NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona

"By Far the Most Realistic NASCAR Racing Game on the PS2"

Well, I have to say, this game is addicting. NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona is one of the best, if not the best NASCAR racing game on the PS2. NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona comes from the makers of the popular NASCAR Heat racing games. Infogrames and Monster Games did a wonderful job on this game. The game features many modes, including Beat the Heat, Career Mode, Single Race, Race the Pro, Championship mode, and no racing game would be complete without Multiplayer.

Gameplay: 10/10 Wonderful, just wonderful. The modes in the game are very fun. My personal favorite is Career Mode. In this mode, you don't start out in the NASCAR Cup Series like NASCAR Thunder. You start out in the not so well-known NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, where you race on dirt. After you receive a championship in this series, you move up to NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series, the only open-wheel series in NASCAR. Then you move up to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series after you win a championship in the modifieds. Eventually, you work your way up to the very well-known NASCAR Cup Series. The game features 31 tracks, including 20 NASCAR Cup Series tracks. Also, the game features 27 real NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

Graphics: 9.6/10 Wonderful graphics. At times, though, the games framerate seems to slow down a little, but not much. Let's say you race backwards on the track and crash into a bunch of cars. After the race, you will see a replay of the race. When I watched a replay of a crash, it looked like it was real.

Sound: 9/10 The sounds aren't great, but they aren't horrobile either. There isn't much of a sound track, just a country-rock kind of theme. The in game sounds are decent, not the greatest, not the worst.

Control: 9.6/10 Infogrames and Monster Games set up the controls perfectly. The only minor problem with this is Infogrames and Monster Games used the PS2's pressure sensitive controller to the max. In order to get the greatest top speed, you have to hold the gas until your finger hurts.

Replayablity: 10/10 After you complete the career mode, you will want to come back and play again. This also doesn't include the fun of Single Race and Multiplayer.

Rent or Buy If you are a fan of NASCAR, you will definately want to go out and buy this game. If you are a fan of racing games like Gran Turismo, you may want to rent this game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/03, Updated 07/19/03