can learn how to make your car run better. There are multiple modes in the game ranging from your basic single race mode, to the long and tedious mode that is known simply as the season. The Single Race Mode allows you to run any one race at any one track as any one person. Season mode allows you to run the full race schedule and try to succeed in winning the championship. Career mode allows you to build a NASCAR legacy such as that of the late Dale Earnhardt or one like the one created by the Great One, Richard Petty. In the mode you must, hire a team, get sponsors, and race, hoping to succeed in getting the legacy. Thunder License mode allows you to learn the basics of the track while running around it with your racing instructor. There are several modes in this. You should enjoy them all.

There are basically all of the tracks NASCAR runs on in the game. From the annoying and hard races at Bristol, to the legendary Daytona, to the Phoenix track out west, or the Richmond Raceway in the east, you’ll have an immense amount of fun running on everyone. There are several NASCAR drivers in this from Tony Stewart to Jeff Gordon. One slight downside is the fact, that there are only major name drivers in the game, where as I’d rather see more of the little guy.

Control is fairly easy to master, and is the same for nearly every other racing game on the Gamecube.

Difficulty can be altered but this game can be very difficult to do at first. That’s true even on Rookie mode.

Replay Value- 9/10- I’m going to try all of the tracks here. Yahoo!

Rent or Buy- Depends- If you’re a NASCAR fan, this is a must-buy, and maybe for fans of the racing genre. Otherwise, don’t buy, rent. You’ll regret paying for it.

Overall- 8.375/10
GameFAQS Score- 8/10- Fun and enjoyable racing genre game, especially for NASCAR fans.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/02, Updated 07/26/03