the Hushed Casket

Long story short, I like it.

A good way to describe this game would be to compare it to previous versions, namely Nascar '06 for the original Xbox. So far I would recommend sticking with the oval/tri-oval courses (which are, by far, the majority here), otherwise you might as well go buy Forza 2. If your up for some evenly matched, very tense racing though, this game is definitely the way to go.

Likes:

• Good graphics and special effects
• Improved sound effects and vocals
• Improved framerates and sense of speed (it feels faster)
• Great soundtrack. Appropriate, modern rock + country
• Superb user interface for the menus (very well done)
• XBL Functionality. Use of the EA servers feels integrated, not separate like past games.
• Attention to detail functionality wise i.e. my camera view preferences are saved even after turning off the console.
• Improved view from the rear view mirror
• Turn the camera left/right with the right joystick
• Bump drafting doesn't spin out your teammates as easily
• Lots of options setup wise, as well as HUD and control
• Great looking crash damage
• Share car setups over XBL
• "Stats view" by pressing the blue X button during gameplay
• The fully customizable ESPN sports ticker at the bottom of the screen, I know this is in other games, but it's still pretty damn cool.
• Full replays, that way arguments can be settled as to who spun out who in those wrecks.. trust me you'll need it.
  

Dislikes:

• When people are talking during an online race, some text displays the name of who is speaking. This text is directly in the center of my view of the track and it makes me nearly wreck every time it pops up (I use roof view). Move this text please. I would like to personally stick a boot to the ass of the person who thought of this feature.
• No party system on Xbox live.
• Caution flags need to be tweaked. During a wreck, every now and then the caution flag will be thrown before the wreck has a chance to play itself out and cause the really cool crashes.
• Network jitter is less prevalent, however when there is some, sometimes the cars will jump around the track back and forth and dent the heck out of my car, slowing me down for the rest of the race. This also happens at times during cautions when the computer is in charge of your car. On occasion, during a caution where I didn't even wreck, my car will be banged all to hell. This could be fixed by disabling damage during cautions.
• Network problems still persist. I was disconnected from a few games. I'm not sure if this has a correlation with the amount of people in one game or not. Further testing is required.
  

Conclusion (click 'read more' for the conclusion):
It's a blast to play. One of the best Nascar games I've personally played. There's a few things that need to be ironed out, however I'm hoping EA releases some updates in the near future to satisfy that need. The handling is a bit sensitive when starting out, I recommend going to the settings menu and turning down the sensitivity if your going to use a standard controller. Things tend to get a bit squirly in the turns. It seems the racing wheel would help this a lot. The special effects are subtle, some camera shake here and there, some glinting sunlight off the cars, some rubber flying off the track, some motion blur. They all add up to a nice looking racing game. Not photo-realistic by any means though. The user interface is attractive and simple.

The racing is about as tense as it can get for any racing genre. You spend your time trying to slingshot past your opponents, all the while holding your line when someone is trying to pass you. Don't hold your line, and both of you are toast, slamming into the wall. Compound this with the fact that people get quite angry if you wreck them and it's as I said... tense. Most of the races people set up are about 10-20 laps, giving enough time for a lot of passing and a few caution flags. If your steady enough, you can bump draft a friend to the front of the pack and leave everyone else behind. I'm actually surprised that EA pulled this game off as well as they did considering that they've got exclusive licensing for any Nascar games. All-in-all, very fun.

I don't know about a particular rating, but if I had to give it a thumbs up or down, it's definitely a thumbs up if it's your cup of tea.